Halloween: Part 2

Season 1, Episode 5
Air date	November 2, 2011
Written by	Tim Minear
Directed by	David Semel
Episode Guide
Previous "Halloween: Part 1"	Next "Piggy Piggy"

Halloween: Part 2 is the fifth episode of the first season of American Horror Story. It was first broadcast on November 2, 2011 on FX in the United States.

Synopsis Edit

Tate comes face to face with his past; Ben and Vivien are haunted by one of the house's newest guests.

Plot Edit

In a continuation of the previous episode's scene, Larry is still banging at the door and scaring away trick-or-treaters. Out of the corner of her eye, Violet catches a glimpse of Rubber Man. When she turns, he vanishes without a trace. She heads upstairs to her room and an arm reaches out from under the bed, but she pulls away before it can touch her, as she hears rocks softly against her window. It's Tate outside, who takes her to the beach for their date.

Ben and Vivien arrive home to the screaming alarm, again recalled from the previous episode. There's a knock at the door and Ben answers it. When he sees that it's Hayden, he slams the door in her face and is in complete disbelief. Violet calls Vivien, saying she's out with her friends, and is safe. In reality, she is with Tate at a lifeguard station at the beach.

Ben arms himself, allegedly from the vandals outside. Vivien talks him down, and then tells Ben she wants him to move out the next day. She states that she wants to take a bath, and as she walks away, Ben angrily affirms, "I'm not giving up on this family!"

Ben chases Hayden outside and grabs the shovel. Larry sneaks up behind him, saying, "I want my money!" Ben responds by hitting him in the face with the shovel. He continues to throw Larry around, demanding to know where Hayden is. Larry insists Hayden is under the gazebo. Ben believes that Larry and Hayden are working together to blackmail him, but Larry realizes that Ben is unaware the spirits of those who die on the property dwell in the house. Larry laughs, still being beaten, about how naive Ben is about the situation. Larry taunts Ben, begging for Ben to kill him, but Ben settles for threatening Larry to never return.

Luke, the Heirloom Security officer^[1] arrives, questioning Vivien about the triggered alarm. Vivien covers, saying that Violet must have set it off and also says the porch vandalism must have been neighborhood kids. The officer leaves after being assured that the Harmon's feel safer with him around.

On the beach, Tate and Violet begin making out. Violet offers for Tate to take her virginity, but Tate declines, saying that he feels something deeper for her. He apparently does not have an erection and apologizes, saying that this has never happened to him before. Violet jokingly asks him if he's gay. He denies this and says that he believes that the medication that her father prescribed him is causing his erectile problem. Offended, Violet gets up to leave, but he asks her not to go. She relents. Tate descibes how this place used to be his refuge from the stresses of high school. Some high school students approach the couple, with gory injuries. It is unclear whether they are dressed as zombies or are ghosts. It turns out that they are familiar (and angry) with Tate, though he claims not to recognize them. They accuse him of having hidden out for years in "mommy's little safehouse". Tate and Violet leave.

Hayden calls Vivien as she prepares her bath. Hayden taunts Vivien and leaves a note in the steam on the bathroom mirror demanding that Vivien ask Ben about Boston.

Vivien freaks out about Hayden being in the house. Ben argues with her about calling the police, citing the public reaction to "ten cop cars outside a 'For Sale' house". In actuality, Ben grabs a kitchen knife and goes looking for Hayden in the basement. He finds her and begs her to leave. Ben still believes that she and Larry are extorting him. Hayden begins to cough up bloody internals, realizing that she is rotting inside, but not initially knowing why. She catches up, then berates Ben for her grave and treatment. Ben is still frustrated and confused about the situation, until Larry knocks him unconcious with the shovel. Larry tries to apologize to Hayden for what happened, but she dismisses him, saying she'll deal with him later. Larry offers his arson talents to take care of Vivien.

Chad is tearing up the yard decorations. Vivien confronts him, and he blames her for ruining his evening with Patrick; he speculates as to the infidelities Patrick has been indulging during the evening. Vivien threatens to signal the authorities, but Chad warns her that no one can protect her, yelling for her to "Get out of my house!"

Hayden relaxes in the tub upstairs while Vivien searches for Ben. Hallie begins barking, and Vivien presses the panic alarm. Investigating, she finds a bathroom downstairs on fire.

