HOLLYWOOD—Well if you thought season one was horrific, you must’ve missed the second outing.  “American Horror Story: Asylum” wrapped its season on Wednesday night and it was a bloody twisted one to say the least.  In the end only one was left standing and that was none other than Lana (Sarah Paulson).

The episode opened with the current bloody face, Johnny (Dylan McDermott) searching for something inside an abandoned Briarcliff, while Lana chronicles her torment inside the asylum, describing the wicked Thredson (Zachary Quinto) as the audience realizes that Johnny is the child of both Lana and Thredson, who is determined to finish the work of his crazed father. Flashing back to the very first episode, explains precisely what happened to Leo’s (Adam Levine) arm.  Lana has become a bit of a star thanks to her book as she gets interviewed for her work.

Lana attempts to venture back into Briarcliff to expose all of the asylum’s dark and dirty secrets that have been kept under wraps, in her attempt to rescue Sister Jude (Jessica Lange).  The footage delivered to the audience is quite grainy.  While you’d like to believe what is being seen is real, it could have been staged.  As Lana locks eyes on Sister Jude its an emotional reunion; one where it’s obvious Lana wants to save this woman who did horrific things to her.  We then discover that it was all make believe; Sister Jude was no longer there. During the brief break from her interview she receives a bottle of sparkling water from Johnny, her son (only she doesn’t know it)!

Lana reunites with Kit (Evan Peters), but he’s quite thrown off by the cameras that she has brought along with her.  She was quite inquisitive to want to find Betty Drake who may be an alias for Sister Jude.  Kit, just like Lana wanted to rescue Jude, and paid countless visits to her until he rescued her and brought her into his home, helping to rid her of the insanity that she encountered. Kit’s children were able to deal with Jude, better than he could.  The enemies were now best friends, he discovered that she was ill and she died peacefully. It was quite heart-breaking to watch.  You feel so conflicted by this character; she was wickedly evil, but throughout her horrifying ordeal she was redeemed.

The audience is treated to the death of Monsignor Howard (Joseph Fiennes) who committed suicide, perhaps at the hands of Lana’ torturous torment to psychologically damage him.  Lana unveils that she gave up her child up for adoption; he didn’t die.  While revealing the secret, Johnny spies from a distance.  She even reunites with her child during his early years protecting him from a bully.  Lana revealed that Kit was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and suddenly disappeared.  We’re made to believe that he was abducted by aliens.

After everyone leaves, Lana asks her son to come from behind the shadows to address their past. Johnny makes it pretty clear that he’s about to murder his mother and she’s not too surprised to hear the news. A flashback reveals that Lana received a visit from the authorities confirming the identity of her son. McDermott was quite frightening as a troubled young man craving for the love of his mother.  He held a gun to his mother’s head as he prepared to take her life.  She attempted to woo her son out of his damaged mental state.

A tender moment for the mother and son, as she was able to bond with him on an emotional level; in a stunning turn of events she takes the gun and blows her son’s head off.  I kind of predicted that Lana would be the last one standing after all the chaos ended.  It was a nice touch to see the season wrap with a flashback to Lana’s first encounter with Sister Jude who predicted how her life would turn out; lonely and miserable.

Now that season two is a wrap, audiences will be eagerly awaiting the return of the series for season three which will see the return of Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters.  Just what horrors await us have yet to be revealed from geniuses Ryan Murphy and Brad Fulchak.

By LaDale Anderson