| "Piggy Piggy" | |||
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| American Horror Story episode | |||
Derek (Eric Stonestreet), Ben's new patient, is terrified of the urban legend known as “Piggy Man.” |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 6 |
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| Directed by | Michael Uppendahl | ||
| Written by | Jessica Sharzer | ||
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| Production code | 1ATS05 | ||
| Original air date | November 9, 2011 | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of American Horror Story episodes | |||
"Piggy Piggy" is the sixth episode of the first season of the television series American Horror Story, which premiered on the network FX on November 9, 2011. The episode was written by supervising producer Jessica Sharzer and directed by Michael Uppendahl.
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At Westfield High School in 1994, a shooter enters the school and begins killing students. He winds up at the school library, where he wounds a teacher trying to block the entrance and murders each student. The shooter is revealed to be Tate. A SWAT team finds him at the house (owned at the time by Constance) and kills him when he pulls a gun on them.
After Violet confirms online that Tate was killed after his massacre at Westfield High, Constance introduces her to a medium, Billie Dean (Sarah Paulson) and she and Constance explain that Tate is unaware he is dead. Constance has been sending him to Ben, hoping a breakthrough will help him pass on and they need Violet’s help, though Violet is shaken by the revelation.
Ben needs to use the house for his therapy sessions to make them money, and Vivien agrees out of necessity. Ben sees a new patient, Derek (Eric Stonestreet), who is terrified by urban legends, most recently the urban legend of “Piggy Man”, who will slaughter anyone who repeats a specific mantra in the mirror. Ben also begins noticing that Vivien has developed a personal attraction to the security officer, who checks on her after she purposefully pushes the security alarm.
Constance and Moira help Vivien with the pregnancy, preparing healthy foods for her in the form of sweetbreads. Though initially disgusted with the dishes, Vivien develops a ravenous appetite toward them, which disturbs her. She contacts the ultrasound technician who fainted during the ultrasound, and who since quit her job, claiming she saw that the baby was the Devil. Vivien walks out, angered at the accusation.
Taking Ben’s advice to face his fear, Derek repeats the mantra in his bathroom mirror, but is ironically shot and killed by an armed robber hiding in his shower. Violet tries to confront Tate in the basement, but is mobbed by the other ghosts. Overwhelmed, she attempts suicide, and Tate goes to great measure to save her, taking her to the bathtub and forcing her to vomit up the pills. Tate tearfully confesses that he loves her and cannot understand why she has turned cold toward him. He plans to leave her alone, but she comforts him. Constance speaks to Addie through Billie, and receives closure, but learns that Addie is glad she was not revived as a ghost and that she now fears Tate, knowing what he did.
The episode was written by supervising producer Jessica Sharzer, and directed by Michael Uppendahl.
On creating the character of Billie Dean and her "gift," series co-creator Ryan Murphy relates his own experience with a medium: "When we created her," he says, "all of us in the writer’s room have had some experience with psychics or not. I’m somebody that was very skeptical until I went to a woman who [asked] me out of nowhere, 'Is your father ill?' and I said, 'No. He just had a physical and he’s fine.' She said, 'You need to tell him to go back.' So he did go back and they found prostate cancer and he died two years later. So Billie Dean was inspired a large part by that experience. We are saying that yes she is legitimate."[1]
Carissa Pavlica of TV Fanatic gave the episode 4.7 out of 5 stars, saying, "I have absolutely no idea what is happening on American Horror Story and I love every moment of it."[2] The Star-Ledger's James Queally said, "'Piggy Piggy' contains more good than bad, but it also has a lot of scenes that require me to take a wait-and-see approach."[3]
In its original American broadcast, "Piggy Piggy" was seen by an estimated 2.83 million household viewers and gained a 1.6 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.[4]
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