‘American Horror Story: Hotel’ Episode 4 Recap & Review: Mr. March Reveals Himself To Lowe

The Devil’s Soiree, hosted by Mr. March every year is an event attended by murderers of all varieties throughout recent American history. Detective Lowe is learning to enjoy his time at the Hotel Cortez, in spite of his official split from Alex, and reaches a new low. Meanwhile, Alex tracks down what happened to her son which leads her down a road she cannot come back from.

American Horror Story: Hotel Recap’ Episode 4 Recap & Review

A new killer is in the Hotel Cortez: Ricky is no stranger, either. Mr. March greets him like a friend after he bashes in the head of a sleeping guest.

Mrs. Evers always has a hard time on Halloween. Back in 1925, her son was kidnapped and murdered on a ranch outside of town. She is scrubbing the blood out of the sheets that is always reappearing when John (Wes Bentley) comes into his room. He pores a drink while she tells him all about it. They bond over the fact that they have both lost sons.

In last week’s episode, John and his wife Alex (Cloe Sovigny) are having to grapple with their daughter claiming to have seen their dead son, Holden, in the Hotel Cortez. Neither believe Scarlet when she tells them the story, but when after Alex hands John divorce papers Holden makes an appearance. Now we find out that not only did she encounter Holden, but she takes him home with her.

Holden doesn’t remember her or his former home. In fact, the first thing he does is he starts drinking the dog’s blood and says he wants his “other mommy.”

The trail leads her back to the Countess (Lady Gaga). In her mind, she rescued Holden from a life of neglect. Now he gets a life of eternal vitality, and it would seem that she has had similar plans on John. There has been something subtly leading John to the Cortez since 2010. The conspiracy is constantly expanding in the Lowe family’s unwitting affiliation to the hotel. Meanwhile, John is at the bar, “surrendering to the illusion.”

Mr. Lowe is starting to make friends. Ilene is a hooker/drifter/famed murderer, and Lowe being detective, knows exactly who she is. He doesn’t care though and invites her up to his room. Not unexpectedly, he wakes up tied to a chair but manages to escape. He learns from Liz Taylor at the front desk that Ilene isn’t the only murderer in and out of the hotel. Mr. March is also about. Then the news that he’s been invited to the Devil’s Night Soiree hosted by the former.

Ilene, the Night Stalker and Jeffrey Dahmer are all in attendance at Mr. March’s soiree. The Mount Rushmore of murderers. Topics of discussion include the fluidity of evidence and the art of the kill. Dahmer gets a nice little gift (a victim) from March and a display is made about the discipline behind hunting and killing. It is almost heart-warming the way March respects and admires his fellow slayers, he each one of them as American success stories.

The Devil’s Soiree may or may not have been a real experience for Lowe. But we know from watching his progression in previous episodes that he is getting far too comfortable. The fact that he has ever been there in the first place may have been planned from the moment his son went missing five years ago. Maybe something is leading him to where he and his wife truly belong?

American Horror Story: Hotel airs Wednesdays on FX

Pictured: Lady Gaga as the Countess Elizabeth.