American Horror Story (2011–…): Season 2, Episode 13 - Madness Ends - full transcript

Johnny sets out to complete his father's work. Lana leads the charge to finally shut down Briarcliff.

MAN (over headphones):
Best Sellers on Audio presents.

Tales from Briarcliff
by Lana Winters,

read by the author.

LANA: Chapter six,

"The Gathering Storm."

Behind the stone walls
of Briarcliff,

time had no meaning.

The days themselves seemed
to exist (birds cooing)

in a kind of perpetual twilight.

Life there was just a series
of numbing cruelties

and humiliations,



all masquerading
as something else.

You weren't conceived in love,
but in hate.

I couldn't wait to give you up.

(echoing):
You're an abomination.

You should
never have been born.

I was in the third week
of my confinement,

and a storm was coming.

The nor'easter of '64

that brought
so much devastation with it,

and for me, something else,

something far more savage
even than nature.

(distant screaming)

Oliver Thredson was,

to all appearances,



a kindly figure,

fatherly in his manner.

This face he showed the world,

this face of sanity
and benevolence,

that was his real mask.

Underneath lurked

the real Oliver Thredson,

an unspeakable monster.

I loved you even when you were
still in your mother's womb.

I would have given anything

to be a real father to you,

but she kept us apart.

I had so much love
to give you, son.

She stole it from you.

From both of us.

(thud)

LEO: ♪ Here comes the bride. ♪

THERESA: Oh, my God.

(laughter)

THERESA: The Catholic
Church bought this place

in '62,
and turned it into a sanitarium

for the criminally insane.

Legend has it that once you
were committed at Briarcliff,

you never got out.

The most famous resident
was a serial killer named...

LEO: Bloody Face.

Say Bloody Face.

THERESA: Bloody Face.

Maybe it's Bloody Face.

Maybe it's just old pipes.

Let me see.

What? You scared, pussy?

(chuckles)

Oh, my God! What? What's wrong?

You're such a prick.

You are such a prick.

Speaking of which...

No. I want to know
what's in there.

Do it again and I'll blow you.

Give me your phone.

(screaming)

And who did this drawing of you?

LANA: Bono.

(chuckles)

He was a bit tipsy
on the airplane

coming back from Somalia

and drew it
on the cocktail napkin.

He's quite good, isn't he?

Be sure and get
an insert of that, Pete.

So with six bestsellers,

a reputation as the only one
the men will open up to,

world leaders, stars,
disgraced politicians,

who's the one that got away?

Is there anyone you lusted after
that you missed?

That's easy:
Mao and Rielle Hunter.

And she's still lusting
after Julian Assange.

Uh, look, I know

I said no on-camera appearances

for you, but I love

this whole bringing

the chardonnay thing,

super casual, loving.

What about just that?

I'm April, by the way.

Marian.

What a pleasure.

I saw your Norma at the Met.

Transcendent.

She's doing it in Bologna
this summer.

Thank you.

I've got rehearsal;
I've got to take off.

I'll be back by 5:00.

We have that Sondheim dinner
birthday thing tonight.

Mmm.

Am I not
the luckiest woman alive?

A little higher, babe.

Attaboy.

Mm-mm, higher still.

Oh, what are they teaching
these kids in film school?

God knows

it's not how to make us old gals

look more gorgeous.

Nothing old about you, Lana.

Well, thanks to a very talented
surgeon in Paris

and a great dermatologist.

So, what are we covering today?

Well, since it's
a Kennedy Center honor,

I'd say
it's a pretty big canvas.

Jesus, darling, I hope

this isn't going
to feel like a eulogy.

I will certainly ask you

about your notorious
nail-to-the-cross

prison interview with Madoff.

But before all that,

I'd like to go back

and start with the early years.

The awful.

Bloody Face saga.

I said I wouldn't talk
about that.

People want to hear about it.

It's what made you famous.

My point exactly.

He's become a goddamn
household name.

