TV Recap – “American Horror Story: Double Feature” Further Bridges the Gap Between the Past and Present

The alien-focused second story of American Horror Story: Double Feature continued this week and it further bridged the gap between the politically corrupt past and the alien-riddled present. We also got some more answers regarding the mysterious Calico character we met last week.

The episode opens with Ike reluctantly signing the treaty between the U.S. government and the aliens, only after they threatened his wife. After the signing is complete, the President is shown footage of aliens abducting U.S. citizens, including a nine-year-old girl. Ike angrily orders his men to stop the projector, clearly upset with the deal he has made.

After a three-year time jump, the President and his men recap the nearly 1,000 abductions that have taken place without them having received any of the alien technology they were promised. They’re discussion is interrupted by a violent rumbling and the appearance of a mysterious man just outside the White House.

The man makes his way through all of the security en route to the President, where Ike orders his men to stand down. The man introduces himself as Valiant Thor, a perfectly cliche sci-fi name, and reveals that he is not actually a man, but rather a cross species, cyborg type thing that is neither alien nor human but is able to survive on Earth. He shows the President and his men some of the technology they were promised, a “computing device you can hold in the palm of your hand,” or likely what leads to a smart phone.

After a brief discussion with Mamie regarding birthday parties and Halloween, Ike hears screams coming from the vents in his bedroom. He follows the sounds to mysterious tunnels under the White House, which then lead him to a secret door. One of the new alien devices on the door allows him to open it and enter and elevator that takes him further down.

Ike follows the screams again and eventually finds a man being experimented on. His presence surprises some workers in the tunnels before he himself is startled by Valiant Thor. Ike asks about the tunnels and Valiant Thor tells him they’ve been there for years. He also explains that they’ve been conducting their experiments right there and shows the President several tanks filled with the alien-human hybrids they’ve been trying to create. He informs Ike that the aliens don’t plan to go to the Russians with this deal if he tries to back out, but instead they will take what they want by force.

Ike has breakfast with Mamie and she informs him that she met with “Val,” which is what she’s calling Valiant Thor. She gives Ike the idea of giving the aliens somewhere else to go and suggests “that place in Nevada.” We then see Ike signing a document, creating Area 51 and handing it over to the aliens. These are the kinds of things that have made this half of this story so great.

In his office, Ike hears sounds coming from his bedroom and walks in to find Mamie in bed with Val. He immediately grabs his chest and passes out. When he wakes, Mamie explains that it was not a dream and admits to everything he saw but does not apologize for it in the slightest. Ike is disgusted and leaves the room.

After a five-year jump, Nixon shows Ike footage of Marilyn Monroe trying to explain to people what is happening with the aliens in the United States. She specifically mentions that Ike made a deal with them and Nixon sees it as a threat. Ike tries to talk him down, but Nixon wants to take immediate and extreme action.

We see Marilyn in her home when the lights cut out and she starts to hear noises. She approaches an open window before she is attacked from behind by what appears to be an alien but then turns out to be some government agents. It’s unclear if this was to insinuate that the agents actually were aliens or if it was more symbolic than anything. The men pin Marilyn to her bed while one of them grabs a handful of pills and the rest is simply implied.

Nixon calls JFK, who is currently the President, to offer his condolences for the death of Marilyn. JFK implies that he thinks Nixon had something to do with her death and he denies it. He does however go on to threaten the President and tell him not to share any more secrets.

A year later, after the death of JFK, Ike and Nixon lead now-President Lyndon Johnson to Area 51 to see what is going on there. Val comes out of a building to meer the three men and lead them inside. To even the surprise of Ike, they are led to a facility with seemingly hundreds of tanks filled with the baby alien hybrids.

The episode then jumps back to present day, with Troy getting ready to “give birth” to his alien baby. The alien assures him that he won’t feel pain and he won’t die, before cutting him open and removing a strange sack from his stomach. Some nurses cut open the sack and remove a baby. Communicating entirely in his mind, Troy asks to hold the baby, now overcome with a truly bizarre urge as if it was actually his baby. The nurses inform the alien this is their closest result yet but it still features some physical abnormalities. As Troy gets strangely attached to the baby, he watches as they kill it, and drop it into a tank.

