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This article is about the episode.

For other uses, see Rubber Man (disambiguation).

Rubber Man

Season 1, Episode 8
Air date	November 23, 2011
Written by	Ryan Murphy
Directed by	Miguel Arteta
Episode Guide
Previous "Open House"	Next "Spooky Little Girl"

Rubber Man is the 8th episode of the first season of American Horror Story. It was first broadcast November 23, 2011.

Synopsis Edit

The "Rubber Man" is finally unmasked.

Plot Edit

2011: Six Months Ago

The episode starts six months ago, when the Harmons moved in. Nora is walking through the house, speaking to someone. Two hands go to the trash and grab the discarded Rubber suit that Ben had thrown away. The door to Ben & Vivien's bedroom opens, with Vivien rubbing lotion on her legs. The pilot scene proceeds as Rubber Man and Vivien have sex another. Afterwards, Ben returns to the bedroom, and both Vivien and Ben in a daze tell each other they love the other. In the bathroom, Rubber Man takes off the suit, revealing Tate underneath. His motivation is to get Vivien pregnant so Nora can have a baby.

2010

Chad feels like he's going crazy. He says that Patrick has been distant lately, and mentions the adjustments to the house have put them under a lot of stress. He mentions that every time he mentions about having a baby, Patrick changes the subject. He is out at a restaurant with his lesbian friend Peggy to ask for her advice. Peggy asks him if maybe he's just overreacting. Chad then confides to Peggy that he has found out that Patrick is having an online affair in a BDSM chatroom. She advises him to take charge and to "spice things up a bit". As a result, Chad goes out to buy the rubber suit.

Present

Hayden and Nora torture Vivien until she shoots Ben and gets incarcerated. Vivien shot Ben thinking it was the Rubber Man, after he raped Vivien in order to get her to lose her mind.

2010: Halloween

Tate dons the Rubber Man suit, before drowning Chad in the bobbing apple barrel. (As seen in Halloween: Part 2.) Patrick, who comes upon the Rubber Man and his murdered lover. Tate/Rubber Man proceeds to grab Patrick, hurling him against the table bludgeoning him before grabbing a fireplace rod to beat him. He then proceeds to murder Patrick by piercing his rectum with the hooked rod. Nora is in the basement looking over the gunshot wound on Patrick's head, Tate comes behind her, comforting her and telling her he knows she has suffered a long time, and he will help her get a baby.

Present

Violet confronting her fears, goes to the basement to play with Beauregard. Ben finds her downstairs and asks who she is talking to. Violet lies and says "No one". The two go up to Ben's office, where they have a father daughter talk. Ben tells Violet he has been informed that she has not been at school for the last two weeks and asks her why is she missing classes.

Scene moves to Moira and Vivien, who are talking. Moira tells Vivien she should leave the house.

Violet gives Tate her virginity. She describes the experience of sex as "intense".

Hayden tries to seduce Tate in order to get him excited before the rape of Vivien. Tate refuses her advances, saying that although what he is about to do will be difficult and he has to prepare himself, he is in love. Vivien believes that Ben is in cahoots with Hayden and is trying to make her go insane in order to replace Vivien with Hayden once Vivien is institutionalized.

Tate wants Vivien gone since Vivien had tried to remove Violet from the property and move her either to Ohio or to Florida. As Vivien and Violet are trying to leave the property, Fiona and Dallas appear in the backseat of the car. We see Tate and Hayden looking smugly on the scene. Tate was upset just a moment before, seeing Violet leave. Vivien and Violet quickly run back inside the house. Violet confirms this with the police when questioned, but lies to her father. Violet tells Ben that she only confirmed her mother's story, since this was what her mother wanted. Violet lies to Ben because she does not want to leave the house and Tate.

Moira and Hayden also fight.

It is revealed that Hayden sometimes has sex with Constance's ex-husband Hugo, and then fake murders him in order to take out her revenge fantasies on him. He however, being a ghost, bleeds, but then snaps right back seemingly without pain and goes to the kitchen to eat something. At the end of the episode, Ben leaves to his apartment and Vivien is incarcerated, leaving Tate and Violet alone in the house. Tate assures Violet that he will be there for her.

2010:Halloween

Tate is in the process of dragging the bodies into the basement when Moira interrupts him. dragged the bodies of the dying men to the basement and, upon Moira's advice, staged the scene to make it look like a murder/suicide. Chad is still alive and tries to reach for Patrick. Tate shoots Patrick several times before shooting Chad in the heart.