Like some kind of Heath Ledger,

Hollywood movie star villain.

He was an evil monster

who used murder and torture

to keep himself
from feeling like a eunuch.

End of story.

I refuse to give him
one more second of air time.

So then let's start
with the event

that made your reputation
as a crusader for change,

the Briarcliff exposé.

We good to go, everyone? Honey,
hand me that mirror, will you?

I like to do my own eyebrows.

How do I look?

Like a million bucks.

(chuckles)

But they're still not
gonna let us

in that front door
with a camera.

Oh, I know how to get in.

MAN: Jesus, how did
you find this place?

LANA: Listen, when we get
inside, no matter what happens,

or what anybody says,
you keep shooting.

We need to document
the conditions, the filth,

these people are forced
to live in.

I want the footage
to shock the public

out of their complacency,
you understand?

I want moral outrage.

I want to put America
in the asylum.

APRIL: The fact that
you would voluntarily

go back into the place
where you almost died,

that's why you were held
in such high esteem

by all of America
and your peers.

Did you always have
this need for justice?

That's the myth.

Lana Winters, crusader.

It was a story that I helped
to perpetuate,

but, uh, it's time I come clean.

It wasn't justice

that got me back to Briarcliff.

It was ambition.

I knew my future
wasn't in print.

You had an abrupt career change.

I knew television
was the future.

So I got started in local news,

then an NBC affiliate

before I landed my own series
of investigative reports.

America Unmasked.

With TV, words,

they're less important.

You need something people
can see,

visual stimulation,

and believe me, there is nothing
more stimulating

than crazy people.

But you need more than that.

You need an angle, a hook.

And boy, did I have a doozy.

(beeps)

I heard from very reliable
sources that Sister Jude,

the nun that imprisoned me
at Briarcliff, was still alive.

In fact, she had become
a patient there herself.

I was going to go
into that snake pit

and rescue her
from the very place

she had me committed.

Milo, I told you
to keep rolling.

Get the camera up
and pointed at me.

At Briarcliff Manor,

it's not uncommon to see
patients left on their own

without supervision,
without stimulation,

for hours on end.

The squalor, the filth,

the decay of this institution

is a shocking indictment

of the abandonment
of her most needy

by the state of Massachusetts.

(beeps) The Church
sold Briarcliff Manor

to the state of Massachusetts
in the fall of 1965.

Since then,
conditions have deteriorated.

The images and sounds
are far more...

(sighs)

Ready? You need a slate?

(indistinct talking) Are...

Yeah, are you sleeping?
Come on.

(beeps)

Three, two, one.

The church sold.

Briarcliff Manor
to the state of Massachusetts

in the fall of 1965.

Since then, conditions
have deteriorated.

These images and sounds
are far more powerful

than any words
that can be spoken.

(distant shrieking)

(coughing)

(woman screaming)

(coughing)

LANA: But how can I

describe to you
the way it smells?

It reeks of filth, of disease.

It smells of death.

MAN: Who are you?

Do you...

have permission to do this? You are
the first attendant we've seen

the entire time
we've been here.

Is it the policy to
leave patients unclothed

and unclean, some of them

smeared in their own feces?

Uh... I'm sorry, there's...

just too many for us
to take care of.

Right now I'm
interested in one.

I demand to see Judy Martin.

(man screaming)

LANA: Give me some light.

Judy Martin?

Do you remember me?

You were committed
to Briarcliff

to cover up the abuses
the church and science

had perpetrated
against patients here.

You were left to die.

Alone.

Abandoned.

I've come back to help you.

I'm going to get you
out of here, Sister Jude.

It's okay.

Lana... Banana.

APRIL: Such a powerful
scene you describe.

I'm embarrassed to say
I don't remember it.

That's because it
never happened.

LANA: By the time I
got to Briarcliff,

Jude was gone.

I should've gone back sooner.

But you did shut
down Briarcliff.

Yes, but it's not
the ending I wanted.

