Images courtesy of FX Networks

January 24, 2013



Episode 13: Madness Ends (Aired on Jan. 23, 2013)



Everything from this season wrapped up nicely in the season finale, appropriately titled “Madness Ends.”



The episode begins basically how the first episode begins, except we now see it through the eyes of Johnny/Bloody Face. As he walks through the rundown Briarcliff, he listens to a reading of Lana’s book. As he settles down to listen some more, he hears our newlyweds and their sexcapades. And then, we once again re-live the scene where Adam Levine loses his arm, but it’s almost slower as Johnny puts on the Bloody Face mask on the other side of the wall and hacks away until it’s off. And, well, we know the rest of that story.



Next, it’s Lana’s time to shine. It’s present day, and I’m assuming she’s about in her 60s or early 70s now. She’s preparing for a television interview tell-all. And it’s through Lana’s interview that we learn what happened to our beloved characters and how exactly she shut down Briarcliff.



She explains that after she promised Kit she’d take down Briarcliff, she made her move from books to television, where she became and investigative reporter. And through the exposes, she heads to Briarcliff with a film crew to reveal what’s happened to the asylum since the state took it over. Though she tells the reporter she would have liked to have found Sister Jude, she didn’t find her at the asylum. Instead, she found files covering up Sister Jude’s living arrangement at Briarcliff and her eventual release into Kit’s custody.



In another tale, Lana then explains how she went to Kit to learn what happened to Jude. Kit explains that after spending time with Jude at Briarcliff, he signed for her release and essentially helped her heal. Or rather, his weird alien children did. Though six months after she is healed, the Angel of Darkness comes to visit Jude for the last time.



And in probably my second favorite wrapped up storyline, Kit is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of 40. And in his final days, he disappears, never to be heard from again. However, we all know the aliens finally came for him, as we see it in his eyes.



After some probing, Lana discusses a bit about Dr. Thredson and in a ‘shocking revelation’ she tells the reporter about how she gave up her child after giving birth. She says that at one point, when the child was about 10, she tracked him down and visited him on a playground.



As the shoot wraps up, Lana escorts the crew out and tells Johnny to come out. He made it on the crew after he killed the donut guy, he says. He finally confronts her and pulls a gun on her. But Lana being the sweet talking survivor that she is, turns the tables, gets him to trust her (so easy, since he clearly is his father’s son) and then blows his brains out, just as she did with Dr. Thredson.



The episode wraps with a glimpse of Jude and Lana meeting for the first time again and Jude warning her of the evil in the world.



It was beautifully done from start to finish. From the storyline right down to the camera work, the episode was probably one of my favorites of the season (and much better than last season’s finale). I still feel like there are timeline questions though. As Lana says that the state took over Briarcliff in 1965. However, in last week’s episode, the nurse says the takeover was in ’64, but Jude thought it was in ’68. I don’t really know if that means anything. One theory about the end is that since we see Jude and Lana at Briarcliff, and then Lana eventually walking out, that possibly everything in the entire season just never happened. I mean, what if Lana didn’t pursue her lede and head back to the asylum. She never would have been committed, Bloody Face never would have attacked her, or her lover for that matter. But I think the ultimate fate of Briarcliff was inevitable. Someone was bound to shut it down and expose all the corruption and lies. And either way, aliens still exist, which is awesome.



I am very curious to see what next season brings. I do know that Jessica Lange, Evan Peters and Sarah Paulsen have all signed on to star in it. So, it should be good!