"The Coat Hanger" is the ninth episode and mid-season finale of the second season of the FX anthology television series American Horror Story.
The episode, written by co-executive producer Jennifer Salt and directed by Jeremy Podeswa, originally aired on December 12, 2012.
In the episode, Lana (Sarah Paulson) and Kit (Evan Peters) get Dr. Thredson (Zachary Quinto) to confess to being the serial killer; Dr. Arden (James Cromwell) convinces Kit to temporarily die and force the aliens to return; Sister Jude (Jessica Lange) gets officially removed from her position and admitted as a patient, causing Monsignor Howard (Joseph Fiennes) to lead a penitent Leigh (Ian McShane) to be baptized with disastrous results; and a modern-day serial killer (Dylan McDermott) seeks therapy.
She convinces him to state why he killed three women, while Kit secretly records this, so that the police will know that he is innocent of Thredson's murders.
Monsignor Howard visits a strapped-down Jude to inform her that the hospital board has officially stripped her of both position and clerical standing, having been framed for Frank's murder.
In the asylum chapel, the monsignor offers to baptize the penitent Leigh, who hopes his only hell has been on Earth.
"The Coat Hanger" is written by co-executive producer Jennifer Salt and directed by The Tudors alum Jeremy Podeswa.
In a December 2012 interview with Entertainment Weekly, guest star Dylan McDermott spoke about being in the second season of American Horror Story, "I loved doing the show.
To play the modern day Bloody Face and to have this whole back story of a guy who's thrown away and aborted and still lived!
"[2] "The Coat Hanger" was watched by 2.22 million viewers and received an adult 18-49 rating of 1.3, down from the past two weeks' episodes.
The critical consensus reads, ""The Coat Hanger" boasts controversial themes, effective scares, well-played justification of the illogical, and noteworthy performances all around.