Rest in Pieces (American Horror Story)

"Rest in Pieces" was watched by 1.05 million people during its original broadcast, and gained a 0.5 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.^[2] The episode had the fewest viewers of any episode in the entire series.

The episode received mostly positive reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, "Rest in Pieces" holds a 62% approval rating, based on 13 reviews with an average rating of 7/10.^[3]

Ron Hogan of Den of Geek gave the episode a 4/5, saying, "That's a big milestone; the change-over from one decade to another always seems like a big deal to people, and in a lot of ways to the characters on American Horror Story: 1984, the end of the Reagan era is also the end of their era of relevance. It's been a common retrain in the later portions of the season. Their time is ending, and they'll all soon be forgotten, but never is it more explicitly stated than in this week's episode, with multiple people eulogizing the good and ill of Reagan's America in long rhapsodies." He also praised the directing of the episode, commenting that "In the hands of director Gwyneth Horder-Payton, it's easy to see how afterlife in Redwood could be as beautiful as spending the afterlife anywhere else." Finally, he concluded his review with "Things are building to a head at Camp Redwood, and the season finale promises to be a huge blow-out battle between serial killers with a lot of innocent people trapped in between the two stabbing, slashing, shooting sides."^[4]

Kat Rosenfield of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a B rating. She enjoyed Bruce's return, and thought his first scene of the episode was "amusing". She also commented "the endless cycle of murder, ghost drama, and more murder" at Camp Redwood, especially the confusing relationship between the ghosts. She compared that part of the episode to the first season of MTV's The Real World. She also added that Richter's revelation about Montana and Ramirez "just makes everything that much more awkward". Additionally, Rosenfield was puzzled about Margaret's plan, describing it as "'the day the music died,' except with way more feathered bangs and synth beats." However, she enjoyed the final scenes of Richter in this episode and, like she did in her previous reviews, she compared them to Friday the 13th. Overall, she was globally satisfied with the episode, commenting that "And just like the slasher films that inspired it, this season is setting up for a super-serial showdown that combines every trope in the blood’n’guts box."^[5]

• "Rest in Pieces" at IMDb