'American Horror Story: 1984' episode 2: Margaret Booth uses God to justify horrible crimes, but it only makes her a bigger suspect
This article contains spoilers for episode 2.
Margaret Booth's not so squeaky clean track record was already established in the first episode of 'American Horror Story' season 9: '1984'. And the second episode only intensifies those suspicions we had of the character played by Leslie Grossman because she is too puritanic to be innocent, almost as if there are too many evil instincts boiling deep inside her for her to not act out.
Margaret is a former survivor of Mr. Jingles - the axe murderer who has broken out of a psychiatric facility to finish what he had started 14 years ago. Margaret was a camper at the time Mr. Jingles had first terrorized the lakeside Camp Redwood and despite him chopping one of her ears off the way he did with all his victims to acquire souvenirs, Margaret survived somehow. Now, 14 years after the massacre, she plans on letting nothing stop her from reopening the camp - not even the dangerous reality of Mr. Jingles escaping from the facility and actively taking down people at the camp, or the fact that the Night Stalker aka real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez (Zach Villa) being on the loose, and haunting Brooke Thompson (Emma Roberts) who is a former survivor of hers.
This tells us that something is extremely off about Margaret. She has a gun but is way too condescending to the psych-ward doctor who comes to warn her of Mr. Jingles being at large. Margaret says her camp will reopen as scheduled and flaunts her gun as a token of safety, but could there be a possibility that she is in fact associated with Mr. jingles and his heinous murders more than she is letting on.
Even later in the episode, where she is confronted by the Night Stalker, aka Richard randomly showing up at her cabin, Margaret's nonchalance is next level, as she sits him down by the fireplace, makes tea for him and listens to his creepy explanation of all the injustices from his past that inspired him to kill people. She sympathizes and shows compassion the way only a fellow murderer would and that is beyond just eerie. The fact that she even motivates him to use God as an explanation for every horrible thing he has done is just unsettling.
Again, when she confronts the ghost of another fellow camper who was killed by Mr. Jingles back in the day, she talks to him and explains he's dead with such ease as if she has processed and wrapped her mind around Mr. Jingles' attack too easily. There has to be more than just the Christian camp counselor facade she is putting on and as of now, it's not wrong to assume that she is using the escaped assassin and the Night Stalker to pit them against each other for some sick pursuits.
'American Horror Story: 1984' airs on Wednesdays at 9 pm only on FX.