Last week, American Horror Stories had a killer mall Santa in the form of Danny Trejo going holly-jolly and ape shit all over some morally bankrupt, social media influencers. This week’s episode, titled Ba’al went all out with a full on 48-minute satanic ride; that was like Rosemary’s Baby on speed.

Ba’al focused on a young couple willing to do anything in order to get pregnant. After a string of unfortunate failed attempts, the couple is out of options, but decide to keep trying in spite of not being able to. On the way out of the fertility clinic, a receptionist gives the young woman a small figure with no discernible features. After taking that figure home, the couple miraculously becomes pregnant.

Initially, the couple is really easy to like. Billie Lourde is great in the role of the poor woman at the center of the whole Rosemary’s Baby satanic fiasco. Of course, Lourde goes from timid and sweet to hysterical and uncontrollable to finish out the arc.

Flash-forward to 9 months later and the couple has a happy-bouncing baby in its crib. However, one night while watching the child through the baby monitor, mom see’s a terrifying demon standing above the crib. It’s actually a jolt. The tremendous make up of the demon combined with the scare timing was very well-done. From here on out it becomes the Rosemary’s Baby blueprint being fully worked out. However, this is Ryan Murphy and Co. so, you can expect some unexpected bits in there. As always the bit of silliness pushed up against horror has almost always been this series’ bread and spooky butter. I think it has been that way ever since season 2, to be honest.

American Horror Stories seems to have the same problems from episode to episode. There clearly just isn’t enough time to fit one of Murphy’s 7 twist structures in 48-minutes of runtime. Less is more. I think that Danny Trejo as the killer Santa worked the best because there wasn’t anything to get convoluted about. It was a straight up Christmas slasher. The overactive squished plots haven’t kept me from coming back week after week to keep up with the anthology. It’s been fun. Plus, there is always something that takes me back to Tales From the Crypt anthology nights back on HBO. Those were special enough to have a left a residual seed of nostalgia, that works in favor of me continuing with this series.

This is neither here nor there but, there is a brief moment in this episode that features a room full of TV execs all chatting about a show called “Gaslighters.” They mention they can put any sort of bullshit in episodes of the series and that the audience will keep coming back no matter what… At times, I have felt that Ryan Murphy is trolling us all with American Horror Story to a certain extent. This whole “Gaslighters” series is an all out huge wink at the audience that proves me right. It is so on the nose, that it is too on the nose. But, I digress.

Ba’al is a fun but all too quick of a ride. Still, I managed to enjoy it. I’ve noticed that I have to watch these with a certain amount of forgiveness in mind. They are sort of trashy and, ultimately, I think that is what I love about them.

Much like, Tales From the Crypt and Twilight Zone there is a big fat morality statement to be had in Ba’al. This isn’t always the case for American Horror Stories. In fact, its rare. Usually, the decadent rules the day in this series. So, it makes a for a nice change to see assholes get their just deserts.

Speaking of make-up effects, much like last week’s The Naughty List, this one has an all out gore-fest of slayings. The huge effects are enough of a reason to dig in and stream all on their own merit.

American Horror Stories: Ba’al is now on FX on Hulu along with the rest of the series. New episodes are added every Thursday.

Have you been keeping up with American Horror Stories? What has been your favorite episode so far? Let us know in the comments section.