A week later, Troy returns to his friends and explains everything that has happened. He is still devastated by the loss of his “baby” and he and Cal reveal that they had decided they wanted to have a baby together. The group talks about getting out of this alien facility before Calico interrupts and informs them that they are not getting out of “Area 51.”

They ask about her story and she informs them that she has “given birth” about two or three times a year. She leads them out of the cafeteria and onto the set of the moon landing. That’s right, not only did aliens lead to the death of JFK, but the moon landing was also faked.

Calico then goes into her full story, explaining that she was a bartender and… more. She tells the story of when she met Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and how they revealed to her that the landing was fake. Once she knew the truth though, she was quickly taken to Area 51 by the government. She tells them how she then wandered onto the set of the Moon Landing and saw Stanley Kubrick directing it before she was drugged again. She explains that this is the reason she has been stuck here for so long.

Back in the cafeteria, Troy sees that Cal is ready to deliver his “baby.” He leads him to the set of the moon landing, set on not letting the aliens take this one from them. He cuts Cal open himself and delivers the baby. Cal holds the baby in his hands before it reveals tentacles and leaps at his face and the episode comes to a close with Troy trying to save him as he screams in terror.

Once again, one half of this story continues to be fantastic. The story weaved through American history is so ridiculous and fun that you can’t help but enjoy it. Connecting the past to the present in this episode also helped to strengthen the latter a bit. However, it does still just go for the signature over-the-top graphic shock horror that American Horror Story has become so well known for. Still, this has proven to be the far more enjoyable story in this two-part season.

You can watch new episodes of American Horror Story: Double Feature Wednesdays at 10 PM on FX or the next day on FX on Hulu,

Mike Mack
Mack is the Editorial Director for Marvel and ESPN content and he has covered comic cons, theme park events, video game showcases and other fun events. He is a fan of theme parks, sports, movies, Marvel Comics and is a self-proclaimed "nerd."

TV Recap – “American Horror Story: Double Feature” Further Bridges the Gap Between the Past and Present

The alien-focused second story of American Horror Story: Double Feature continued this week and it further bridged the gap between the politically corrupt past and the alien-riddled present. We also got some more answers regarding the mysterious Calico character we met last week.

The episode opens with Ike reluctantly signing the treaty between the U.S. government and the aliens, only after they threatened his wife. After the signing is complete, the President is shown footage of aliens abducting U.S. citizens, including a nine-year-old girl. Ike angrily orders his men to stop the projector, clearly upset with the deal he has made.

After a three-year time jump, the President and his men recap the nearly 1,000 abductions that have taken place without them having received any of the alien technology they were promised. They’re discussion is interrupted by a violent rumbling and the appearance of a mysterious man just outside the White House.

The man makes his way through all of the security en route to the President, where Ike orders his men to stand down. The man introduces himself as Valiant Thor, a perfectly cliche sci-fi name, and reveals that he is not actually a man, but rather a cross species, cyborg type thing that is neither alien nor human but is able to survive on Earth. He shows the President and his men some of the technology they were promised, a “computing device you can hold in the palm of your hand,” or likely what leads to a smart phone.

After a brief discussion with Mamie regarding birthday parties and Halloween, Ike hears screams coming from the vents in his bedroom. He follows the sounds to mysterious tunnels under the White House, which then lead him to a secret door. One of the new alien devices on the door allows him to open it and enter and elevator that takes him further down.

Ike follows the screams again and eventually finds a man being experimented on. His presence surprises some workers in the tunnels before he himself is startled by Valiant Thor. Ike asks about the tunnels and Valiant Thor tells him they’ve been there for years. He also explains that they’ve been conducting their experiments right there and shows the President several tanks filled with the alien-human hybrids they’ve been trying to create. He informs Ike that the aliens don’t plan to go to the Russians with this deal if he tries to back out, but instead they will take what they want by force.

