Summary

• American Horror Stories season 2, episode 2 delivers terrifying twists and a sinister cliffhanger.
• The episode explores the fears of home invasions and security technology.
• The Aura device can view the dead, leading to more haunting encounters for the main characters.

American Horror Stories season 2, episode 2, “Aura,” ended with a sinister cliffhanger alongside a few terrifying twists. American Horror Stories season 2, episode 2, was instantly one of the show’s most terrifying thanks to tackling the fears of home invasions and security technology. Following married couple Jaslyn (Gabourey Sidibe) and Bryce (Max Greenfield) after they move into a new house, American Horror Stories’ “Aura” quickly places the pair in a traumatic situation once Jaslyn buys an Aura home security device.

Jaslyn, who still has anxiety from a violent home invasion as a child, soon gets notifications that an unsettling man is at her front door asking to be let in, but when she opens it, nobody is there. American Horror Stories’ episode reveals the man as a janitor from Jaslyn’s high school who became obsessed with her. However, he can only be seen on the Aura camera. Before the end of “Aura,” American Horror Stories season 2 explains that the device can view the dead, leading more people from Jaslyn and Bryce’s past to come to their front door.

What Happens In American Horror Stories Season 2, Episode 2’s Ending

The Villain In "Aura" Isn't The Spirits

New Girl star Max Greenfield has played several Ryan Murphy characters, though the "Aura" cemented Bryce in American Horror Stories as the most sinister of them all (and a far cry from Schmidt in New Girl). The ending of American Horror Stories season 2, episode 2 reveals that ghosts can communicate and find closure with living figures from their past who have the Aura device, which can also see them finally move on to the afterlife.

However, while Jaslyn made peace with her deceased high school janitor, the ghost of Bryce’s ex-fiancée wasn’t so relieving. In a terrifying twist ending, American Horror Stories season 2, episode 2 saw Bryce reveal that he had killed his fiancée two decades ago, which soon brought out the true villainous nature of Jaslyn’s husband.

Even when Bryce was killed, the main character in American Horror Stories' "Aura" couldn’t find peace, as the cliffhanger ending saw his ghost continue terrorizing Jaslyn. The ending of American Horror Stories’ season 2 episode “Aura” depicts the ghost of Bryce’s ex-fiancée Mary Jeane Burkett, who died in a hit-and-run in 2002. When Jaslyn lets her ghost inside to find closure with Bryce, he reveals the sinister truth of her death, explaining why she’s not "here" to make amends.

Bryce reveals that his fiancée was pregnant, which wasn’t “part of the plan,” so he had been breaking off their engagement on the night she died. In the middle of their fight, Mary ran into the road and was accidentally hit by a passing car. Max Greenfield's AHS character Bryce then went over to the half-alive Mary as she lay bleeding on the road and crushed her chest and neck, thus killing her but still blaming it on the hit-and-run incident.

Now Jaslyn knows the truth of Bryce’s murderous past, American Horror Stories’ "Aura" ending sees him grab a fire poker and attempt to kill Jaslyn, who is no longer “in the plan.” However, Bryce is stopped in his tracks as his eyes bleed, and he turns to dust, suggesting Mary and Jaslyn had killed him.

Three months later, Jaslyn has moved into a new apartment, but when her building manager reveals that he installed an Aura device as part of her contract, she’s terrorized by Bryce’s ghost. The second American Horror Stories’ season 2 episode ends with a cliffhanger as Bryce’s ghost taunts Jaslyn by saying that she’ll never get away from him, with the episode cutting to black as he continues to bang on her door.

Aura Ending Twist Explained: Why The Camera Can Detect Ghosts

Quantum Entanglement Explains Why The Doorbell Cam Can See The Dead

American Horror Stories season 2, episode 2 gives a scientific reason for why the Aura cameras can detect and depict ghosts. When watching online video theories about the devices, Jaslyn comes across one explaining that the new camera uses a form of “quantum entanglement” described as spontaneous parametric down-conversions. By “punching” into the quantum realm, it’s theorized that the Aura cameras act as magnets for spirits.