Featured Characters Edit

Peggy Edit

Peggy

Portrayed by	Kathleen Rose Perkins
Occupation	possibly therapist

Peggy is a guest character. She is either a supportive friend of Chad's and a lesbian^[1] or Chad's therapist ^[2]. Her character is portrayed by Kathleen Rose Perkins.

Gary Edit

Gary

Portrayed by	Richard Short
Occupation	S&M shop clerk

British salesclerk in the S&M shop where Chad buys the rubber suit. Portrayed by Richard Short.

Quotes Edit

Moira: "Haven’t you read "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman?"
Vivien: "No."
Moira: "Her husband, a doctor, locks her away in the upstairs bedroom to recuperate from a slight hysterical tendency. Staring at the yellow wallpaper day after day, she begins to hallucinate that there are women trapped in the pattern. Half mad, she scrapes off the wallpaper to set the women free. When her husband finally unlocks the door he finds her circling the room, touching the wallpaper, whispering "I finally got out of here.""
Marcy (to Vivien): "So you think Joe Eskandarian is a ghost too? Did you tell him your ghost stories, he laughed and then you bit his head off?"
Tate (to Nora): "I know you've suffered a long time. I'm here to help you."
Gary (to Chad, trying to sell him the rubber suit): "You wouldn't believe how slimming it is- especially in black."
Patrick (to Chad wearing the rubber suit): "Are you going as sausage this Halloween? [...] Chad, depressing sex is even more depressing when you try so hard. [...] Take that off, so that we can watch The Rachel Zoe Project together without you passing out. [...] And for the record, I like leather, not latex."
[Hayden meets Tate in the basement]
Hayden: "Look at Little Lord Fauntleroy. Writing sorrowful sonnets in your head to that little Nightingale bitch?"
Hayden (mocking): "Adieu, nightingale! Thy plaintive anthem fades.^[3]^[4]"
Tate: "That's Keats."
Hayden: "Who cares!? You're like a girl sulking down here in the basement instead of doing something about what's really bothering you."
[Hayden speaks to Tate about getting rid of Vivien by raping her]
Hayden: "You know what you have to do?"
Tate: "Yeah, I do. I just have to prepare myself. It's not fun."
Hayden: "Do you wanna fool around while you work your way up to it? Come on!"
Tate: "I'm not into it!"
Hayden: "What is it about being dead that makes me so horny?!"
Tate: "Quit it! I'm in love."
Hayden: "You are pathetic. [...] Better locate your balls before you go in there, that bitch is tough!"
Hayden (to Nora): "We are both as dead as disco!"
[Tate murders Chad and Patrick for Nora.]
Moira: "I think you should get over your compulsive need to please the ladies of this house."
Tate (sarcastic): "I've got mommy issues. Know any good therapists?!"
[...]
Tate: "It's kind of romantic, isn't it? Now they'll be together forever."
Hayden (to Nora): "How come [Vivien] gets to have two and we don't get to have any?"
Vivien (to Ben): "If you are about to diagnose me with Post-traumatic Shock Syndrome, I'm going to bash your goddamn face in."
Violet (to Ben): "How is it that a big fancy shrink hasn't noticed that his wife has totally lost her shit? [...] You're a cheater: Young girls, old ladies with feather dusters! You're so weird and pathetic I'm surprised you're not after me."
Tate: "Did it hurt? The first time usually does."
Violet: "No, it was intense."
Tate: "For me too."
Violet: "You really are here, aren’t you?"
Tate: "Of course. I’ll always be here… If that’s what you want…"
Violet: "And they’ll always be here too, won’t they? The… whatever, others."
Tate: "They can’t hurt us, Violet. They’re just trying to scare you."
Violet: "I wish I could tell my mom that."
Tate: "You can't! You can't Violet! If you tell anyone what we know, they'll say you're crazy. They'll lock you up. They'll try to take you away from here! We'd never see each other again!"

Trivia Edit

All fetish gear was from the LA latex fetish specialist store "Syren". ^[5]
The screen names of Patrick and his "master" in the BDSM yahoo chat are "Hardlovejunky656" and "JungleJim4322", respectively.
According to television/film analysis website TV Tropes, this episode can be considered what is known as a "Villain Episode", which either tells an episode's story from its antagonist's point of view, or focuses on the season's main antagonist rather than the protagonists. In this case: Tate, Nora and Hayden.