American Horror Story: Hotel Season 5 Episode 3 'Mommy'

Angela Bassett as 'Ramona Royale'

Every week, details are revealed about the characters and this episode, we get to meet Ramona Royale (played by Angela Bassett) who has a vendetta against Elizabeth/the Countess. It just keeps getting better! Now for the recap.

Tristan becomes fascinated with March when he discovers who he really is, thanks to google. He seeks him out and proposes they work together. This was after he got a taste of what it feels when he killed and fed on the man he met online last episode. Their discussion is interrupted when they overhear Drake discussing his plans to revamp the hotel to Claudia, especially the floor where March and Evers stays. Knowing it will ruin their plans, Tristan agrees to get rid of Drake.

This episode also explored Alex's character (John's wife). Her love for Holden is stronger for her love for John and Scarlett. His disappearance made her contemplate suicide; slashing her wrist and bleeding in the bathtub.
Scarlett's insisting that she saw Holden brought back the painful memories. Scarlett tells them Holden is in the hotel. He sleeps in a glass coffin in an empty swimming pool, plays video games and eats candy all day. She tells them he's different person and he smells like lavender. This startled her because she once thought that Holden smelled like Lavender the first time she held him when he was born.
Later, Alex goes to Hotel Cortez to hand over the divorce papers to John. On her way out of the hotel, she sees Holden, who call her 'Mommy,' to her shock

Claudia spends the night in the hotel. As she prepares to go to sleep, Gabriel who is in the mattress attacks her, stabbing her continuously. He escapes and collapse in front of John who takes him to the hospital. Before he dies, he confesses that he didn't mean to kill Claudia because he thought she was Sally.

Tristan seduces Drake to distract him. As he pulls out his knife to kill him, Elizabeth stops him. She explains that due to the bad financial decisions in the past, she's broke. She plans to marry Drake, kill him and inherit his entire Estate.

Donovan returns to the Hotel to take his things after Elizabeth kicked him out. Iris wants them to get an apartment together but Donovan hates her. He blames her for his father leaving and drove him to drugs. He also blames her for not letting him to die and tells her to kill herself.

After feeding on Junkies, Donovan is kidnapped by Ramona Royale. Ramona drains Donovan in other to use him against Elizabeth. It turns out that Ramona was an actress in the 70s before she became Elizabeth's lover till 1991 when she falls for an upcoming rapper. She turns him which didn't sit well with Elizabeth. She murders him in a jealous rage. Since then, she's been plotting her revenge and plans to use Donovan to kill the children. After Donovan tells her he's no longer in a relationship with her, Ramona releases him, when she sees he will be of no use to him.

Donovan checks back into the hotel. Meanwhile Iris asks Sally to kill her by giving her an overdose. when it didn't work, she suffocates her, killing her in the process. Donovan goes to look for his mother after the pep talk he had with Liz. He finds her with Sally in the room, dead. He brings her back to life by feeding her with his own blood.



Thoughts

It's nice to see a different side of Evan Peters. This is my favourite character of his in this series. Playing a psychopathic killer suits him well. It's also weird that his foe last season, Finn Wittrock, will be his ally.

It turns out that Sally is a ghost that haunts the hallways of the hotel. The difference is you can see her, even touch her. It's poetic that Iris who pushed her to death pleaded with her to end her life. Donovan who later regretted his decisions of neglecting her all these years, decides to turn her.

I'm excited to what Ramona has cooked up for the Countess. It looks like she's going to be pre-occupied with trying to seduce Drake into marrying her, the detective lurking around the hotel, now her ex-lover is back for revenge. I was worried Lady Gaga's character will be the main focus of the season, and so far it's been a wild ride.