American Horror Story/Double Feature/Timeline

This is supposed to be a quick go scroll through timeline, not a detailed episode recap divided by date.

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2012

October

• October 11th:
  • Alma Gardner is born

2016

October

• October 15th:
  • Holden Vaughn shows the Chemist a new place to live. She just got out of a job and is seeking for some peace and quiet. She buys the house and starts working on a new recipe. She'll be making black capsules that are soon to be like Muse in no time.

• October 24th:
  • Mickey tries to hook up with Holden in The Muse Restaurant. Instead, Mickey is picked up by the Chemist. Rather than sex, she inquires about Mickey's dreams. He discloses to her that he has fun with writing but isn't sure if he's any good. The Chemist reveals that she has spent the previous nine years working with the US military to use biological engineering to inhibit creativity. She created a medication that boosted the occipital lobe's performance, but it only worked on the most imaginative test participants. He rejects to be a human test subject for her, but she agrees to pay him $50 if he sends her any possible subjects.

• October 30th:
  • Mickey and Karen discuss the season's sadness while at the Muse. He asks if she's creative, but she responds that she isn't. When a new singer hits the stage, Mickey introduces him to The Chemist.
  • Belle Noir is being featured at a book signing for "Martha`s Cherry Tree", but the event is sparsely attended. The erotic reading she performs — recounting George Washington and a sexual affair — does little to stir the crowd. Even her husband, Ray, is disgusted by the subject matter. The Chemist purchases the only signed copy, to Belle`s husband`s dismay. Now that he has retired, he is tired of spending time with his wife and thinks her book tour is costly and fruitless. She goes alone to The Muse, where Mickey encounters (and propositions her). She buys him a drink, and they discuss writing as core parts of who they are. He introduces her to meth, and she dances in the bar. The singer from the night before enters the bar, looking ill. He blames Karen for his illness and runs to the bathroom to vomit. Once there, he discovers his hair falling out in clumps; he is to become the first of the Pale People.
  • When Belle wants to hunt other highs, Mickey takes her to see The Chemist. The bioengineer reads parts of Belle's book to confirm that she's talented. Mickey watched as the chemist explained the side effects of Muse. Belle insists she needs the spark and agrees to stay while the chemist studies her reaction.

• October 31st:
  • Back at the hotel, Belle's husband was away. The drug started to work and Belle started typing. Hundreds of pages later, she's finished a new novel before her husband returns in the morning. After skimming, he claimed she couldn't have written something so good. When questioned where he had been, he admitted to traveling overnight and having sex with a woman on the beach until his return. Enraged, Belle broke a nearby bottle and slit his throat. She threw herself into his neck and drank his blood as he died.
  • The chemist confirmed the same thing happened to the subjects in the ape tests and explained why. Belle said her first impulse was to ignore what she did to Ray and immediately go back to writing a new book. The Chemist then tells Belle to hide her husbands body.
  • While on a stroll with his dogs, Holden comes across Ray's disembodied corpse on the beach.
  • The singer, still very lucid, he has lost most of his hair and looks very pale. This is the third day of his protocol and the chemist will not give him another dose. When asked, he said that he had not experienced any violent thoughts (and that he was a Buddhist), but that he was cold. He went to buy a coat at Lark's store. Larks gifts him with a free coat since most of them aren't really bought anymore. The singer then meets a Portuguese woman who was praying in the cemetery. He was forced to cut her throat with a vase and drink her blood.
  • On Halloween night, he arrives at The Chemist's door with a bloody face. He was taken back by the sudden thirst for blood - he was a vegan pacifist and didn't even like artificial meat. The chemist explained that he now hated the world, which infuriated him. He cried and her words enraged him to attack her. She stopped him with a gun and made him leave her house, telling him to never come back. As he walks down the street passing other children dressed up, he finds a teenager in the alleyway and kills him to drink his blood.

2018

October

• October 31st:
  • On Halloween, Belle picks up a new wardrobe from Lark's store. They identify themselves as Muse users. Lark has only been on the drug for a few months. Belle has since released six best-selling books and created a film franchise. Lark had the writer redecorate his teeth to wear new clothes. Belle walks into a rowing club, looking for a drink. Drag performer Patty O'Furniture wasn't well known among her peers, but she quickly made her way into Belle's watches. After most got home, Belle went for a drink. She told the artist he didn't belong there. “Patty” (aka Austin) wrote a play for a local theatrical performance, but the casting director is missing; Unbeknownst to Austin, the casting director was one of Belle's victims. Austin feels like he can't get started. Belle gives him a Muse pill. The drug reached his system quickly, and he had both a new perspective and a new appetite.
  • The drag queens from earlier are targets for the new blood-drinking duo, and they quickly destroy them. One ran away in the night and ended up in the graveyard but the pale creature ate them.