The video reviewer explains that ghosts are “basically electromagnetic fields,” so the Aura detects them and allows the spirits to show up on the screen. The process of converting light and energy in the American Horror Story spinoff's device uses photon pairs to build up an image and follow the path to the camera, thus exhibiting the ghost’s image. While "ghost imaging" is a real phenomenon tied to quantum entanglements, American Horror Stories' explanation for the cameras catching actual spirits doesn't seem to have much scientific merit.

Did Mr. Hendricks Kill Jaslyn’s Family?

The Murderer From Jaslyn's Childhood Is Still A Mystery

Jaslyn is traumatized by a home invasion from her childhood, with the criminal seemingly leaving Gabourey Sidibe’s character as the only unharmed family member. The intruder, who had been wearing an animal mask on his head, came into the house through Jaslyn’s room, put up a finger to shush her, then proceeded to tie up and terrorize her parents. It seemed odd that Jaslyn was left unharmed, with an older janitor becoming oddly obsessed with her only a few years later.

Mr. Hendricks was also revealed to be in and out of institutions with mental health problems, suggesting he could have snuck into Jaslyn’s home those few years before and become obsessed with her shortly afterward. However, American Horror Stories’ “Aura” makes it seem unlikely that it was actually Mr. Hendricks who invaded Jaslyn’s home and killed her family.

Jaslyn first recalled meeting him in high school, so had he been obsessed right after the home invasion, she would have known about him much earlier. As such, the home invader in American Horror Stories season 2’s flashback seems to just be a random criminal, with no explanation whether he was ever apprehended or if his identity was discovered.

Why Bryce Killed His Fiancé In Aura

Max Greenfield's "Aura" Character Is One Of American Horror Stories' Most Despicable

Bryce decides to break off his engagement with his fiancée Mary Jeane Burkett when she finds out she’s pregnant. American Horror Stories’ “Aura” references Bryce being extremely controlling and needing everything to go exactly as he plans it, with the character even mentioning that he fired someone for saying he had OCD. As such, since Bryce hadn’t planned to have a baby, which seemingly ruined his plan, he needed to get his pregnant fiancée out of his life.

It doesn’t appear that he intended to kill Mary during the American Horror Stories flashback, but once she was nearly dead from the hit-and-run, he took the opportunity to officially keep both her and the baby from “ruining” his plan. Max Greenfield’s shocking American Horror Story spinoff character explains that he “couldn’t allow” the baby, implying that he couldn’t risk Mary surviving the hit-and-run incident and still having the child, so he killed her rather than bring her to a hospital.

How Did Jaslyn & Mary Kill Bryce In Aura?

How Bryce Died Is Still Unclear

American Horror Stories season 2, episode 2’s twist ending features Bryce dying in a surprising manner. Earlier in American Horror Stories’ “Aura” episode, Mr. Hendricks’ ghost “died” after making amends with Jaslyn, which saw his eyes bleed before he turned to dust. This seemed to be implying that Hendricks’ ghost was finally able to rest, but Bryce ended up dying for the first time in the same way.

When Bryce charged at Jaslyn with a fire poker, he was stopped by some sort of sinister power or magical ability, with American Horror Story's Queenie actress smirking as his eyes began to bleed. It seems that Mary had the ability to kill Bryce in the same way by telekinetically squeezing him to death, ironically mirroring the way that Bryce had suffocated her to death 20 years beforehand. Since Bryce turned to dust when he died, Jaslyn wasn’t forced to come up with an explanation for his body, but it’s still unclear why his body disappeared when he wasn’t a ghost yet.

Aura’s Cliffhanger Explained: Will Bryce’s Ghost Kill Jaslyn?

“Aura” ends with Bryce’s ghost aggressively terrorizing Jaslyn through her Aura camera, but she can’t remove the device because having one installed was part of her apartment contract. As such, unless Jaslyn moves away, she’ll be incessantly harassed by Bryce’s ghost until he makes his own peace with her.

Similar to how Mary Jeane Burkett’s ghost couldn’t rest until Bryce was killed, it seems American Horror Stories season 2, episode 2’s character won’t go away until he has also had his revenge on Jaslyn. As long as Jaslyn refuses to open the door while Bryce’s ghost is there, he won’t be able to kill her. Bryce’s ghost threateningly says he wants to talk to her about “the plan,” so American Horror Stories’ “Aura” ending leaves Jaslyn with a brand new nightmare to contend with.