The story starts in 1978 (though the actual story of the house starts much earlier) when two boys who like to smash things, decide to enter the dilapidated old mansion to wreak their havoc on. A small child with Down Syndrome stands outside and ominously warns the boys that they will die if they enter. Being the brats they are, they ignore her and start smashing up the place. Lured to the basement, the boys find old specimen jars filled with creepy items including baby fetuses. After smashing a few things there, they go to leave but only one makes the stairs. When he goes back to see what his brother is up to, he horrifically finds his brother with his throat cut and something terrible coming for him. This certainly sets the tone for the show which looks like it is going to be scary and violent, so nothing like Glee!
Jumping back to the present time, we meet the new owners of the house, Ben Harmon, played by "In The Line Of Fire"s Dylan McDermott, his wife Vivien, Connie Britton (Spin City) and their daughter, Violet. They have moved away from Boston to Los Angeles to escape their past where Vivien has had a stillbirth after her husband had an affair with a young student of his. He is a psychiatrist and he decides to set up his practice in the house. They learn that the house was built by a doctor in 1920 and the previous owners, who fully restored the house to it's former glory, where a couple of gay men who were found murdered in the basement!
They meet their neighbour Constance, played by the wonderful Jessica Lange who comes to collect her daughter who has Down Syndrome (the grown up girl from the beginning of the episode). She gets in to the house and tells Vivien that she is going to die in the house!
Vivien hires the old maid, Moira, who is blind in one eye. She says she has been the maid at the house for many years and will even work for free. However, when Ben sees Moria, because of his adulterous inclinations, he sees a sexy, naughty woman in an incredibly short maids outfit with stockings and suspenders. He does not want to hire her because he doesn't want to be unfaithful again, but Vivien wins. But one morning, Ben sees Moria masturbating. He leaves her and ends up masturbating himself, only to spy a man in the yard. When he investigates, there is no one there. Later Moira is looking at Vivien's jewellery, when Constance walks in on her. After a few snide remarks to each other, Constance tells her, "Don't make me kill you again!" WTF?!
Meanwhile, Vivien is 'cleansing' the home by burning some sage that Constance had brought over as a house warming gift and comes across a gimp suit in the attic. Vivien is shocked at first and then a little turned on by it. Ben comes running to her scream and thinks it might be a good way to crack the ice with their sex life again but Vivien demands Ben throw it away, which he does. The next day, they fight about his affair and he wants to know how long is she going to punish him. She lashes out at him which eventually turns to kisses and then she makes love to him. Afterwards, Ben awakes in a trance and sleep walks downstairs and starts to play with the stove top, in an apparent attempt to start a fire, but Constance appears and wakes him, stopping him from burning down the house.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Vivien sees a man in the gimp suit standing in the doorway and assumes it is Ben and while he never speaks, she agrees to have sex again, which is not pleasurable at all. Who has raped her?
The daughter, Violet is not happy they have moved. She hates her school where she gets bullied by some girls on her first day. But then she meets Tate, a patient of her father's. He's young and angst ridden, a bit like herself and she is drawn to him. She tells him of her issues and he convinces her to invite the bully to the house and to bring her to the basement where she is attacked by something horrific. In fright, Violet accuses Tate of the attack and demands he leave her alone.
Ben catches the man from his yard, Larry, with horrendous burn scars on his face who warns him to get out of the house. He used to own the house and lost his family in a fire. He tells Ben that he heard voices and had dreams of setting his family on fire, and then his family was killed in a fire and he went to jail for the crime. Now he wants to make sure it doesn't happen again. Ben rejects him.
Later, Ben and Vivien learn that she is pregnant! Who is the father though? Is it Ben? Or is it whoever was wearing the gimp suit?
This is a disturbing show, filled with sex and violence and anger. It's bloody good to watch though!
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