2021

January

• January 25th:
  • Alma Gardner counts roadkill animals as she and her parents drive to their temporary house. Harry, driving the SUV, almost hits a dead deer on the road, but misses it. the deer is lying dead in the road with its throat ripped out. Something unseen by them takes it from the road as they drive away.
  • They approach Provincetown, Massachusetts on a misty afternoon. Martha, the house manager for the host family's house, which Doris will be reinvating the house. Harry is a screenwriter and is planning on writing a television pilot, while Alma is a violin prodigy. Harry walks to the market to pick up supplies, and notices residents turning on red porch lights. His cart slams to a halt when a frantic homeless woman, Karen, accosts him and warns him to leave. Mikey, the market owner and Martha's brother, demands she leave and not scare Harry away.

• January 26th:
  • While Alma plays, Harry experiences writer's block and Doris ponders her next stylistic move. Meanwhile, a fox explores the beach's dunes and is snatched by an unseen force. Harry subtly blames Alma for distracting him, but Doris breaks the tension by taking their daughter for a walk. They pass a cemetery, observed by a strange pale bald figure. He gives chase and they run into the house. Harry rushes to lock the doors and the unearthly figure hisses at him, baring his teeth.
  • Later, Chief Burleson investigates the complaint and assures Doris that the man was simply trying to scare her and was probably high on drugs. Harry mentions the case of a nearby "Truro family that was killed in their beds, but the Chief insists nothing is amiss and the town is safe. The family has misgivings but decides to stay for the opportunity.
  • Alma hears a tap on her window, and looks outside to see a trio of ghoulish figures (including the man that chased them earlier). Her parents put Alma back to bed, but decide not to call the police. Harry spends the night on the couch, drinking, and awakens in the morning having not written a word. Struggling to wake, he goes for a run.
  • On the beach, Harry discovers two corpses on the beach, with their guts ripped out. He vomits and the police are called. The medical examiner brought by Burleson says that he suspects a shark attack, despite Harry's doubts. That night, Harry plans a date night with Doris at The Muse, the only restaurant opening during the winter, while Martha babysits Alma. However Doris vomits, sick from stress, thus canceling their date night.
  • Harry Gardner goes out to The Muse restaurant. There, he is propositioned by male prostitute Mickey at the bar. Harry declines. Later, Belle Noir and Austin Sommers sing a duet together and buy Harry a drink, welcoming him to Provincetown's writer's circle.
  • Karen storms in and starts collecting table scraps. The bartender tries to drive her away, but Austin calls out jokingly to leave her alone. Karen notices Harry and warns him again to run, before the "bloodsuckers" get to him. Ne;;e writes it off as an inspiring experience.
  • Harry returns home, finding his wife and daughter asleep. Once again, he brews tea for a night of writing. An ajar window startles him, and he is attacked by one of the strange bald men. Defending himself, he manages to beat in the creature's head with a coat rack.
  • Belle serves as Mickey's client for the evening, and she offers to house him overnight, but he declines. She counters with an offer to pay him for a taste of blood, which she has done before (nearly killing him the last time). He again declines, but she says she will drink from him or he gets nothing. He reluctantly agrees, and she gashes open his arm before biting in with her suddenly pointed, shark-like teeth. Outside The Muse, Karen retrieves trash from the dumpster where Belle calls her, telling her she has three hours to complete their deal, though Karen begs to get out of it.
• January 27th:
  • The police carry away the corpse and clean up the scene. Burelson says that they must give statements the next day, but have every right to defend themselves from an intruder in their home. Harry believes that the intruder was not a "tweaker" thief, but tried to rip his throat out. The chief insists he come to the station in the afternoon. The parents agree that they should leave, but that Doris still has a job to do.
  • Karen arrives at Belle's home with a human baby, in exchange for drugs. Karen is terrified of Belle, but less so than the others that Belle is protecting her from.
  • Harry begins packing, but Alma says she doesn't want to go back to New York. Harry suggests they go to Nantucket. Harry receives a call from Austin, inviting him for a "cure" for his writer's block. At his house, Austin tosses him a bag of unnamed black pills, which despite spiking writers' creativity. He insists there are no side effects and the "catches" are irrelevant. He expounds that if writing is a necessity for Harry, then the costs don't matter. Harry begins to walk away, but Austin places the pills back in his hands before he leaves.
  • Ursula, Harry's agent, calls and insists that he needs to finish the pilot as soon as possible. His safety nets are gone, and he will not recover professionally if he does not get the project done. Feeling he has no options, Harry takes a single pill. Alma watches from afar.
