Grotesquerie Season 1 Episode 7: "Unplugged" Recap
This week, only one episode of Ryan Murphy’s chilling series Grotesquerie premiered, featuring an epic twist that revolutionizes everything viewers thought they knew.
The seventh episode, titled “Unplugged,” already started with a twist. In front of Lois, Merritt and Fast Eddie revealed their love and plans to move in together once she starts filming her newly booked series, “half-ton trauma.”
When Lois, who is drunk, receives the news, she reacts poorly and confesses to Merritt that she and Ed had a “dirty thing” going on in the past. The hospital orderly denied it and encouraged Lois not to get messy in front of her daughter. Lois’ reaction escalates further as she goes on to fat-shame her daughter, asking Ed if he enjoys “lifting Merritt’s folds.”
Lois declared that her ultimate goal was to push everyone to be as strong as she was, so they could face the town’s killing nightmare. She makes a scene, knocking her glass off the table before storming out.
Despite some emotional resistance from Nurse Redd, and without Merritt’s knowledge, Lois decides to take her husband off life support. Lois reminds Redd that she had wanted to free up his bed, and despite her manipulations, she never relinquished her legal right. Lois gives Marshall a ritual “he would have appreciated,” which includes Red Vine, poetry, and whiskey.
The determined detective then stops by Father Charlie’s church, where he is labeled a cold-blooded killer in a newspaper. In his office, she spots a creepy book filled with pages of the gruesome murder plans.
Megan, who recovered from being shot, speaks with the bishop about the next story for the church newspaper. Bishop agrees that it’s time for Megan to take over the newspaper and boasts about her reporting on the violent murders garnering national attention.
Back at the police department, Lois is surprised with a party congratulating her on solving the case. However, she’s also surprised to learn that she’s being forced to retire, which she strongly opposes. What happens next leads to a shocking discovery and a mind-numbing turn of events that changes the trajectory of the show.
While cooking some hearty stew, Lois starts putting the pieces together of the convenience of Megan replacing Father Charlie as editor. She accuses the quirky nun of working with Charlie, being the brains behind the sick, twisted murders. Megan initially denies the allegations, but after Lois refuses to back down, Megan becomes hysterical and attacks Lois with a knife. The battle between the two was vicious, yet hilarious.
Megan ends up stabbing Lois, then the episode shifts into another world. A world where Lois is the one who cheats in her marriage to Marshall and is in a coma. Not only is Marshall alive and well, but Megan is also a detective, Merritt has a doctorate degree, Ed, Merritt’s husband, had an affair with Lois, and Charlie is Lois’ doctor. Insanity doesn’t even begin to describe this alternate universe.
Things take an even crazier turn when Marshall decides to pull the plug on Lois. Doesn’t that sound familiar? During the unplugging process, Lois’ mind goes back into the original reality, where she gets ahold of her gun and blows Megan’s head off. This leads to Lois waking from her coma.
According to Ryan Murphy, in a Variety article, it is revealed that everything from episode 1 to episode 7 occurred in Lois’ coma-induced dream, which has strong Alice in Wonderland undertones.
Murphy explained that Lois will have to tell everyone what’s been happening in her mind and fight for her survival. A love scene between Niecy Nash and Travis Kelce was also teased, followed by a joke from Murphy about not wanting to “piss off the Swifties.”
Episode 8 of “Grotesquerie” will begin to explore this new reality and move into a new plot. It will premiere October 23 at 10 PM on FX and will stream on Hulu the next day.
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