It was one hell of an ending,

just not the one I wanted.

And there's your promo.
(laughs)

Let's take a break.
I need to freshen up.

Ms. Winters needs a break.

Five and we're back.

Would you like
something to drink?

I'd love a sparkling water.

Would you get Ms. Winters
a sparkling water, please?

Thanks.

You're a doll.

My pleasure, Ms. Winters.

♪ ♪

♪ I feel the earth move ♪

♪ Under my feet ♪

♪ I feel the sky
tumbling down... ♪

Kit. Holy shit.

(laughs)

Lana!

(laughs)

I was just watching the news.

You did it.

You really did it.

You shut down Briarcliff.

(laughs)

What the hell's this?

LANA: I wanted them to
capture our reunion.

And I have a few questions
I'd like to ask you.

Questions? Yes.

Like who's Betty Drake?

And is she here?

I'll talk to you, Lana,

but... but I'm not gonna
talk to your camera.

♪ Tumbling down,
a-tumbling down ♪

♪ A-tumbling down ♪

♪ Tumbling down... ♪

Where'd you find this?

I was still trying
to find Jude.

But of course.

Jude hadn't existed for years.

The Monsignor saw to that.

(sheep bleating)

LANA: I had no idea

who I was even
looking for anymore.

(screams)

LANA: And then I found this.

Betty Drake,

released to the care
of Kit Walker,

March 27, 1970.

That was just
a few months after

you came to see me
at the book signing.

It's Jude, isn't it?

Why do you care now, Lana?

Hmm?

We all just part of your story?

It's not just my story, Kit.

It's yours, too. And hers.

You went back for her.

Why?

(sighs)

'Cause it was
something I could do.

I mean, I couldn't
shut the place down,

I couldn't lead them all
out of there like Moses.

But, Jude, whatever she was,

she didn't belong there
any more than we did.

I couldn't just
leave her there.

After Alma died, I...
started visiting her there.

At least once a week.

Sometimes twice.

There was still life there.

There was still someone buried
deep inside.

But I knew that life
wouldn't last long

if nobody got her out of there.

They didn't ask
a lot of questions.

Think they were just happy

to have one less patient
to care for.

LANA:
You brought her into your home.

Why'd you do that?

After all the indignities
she made you suffer?

KIT: I didn't do it for her.

I didn't even really
do it for me.

I did it for the kids.

I needed to be there for them.

And the only way I could leave
Briarcliff behind

once and for all was to find
some way to forgive.

Someone to forgive.

Is she dead?

Go on.

KIT:
The first thing we had to do

was see her through detox.

(moans)

(retches)

(rooster crows)

Carrot juice.

From our garden.

KIT: For a while,

things seemed to be going
along pretty well,

considering.

I made a decision to just...

stay the course.

KIT: They loved her.

No matter how much
she barked at them,

they always understood
something about her.

LANA:
So she eventually came around.

KIT: Well, it got worse
before it got better.

(screams) Told you to
start in the corner!

Did you think
I wouldn't notice?

Come back here, you little shit!
KIT: Hey! Hey!

Hey! Hey! I'll cane you!

Hey! This is not Briarcliff,

and you will not hit my kids!

JUDE: Wait a minute.

What's going on here?

No, we do not have
a children's ward!

I told your mother that.
I was very clear.

I was very clear! Jude!

You will address me
as Sister Jude.

You don't fool me, Kit Walker.

I know who you are.

I know what you did.

Killer of women.

KIT: Jude, please...

No, you get away! Get away

from me! I won't go back

in that hole! I will not!

You can't make me! KIT: Thomas!

Get your sister and go outside.

JUDE: I will not! No,
you can't make me!

It's okay, Dad.

(Jude screams)

(Jude gasps, sobs)

Oh, no...

(weeping loudly)

(gasping for breath)

♪ ♪

I still don't know what
happened in those woods.

When they came back...

something was different.

Grace was right.

