When I saw the title of this episode — “Rubber Man” — I had very high hopes for it. The guy in the latex (once thought by me to be leather) suit has been an icon since before the first episode, with him appearing on promo posters and other material from the get-go. The knowledge that some person other than Ben was inhabiting that suit gave us chills, and even more so when we learned Vivien was likely pregnant from this latex-bound mystery man. Who was in the suit? Was it Larry, the burned man? Was it a ghost?
As it turns out, the reveal of the Rubber Man as being Tate was somewhat shocking, though not in the way of “oh man I didn’t see that coming.” Instead, now that we’ve learned more about Tate’s history, I’m left disgusted more than anything. Oh, it’s not so much because he’s that much younger than Vivien. I’m more disgusted with the lengths Tate went through to do what he’s done, and, really, the overall “plan” these spirits(?) have for Vivien’s babies.
It’s not yet clear, exactly, why the house’s spirits (for lack of a better description) want Vivien to give birth to these babies, though at least the two main women want to take advantage of the situation to likely take possession of those babies, to make up for their own they’ve lost. But … is that it, really? Is that also why Tate went so far out of his way for them?
Speaking of Tate, he’s clearly the most interesting of the house’s inhabitants, as I’m not even sure anymore if he’s alive or dead. We saw him shot pretty well dead, but then … he was able to just toss around a couple of healthy guys like ragdolls and then shoot one of them with a gun. Are ghosts really supposed to be able to do that? Sure, these aren’t your typical spirits inhabiting Murder House, but I wouldn’t have believed they could outright kill. With a gun!
I’m not necessarily completely serious when I ask the question of whether Tate is actually alive or not, but something different is going on there. I wonder if certain spirits have specific “powers” they can use, depending on the method of their death? Moira is able to change her appearance to men, for example. So is Tate able to outright kill because he was a violent person to begin with? It seems to make the most sense.
Overall, I wasn’t blown away by this episode. In fact, I was downright disappointed. I didn’t care for the reveal of Tate being the Rubber Man, and I definitely didn’t like all the ghost-to-ghost banter about Vivien’s babies. I can only hope something from next week tidies up the mess made from this episode.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Nov 23, 2011 @ 23:00 EST5EDT
Tate is pretty darn evil. He definitely has no problem killing anybody! The scene in which he murdered the gay couple and the whole “poker” deal? Holy crap! FX is really pushing the limits here.
I’m worried about Violet. Tate’s completely got her under his spell, even to the point of lying about what she saw and seeing her Mom committed to an institution without batting an eye.
And you know what? I really missed Constance this episode!
Agreed! I missed Constance too! I love her and Moira’s scenes together, but the scene where Moira was telling Vivian about the spirits in the house almost made up for it. I love Frances Conroy!
To the question about Tate’s powers, Hayden pretty much explained that they are able to draw on the energy they need to do what they want, either little invisible things like knocking a book from a shelf, or more intense things like what she did to Vivien. We still don’t know what Tate’s part is in the spirits’ plan to take the babies, but when Hayden asked him if he was ready, he said he had to work up to it, so I took that to mean that he had to draw in some energy to make himself a solid entity since he spends so much time already visible and “real” to Violet. From all the ghost hunting shows I’ve watched, the general consensus is that it takes a lot of energy for a spirit to manifest itself, and Tate certainly does keep that meter spinning.
you gotta give the show a chance to explain itself. let us not forget that Constance gave birth to FOUR children and we only know of Bo, Addy and Tate. What if Tate has a twin? What if Tate gets possessed and does things he doesn’t want to do? There could be more going on there that we’re not aware of yet. It’s only a few episodes in. But what was so great about LOST were the theories that were birthed from confusion. Happy confusion and disappointing confusion. I think it’s far too early to be disappointed, they’re still explaining themselves.
Agreed.
To the OP – They’re still lots of stuff to be explained. We just have to wait for everything to unfold, obviously. I, personally, was NOT disappointed. I thought it was a very entertaining episode. Can’t wait ’till tomorrow’s episode.