Rating: 8.5/10

On a white door is painted an eerie, red smiling face. Two bold dots for the eyes, a wide curved line for the smile, and a smear for a bloodied nose. This insignia is the common thing connecting the events in the new episode of ‘American Horror Story (AHS): Cult’, titled ‘Neighbors From Hell.’

In this episode, Ally faces backlash from accidentally murdering her Hispanic employee Pedro. They face the most backlash from their neighbors the Wiltons. The Wiltons are then, as predicted, revealed to be part of Kai’s cult and are forced to say their truest fears. Kai’s cult continues to terrorize Ally and her family, but Kai somehow creates an unspoken bond between him and Ally, which makes it seem like they both will work together in the future.

A character that appeared in the first episode was Ally’s psychiatrist Dr. Rudy Vincent. At first, he wasn’t much of a character. He tended to just be a voice of reason for Ally and Ivy, but now a plot twist occurred that gave Cheyenne Jackson, the actor who plays Dr. Vincent, more to play. The implied plot twist was that Vincent was also part of the cult, and that he is supplying Kai with info about the patients’ fears. He does this so that Kai’s cult can use the phobias against them. This gave Dr. Vincent a much needed reason to be in the show. He became a much more intriguing character, and made the plot a lot more complex. It’s starting to seem like everyone who has been introduced so far is part of the cult.

The story is more complex due to every character seemed to be revealed to be connected to one another, except for Ally. This is what I have been so impressed with. The show continues to make clear that this is Ally’s story, but not Winter’s, the Wilton’s or even Ivy’s. The connectivity with other characters is also tastefully done. It’s very clear that the cult is expanding, but the writing doesn’t make it seem like a big, confusing mess.

Ever since the first episode, I’ve been worried that the show would suffer from controversial undertones, but that hasn’t been the case. This show has evolved so much since it premiered, and it seems promising it will stay on track for the rest of the season.