Those children are special.

("Jump, Jive an' Wail" begins)

Okay, I'm gonna
teach you a new step.

Okay. Ready?

Toe, heel, step back.

(laughing):
Toe, heel, step back.

Okay, now, start
again, watch me.

You're left, and I'm right.

Because women are always right.

All right?

Five, six, seven, eight.

♪ You gotta jump, jive
and then you wail ♪

♪ You gotta jump,
jive and then you wail ♪

♪ You gotta jump, jive and
then you wail ♪ All right.

Now spin me.

♪ And then you wail ♪

♪ You wail ♪

♪ Wail... ♪ Whoo!

Ooh!

Don't say I never
taught you nothing.

JULIA: Daddy, dance with me.

Come over here!

Thomas! Come here.

♪ Papa's in the icebox... ♪

JUDE: Let me show this to you.

Left foot...

♪ Papa's in the icebox
looking for a can of milk ♪

♪ Mama's in the backyard... ♪

For six months, she taught them
how to swing dance

and swear like a sailor.

Made Thomas learn to sew

and took away Julia's dolls

and gave her trucks
so she'd grow up tough.

(chuckles)

I don't know

if those last six
months made up

for a lifetime of horrors...

but she sure seemed happy.

(snoring softly)

Hey.

Come here.

Come here, you two.

Come here.

I got a few more things
to tell you, okay?

Julia...

don't you ever...

ever let a man
tell you who you are...

or make you feel...

like you are less than he is.

It's 1971.

And you can do anything
you want.

Okay? You understand?

And, Thomas...

don't pick your nose...

and never take a job
just for the money.

Find something...

that you love.

Do something you want.

Okay, boy?

(door opens)

Oh, I don't need that.

It's mushroom barley.

You got to eat something.

No, I don't.

Kids, why don't you go pile up
the leaves in the yard?

I'm staying with Nana.

No, you guys, you should
go outside and play.

Go on.

Kit Walker...

you're a lucky man.

You better not screw them up.

(both chuckle)

I'm here.

I'm not going to leave
you alone.

I'm not... I'm not alone.

She's here for me.

(chuckles)

I don't know who
she was talking about.

I do.

Jude...

we've been doing this dance
for so many years.

Are you sure
you're ready this time?

I'm sure.

I'm ready now.

Kiss me.

♪ ♪

(camera whirs)

I have a feeling we're about

to enter the hard-hitting part
of the interview.

It was the pen, wasn't it?

No need to take notes
on powder-puff questions.

You got me,
but I'm gonna ask anyway.

If shutting down Briarcliff

was such an undeniable success,

your next exposé was,
to put it mildly,

controversial.

I think half of New York
wanted to lynch me,

and the other half would have
had me banned from the state.

Can we talk about what happened
with Cardinal Howard?

At the time,
he was a powerhouse,

a rising star in the church.

The man had avoided
me for weeks.

I went through all
the official channels,

but he ignored every request
I made for an interview.

So, finally, I cornered him
on his way to Easter Mass.

Cardinal Howard.

I have nothing to say
to you, Miss Winters.

With or without your comments,
I'm airing a report

tomorrow night
on Dr. Arthur Arden,

a man you hired to run
the medical unit at Briarcliff.

We finally gained access
to his files.

Did you know he was
conducting human experiments?

We found some
very disturbing evidence.

Cardinal... Would you mind
switching that off, please?

A number of patients
disappeared under his care.

Do you have any idea
what happened to them?

It was over seven years ago.

You can't expect me to remember

anything about patients
I wasn't responsible for.

I'm afraid you are responsible.

Everything that happened
at Briarcliff

happened under your authority.

And there is no
statute of limitations

on murder, Cardinal Howard.

The police have found remains,

human bones in the woods
outside Briarcliff.

They're going to start
asking hard questions.

And since the notorious
Dr. Arden has disappeared,

they're going to be looking
to you for answers.

Get out of my way.

