Note: This post contains spoilers for FX’s American Horror Story: Hotel. Read at your own risk.
American Horror Story: Hotel has finally come to an end, and though emotional, the finale was disappointing. I can’t really say I didn’t see this coming, because I did, but I was hoping the writers had something up their sleeves. Suffice it to say, they didn’t, and the episode was a letdown. We did see a few great performances—particularly from Dennis O’Hare (who plays Liz Taylor)—but unfortunately that’s not enough to redeem this season’s mediocrity.
With the threat of the Countess officially removed, “Be Our Guest” focused on the rebirth of the Hotel Cortez, and served as an epilogue to the season. Though Liz and Iris did their best to turn things around by refurbishing certain areas (even serving champagne at the front desk), the community of ghouls have taken it upon themselves to murder every guest that comes through the door, thus ruining the chances of becoming a five-star hotel. Once things started getting out of hand, Liz and Iris decided to hold a meeting to confront their “permanent” residents.
There were a couple of familiar faces in the crowd—including the Swedish girls from the first episode, and the realtor from the first season of the show—but it turned out that most of them weren’t involved in the killings. In fact, there were actually only two individuals involved: Sally and, for some reason, Will Drake. Considering her past, Sally didn’t come as a surprise, but Will sure did. Like characters have previously, he claimed killing made him feel alive. Though that motive makes sense, there wasn’t enough substance to his character to begin with to make the change seem believable and organic. It would have worked better to make the Countess one of the killers.
Whatever the case, the new heads of the hotel were hoping to convince the crew to stop murdering because it was bad for business. Luckily, they didn’t need to do much convincing, because March showed up out of nowhere and agreed with them. Apparently, after John completed his 10 Commandments quest, March realized he’d finally passed the torch and was ready to move on (at least until the hotel became a historical monument and couldn’t be torn down).
With Sally and Will Drake reluctant to stop causing “mischief,” Liz and Iris got to work on a new game plan. To  keep Sally busy, they introduced her to social media. Yes, you read that correctly. Since the majority of the junkie’s woes come from craving a connection with people, Iris thought it would be a good idea to give her a cell phone so she could chat with people via Twitter and Instagram. She took photos of her clothes, videos of Liz, and shared her angsty feelings with the world. And the Internet loved it.
As for Will Drake, Liz solved his crumbling business dilemma by fabulously filling in for him during meetings. Despite my issues with Will, I’d actually love to see a spinoff featuring Liz’s new fashion career. Additionally, Will was turned into a Howard Hughes-type eccentric who never left the hotel. All of the fashion shows were held there, and featured the hotel’s ghosts as models… except of course for Tristan, who is still missing for some reason.
Ah, we’ve been wondering what happened to Tristan. The answer to this question brought in another AHS cameo this week that I’m sure you’ll love. Billie Dean Howard (season one) was called to the house to help Liz reconnect with Tristan. Sadly, Billie’s visit didn’t quite pan out the way Liz had hoped. Tristan supposedly stated that he didn’t want to talk to her. While I don’t necessarily agree with the need to bring Tristan back—the relationship was rushed and never felt real—O’Hare’s acting in this sequence was impressively heart-wrenching.
The rest of Liz’s tale was bittersweet. Not long after her son brought his own child into the world, she found out she had untreatable cancer. Despite Ramona and Will Drake’s offers to help her out, Liz chose assisted suicide, courtesy of the Countess. It was touching to see the Countess’ reappearance at Liz’s bedside. If you remember, she was the one who convinced Liz to be herself, and dolled her up for the first time. It would have been great to see Gaga in more of the scenes, but I suppose the two she was in were enough. Anyways, following her death, Liz was finally reunited with Tristan, who had been giving her space to live her own life before they could be together eternally.
The second half of the episode brought Billie Dean back to the hotel after having filmed several episodes of her paranormal show. The hotel’s ghostly activity had made her immensely popular, and its inhabitants didn’t like that. John Lowe (who died in the interim after being caught by the cops) got the psychic to come to the hotel on another Devil’s Night, since that was the only day he’d be able to return. To get rid of her once and for all, John invited her to the soiree. After sipping on some absinthe, Billie spent a fair amount of time naming all of the serial killers who were in attendance. While I loved this batch earlier this season, using them again in pretty much the same way felt cheap.
Once she realized what was going on, things went from bad to worse for Billie. The ghosts handcuffed her to the chair and threatened to kill her if she kept discussing the hotel and shooting specials there. After she pointed out how flawed the plan was because they couldn’t leave the premises, Ramona showed up and explained how she’d be the exception since she wasn’t dead. This must have been enough for Billie, because she ran out of the hotel as quickly as possible.
There you have it, folks. Another season of American Horror Story is in the books. What did you think of the finale? Who was your favorite character this season? Let us know in the comments!
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Images: FX
