Thank You For Your Service

Story	Episode
NYC	2

"Something's coming. Something evil on the horizon."

Premiere

October 19, 2022

Written by

Directed by

Max Winkler

Previous	Next
Something's Coming	Smoke Signals

"Thank You For Your Service" is the second episode of "American Horror Story: NYC". It premiered October 19, 2022 on FX.

Episode Music

Performer	Song	Links
Blondie	“Call Me”^[1]
Epicycle	“You’re Not Going To Get It”
Skatt Bros	“Walk The Night”

Synopsis[]

Gino grapples with his trauma. Patrick's search takes him to dark places. A stranger contacts Hannah with a grave warning. ^[2]

Plot[]

Gino awakens in an unfamiliar apartment to the sound of a vaccuum cleaner. His host is measuring the space for a plastic wrap floor. Gino's confusion is abruptly ended when his captor sedates him again. Once he revives, he is bound and gagged by a dark blue handkerchief, and being injected under his fingernails by a still-hot sterilized hypodermic needle. The captor begins discussing his plan for displaying Gino's body in a way he did not the first time: as a clear symbol of recognizable homosexuals rather than assorted parts. Cutting apart Gino's clothes, he discovers a United States Marine Corps tattoo on Gino's chest. This derails the captor's plan, as he says Gino has already served his country. He thanks Gino for his service and puts him back to sleep. Gino awakes again in an adult arcade booth and staggers out into the night to collapse on the street.

Dr. Wells examines a blood sample and walks back to her office to tell Sam the result: the sample contains a rare amoeba called cryptosporidium, which she believes has been sexually transmitted. Though it's usually killed by a healthy immune system, she has seen four cases this month. She prescribes three days bed rest and an anti-microbial, as well as sexual abstinence.

Three other patients, including Gino's captor (who is called "Mr. Whitely" by the nurse), await Dr Wells. Like the others, he has a persistent rash.

Adam seeks Gino's help at the Native. Gino, however, is pre-occupied by his abduction and torture the night before. Gino relates the issues at hand, and is frustrated that the police will not help him. He intends to write up his story, and tells Adam that Sully is likely dead. Adam proposes a hotline to gather information and mobilize people. After some thought, Gino takes Adam on as an employee; the young man starts to producing flyers for posting the tip line. Overnight, the phones are ringing with reports and Adam is detained for posting flyers.

The lesbian trio returns to confront Gino about lack of coverage for lesbian or women's' issues. He responds by hiring them to share a desk and write stories towards the paper's upcoming Pride double issue.

Meanwhile, Adam is being grilled by four police detectives (including Mulcahey, Patrick, and Marzara) about the interview he gave to Gino. Patrick points out that he personally took Adam's statement. Patrick pleads that the leather community is usually benign and harmless. Adam asserts his civil rights, and Marzara says that the police are bound by the limits of the law. With that, a large man dressed only in a cowboy hat, a necklace, and a jockstrap is shown entry into the room and slaps Adam out of his chair. Mulcahey demands that Adam recant his interview, and when the young man refuses he is placed in a holding cell. Patrick visits him, bringing a soda, and tells him that he will release him soon. Adam asks if anyone at the precinct knows Patrick is gay, but Patrick acts as if he doesn't understand the question. Patrick wants Adam to use his business card to contact him if he sees trouble, as he is working on the case covertly. He also wants Adam to stay safe and off the streets.

Barbara intercepts Gino on the street, carrying a jewelry box. Gino knows who she is, and does not want to talk to her. She asks him about the article he wrote, which she read as a resident of the West Village. She was cleaning out the storage of Patrick's items and found the box in her hands. She opens it to show Gino the contents: bondage gear, handkerchiefs, and poppers. She believes Patrick has been lying to them, and Gino accuses her of allowing her jealousy to make her paranoid. He walks away, annoyed.

Morris picks Adam up from detention. Adam expresses his surprise at the audacity of the police, but Morris reminds him that he never noticed before because of White privilege. Morris invites him to a decadent party in a warehouse that night, which he says will be full or artists and fun. The warehouse is owned by a bitter old man that enjoys the contrast between opulence and decay. They ride the subway back and a delusional woman exclaims that something is coming for them.