What are you running from,
Cardinal Howard?

Out of the way, Miss Winters!

What are you running from?
Happy Easter.

Answer the question.

(tires squeal)

APRIL:
To this day, people still

blame you for what
happened to him.

I've got broad shoulders,
but I can't take credit

for what his guilty conscience
made him do.

That man was a particular kind
of liar,

the kind who lies to himself
about being a liar.

He was so corrupt and deluded,
he believed his own lies.

Lies are like scars
on your soul.

They destroy you.

I have a feeling
we're not just talking

about Cardinal Howard anymore.

Is there something

you'd like to share with us?

I'm going to come clean
about a lie

I've told for over 40 years.

In my book Maniac,

I write about the abuse,

the rape, the pregnancy.

I say that the baby
died in childbirth.

I even wrote about
a kind of poetic justice

that the child hadn't lived.

That child is alive.

I didn't raise him,
but someone did.

(baby crying)

Don't ask me to do that again.

He'll need to learn
how to live without me.

I just prayed really hard

that somebody else
could give him

the kind of mothering he'd need.

I couldn't muster it.

I tried, but I couldn't.

That's quite a secret, Lana.

The only person
I've told is Marian.

Do you mind if I ask,

has there been
any contact since?

There was a period in the
mid-'70s where I suffered

a terrible remorse
about giving him up.

I used all my skills
as a sleuth,

which are myriad as we know,
to track him down.

I just needed to see him.
I didn't have a plan.

What you got in here?
You like dinosaurs?

You want to suck
a brontosaurus dick?

BOY: Shut up, asshole!

Who are you calling asshole,
faggot?

Hey, you, you little shit.
You back off before I hurt you

in ways you haven't
even dreamt of.

Are you all right?

Yeah, I'm fine.

You know he's
the asshole, right?

Yeah, I know.

You should report him.

That was the last time
I saw him.

I wasn't his mother.

Not in any meaningful way.

I would only confuse him.

But I thought
about him so often.

Wondering where he was.

How he turned out.

APRIL: Did you ever think about
having children after that?

It was a different time
for gay women.

Most of us were resigned
to not having children.

But I was close
to my friends' children.

In fact, Kit... Kit Walker...

he asked me to be
godmother to his kids.

Kit got married again.

He met a great girl named
Allison down at the co-op.

I don't know who loved her
more... Kit or those kids.

Kit always believed the kids
were destined for great things.

They grew up with that message,
and they lived up to it.

Thomas is a law professor
at Harvard.

Julie is a leading neurosurgeon
at Johns Hopkins.

Kit would be so proud of them.

Is he no longer with us?

When he was around 40, he
developed pancreatic cancer.

By the time they found it,

the tumor had metastasized
to the liver.

They gave him chemo, but...

it was just a waiting game.

The kids both offered
to look after him,

but he wouldn't hear of it.

In those last months,
he seemed more peaceful

than I'd ever seen him.

And then the strangest
thing happened.

He disappeared.

I don't understand.

No one did.

And no one could explain
exactly what happened.

(thunder crashing,
loud rattling)

No note, no tracks, no clues.

And no funeral.

Kit's children insisted
there was no reason to mourn.

Ms. Winters, I can't
tell you what an honor

this has been for me.

Oh, try not to, darling.

I just hope you got
what you need.

Are you kidding?
I thought we'd just

be doing your greatest hits,

but all the personal stuff...

fantastic, unexpected
and very moving.

See you at the Kennedy Center.
Mm-hmm.

(siren blares in the distance)

Can I pour you a drink?

Why don't you come out now?

You don't need to hide.

Not anymore.

Let's get this
over with, shall we?

JOHNNY: So I guess you've had
a pretty great life, huh?

It's been eventful.

It's about to end.

You get that, right?

I knew it the moment I saw you.

Mind if I ask you something?

No.

I don't mind.

How did you manage
to get yourself on the crew?

(chuckles)

That shit was easy.