• January 28th:
  • The Gardeners load into the car to leave Provincetown. Before he can start the engine, the pills have a sudden and powerful effect on Harry. He insists that he has to write immediately and takes his computer back into the house. Alma and Doris return to the Brown House, and Alma is concerned enough that it is throwing off her violin. She admits to her mother that she saw Harry take a drug.
  • In four hours of writing, Harry has completed the pilot. Doris asks him what drug he took, though he denies it. Alma comes in and confronts him as well and he snaps at her for lack of talent, which sends her running upstairs. Harry and Doris fight, and he says that she is not supporting his need to stay another day or two. She too storms off.
  • When his wife and daughter return, Harry apologizes. Harry ravenously tears into a sandwich and immediately wretches, thrown off by the taste of turkey. Wanting privacy so he can finish writing, he asks his family to clear the room. Determined, he writes all night and into the morning. Doris reads his screenplay off the printer, and compliments him on how good it is. She is concerned that this is abnormal behavior from him, and when he says he has no appetite for food she is upset that he lied about taking a drug. He heads to the market, passing the pale men on the street. He approaches one chewing on a rat, and the others corral around him trying to bite him. They stop when they smell him, likely recognizing the drug in his system.
  • The bloody steaks in the meat market draw Harry's attention. He loads several into his cart, noticed by Mikey. The storekeeper muses that Harry's creative flow must have begun. Karen has noticed, too, and confronts Harry about taking the pill. She says "you never knew thirsty before now" and walks away.
  • At home, Harry drains the blood from the steaks into a pitcher and drinks it up, then purees and strains the steaks into a liquid. His mouth dripping blood from the liquefied raw meat, he returns to writing.
  • Alma and Doris discuss leaving. They both want to, but Doris also wants to be supportive of his inspiration. Alma reminds her mother that Harry is being mean to him, but that they can tough it out for a few more days. Alma wonders if she would be able to play the violin better if she took a black pill, but Doris insists there is no magic pill for greatness.
  • Once Alma is in bed, Doris descends the stairs to approach Harry, but she backs off when she sees him still writing. Outside, Austin and Belle Noir exchange knowing conversation about the first days on "Muse", the term Austin calls the black pills. Belle admits that if Harry is going to keep up the pace, he will need to upgrade his diet. The pair resolve to head up the cape for a snack.
• January 29th:
  • The next day, Doris cuts up vegetables for a soup. Harry enters the kitchen and has still not slept. He wants to stay another week, but Doris is not having it. Angry, she cuts her finger with the chopping knife. On reflex, Harry pounces on her hands, sucking away the blood. She throws him off, as he's hurting her. He stares at her, blood dripping across his chin.
  • Austin drives birds away from his property with a shotgun blast. Harry drives up, and demands of Austin to know what was in the pills. Austin says only The Chemist knows. He relates that the town used to have a succession of drug problems, starting with heroin and crystal meth, which developed into a mystery designer drug. The drug only works for those with a creative spark; those without become "flesh phantoms" that have been hunting around town. The "Muse" depletes the major minerals in the bloodstream, which have to be replenished in massive amounts. Eventually, the meat market will no longer satisfy those needs and the user will need fresh blood —from humans. Once the user stops taking the drug, they will return to normal but will never be creative to the same level.
  • Harry once again returns and apologizes, saying that they can leave the next morning. Doris reminds him that she has a job to do here, too, and that she won a contest for the opportunity. She fears he doesn't think she is good enough. They are interrupted by a call from Ursula with good news: not only is the studio immediately greenlighting the pilot, but Joaquin Phoenix saw it and signed onto the project on the spot. Further, Netflix wants to make an overall deal with them. Ursula suggests the Gardeners start looking at real estate options. Ecstatic, they want to celebrate and Harry distractedly sits down to work. He finds he can not write a word.
  • He drives to Austin's, looking for more Muse. Belle Noir is there, and they convince Harry to take another dose. She insists that he will not be able to stop now that he has had a taste. Then they say they are going out to eat, and the two eccentric locals reveal their pointed teeth.