Ike has breakfast with Mamie and she informs him that she met with “Val,” which is what she’s calling Valiant Thor. She gives Ike the idea of giving the aliens somewhere else to go and suggests “that place in Nevada.” We then see Ike signing a document, creating Area 51 and handing it over to the aliens. These are the kinds of things that have made this half of this story so great.

In his office, Ike hears sounds coming from his bedroom and walks in to find Mamie in bed with Val. He immediately grabs his chest and passes out. When he wakes, Mamie explains that it was not a dream and admits to everything he saw but does not apologize for it in the slightest. Ike is disgusted and leaves the room.

After a five-year jump, Nixon shows Ike footage of Marilyn Monroe trying to explain to people what is happening with the aliens in the United States. She specifically mentions that Ike made a deal with them and Nixon sees it as a threat. Ike tries to talk him down, but Nixon wants to take immediate and extreme action.

We see Marilyn in her home when the lights cut out and she starts to hear noises. She approaches an open window before she is attacked from behind by what appears to be an alien but then turns out to be some government agents. It’s unclear if this was to insinuate that the agents actually were aliens or if it was more symbolic than anything. The men pin Marilyn to her bed while one of them grabs a handful of pills and the rest is simply implied.

Nixon calls JFK, who is currently the President, to offer his condolences for the death of Marilyn. JFK implies that he thinks Nixon had something to do with her death and he denies it. He does however go on to threaten the President and tell him not to share any more secrets.

A year later, after the death of JFK, Ike and Nixon lead now-President Lyndon Johnson to Area 51 to see what is going on there. Val comes out of a building to meer the three men and lead them inside. To even the surprise of Ike, they are led to a facility with seemingly hundreds of tanks filled with the baby alien hybrids.

The episode then jumps back to present day, with Troy getting ready to “give birth” to his alien baby. The alien assures him that he won’t feel pain and he won’t die, before cutting him open and removing a strange sack from his stomach. Some nurses cut open the sack and remove a baby. Communicating entirely in his mind, Troy asks to hold the baby, now overcome with a truly bizarre urge as if it was actually his baby. The nurses inform the alien this is their closest result yet but it still features some physical abnormalities. As Troy gets strangely attached to the baby, he watches as they kill it, and drop it into a tank.

A week later, Troy returns to his friends and explains everything that has happened. He is still devastated by the loss of his “baby” and he and Cal reveal that they had decided they wanted to have a baby together. The group talks about getting out of this alien facility before Calico interrupts and informs them that they are not getting out of “Area 51.”

They ask about her story and she informs them that she has “given birth” about two or three times a year. She leads them out of the cafeteria and onto the set of the moon landing. That’s right, not only did aliens lead to the death of JFK, but the moon landing was also faked.

Calico then goes into her full story, explaining that she was a bartender and… more. She tells the story of when she met Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and how they revealed to her that the landing was fake. Once she knew the truth though, she was quickly taken to Area 51 by the government. She tells them how she then wandered onto the set of the Moon Landing and saw Stanley Kubrick directing it before she was drugged again. She explains that this is the reason she has been stuck here for so long.

Back in the cafeteria, Troy sees that Cal is ready to deliver his “baby.” He leads him to the set of the moon landing, set on not letting the aliens take this one from them. He cuts Cal open himself and delivers the baby. Cal holds the baby in his hands before it reveals tentacles and leaps at his face and the episode comes to a close with Troy trying to save him as he screams in terror.

Once again, one half of this story continues to be fantastic. The story weaved through American history is so ridiculous and fun that you can’t help but enjoy it. Connecting the past to the present in this episode also helped to strengthen the latter a bit. However, it does still just go for the signature over-the-top graphic shock horror that American Horror Story has become so well known for. Still, this has proven to be the far more enjoyable story in this two-part season.

You can watch new episodes of American Horror Story: Double Feature Wednesdays at 10 PM on FX or the next day on FX on Hulu,

Mike Mack
Mack is the Editorial Director for Marvel and ESPN content and he has covered comic cons, theme park events, video game showcases and other fun events. He is a fan of theme parks, sports, movies, Marvel Comics and is a self-proclaimed "nerd."