I've been waiting
outside the building,

got friendly with the doorman,
he told me about the interview.

When the first guy showed up

at dawn... the guy
with the doughnuts...

I cut his throat.

He's in the trash bin.

(snickers)

This isn't how I pictured it.
Really?

Because this is exactly
how I pictured it.

I always knew
this day would come.

I didn't think
you'd recognize me.

How did you?

Oh, Johnny.

How could I not recognize
my own baby boy?

I've never seen him before

in my life.

His name's Johnny Morgan.

48 years old, unmarried.

In and out of jail
since his teens.

Nothing major till now.

We think he's responsible
for the deaths

of at least five people.

Including the elderly
couple who lived

in the house formerly owned
by Oliver Thredson.

The place you were
held at and tortured

in '64, Ms. Winters.

Are you sure
you don't recognize him?

No.

You look like him, you know?

Your father.

It's easy for me to forget

just how handsome he was.

Until you shot him in the head.

Yes, I shot him in the head.

How did you find out?

That you murdered my father?

About who you were.

Who told you?

You did.

That day

on the playground.

I felt something.

And I saw you on the TV.

"That's my mother,"
I'd tell people.

And they'd just laugh
at me, but I knew.

And I dreamed one day
that you'd come back.

Then I heard the tape,

and, uh...
I knew you never would.

What tape?

I found it on eBay.

LANA: This monster you
planted inside me,

I'm getting rid of it,
and since I'm stuck here,

I'm gonna have to get creative
with this coat hanger.

THREDSON:
Lana, no. Lana, no, please!

LANA:
No baby should have to grow up

knowing Daddy is Bloody Face.

My father loved me.

I could hear it in his voice.

That's when
I started loving him.

And hating you.

He never loved you, Johnny.

And you did?

No, I didn't love you.

I couldn't.

That's why I gave you up...

so you'd have
some shot at a life.

You'd have a chance
at a life, you mean!

Right?

This fancy life!

Without me!

So what's it
going to be, Johnny?

I don't imagine, at my age,

you'd be much interested
in the skin.

(sighs)

I've thought about this.

I've thought about this a lot.

My own gun...
I wasn't expecting that.

Your father once told me
he didn't believe in guns.

Of course, he was
lying about that, too.

You don't get to talk about him.

What are you
so afraid of, Johnny?

The truth about him

or the truth about you?

I just want him
to be proud of me.

I...

I can't measure up.

No...

Johnny.

He was a monster.

No. Yes, he was.

No, he wasn't.

Yes he was, baby.

But that's not you.

You could never be like him.

Not that...

sweet little boy

I met on the playground.

Even then, I knew

you were a better man
than he was.

(quietly): Don't.

It's not just him
that's in you.

I'm a part of you, too.

(low sobbing)

I've hurt people.

It's not your fault, baby.

It's mine.

(body thuds)

(siren blares in the distance)

LANA: She's talking about
the maniac, Bloody Face.

That he's going to be
admitted here today.

Is there any way
I could meet him?

You're out of your depth,

Miss Lana Banana.

You want a story?
Write this down.

A girl like you,
you like to dream large.

I'd venture you
already have Briarcliff

in your rearview mirror.

You make ambition
sound like a sin.

No, I'm saying it's dangerous.

What about you?

Saving the souls of
madmen and killers

is a pretty lofty ambition,
wouldn't you say?

And you cannot imagine
what it took to get here.

I'd love to hear
your story someday.

(laughs) No.

I don't think you and I are
destined to meet again.

But I do hope you know
what you're in for.

The loneliness,

the heartbreak,

the sacrifice you'll face
as a woman

with a dream on her own.

You don't have any idea
what I'm capable of.

Well, then. (Laughs)

Look at you, Miss Lana Banana.

Just remember...

if you look in
the face of evil.

Evil's going to look
right back at you.

(clicks tongue)

Please, after you.

(woman singing peppy
folk song in French)