‘American Horror Story: Hotel’ Episode 5 Recap & Review: Alex Is Torn Between Saving And Slaughtering Her Clientele

Last week was Devil’s Soiree, and John Lowe (Wes Bentley) discovered the origins of evil in the Hotel Cortez. He woke up as if it was a dream, but he knows the hotel is loaded with legendary killers. Not only that, but Alex (Cloe Solvigny) discovers the fate of her son Holden. The Countess (Lady Gaga) passed on the rare blood disease that turns people into vampires. Alex cut a deal with the devil to spend eternity with her son, and now she has to struggle through her day-to-day without abusing her power or or chewing on the jugulars of her peers. The Lowe family is tangled more and more into the Countess’s macabre web.

‘American Horror Story: Hotel’ Recap

Alex is officially infected with whatever the Countess gave her. Her skin is pasty white, and she ravenously raids the blood storage closet when nobody is looking. One of her patients has started with measles and its turned into pneumonia. His mother is an anti-vaxxer, none of this is his fault. Should she save him with her new-found power?

Donovan (Matt Bomer) shows up at Ramona’s (Angela Bassett) mansion with his mother, Iris (Kathy Bates). He doesn’t tell her that he saved her by infecting her, but nobody fools Ramona. “She don’ Turnt,” she tells him in her nightgown in the middle of the night. Donovan seems to want to use his mother as an in to get revenge on the Countess. Donovan and Ramona come together on account of the fact that they have both been dumped by her.

A pallid and shuddering Iris drags her feet through the lobby of the Hotel Cortez and is intercepted by Liz Taylor. “You look like you could use a little hair of the dog,” he says coolly. He pours her a cocktail from the Countess’s secret stash: blood with a drop of vermouth. He knows exactly what she needs. She needs to feed.

Alex’s measles patient is back at school and he’s “turnt” also. His miraculous recovery is shadowed by the fact that he infects his entire classroom and feeds them on the blood of teachers.

Detective Lowe is explaining to his boss that the Hotel Cortez is full of people impersonating notorious murderers. He gets fired for being crazy.

Iris, like Alex, is having a difficult time adjusting to being a bloodsucking immortal, but Liz Taylor is helping her. Liz uses this relationship as an opportunity for some back story.

1984: Liz Taylor (Denis O’Hare) is not a cross dresser, but a married businessman who is the same dress size as his wife. Secretly cross dressing in the Hotel Cortez is a sure way to attract the attention of the Countess. She surprises him in his room and comforts him when he is distraught about his looks and desire to be a woman. “You don’t lack beauty. You lack commitment.” She takes him into her world, gives him a makeover and christens him with Liz Taylor. Anyone who doesn’t see the Countess as a sweetheart hasn’t been paying close enough attention.

Iris wets her fangs on two guests who can’t stop breathing down her neck and degrading her.

John Lowe wakes up next to Sally (Sarah Paulson). Then he decides to be a total jerk and immediately kicks her out. Understandably, her feelings are hurt.

Although it is already episode 5, it feels as though the season is still barely getting started. Iris is blossoming into a fine, empowered individual, while audiences have to wonder how the vampire disease outbreak will be dealt with by authorities. What is John going to do now that he is no longer Detective Lowe? Whatever the situation is at the Hotel Cortez, it never stops spiraling.

American Horror Story: Hotel airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on FX.

Pictured: Evan Peters as James March