  • On the drive to their destination, Harry calls to apologize to a disappointed Doris that he's been invited into a prestigious writers' group. He asks how many creatives are on the drug ("a few") and why there are more recently ("streamers"). The local duo also explains that they only do "Muse" seasonally, and that they only need to feed on blood ("4-6 pints worth") weekly while on the drug. They choose victims who will not be missed and exsanguinate them completely, mostly from addicts clearly selling stolen goods on Craigslist. The two rules are to never feed in Provincetown (because of the new police Chief's curiosity) and never take the gloves off.
  • Elsewhere, Karen is staying with Mickey, who explains his own house rules. Mickey also explains his theories on Jaws' shark-driven motivations while they get high. Mickey mentions that he loves movies and has started several screenplays of his own. He says that he stole some Muse off of Sarah and offers them to Karen, but Karen explains the pills' effects. She insists that even living as she does, she'd rather be like that than live like Sarah. Mickey points out that they are both creative, as he has purchased several of Karen's paintings from a thrift shop. The evocative paintings are talented crafts. They muse about what they would do with fame and fortune, but Karen quickly admits that she could not do what's entailed. Mickey says he can, and takes a pill in front of her.
  • The trio of writers arrive at the seller's house. Once inside, Belle Noir slashes his throat and they quickly feed on the man. Harry is ashamed, but Sarah tries to rationalize that the addict was a burden to society. They also acknowledge that they are experiencing a second-hand high from the meth in the addict's system. They say they should get Harry to Dr Feldman to take care of his teeth.
• January 30th:
  • Harry visits dentist Leslie Feldman (aka Lark) at her tattoo shop. Her Muse experience made her a skilled tattoo artist after dental school. She designed the caps that will cover his new teeth after they are filed to pickets, with the rationale that he will have to murder fewer people with the cleaner feeding that the new teeth will provide. After all, she says, all predatory species have them.
  • Alma is frustrated that she can not master the challenging violin pieces she is trying. While Doris is not watching, Alma rifles through Harry's bag and takes a Muse pill. Almost immediately, her skill skyrockets. Meanwhile, we see Mickey and Harry thriving in their creative flows and Doris struggling to master tone-on-tone interior design. Alma collapses after a challenging piece, which wakes Doris. Doris is pale and tired, and asks Alma to stop her non-stop practice. Alma declines, saying that she must master the piece; she goes on that Doris will never understand greatness like Alma and her father will, because Doris is content being mediocre. Doris notes Alma's atypical cruelty, but Alma retorts that Doris is jealous because she does not understand art or inspiration. Alma finishes by saying she feels at home there now and never wants to leave. Doris angrily sends Alma to her room to pack for leaving the next day.
  • Harry runs along the beach and encounters a hustler under the pier, whom he quickly dispatches.
• January 31st:
  • Doris awakens to find Alma has left her violin at Doris' bedside and is missing. Confused, she asks Harry if she has seen Alma, and if that is blood on his chin. Her husband responds that she went for a walk to get fresh air. Doris is furious that Harry allowed their daughter to go out alone with the dangerous pale men lurking in town. Harry says she is being irrational (blaming it on her pregnancy), but Doris counters that it is not irrational when they have been attacked in the last few days, including Harry killing an intruder. Doris says that she will find Alma and the two will leave without Harry. Doris searches the streets calling for Alma, finding her daughter in the cemetery eating a freshly killed rabbit.
  • Doris frantically scrubs the blood off of a wailing Alma, insisting she needs medical attention and going on about possible Lyme disease. Harry tries to calm Doris down, but she tells him how she found Alma earlier: sucking the blood from a dead rabbit in the cemetery. Before Harry has a chance to process that this means Alma has taken the Muse, Chief Burleson arrives; responding to worried calls from people who had seen a bloody Alma in the cemetery. Burleson wants to bring Alma in for questioning since the torn-up wounds on the rabbit are extremely similar to those found on a man who was killed earlier on the beach (the man Harry murdered at the end of Pale), along with other similar murders that are becoming increasingly frequent. Harry and Doris protest Burleson's orders, wanting to keep Alma at home, but Doris falls down the stairs and has to be sent to the hospital. The doctors there say that her condition is stable, but that they want to monitor her for at least four days before sending her home. Doris panics at this - yet another thing delaying her leaving Provincetown. Harry sends Alma to the vending machine, but both the girl and her father respond to the bags of banked blood on a cart.
  • Once again, Harry and Doris decide to leave Provincetown. Harry drives Alma away from where they said they were going. They talk about the pill and Alma's response to it. Alma didn't mind eating the rabbit, as she wants to be the greatest — not simply great. Harry explains the price of the pill. Alma agrees to stop taking the pill if her father will.

