American Horror Story: Asylum Review: “Spilt Milk” (Season 2, Episode 11)

After a whole season of going strong at full force, it was inevitable that American Horror Story: Asylum would hit a bump eventually. Seeing as it took this long just to reach that tiny little bump, I would say that’s a sign that there’s still plenty of steam left in this crazy train. With that being said, Spilt Milk just isn’t up to par with the rest of the season, serving as an ending to almost every storyline and not leaving a lot left to ponder for the finale.

Despite being a weak episode, it’s fair to say that the intro is one of the most depraved moments in the series’ twisted history, featuring a grown lil’ Thredson breast feeding from a prostitute. It’s sickeningly perfect for giving us a larger view of this previously one-sided character, so here’s to hoping that we get a lot more of him in the last two episodes. Based on the mess of a (probably) dead prostitute he’ll be left to clean up, it’s a safe guess that Johnny will be back.

Kit is introduced to his son, and given the chance to ask Grace about her abduction, gets all the gory details: after the aliens placed the baby inside of Grace, she saw what she presumed to be a dead Alma. Kit, apparently not affected by this news, asks Grace to marry him so they can raise their child as a family. But before the champagne can be popped, Thredson has the child taken to an orphanage. Thredson promises to release the child once he has his recorded confession, but Lana is given the chance to escape by Mother Superior and takes it, along with the recording.

Arriving home, Thredson finds a pissed off Lana with a gun waiting for him. He explains all the fun he had with Wendy’s corpse before he chopped it up and scattered it around the state before gloating about how his insanity plea will ensure him a cozy stay in prison for life. Knowing this to be true, Lana kills him before he can get away with his life, becoming a legend for killing Bloody Face.

Jump forward a few months, and Lana is hard at work exposing Briarcliff for the horrible institution it really is. Now that the public knows that Thredson was Bloody Face, Kit is released from the asylum, blackmailing the Monsignor into letting Grace and his child go as well. They return home a happy family, but discover a very alive Alma waiting for them with a baby of her own.

Lana attempts to speak to Sister Jude in the asylum, but is told she killed herself before she could talk. Unbeknownst to Lana, she is actually being kept in a solitary room in the basement. Lana also tries to go through with an abortion, but stops the procedure to ensure that there is “no more death.” She carries the baby through to term, despite obviously harboring every ounce of hate in her body against it. Even though she gives up the child and refuses to even see it after its birth, she hears its cries and grudgingly breastfeeds him, bringing the episode to a close full circle.

With two episodes still left in the season, the amount of story left to tell has significantly decreased, leaving only the alien plot and Johnny as the main focuses. Despite presenting multiple gripping plots throughout its run, American Horror Story: Asylum may have blown its load a bit too early. This isn’t to say that the episode is a total waste, as the performances are still top notch and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s direction is wildly fascinating. Spilt Milk serves as more of a visual feast than most other episodes, despite the lacking plotline that ran through it.

So what exactly is happening with these alien babies? Kit must have something interesting going on to draw the attention of these extraterrestrials, and I can’t wait to find out their motivations. Jumping to the present, any more screen time spent with Dylan McDermott is fine by me, so how about forking over an episode to Johnny?

Be sure to check back next week for our review of the next episode, and leave your thoughts and predictions in the comments!