American Horror Stories "Facelift" depicts a supernatural plastic surgery nightmare, which shares a mythological similarity to Piggy Man.
WARNING! Spoilers ahead for American Horror Stories season 2, episode 6! The shocking ending of American Horror Stories season 2, episode 5, “Facelift,” shares an odd similarity to AHS’s own Piggy Man story. American Horror Stories season 2’s episodes have primarily been underlined by the themes of vanity, beauty, self-reflection, and the notion of physical perfection. “Facelift” certainly continues this trend as a woman desperately strives to combat the effects of aging by seeking out a mysterious plastic surgeon.
"Facelift" follows Virginia (Judith Light), a Beverly Hills woman who is recommended to a secretive plastic surgery firm to revive a youthful appearance. However, she soon finds out the atypical procedure by Dr. Enid Perle (Rebecca Dayan) isn’t what she expected, with her step-daughter Fay working to uncover the truth of the suspicious “facelift,” which included surgery on her hands. When the bandaged Virginia is brought to an isolated retreat, the real nature of the surgeon and the cult's Gaelic chants finally comes to light.
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The bandages finally come off at the end of the episode, revealing the doctor has actually transformed Virginia into a pig woman. With a snout for a nose and hooves as hands, American Horror Stories’ “Facelift” character Virginia is reminiscent of American Horror Story’s Piggy Man, which also had an odd Celtic mythology connection. Once again bringing in cults, real-life legends, and connections to past American Horror Story seasons, American Horror Stories season 2, episode 6’s ending seems to serve as the franchise’s twist on Death Becomes Her and The Twilight Zone’s “Eye Of The Beholder.”
The ending of American Horror Stories’ episode “Facelift” sees Virginia brought to a “retreat” in the woods by Dr. Perle, with her step-daughter Fay hiding in the SUV to find out the truth about the firm. Perle gathers the rest of the guests to see her finally unveil the aftermath of Virginia’s surgery, with Ryan Murphy's TV show episode revealing the shocking twist that Perle transformed Virginia into a pig woman. Perle then explains that Virginia will be sacrificed for the annual retreat in which the worshippers of Étaín reenact the day that the “beauty” slayed the “ugliness” in the form of a swine. As the "beautiful" grab weapons and spears to hunt Virginia, she’s given a two-minute head start to run through the woods, and if she reaches the water before they attack her, she gets to live. Judith Light’s character frantically runs through the woods but stops when she sees her neighbor Bernie; she pleads for help, but Bernie reveals himself as one of the “beautiful,” leading the rest of the cult to arrive and stab Virginia to death.
However, American Horror Stories season 2, episode 6 doesn’t end before one final twist is revealed – Virginia’s step-daughter Fay is the true special guest of the night. Fay’s biological mother was actually part of the worshippers of Étaín, with the sacrifice of Virginia being a gift for her from the family of the “beautiful.” American Horror Stories’ “Facelift” then sees Fay flashback to being a teenager, where she recalled an heirloom from her mother that had been passed down from her grandmother, with the necklace’s pendant being the butterfly symbol of the cult. Finally taking her place among the “beautiful,” Fay is soon shown to have a physical and psychological transformation that aids her confidence, with the character meeting a fellow law student who shows her his own butterfly tattoo.
Not only does Perle murder Virginia in cold blood, but she also tells Fay (played by Severance actor Britt Lower) that she did so as a gift for her. American Horror Stories’ “Facelift” ending reveals that Fay was always part of the society of the beautiful, and she needed to reclaim her place among them. However, the specific sacrifice of Virginia was meant to kickstart a time of transformation for Fay. While Perle had told Virginia that Fay wasn’t a positive force for her during her recovery and was affecting her state of mind, the American Horror Stories episode’s ending suggests Perle truly felt the reverse. Rather, Fay’s close relationship with Virginia, who wasn’t part of the beautiful society, was holding her back from taking her place among the cult and becoming her more beautiful, confident, and wealthy self. The final scene in American Horror Stories’ season 2 episode proves this by showing that after Virginia’s death, Fay has given herself a complete transformation with both body and mind, and now embraces the blessings of Étaín.
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American Horror Stories season 2, episode 6 often sees those in the secret society speaking in Gaelic, with the actual surgical procedure including a repeated chant in the language. The surgeon and her fellow cult members repeat “tha bòidhchead na fhìrinn,” which roughly translates to “beauty is truth.” As the group continues to chant this phrase in the operation room, Perle begins the procedure on Virginia by saying something else in Gaelic, with her words to Étaín roughly being interpreted as “protector of all that is beautiful, grant us good fortune as we prepare this sacrifice for you.” For those that speak Gaelic, the twist of Virginia being sacrificed in the American Horror Story spinoff episode came as no surprise.
Perle makes frequent mentions to Étaín, a mythological figure who is described as the “keeper of the beautiful ones” in American Horror Stories. While she wasn’t known for sacrificing pigs to make her followers beautiful, Étaín does come from real-life Celtic mythology. As discussed in “Facelift,” Étaín took the form of the butterfly and the sun, and was known as a protector of beauty. In the modern telling of the story “The Wooing of Étaín,” a spell is placed on her that turns Étaín into a butterfly, with other Irish texts describing the beauty of the figure. Her name translates to “shining one,” which is why American Horror Stories’ characters frequently refer to her as such, and was originally a sun goddess, so many of the elements of the mythological character in the episode are accurate to the true legend. Of course, American Horror Stories takes liberties with the mythological figure by having the cult sacrifice humans in the form of pigs to her in order to maintain their beauty.
“Facelift” doesn’t directly connect to American Horror Story’s Piggy Man legend, but it does share some odd similarities. Piggy Man is a ghost and urban legend created specifically for American Horror Story, with the tale first being introduced in season 1’s Murder House. A patient of Ben Harmon revealed his intense fear of the Piggy Man legend, which says he can be conjured by looking in a mirror and saying “here piggy pig” several times. Considering Virginia, who says in “Facelift” that she wants to be able to look at herself in a mirror and be happy with what she sees, is turned into a pig woman and those that hunt her continue to chant “here piggy pig,” it doesn’t seem like a coincidence. However, Virginia’s pig woman transformation is also quite different from Piggy Man, who wears a pig’s head on his own and has pig feet chained on his hands.
American Horror Stories season 2, episode 6 in no way serves as a new origin for the Piggy Man legend, as the character’s true past was explored in American Horror Story: Roanoke. However, both Virginia’s transformation in “Facelift” and Roanoke's Piggy Man involve figures from Celtic mythology. While American Horror Stories’ pig woman is based on a sacrifice to the mythological goddess Étaín, the creation of Piggy Man was used as a sacrifice to the Old Gods in connection to the Celtic mythology-inspired witch Scáthach.
New episodes of American Horror Stories release Thursdays on Hulu.
Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies. Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI's 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.