February

• February 1st:
  • Harry's writer's block has returned. He digs the pills out of the trash, and gives Alma a dose when she asks. They go out for "very rare" steak. As the two wait for dinner, they discuss logistics: Alma's necessary all-year dosage, tracking her growth and development, and a secret from Doris. Alma proposes that they don't need Doris, but Harry will not have that. He also insists that he procure her blood, rather than her hunting for herself. That causes Alma to respond that she's hungry now. He drives up the coast to "buy a bicycle and DVD player", and the woman cautiously invites him in. Harry is attacked from behind and locked in the basement.
  • He awakens stripped, in a BDSM porn rape to be filmed by the couple upstairs, Tony and Melanie. They insist they will kill him after they are done. They position Harry for the camera, but Harry surprises them by ripping her throat out and shooting Tony. He gathers the blood and brings it back to Alma.
• February 2nd:
  • Ursula surprises Harry at home. Harry explains where Doris is. Ursula got a call from Quentin Tarantino, wanting Harry to write a limited series for Hulu. Given some subtext, Harry also intuits that Tarantino is on Muse. Harry deflects by discussing the number of artists in the area and suggesting she eat at The Muse. He warns her about the town's drug problem and to stay safe.
  • At the bar, Ursula encounters Mickey as Belle Noir and Austin sing a duet. Ursula frustratedly complains at the noise they are making. The pair come over and subtly threaten her. Mickey offers to buy her a drink, but she declines and leaves.
• February 3rd:
  • Mickey approaches her the next day on the beach, and asks her to read a spec script. She wonders if he is in a meth haze, but he says he has not smoked in days. She grudgingly agrees to read the scripts he gives her, saying she will burn them if she does not like them. Much to her surprise, she enjoys them. The next day she confronts him, and insists that he can't have written the valuable script she read. She refuses to believe that something odd isn't going on. She admits she recognized Austin and Belle the night before, and Mickey tells her about the local drug, Muse. Ursula demands that he steal more pills from Belle.
  • That night, Mickey finds a stash of Muse in Belle's house and siphons a few. Meanwhile, the writer trio finds a trio of addicts to feed them. Harry locates a thermos to gather some blood for Alma, noticed by the other two. On the way back, Belle and Austin confront him asking who the blood is for. He admits it is for Alma. They demand Harry cut her off, or Belle will eat Alma. After they drop Harry off, the two agree that Harry and Alma both need to die.
• February 4th:
  • Mickey finds a hustler under the boardwalk and attacks his old friend. His would-be victim fights him off and nearly drowns Mickey in the surf. Mickey hamstrings him and drinks from his throat there on the beach. When he returns to his home, he finds Belle waiting for him. He says he is sorry that he stole the pills but that he is talented enough to not become a Pale man. She will allow him to continue, so long as he tithes back a thermos of blood for her. She also threatens that Ursula must be his next kill.
  • Burleson interviews a witness to the the beach incident: Holden Vaughn. He says it was a gay-bashing incident. He is an interior designer, mourning his dog while in town.
  • Mickey breaks into Ursula's hotel room and walks in on her in the bath. She offers him a rewrite of "Speed Racer", his script already acceptred by the studio. She will set him up for further success if he takes her to The Chemist. Ursula intends to make The Chemist very rich, she tells a wary Mickey. The next day, they approach a house and knock. A woman answers, and Ursula bargains for five minutes of the woman's time. Ursula offers The Chemist a distribution deal. The Chemist tells Belle and Austin later that she declined the deal, and she demands the pair kill Ursula, Mickey, and the Gardners.
• February 5th:
  • Ursula babysits a hungry Alma and says she is going to take a nap. Burleson watches Harry leave and Alma lets the Chief in for a talk. The Chief knows that Harry and Alma are involved in the murders of derelicts, and leans on Alma for understanding. She asks if it is a cult or a blood disease. Alma asks if Burleson had a dream. Burleson says she will take Alma to the police station to await Harry for arrest, but Alma jabs the chief in the carotid with a kitchen knife. When Harry returns, he finds that Ursula has taught Alma how to play gin rummy while Burleson's blood pools into bowls below her prone, fireside body.
• February 9th:
  • Doris delivers a baby boy. Harry is nearly overcome by the sight and scents of the blood. After cutting the cord, the parents vow they're going to be "great" from now on. In a restroom, Harry squeezes birthing blood into paper cups from the soiled linens and drinks.
  • At home, Doris dreams of her experiences. She is still in a confused haze as Ursula visits. She realizes that they are supposed to have (separately) left Providence, as they had planned. Harry explains that Doris is at high risk for post-birth complications, and they should not be separated for at least 3 weeks.
  • Karen encounters a well dressed Mickey, who drives her in a race car to Race Point (a beach she intends to paint). He explains that the studio leased him the Ford GTL (the closest thing to Speed Racer's fictional "Mach 5") because he is now entrusted with reviving the Speed Racer extended franchise universe. He offers her a production design job and moving with him to Los Angeles, but she quickly realizes that he has succumbed to Muse and everything that comes with it, and demands that he pull over so she can get out of the car. She flees into the dunes.
• February 10th, :
  • At 1:08am, Doris awakens, looking for the baby and finds him with Alma. Alma is drinking from a cut in the baby's leg.
