American Horror Story: 1984 Reveals SPOILER is the Camp Redwood Mastermind in "Slashdance"

10/02/2019 11:44 pm EDT

Last week, American Horror Story: 1984 saw the would be counselors at Camp Redwood cornered by both Richard Ramirez and Mr. Jingles, but as with all good horror stories there's always far more to the danger than meets the eye. That was definitely the case in tonight's episode, "Slashdance" and while the two serial killers were absolutely major threats to contend with, the episode revealed the truth about a few characters and calling into question everything viewers thought they knew.

Spoilers beyond for Wednesday's episode of American Horror Story: 1984, "Slashdance", below.

When the episode opens, the counselors are still separated into two groups with Rita, Chet, Ray, and Brooke all in the infirmary looking for Rita's keys. Richard Ramirez manages to get in and the trio run for it, splitting up. Chet and Ray end up in their own hell while Rita and Brooke make it to the car. It's there that 1984 takes its first truly sharp turn when, after Rita hands Brooke the keys so she can go get help elsewhere, the not-so-good nurse injects her with something, drugging Brooke.

It turns out that "Nurse Rita" isn't a nurse nor is she "Rita". A flash back to a week ago reveals that Nurse is really a psychologist with deep research interest in serial killers. She claims to have gotten all of the major ones to crack -- Ted Bundy gets named-dropped a few times -- and now she wants to speak with Mr. Jingles. She is given access and things begin to come together. "Rita" tells Mr. Jingles that she doesn't believe anyone is truly evil and that outside forces drove him to kill. She specifically cites pornography, but she wants Mr. Jingles help somehow proving her strange theories about how they can stop serial killers from even ever happening. She wants him to go back to Camp Redwood, showing him a newspaper article about the camp reopening . "Rita" has a plan, too. She tells him exactly how to break out, leaves him a bag of clothes and supplies. That escape goes off just as planned -- we see it in the season premiere.

In another flashback, we see "Rita" following the real nurse on the way to the camp. After an encounter at the gas station, "Rita" ends up essentially kidnapping the real nurse and leaving her somewhere at Camp Redwood. She's ultimately horrifically murdered by Mr. Jingles while "Rita" drags an unconscious Brooke away. Oh, and Montana, Trevor, and Xavier witness the death of the real nurse and now know "Rita" is a fraud.

It's a chilling twist. The idea that "Rita" set up Mr. Jingles' return to the camp certainly adds a new dimension to things and seems to prove the idea that he wants revenge on Margaret for putting him behind bars -- it's strongly suggested that perhaps Mr. Jingles didn't really kill the counselors in the first massacre. However, it doesn't explain Richard Ramirez's presence -- but another shocking twist does.

At the very end of the episode, after Ray speeds off to his death, Montana is left behind when Richard Ramirez appears and comes up to her like he's ready to make her the next counselor to die. Instead, Montana kisses him passionately -- and then demands to know why he hasn't killed "her" already, suggesting that Montana is also a mastermind of some of the horror at Camp Redwood and potentially trying to help Richard kill the victim who escaped him -- Brooke.

Did you expect these wild twists in tonight's episode? Let us know in the comments below.

American Horror Story: 1984 airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX.

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