Back at home, Violet asks Tate about his pursuers. He claims again not to know them. The students have followed the couple to the Murder House.

Hayden calls and taunts Vivien on the phone once more. Hinting that she is in the kitchen with Hallie prompts Vivien to find her, armed with a golf club. Cautiously, Vivien looks around for the missing dog. She is startled when something red combustes inside the microwave.

On the porch, the teenagers are waiting for Tate. Violet tries to menace them, but they taunt her instead. They discover that Violet is unaware as to why they are so angry with Tate: opening fire on them in school, killing them all.^[2] Tate tries to protect Violet by leading the students on a chase away from the house. Violet calls the police, but her call is interrupted by Constance, who blames Violet for Addy's death.

Once again, Vivien presses the panic button. She is relieved that a noise in the closet is a trapped Hallie. Hayden stands in the bedroom door, saying that she won't leave until Vivien is aware of Ben's indescrepencies, including her murder and pregnancy. Vivien thinks that Hayden is referring to Vivien's unborn child, which Hayden was unaware of. Hayden blames Ben's nonchalance about her abortion on Vivien being pregnant, and moves advances towards her with a large shard of glass, intent on cutting out Vivien's fetus.

Meanwhile, Larry is saturating the dining room with fuel until stopped by Chad, who exclaims, "What are you doing to my house?!"

Ben awakens bound with rope in the basement. Nora Montgomery stands over him, chastising him for failing to protect his family and unborn child, then cuts his bonds. He reaches the bedroom in time to interrupt the struggling Vivien and Hayden. Vivien, at Hayden's urging, asks Ben about Boston. Ben admits that he lied, not only about the recent visit, but about a continuing an affair with Hayden after Vivien caught them. Vindicated and mission fulfilled, Hayden drops the shard of glass. The security officer enters, and removes Hayden as an intruder.

Constance is sitting in her kitchen with Violet. Constance recounts visiting Addy in the morgue. In the morgue drawer, Constance applies makeup to Addy's corpse, calling her "a pretty girl". Constance does not truly blame Violet, and allows her to have one of her cigarettes. Constance discloses that Tate is one of her children. She makes Violet promise not to reveal Addy's death to Tate, saying that it will crush him emotionally. Constance praises Violet's emotional fortitude, and speculates that it may be what attracts him.

The student's ghosts catch up to Tate, but he does not seem to realize they are ghosts. They confront him about his actions and want to know why he selected them for death. He starts to realize that his school shooting fantasies actually occurred, but he still does not remember.

As the sun begins to rise, the ghosts whose souls are trapped within the house retutn including Hayden, who vanishes from the back seat of Luke's car. Ben packs his things into a suitcase. He kisses Vivien goodbye, although she can not bear to look at him. He leaves the house without a word.

Notes Edit

• This is the first episode not to feature a flashback in the opening.
• In Tate's monologue on the beach, he says to Violet: "I used to come here… when the world closed in and got so small I couldn’t breathe. I’d look out at the ocean, and I’d think 'Yo, douche bag, high school counts for jack shit.' Kurt Cobain, Quentin Tarantino, Brando, DeNiro, Pacino, all high school dropouts. I hated high school. So I come here and I look out at this vast limitless expanse and it’s like that’s your life man, you can do anything, you can be anything, screw high school that’s just a blip in your timeline, don’t get stuck there…" This is of course both ironic and sad, since this is precisely what happened: Tate got stuck in high school. He has for the last 17 years been stuck in the body of a high school student and will never be able to 'move on', age and experience other life experiences such as starting a family or working.

Guest Stars Edit

• Kate Mara as Hayden McClaine
• Zachary Quinto as Chad Warwick
• Frances Conroy as Moira O'Hara
• Jamie Brewer as Adelaide
• Lily Rabe as Nora Montgomery
• Teddy Sears as Patrick
• Brando Eaton as Kyle Greenwell
• Ashley Rickards as Chloe Stapleton
• Alessandra Torresani as Stephanie Boggs
• Jordan David as Kevin Gedman
• Rosa Salazar as Maria
• Morris Chestnut as Luke
• Celia Finkelstein as Gladys
• Alexander Nimetz as Amir Stanley
• Bodhi Schulz as Troy
• Kai Schulz as Bryan

Videos Edit

Teaser for "Halloween: Part 2"

Special Preview from "Halloween: Part 2"

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