American Horror Story Season 1-07 ‘Open House’ Recap


After last week’s extremely strange and gruesome episode, it looks like we’re finally starting to dive into at least some of the mysteries surrounding “Murder House.” The revelation that Tate shot up his school and was actually a ghost was pretty shocking (for me at least), but it looks like Violet has come to terms with it. It’s too bad our lovely guest star from last week (Modern Family‘s Eric Stonestreet) was murdered in his bathroom. Maybe he’ll be a ghost too! Read on to find out what really happened this week on American Horror Story!

The episode begins with a younger Constance speaking about wanting to end something with a man whose face is hidden (I think it’s Larry) back in the year 1994. The man goes up to the attic (they’re in Murder House), and he plays with a disfigured, odd looking person/thing that’s chained up in the attic. As he tucks in this creature, he grabs its pillow and smothers it to death. Back in the present, Vivien and Ben are waiting to hear the results of her ultrasound. They find out that Vivien is having twins, which are always creepy when added to a haunted house.

Back at the house, the Harmon’s realtor is showing the house to a man who sees Moira as a young hottie as well and ends up flirting with Moira. Vivien tells the man about the murders, but he still decides to make an offer. And of course, to screw things up, Larry shows up burnt face and all. The realtor, who is apparently also crazy, pulls a gun on him, but Vivien still ends up showing him the house. He makes a few creepy comments, but doesn’t do anything outwardly crazy.

Later that night, Vivien has a fantasy about having sex with first the security guard, then Ben, and then finally the latex man, who starts violently choking her. Elsewhere, Violet is shown in the bathroom cutting herself like a middle schooler until Tate stops her. Tate asks her if she believes in ghosts, which is weird since he is one. That night, the family has a nice dinner, but Violet says she doesn’t want to live with either parent after their divorce. Ben and Vivien discuss whether they should still sell the house or not, but Ben yells at her for telling the prospective buyers about the history in the house. Apparently he still wants to sell.

The first prospective buyer shows up at the house again, apparently to get with (young) Moira. She seduces him in Violet’s room, but Ben comes home right after and meets the buyer. He tries to butter him up to buy the house, but the man reveals that he will probably tear it down and turn it into an apartment complex. Playing a little reversal, Ben is waiting in Larry’s house when he gets home. He reveals that Larry didn’t kill his family, but Larry claims that the house did it. At this point, that’s totally feasible. He admits that he was trying to scare the Harmons out of the house for their own sake and that he wanted to buy it back so that he could be happy with his wife.

At this point, the show flashes back to when Larry lived in the house with his wife, where he reveals to her that he has fallen in love with Constance. He tells his wife to move out and take their kids back to Ohio (represent), while he will move Constance into their house. He goes upstairs to find his upset wife, where he finds that she set a room on fire, killing herself and the kids. Ben reveals that the house will be torn down by the other buyer and then leaves after threatening Larry with a restraining order. The next day, Vivien takes the realtor on the tour that talks about the Murder House.

The tour guide continues the story of the crazy surgeon and his wife from a few episodes ago. They both went crazy after receiving their dismembered baby in the mail, and the wife is shown feverishly polishing everything in the house. While she talks about the funeral, the surgeon tells her that the baby is alive upstairs, so she goes to investigate.

She finds the crib empty, but she hears a hiss behind her that is supposedly the baby monster thing. The surgeon reveals that he took a heart from one of the women he treats and put it in the baby. The wife says that she tried to breastfeed the baby, but it pretty much ate up her chest. She also says that she tried to kill it, but it was still alive. Anyways, she ends up shooting the husband in the head before killing herself. The tour guide ends the story by saying that all three of their ghosts apparently haunt the house.

Vivien goes back to the doctor to request another test for her babies, probably to make sure they don’t have hooves. Constance walks into the Harmon’s basement alone and starts talking to herself…until Larry walks in too. There is seriously no privacy in this house from anyone.

Anyways, Constance taunts Larry about his disfigurement, but he insists that he still loves her. He tells her about the house being torn down, which causes Constance to be worried too. Meanwhile, Violet hears a noise coming from the attic just as a shadow passes behind her. Just like every good character in a horror movie/show, she goes to investigate. The same red ball from the beginning of the show rolls her way and she sees the monster baby thing that Larry killed in the beginning. Tate shows up and comforts her, revealing that she is now able to see ghosts because she is involved with him.

They go digging through the attic and find a box of surgical tools (maybe?) and another box of creepy antique pictures. As she’s looking at the pictures, she sees more ghosts standing behind her, but wills them away. The next day, Constance shows up at the first buyer’s house to talk to him. She says a few creepy statements about how he’s building new houses over other people’s lives, and threatens that there will be hauntings aplenty if he builds on the Harmon’s ground. He then tells her to make him a sandwich (awesome), but she leaves without making it (aww).

Back in the Harmon’s house, Tate is at his session with Ben, where he reveals that he’s been feeling much better about everything. Off the record, he asks Tate to help him with Violet. Constance shows up to find Tate, and she gets in a snappy little fight with Moira. Apparently they don’t like each other that much. She finds Tate in the house, but he’s not happy to see her. He tells her that he hates her, making that two of her children that can’t stand her. Constance heads up to the attic to hang out with the creepy monster thing and says goodbye to it since they might tear down the house.

Downstairs, Moira tells Constance that when they dig up ground to build a pool, they will find her bones (!!!!) and finally arrest Constance for her murder. Sadly, Constance reveals that she would just be stuck in an apartment complex and that Constance would lose her whole family if the house is torn down. They make a shaky alliance, and it sounds like Moira is supposed to seduce the guy who wants to tear down the house. She invites him over, and as she seduces him again, Larry sneaks up from behind and kills him.

Vivien goes into Violet’s room to discuss what will happen after the house is sold, but I guess that fell through since he’s kinda dead. Violet shows Vivien a picture of the surgeon and his wife, and she realizes that she’s seen this woman before and talked to her inside the house. Maybe it’s finally hitting her that there is something very wrong going on. And on that note, tonight’s episode ends.

First of all, hearing Moira say that Constance killed her and buried her in the background is just…awesome. There are so many different mysteries that aren’t even close to being solved, but seeing how some of these small things are related is what keeps me coming back to American Horror Story. Stay tuned next week, because it looks like latex man is coming back with a vengeance, as is Hayden. Keep an eye open for next week’s recap!

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