My Review of American Horror Stories: "Rubber (wo)Man, Part 2"

 

Written by Brad Falchuk

Directed by Loni Peristere

Ruby (to Scarlett): "No one told me if you die here, you're stuck here forever."

Okay couldn't wait until later, so here's the second part. Time has moved on since Scarlett killed Maya and her friends and in that time she's connected with an equally homicidal girl named Ruby (Kaia Jordan Gerber). Basically if you wanted a lesbian version of Violet and Tate, here it is.

Scarlett and Ruby do seem to connect on a murderous level but their romance has the obstacle of Scarlett not quite wanting to be dead yet, much to Ruby's chagrin. Ruby even goes ahead and kills Michael and Troy, which Scarlett isn't mad about but still wants to live her life.

Of course Scarlett also had to deal with Maya and her friends wanting their revenge and during the one night of the year, the ghosts can leave the house, it's up to Ruby and a change of heart in order for Scarlett to make it out of the episode alive.

I wasn't keen on the Tate/Violet relationship back in the day so it feels hypocritical that I actually like the Scarlett and Ruby pairing. It probably helps that while Ruby is clearly a psychopath, she took Shanti's words about setting Scarlett free to heart and even Scarlett herself kept coming back to the house once a year as well as settling an old score on Ruby's behalf.

As for Michael and Troy, death did wonders for their relationship. Before Ruby killed them, they had grown apart and Troy was doing sexual favours on a straight contractor named Adam (Aaron Tveit), who also had zero issues with killing before being killed himself by Rubber Man.

When it comes to being in the Murder House, there doesn't seem to much bad points this time around. Even Ruby who initially intimidated Maya and her friends mellowed out as the episode progressed while everyone else just got on with things. I do wonder how long before Scarlett joins the rest of them though.

- No Violet or Tate but I was amused with Andi telling Michael and Troy she was co-writing a book with Ben.

- Expect to see some of these new actors appear in the main show later this year.

- Title sequence was the same but added Kaia Jordan Gerber and Aaron Tveit to the cast.

- Chronology: Halloween 2021 before the episode did a ten month time jump.

Rubber (wo)Man, Part 2 worked well as a second part. I had reservations about the opening two partner falling into the easy route of using the first season for a backdrop but it worked well, even without the Harmons, Tate or Constance in sight. Will this be the last time we see this house in this particular universe? I doubt it but at least this was a decent revisit into familiar ground.

Rating: 7 out of 10