The Body

Story	Episode
NYC	6

"Someone should have been watching out for him."

Premiere

November 2, 2022

Written by

Directed by

John J. Gray

Previous	Next
Bad Fortune	The Sentinel

"The Body" is the sixth episode of "American Horror Story: NYC". It premiered November 2, 2022 on FX.

Bechdel-Wallace Test

Fail

Synopsis[]

A chilling event from Patrick's past returns to haunt him. Gino and Henry are determined to uncover it at any cost. ^[1]

Plot[]

Two men on a beach on Fire Island have their sexual tryst interrupted when one feels a sting on his back, which he assumes is a bite. They dig into the dunes and find a skeletal body wearing a leather mask.

Patrick and Gino wait at the office of Dr. Hannah Wells to question her about the blood samples she took during the night of the fire at the Ascension Club^[2]. Patrick informs her she could have taken the blood sample of The Mai Tai Killer, a person of interest, but she correctly deduces that their investigation is not official and refuses to breach patient-doctor confidentiality. When Gino hands her a sketch of The Mai Tai Killer, she notices the mark on the reporter's arm and asks him if he has shown it to a medical professional. She states she has only seen it on gay men and advises them to both get checked and hands them her card, although Gino brushes it off as a bug bite.

Back at his office, Patrick's former colleagues all stare at him (due to his recent coming-out), except for his partner, Detective Mulcahey. Mulcahey asks him if he was showing the sketch of the Mai Tai Killer at the St. Vincent Hospital, stressing that the administration is starting to worry that the police thinks the killer is a member of their staff. Patrick dismisses Mulcahey, telling him to go back to making homophobic jokes and Mulcahey angrily walks away, stating Patrick doesn't know "jack-shit", implying he is not bothered by his sexuality.

Patrick receives a call from Frankie del Rios, one of the men who found the body on Fire Island. He decided to call Patrick specifically as he knows, through "a friend of a friend", that Patrick is a gay. Patrick listens to the details of their report and, after telling them to keep quiet until he arrives, makes a phone call to Sam, implying that their relationship is older than assumed.

Henry approaches a man, Angelo, sitting on a bench by the river. Angelo turns out to be a member of the mob, who is angry about the articles Gino has been publishing (as news attention is bad for business). He asks Henry to take care of the problem, though once Angelo leaves Henry seems reluctant to do so.

Patrick packs a bag to go to Fire Island, prompting Gino to ask why Patrick was called. Gino offers to come but Patrick refuses, stating that (as it's not his jurisdiction) he wants to tread lightly. Gino takes offense and asks Patrick if he is having an affair. Patrick pleads with Gino not to be a jealous partner, stating his life is already complicated enough. Unconvinced, Gino follows him and sees him getting into a car with Sam. Back in their apartment, he finds Henry sitting in a chair. Henry threatens Gino with a gun. Gino calls him a hitman, which Henry finds insulting. Henry tells Gino his articles must stop or else something unfortunate might happen to him. An annoyed Henry declares Gino must get over his unhealthy obsession with the Mai Tai Killer, but the older man's interest is piqued when Gino mentions the body on Fire Island.

Patrick and Sam meet Frankie and Tom. Tom asks to see their badges and Sam rudely dismisses them. Patrick tells the pair this should be kept among the four of them for security purposes and they leave. Sam pulls out the key to the house. Once inside, Sam intimates this was the only place where he felt like he was truly relaxed, prompting Patrick to state this was probably a result of the drugs. When Sam asks why they buried the body in shallow sand, Patrick re-iterates "Yet again, probably the drugs". As they stare at the head, Patrick declares that they must dig around it to find the scattered parts, gather them and take them to be buried somewhere safe. Gino (accompanied by Henry) surprises Patrick and Sam. Henry, Sam, and Patrick all took part in covering up the incident — which Henry did not disclose to Gino — but Patrick insists it is unconnected to the Mai Tai Killer or Barbara's death. Henry jokes to the reporter that it's "a hell of a story".

On his first trip to Fire Island in 1979, Patrick met Sam accompanied by a group of young men. Attracted by a young man in the group, Billy, Patrick followed them back to Sam's weekly party at his beach house. Billy and Patrick, get high on cocaine for the first time with Sam. Sam later leads them to a room with a hanging pillory, where Billy volunteers to be restrained. Sam puts the leather hood on the young man's head. Sam notices something is wrong with Billy during their encounter, who has asphyxiated in the restraints. He forces Patrick off Billy and unmasks Billy's strangled face. A panicked Patrick tries to resuscitate him, though Sam points a gun at him to get him to stop. In his panic, Patrick reveals he is a police officer. Sam stammers that Billy was consenting as he volunteered to be restrained. Sam decides to call Henry, whom he knows as a mob fixer nicknamed "Velvet Touch".

Sam agrees to pay Henry's ten-thousand-dollar fee. Henry then introduces his assistant, a "whiz at cutting up bodies". Whitely balks at dismembering an innocent, but Henry threatens to oust him to his mother if he does not comply. Whitely reluctantly prepares a methodical butchering. Henry finds Whitely transfixed by Billy's dismembered body and is disturbed by the soldier's statement that Billy looks beautiful and that someone should have watched over him as he deserved better.

Back on the beach, Gino asks if this is the secret Patrick has been hiding. Despite Sam's taunting, Patrick snaps that Gino will not be pitching in. Henry suggests the reporter will either be an accomplice to the crime or a whistleblower. Cornered, Gino angrily digs for body parts furious to be manipulated into a cover-up. While examining the remains, Patrick deduces that Henry's assistant is the Mai Tai Killer from the pristine unmarked bones. Henry gives the Mai Tai Killer's name, and Gino decides to go with the fixer to identify Whitely. He tells his lover he would turn him in if he had an ounce of integrity. Before he leaves, Patrick gives his gun to Gino for protection.

Henry calls Whitely from a pay phone, telling Whitely "the boss" has a job for them and that he can't refuse. Whitely, sensing a trap, states he will be out during the night and that they should meet in a bar that night. Henry tells Gino that Whitely knows something is up and changes the plan: Gino will positively identify Whitely, and Henry will dispose of the butcher if true. Whitely hands Henry a Mai Tai, but Henry sets it aside in favor of whiskey. Henry follows the suspicious Whitely into the restroom, gun in hand. Whitely jabs a needle in Henry's neck and drags his colleague out of the bar, telling the bartender that Henry "can't handle his liquor". Gino realizes something has gone awry and follows the two in Henry's car. Gino waits for Whitely to enter his "office", and the reporter immediately phones Patrick from a phone booth: "The killer has Henry. I need you."

Featured Characters[]

In 1979, Billy meets Patrick while on his way to one of Sam's gay party on Fire Island. After taking cocaine and making out with the pair, he goes to a bedroom with them and volunteers to be restrained in a hanging stockade to be the bottom in their threesome. During the threesome, Billy accidentally suffocates in the leather hood that was placed earlier on his head by Sam. Patrick and Sam then use the services of Henry and an associate to get rid of his corpse by burying it on the beach.

Notes[]

Charlie Carver ("Adam Carpenter"), Leslie Grossman ("Barbara Read"), Sandra Bernhard ("Fran"), Isaac Powell ("Theo Graves") and Patti LuPone ("Kathy Pizazz") are credited but do not appear.

Cultural References[]

Sam references the 1969 Woodstock festival by stating his parties were like the Gay Woodstock.
Henry's nickname, Velvet Touch, is the name of a 1948 American film noir drama directed by Jack Gage.
Sam mocks Gino calling him Scooby-Doo when he figures out who the Mai Tai Killer is and references the Mystery Machine.