Rubber Man (episode)

Rubber Man

Story	Episode
Murder House	8

Premiere

November 23, 2011

Written by

Ryan Murphy

Directed by

Miguel Arteta

Previous	Next
"Open House"	"Spooky Little Girl"

"Rubber Man" is the eighth episode of the first season ("Murder House"). It premiered November 23, 2011.

Episode Music

Performer	Song	Links
Artie Shaw	Nightmare
Martha Reeves	Spooky
Lena Horne	Good-for-Nothin' Joe
Charlie Barnet	Blue Juice

Synopsis

The "Rubber Man" is finally unmasked.

Plot

2011: Six Months Ago

As the Harmons move in, Nora is distraught that someone has changed her house. She collapses into a chair and starts to weep for her baby as a man comforts her. The mystery man approaches the house trash can and retrieves the rubber suit that Ben had thrown away. The door to Ben and Vivien's bedroom opens, and Vivien is inside rubbing lotion on her legs. Rubber Man and Vivien have sex. Afterwards, Ben returns to the bedroom, passing Rubber man on the stairs, and both Vivien and Ben in a daze tell each other they love the other. In the bathroom, Rubber Man takes off the suit. Tate is underneath. His motivation is to get Vivien pregnant so that Nora can have a baby.

Present

Vivien, Moira and Marcy are talking in the kitchen. Vivien expresses that she is not crazy, and that Nora was really in the house. Moira and Marcy try to dissuade her from this notion and explain it rationally, but Vivien is convinced someone is trying to make her feel like she's crazy. Marcy tells Vivien that her cousin Helen became paranoid when she was pregnant. Marcy leaves to speak to Mr. Escandarian.

2010

Chad feels like he's going crazy. He is dining with his friend Peggy and seeks her advice. He says that Patrick has been distant lately and explains that the renovations to the house have put them under a lot of stress. He states that every time he brings up the subject of having a baby, Patrick changes the subject. 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 chat room. She advises him to take charge and to "spice things up a bit". As a result, Chad goes out and buys the rubber suit.

Present

Hayden confronts Nora who's crying and tells her how it's annoying her, then begins to comfort her. She explains that there are other ghosts trapped in the house. Hayden tells Nora about her angry feelings. Nora refuses to believe she's dead, but Hayden shows her the bullet hole in the back of the head. Hayden and Nora relate over their lost children, and Hayden suggests they take Vivien's babies, because she can't "raise children in the loony bin".

Vivien is washing up in the bathroom. She tells herself she is just tired, and proceeds to walk into her bedroom. A sound is heard from the hall, and Vivien leaves her room. The red ball rolls down the hall and Vivien picks it up, asking if anyone is there. The lights blows out and Hayden laughs and shatters a vase. Vivien picks up a candlestick to use as a weapon. Another vase falls and a dresser rushes towards Vivien, forcing her to retreat to the bathroom, where she sees the Rubber Man mask on the sink.

2010: Halloween

Tate dons the Rubber Man suit, before starting to drown Chad in the bobbing apple barrel. Patrick, dressed as a cowboy, 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 she missing classes. Violet argues that it's boring and they bully her, and then points out that his wife is acting weird as well. Ben trying to psychoanalyze her, but Violet snaps at him, telling him it is his fault.

The scene moves to Moira and Vivien, who are talking. Vivien tells Moira she has an explanation for "all the crazy stuff that's happening". Moira pours her some tea and comforts Vivien. She tells her about a book called "The Yellow Wallpaper", about a women who is locked in the attic for a slight hysterical tendency. Being trapped there, day after day, the women begins to hallucinate that there are women trapped in the pattern of the wall paper and scrapes it all off. When her husband returns, he finds her whispering "I finally got out of here" to the wallpaper. Moira continues to tell Vivien that men will always find reasons to lock women away. She tells Vivien that she is not crazy, and the things in the house are really happening, and that the house is possessed. She finally tells Vivien that she should leave the house.

Vivien wakes Violet and tells her they're leaving the house. As they walk away, Tate watches from the front porch, before catching Violet's eyes, seemingly begging her not to go with his eyes. They get in the car, but the ghosts of Fiona and Dallas are in the backseat, and they scare them from the car.

Ben confronts Vivien for trying to take Violet away from him. Vivien tells him the home invaders were here, but Ben doesn't believe her, as the police found no evidence. They argue. Vivien reassures him that Violet saw them too.

Violet gives Tate her virginity. She describes the experience of sex as "intense". Tate agrees. Tate reassures Violet that he'll always be with her, and Violet asks if they others will be too. Tate tells her they can't hurt her. Violet asks him if the home invaders are dead, too. He tells her they are only trying to scare her and that she can't tell anyone, because they'll think she's crazy. Ben calls her down.

Ben and Vivien continue arguing about leaving the house, Hayden and Vivien's mental health. Vivien throws the rubber mask at Ben, but he denying ever wearing it. Violet lies about what she saw the previous night, saying she confirmed her mother's story because it was what her mother wanted.

Hayden tells Tate that Vivien has booked their plane tickets, and that he knows what he has to do. Tate acknowledges she's right, and she tries to seduce him in order to get him excited before he rapes Vivien. Tate refuses her advances, saying that he is in love. She tells him what he is about to do will be difficult and he has to prepare himself.

Vivien confronts Marcy about Joe, but as they are arguing, Vivien fakes sickness, and Marcy rushes to get her a drink of water. Vivien steal Marcy's gun from her purse before she returns, and then tells her she isn't feeling well and that she's going to lay down.

Vivien goes to bed, but finds herself seeing the Rubber Man in the dark. She gets back up to investigate. The Rubber Man passes behind her, and then he grabs her. Vivien screams and he releases her, and she stumbles back to the bed. She grabs Marcy's gun as someone comes in. Believing it to the Rubber Man, she shoots him. It is Ben.

Luke confronts Ben about Vivien's "psychotic break", believing he has ulterior motives. Ben demands he leave.

Vivien is suffering from hallucinations of the Rubber Man attacking and Hayden trying to take her babies. Ben and Luke hold her down and try to calm her as she insists her rapist and Hayden are in the house. Violet ushers in two police officers who take her to a psych ward.

Ben leaves to go to the hospital with Vivien, 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. Chad is still alive and tries to reach for Patrick. Moira give Tate their gun, and he stages the scene to make it look like a murder/suicide by shooting Patrick several times before making Chad hold the gun and shoot himself in the heart.

Featured Characters

Peggy

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

Gary

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

Quotes

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)
Decided to go as sausage for Halloween this year? [...] Chad, depressing sex is even more depressing when you try so hard. [...] Take it off, so that we can watch Rachel Zoe without me worrying about 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.^[2]^[3]
Tate
That's Keats.
Hayden
Who gives a shit!? 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!

Notes

Denis O'Hare (Larry Harvey) and Jessica Lange (Constance Langdon) are credited but do not appear. This is the only episode to date not to feature her.
All fetish gear was from the LA latex fetish specialist store "Syren". ^[4]
The screen names of Patrick and his "master" in the BDSM yahoo chat are "Hardlovejunky656" and "JungleJim4322", respectively.
This episode can be considered 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, Chad, and Hayden.