  • The next morning, Harry confronts Alma. She says that the baby was not hurt, and it was just a sip. She confirms that a baby's blood is nearly like the potency of the pill itself, and that she is now able to play one of the most challenging violin pieces ever created. As she is not conceding the point of his concern, he threatens to smash her violin before she says she understands. Alma once again mentions that the two of them have outgrown Doris and that she doesn't understand keeping her mother around. Harry threatens to cut off Alma's pill supply if she harms the baby.
  • Ursula suggests to a still groggy Doris that Alma's "sip" was simply a dream, but Doris feels that Ursula is gaslighting her. Ursula insists that Harry is working on further scripts, but Doris is skeptical that her husband has become so prolific. Ursula suggests that Doris simply sit back and ride her husband's success (and to be on her best behavior).
  • Time passes, and Harry procures more blood for Alma. Doris finds a fresh bite mark on the baby's leg. Alma brings Doris pills to help her recuperate, and Doris recognizes one of them as Muse. Doris calls for Harry and demands to know what the foreign pill is. When she doesn't get a satisfying answer, Doris shows Harry the bite mark, which he writes off as a scrape from the hospital's monitoring anklet. Alma openly suggests that they stop lying to Doris and that she wants Doris to take the pill, explaining that it boosts creative performance; she adds that she won't even mind drinking the blood after time. Ursula chimes in that it's a good idea, but Harry says it is not for her. Alma questions whether they all think she's good enough to take the risk. Doris grabs the baby and runs out of the house, but is immediately confronted with the Pale People on the street. Harry guides her back to the house, and the Pale People scatter.
• February 11th:
  • Karen paints a cottage, from the vantage of the dunes. Belle approaches her, chiding that Karen has not been answering her burner phone. After a critique of her paintings, Belle demands that Karen obtain the Gardner's baby for her. Pale People approach from the dunes, and Belle threatens Karen with them when Karen refuses. Belle begins destroying Karen's canvases, explaining that newborn blood is a particular (unspoiled) taste. If Karen continues to refuse, Belle says she will gouge out the painter's eyes.
  • Doris frantically searches for a pair of shears that she can use as a weapon. She sneaks downstairs and overhears Holden's cutting insults about her design boards. Harry sees her and suggests she return upstairs. He introduces the visitor to his wife, implying that Holden can help Doris while she's impaired from the difficult birth. She reluctantly returns upstairs to feed the newborn.
  • Mickey places some of Karen's paintings in a box when the painter herself storms in. She is furious that Mickey told Belle how to find her, and explains her predicament. Mickey says that Karen's solution is simple: start taking the pills. Karen wants to save the Gardner baby from Belle and anyone she would send afterwards. Karen insists that taking care of the baby will help her get her life in order, and that Mickey must help her before he loses what's left of his soul.
  • Alma and Doris decide to name the baby "Eli". Alma explains the effect of newborn blood, and how it super-powered her playing. Doris reminds Alma that the baby is her brother and that she must not do that to any baby (including her brother). Alma promises that she is sorry and that she won't. Doris laments that their family is already lost, but Alma insists that Doris has the talent — despite what Harry thinks — to survive the pill together. The daughter makes the case that they can have it all. Doris says that it's not worth hurting people to be good at something, though Alma insists that her mother will forget the downsides. Ultimately, she convinces her mother to take the pill.
  • Doris begins obsessively sketching design boards until she vomits across them. Alma insists on going out for dinner with Harry and Ursula, and they leave the sleeping mother alone (without the car keys). Mickey and Karen approach and break the window to enter the back door. The Pale People are not far away, but Mickey tells Karen they will not harm her so long as she is with him. Karen pleads with Mickey not to kill Doris, and Doris confronts them before they can grab Eli. They see that her skin has grown pale and her hair has begun falling out. Karen flees into the street and is quickly surrounded by the Pale, who chase her to a doorway. Mickey arrives and intervenes, offering Karen a choice to take Muse. He insists that she should believe in herself the way that he does, but Karen says that she doesn't care if she is good enough for the pill to work: she doesn't want to lose her humanity the way he has. He leaves her with a pill and walks away. The Pale encroach on Karen, and she pops the pill into her mouth to save her own life. The Pale instantly recoil and slink away.
• February 12th
  • Doris sees her reflection and shaves off her remaining hair. As the baby cries, she grabs a knife from the kitchen and takes it back upstairs. Moments from bringing it down on the baby, Harry wrestles it from her. Harry tries to get through to his wife, and while she briefly recognizes him she lunges again for the baby. He forces her into the bathroom and traps her there, wondering aloud why she would have taken the pill. Alma admits that Ursula coached her to do so, and that it was the right thing.
  • Karen is squeamish that she took one of the pills. Mickey insists that she is just hungry, and he resolves to track a victim for her. He offers again to take her to Los Angeles with him, but she thinks they are both cursed now. Mickey calms her by asking her what her masterwork would be. He says to try to create it immediately, after she feeds, to see if the pill worked.

