[S5E8] The Ten Commandments Killer
Remember when a quiet loner played by Colin Hanks was really a serial killer being prodded along by his imaginary ghost mentor? It was arguably one of the WORST seasons of the series, but American Horror Story Season 5 Episode 8 just took a page straight out of the Dexter Season 6 playbook. Sort of.
[S5E8] The Ten Commandments Killer
The end of American Horror Story Season 5 Episode 7, as Wren ran into traffic and died, was shocking. It was supposed to be, both for us as an audience and for John, our serial killer in disguise. The immortal child's death was actually more shocking to me than the revelation that John has been driving himself crazy looking for himself this entire time.
What did you think of the twist that John is the Ten Commandments Killer? Would you have preferred the killer be someone else? Will John complete the tableau or will he be caught before he can?
In the aftermath of Holden's disappearance, John frequently visits the Hotel to meet March and to continue an ongoing sexual relationship with Sally. During one visit, March shows John his trophy room. To satiate his hunger for injustice, March suggests a target to John: Martin Gamboa, who checked in and molested a ten-year-old boy, and l\\\\Sally provides the next target to John: an adulterous couple who had checked in the Cortez. March also explains to him that the Cortez cannot be linked to the crimes, so John set up the lovers to stage their murder elsewhere. Hahn drapes the sheet over Wren's corpse, unwilling to believe that his partner is the killer. John says that Hahn is wrong, and stabs him with an autopsy tool with an admonition not to covet his neighbor's wife; John had confirmed that Hahn had been lusting after Alex Lowe.
Ten Commandments KillerSecond KillerOriginal KillerPortrayed byWes Bentleyalso portrayed byEvan PetersDetailsSpeciesHuman (formerly)
Ghost
OccupationSerial killerCause of deathJames March
February 25, 1930
Hotel Cortez
Los Angeles
Hazel Evers
John Lowe
Winter 2016
Hotel Cortez
Los Angeles
Los Angeles Police Department
RelationshipsJames March (original pursuer)
John Lowe (second pursuer)
Wren (bystander, accomplice)
Andy Hahn (victim)
Elizabeth (victim)
Hotel
Ten Commandments Killer is an appellation for the perpetrator of the serial murders committed first by James March and later by John Lowe. He is a character in Hotel primarily portrayed by Wes Bentley.
On February 25, in the early 1930s, the police came to the Hotel Cortez to arrest March after receiving an anonymous phone call assuring them that March was responsible for the first Ten Commandments murders. After shooting his servant Miss Evers, he slit his own throat, leaving the ten commandments unfinished.
Two unidentified male twins were found both disemboweled and hung crucifixion style on their respective bedposts. They killed their parents in order to inherit their family's fortune and so they broke one of the commandments which led to John killing them. It was showed that he saw a man in a suit inside the house before finding the victims. He confessed to Andy that he saw himself manifested as James March. He took their hearts to be kept in the hidden chamber.
John empties a magazine of bullets from his gun, killing The Countess, Elizabeth before she could flee from the Hotel Cortez. He brings her head as a trophy for the chamber, completing the ten commandments murders.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, it looks like Lowe is embracing his true calling. With five more episodes left and two more commandments/body parts to go it will be interesting to see what full on serial killer John Lowe will get up to for the rest of the season.
Back in the hotel, John tries to hang himself. March cuts him down as Sally made no attempt to stop John's transition into a ghost like her, and March reminds her of their deal: protection from the Addiction Demon, a product of the ghosts, via a steady stream of victims, who will feed its need for souls that would otherwise consume the other ghosts of the hotel. Hahn confirms at this point that Sally is Sally McKenna, who died decades earlier. John wonders at his memory loss, and Sally responds that the Hotel suppresses his memories. Sally and March help John cope through his murder of Gamboa, and March shows him the legacy of the Ten Commandments Killer which he wants John to finish. John appoints himself as lead investigator of the case with no knowledge that he is the actual killer.
Hahn drapes the sheet over Wren's corpse, unwilling to believe that his partner is the killer. John says that Hahn is wrong, and stabs him with an autopsy tool with an admonition not to covet his neighbor's wife.
Ryan Murphy modeled his plots after the crimes of America's most infamous serial killers and haunted sites, including Los Angeles' Hotel Cecil. Some are obvious since the characters and places are literally given the same names as their inspiration, while others require a bit more research or a quick scroll through Wikipedia.
Most obvious among the list of real-life characters is Madame Delphine LaLaurie. The serial killer was played by Kathy Bates in season three of the show, becoming one of the actress' most memorable roles to date. Fans were obsessed with Bates' comical yet sinister portrayal of the socialite and slave owner, whose New Orleans home is now a museum.
In the fifth season, Murphy took inspiration from the Chicago-based serial killer H.H. Holmes, who built the infamous murder hotel. He opened the hotel under the guise of housing visitors, but in reality, it was his own personal victim trap. Police reported finding gas chambers, hidden tunnels and a torture chamber after numerous travelers were reported missing.
This downtown Los Angeles hotel has housed serial killers and was the site of numerous suspicious deaths. So, it only makes sense that Ryan Murphy would make this the home of the murderous James March.
For more than a year, beginning in 1918, a serial killer broke into the homes of New Orleans residents, using an axe or a razor blade to murder the inhabitants. Police were never able to catch the crazed murderer and the killings stopped as suddenly as they started. The axeman, played by Danny Huston, is most famous for writing a letter to the police that stated tat he would spare the lives of anyone who played jazz music on the night of March 19, 1919. As such, that night was filled with dancing and jazz music.
Welcome to Briarcliff Manor, a notorious insane asylum home to the deranged serial killer, Bloody Face. Lurking in the shadows of this "sanctuary of healing" are terrifying evils that blur the boundaries between reality and insanity.
Is Mr. March the Ten Commandments Killer? The easy answer is, of course, yes. We learned in the expository flashback narrated by Iris that March was a serial killer himself, modeled after real-life murderer H.H. Holmes.
James Patrick March is most likely based on Herman Mudgett, also known as H.H. Holmes, an early serial killer in the United States who also designed a hotel in Chicago for the 1893 World's Fair. It was expressly designed to murder people, and Mudgett would then sell the cadavers to medical students and teachers. 041b061a72