American Horror Story: 1984 Review: Red Dawn (Season 9 Episode 5)

Donna’s fixation with serial killers is revealed, Margaret finally shows her true intentions, and Camp Redwood collects new souls on American Horror Story: 1984 Season 9 Episode 5, “Red Dawn.”

After this week’s episode of American Horror Story, I can safely say that I have no clue where this season is going. The only thing that I foresee is the final match between Margaret, aka the real Jingles, and Mr. Jingles.

I know that eventually, it’ll tie together as to why souls are stuck at Camp Redwood, but it’s not super enticing to me. It feels like the rest of the season is going to be about the dead people of Camp Redwood trying to figure out what to do with their eternal life, but that’s not enough to keep me coming back.

Per my earlier articles, I was enjoying this season very much, but the momentum has died down for me. I don’t know if it’s all the twists, the fact that almost everyone is dead now, or the completely random supernatural element that doesn’t really fit. There’s so much being packed into a short period and it’s a tad bit overwhelming and hard to keep up with.

Instead of having almost all of the characters die in the first half of the season I think that it would’ve been more interesting to see Jingles and The Nightstalker handling their business while the children are at camp.

I would’ve liked to see Brooke and the rest of her friends deal with a stealthy serial killer taking their victims one by one and them having to deal with keeping a secret and fighting for their lives at night. It feels like a waste for the whole setting to be about the camp only to have the children sent away as soon as they arrive.

I do, however, like the backstory for Donna and how she becomes fixated on trying to figure out the mind of a serial killer and what makes them tick. It’ll be interesting to see how she reacts and what she does next after the ghost of her father asking her to follow in his footsteps. Will her father’s ghost be the last straw for her to lose her mind, or will she keep it together to track down The Nightstalker and Jingles?

I’ve said from day one that Margaret had some dirty secrets of herself and that she’s crazy, and well, I love to be proven right. Nowhere did I imagine that Margaret would end up being the real Mr. Jingles, but I knew that she had a psychotic side to her.

I feel sympathy for Jingles because he was more than likely an innocent person who only wanted to impress the girl he likes. It’s sad that Margaret ruined his entire life all because she couldn’t handle the children making fun of her. If Jingles isn’t the one who gets to murder her I’ll riot.

I hope that Donna eventually gets to learn the truth about Margaret because their sit down would be an interesting one. She’d be a new serial killer for Donna to watch or a potential partner in crime.

I don’t like how the devil ties into The Nightstalker and now Jingles. It’s not because I’m anti-religion or anything like that, but it’s confusing as all get out.

If Jingles was resurrected by the devil and allowed to leave Camp Redwood why not Ray? He murdered someone and was on the run. Montana was actively trying to kill Brooke and helping The Nightstalker, so why not her?

The only thing I’m interested in now is what will happen between Margaret and the dead people at camp. Knowing Margaret she’ll try to kill Montana and Montana will come right back to try and murder her time and time again.

What did you think of this episode of American Horror Story: 1984? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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

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