• February 13th:
  • The next morning, a dejected Harry approaches the transformed Doris. He laments to her that he should have been honest with her: he has indeed outgrown her. He suggests it is better this way, and now she will not have to watch his star rise. He releases her to join the other Pale. Ursula quips that there is nothing more pathetic and sad than a person with no talent trying to make it in the world. Alma, though, feels something and clasps Harry's hand.
  • Mickey takes Karen to the dunes, where a convenient victim awaits them on the beach. He offers to help her, and she tells him that she is going to help them both. She leans in for an embrace, and rips out the side of his neck with her teeth. She wrestles him to the ground, drinking, and begins painting. Before long, she approaches the shore and slits her wrists to bleed into the surf before walking in. She allows the waves to crash over her, leaving behind a red tide.
  • Ursula and Alma pay a visit to The Chemist, as the agent schemes to have the most successful talent and literary pool of all time supplied by the drug. She thinks that Alma will help persuade The Chemist. They pass the cemetery and observe a Pale Doris eating a rodent.
• February 22nd:
  • The Provincetown harbor master warns fisherman Tony of an oncoming storm altering the tides. Before the small craft can leave the harbor, they collide with the floating corpse of Chief Burleson. The town council (including Holden Vaughn) is notified by Trooper Jan Remy of the Massachusetts State Police of the located body, with an added report that similar wounds have been found on an epidemic of bodies: throats slashed with uneven wounds and near total exsanguination. Remy believes there is a serial killer at work causing a string of brutal murders, but the town council suggests there is no evidence of murder. The council chair writes them off as "wintertime problems" — strange things happen on the Cape in the winter. They accept it as the price of living in a special place, and that it will drive away tourist revenue if they make it public. Remy responds that she knows they are hiding something, and does not appreciate impeding the investigation. After Remy leaves, Vaughn tells the councilors he will take care of it.
• February 23rd:
  • Vaughn meets with The Chemist, Austin Sommers, and Belle Noir. He is fully aware of their activities and the Pale. The writers blame the "Hollywood" people, but the Chemist reminds them that she instructed the pair to get rid of them. The Council insists that the Muse users will be crushed by bureaucracy if they don't make the problems go away.
  • Ursula looks over Harry's latest work, calling it a masterpiece. He has written five years worth of material, and he announces that they are all going to permanently stop using Muse. Alma calls him selfish, and that they don't have to stop. Ursula partially agrees that there is some truth to Alma's claims of superiority. Harry wants to regain some of his morality and humanity, but Ursula argues that this is simply what success looks like. Harry pleads with Alma that he will be able to be with her full time and support her. Alma tells him that she trusts him, and they embrace; by the look she gives Ursula, it is clear Alma has no intention of complying.
• February 24th:
  • The Gardners shop for vitamins and supplements to ease their transition off Muse. Harry spots a figure outside the window. Alma insists that he needs to let Doris go, and that her mother isn't even a person anymore. They notice that the door jamb of the kitchen door has been broken. Harry runs upstairs to find baby Eli has been taken; Belle left a note that she has taken custody of the newborn. She threatens the baby's safety if Harry and Alma aren't at Belle's house at sundown. Though they know it is a trap, Alma says that she is not afraid. Ursula refuses to go with them, but has a plan.
  • Ursula enters the graveyard to get the attention of the Pale. She pleads her case that they deserve second chances. She holds out a bottle and says that there is a new formula of Muse with no side effects and that might undo the damage that ravaged their bodies. She offers them the cure if they attack the artists, though it seems they are not listening to her as they surround her.
  • Harry and Alma rush to Belle's, where the woman has Eli staged as an appetizer. Harry begs that they will leave and never return. The Chemist, who enters with Austin, says they will be back when the pill supply runs out. Belle and Austin don't believe his claims that the Gardners can get off the pills, and approach father and daughter with knives. They corner the family, who are saved by a sudden intrusion of the Pale through the windows. The talentless hack their way into Belle and Austin, fatally ripping their throats. The Pale turn attention to the Gardners, but Ursula shoots the would-be attackers before they can reach the family. The Chemist carries Eli towards Harry, and is intercepted by Ursula. Harry is relieved that they can all return to normal, though Alma – while hugging him – tells him that she will not allow him to stop her from achieving greatness. Alma sinks her teeth into her father's neck.
  • While Alma drinks her fill, the Chemist and Ursula discuss the new pills. The Chemist discloses that the new pills are an old and discarded formula that changes the behavior to make the pill-takers attack each other. Ursula says she can spin a story where Harry takes all of the blame for the deaths, while setting up The Chemist to distribute in Los Angeles.