Gino and Patrick have an uncomfortable dinner together. Gino is clearly in pain, and rebuffs Patrick's offers of help. Gino explains that when Mulcahey took his statement about the kidnapping and torture that the detective thought he was making the story up (despite the physical evidence). Patrick wants to try another detective helping him, but Gino retorts that even his captor told him that the police were useless. Gino presses that Patrick is neither following up on good leads nor coming out. Gino insists that the two of them head to a leather bar to investigate.

Stewart, a young man at the bar is gifted a drink from a man at the end of the bar, who is conspicuously absent when the drink arrives. Bypassing the proffered drink, he asks for a beer instead. Stewart exits the bar and picks up a ringing phone from the phone booth outside. Sam, on the other end, invites him to a one-on-one party at his basement.

Adam and Morris walk through the warehouse party, full of costumed men, cats, art, and music. Cameron, the emcee invites Morris onstage and injects himself before reciting a poem about an impending something coming. Adam runs out, catching sight of Theo, who follows him. They agree to a platonic evening out.

Once at The Ditch, a local bar, Gino and Patrick agree to split up. Gino quickly finds Alana Delarue, the bar manager and introduces her to Patrick. When she hears Gino is writing about the murders, she asks him to not involve the bar, as the mob-affiliated owners will not take kindly to publicity. He promises to withhold the name of the bar. Patrick turns down an offer, and insists to Gino that leather is not his scene. Gino responds by mentioning the box Barbara brought and wonders if Patrick will revise his statement. Patrick is angry about Barbara's intrusion. Meanwhile, the leather "jail guard" that propositioned Patrick is given a Mai Tai drink sent by the now missing "man at the end of the bar". He downs the drink, but notes how uncommon it is in the rough setting. Whitely whispers from behind him, and soon stabs the leatherman in the neck. Seeing the commotion from the assault, Patrick springs into action calling orders to seal the exits and contain the scene.

Hans, the emcee of the warehouse party (who also was one of Hannah's patients) walks home with a friend and a cat in tow. Not far behind them is Big Daddy.

Hannah dictates a report about Whitely's lesions, which she identifies as Kaposi's sarcoma. Fran calls her and asks her to meet at the equestrian statue in Central Park, claiming she has information about the patients and the deer on Fire Island. A man approaches from one side, deploying a chain to chase Hannah. Hannah flees and runs into Fran. The man has vanished by the time the two women look back. Fran claims that the disease is an attack on the vulnerable, conducted by the United States government.

In the morning Sam returns to his apartment, the door guarded by Big Daddy (to whom he gives no notice). Sam sets down his meds and passes through a locked door into the basement where he is holding Stuart in a cage. Stuart wants to leave, but Sam wants to have some more fun with him.

Patrick awakes in the early morning and finds Gino also awake in the living room. They lament a murder right in front of them where the police were once again useless. There was no drug in the drink, and the only evidence was a paper umbrella. Gino is concerned that Patrick is keeping secrets, but they are interrupted by a call. Patrick drives to another crime scene, where Marzara shows him six severed hands, each from a different victim.

Featured Characters[]

Quotes[]

Sam: "I've told you once. I've told you a dozen times. It only hurts if you fight it."
Chief Marzara: "Actually, we didn't get a main course. We got an assortment."

Notes[]

Denis O'Hare ("Henry") and Patti LuPone ("Kathy Pizazz") are credited but do not appear.
Sam gives his address as being 17 Great Jones. Apartment 11.

Cultural References[]

Adam's interrogation scene is an homage to William Friedkin's Cruising. Friedkin revealed in his film commentary that the slap was a real interrogation method used to discredit claims of police brutality.^[7] ^[8]
The abduction of reporter Gino Barelli at the hands of Whitely echoes the murder of Variety film reporter Addison Verrill by Paul Bateson. Verrill's friend and Village Voice journalist Arthur Bell wrote a piece calling out the media and the police's apathy toward the murders of gay men, much like Gino and Adam do.^[7]
Police indifference to the murder of gay men and the "sex pay phone" plot are a reference to Richard Rogers, aka The Last Call Killer.
The epidemic is a nod to the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984, dismissed by government and media as "gay plague". Ryan Murphy explored this in two other projects: FX's Pose and 2014 film The Normal Heart.