May

• May 9th:
  • A Pale man – once a LAPD officer — attacks a tourist on Hollywood Boulevard. His colleagues arrive to gun him down. The news coverage claims that the Pale officer was known to be a "bad apple", one of several recent incidents of police shooting police who had a history of racial complaints. The Chemist turns off the news, addressing Alma's concern that she shouldn't mess with police. The Chemist insists the risks are minimal because of military secrecy concerns, and that she is performing a community service now that she has everything she wants. Ursula enters after a long day of dealing with agents and pushing Muse to writers at Starbucks. The Chemist and Alma have concerns, but they gloss over them. Alma says she is ready for the next step, an audition, but that she could use something to eat first. Ursula has left her a hustler to eat in the pool house.
• May 11th:
  • Alma is one of two finalists after the audition for a philharmonic first chair. She is left alone with the other, Rory, a Juilliard-graduate prodigy that she insists she is better than. He says that she is not unique in her talent, but that her novelty if she gets the spot will be a fad that will burn her out and make her hard to collaborate with others. He is missing when the auditioners return, and his body is quickly found with throat torn out.
• May 29th:
  • A seminar lecturer throws out an attendee who can not understand the complex text of the lecture, a detailed and overcomplicated view of story crafting structure in screenwriting. The lecturer introduces Ursula to the crowd, and she has given them all a sample of Muse. The lecturer objects, but she rebuffs him. She tells the crowd that success is one swallow away. Most of the crowd takes the pill in front of her. We soon see the streets filled with hungry Pale as The Chemist looks on. The streets of Los Angeles burn as she drives away with Eli.