It finally happened! Michaela Jaé Rodriguez made her anticipated debut in last night’s episode of American Horror Story: Delicate — and it was a treat!
The third episode of the season – called “When the Bough Breaks” – features Rodriguez as Nicolette, the house manager for the property that Emma Roberts’s Anna Victoria Alcott and Matt Czuchry’s Dexter Harding are visiting.
While Rodriguez’s appearance in the series wasn’t unknown, it was still a welcome surprise in an otherwise bland episode. She also stole the scene on multiple occasions, despite this being her first time on the hit anthology series.
Rodriguez’s character is calm, cool, and collected, and rocks a stylish bob.
Anna first meets Nicolette in the living room of the fanciful home when she journeys into the common area after hearing a woman’s voice singing “Rockabye Baby.” Presumably, the song is triggering for her as she has just gone through a miscarriage, which she suspects was prompted by an evil nurse Ivy, played by Cara Delevingne.
Anna is disarmed after she sees that Nicolette is breast pumping by the window while watching a recording of herself singing to her baby – indicating that she is a new mother. This act, in itself, is a radical and very cool choice by showrunner Halley Feiffer, given that Rodriguez is a transgender actress.
Nicolette reacts as any new mother would when caught off guard in a vulnerable state. She quickly detaches the pumps from her chest and explains that she didn’t expect to see Anna. At this point, Anna asks a few questions and learns that Nicolette’s baby is eight weeks old and she is a single mother.
Anna asks to see the video of Nicolette and her baby before growing “hormonal” due to her own situation. Nicolette notices and offers Anna a wrapped candy-like object, which she plucks out of a gift basket on the table. “Here take one of these, this always helps me with my cycle,” she says.
“Where did this come from?” Anna asks.
“I don’t know, it just…” Nicolette stutters as Anna rushes out of the room. “Well, it was lovely to meet you.”
Nicolette isn’t shown for most of the rest of the episode – but we haven’t seen the last of her. In the final moments of the hour, Anna is sitting on the porch of the property in fear after communicating with a seemingly paranormal figure via the calendar app on her phone. She gets a note saying that her baby isn’t dead (okay – weird?!) and then spots a dead animal, covered in maggots. As the camera pans, Nicolette is revealed to be standing behind Anna, staring ominously.
The teaser for next week’s episode shows Nicolette bringing Anna a bouquet of roses, but she doesn’t appear to be the same smiley woman we met at the beginning.
Obviously, something is wrong here. Everybody in Anna’s life – new and old – has a relation to motherhood following her traumatic experience. If I was Anna, I’d be suspicious that something dubious is happening, as well. The very moment Nicolette started gushing about her baby, it was clear that she isn’t Team Anna.
In just a few minutes, Rodriguez brought a burning curiosity to the season, which is otherwise lacking. As a frequent collaborator with show creator Ryan Murphy, Rodriguez nabbing a crucial role in the season wasn’t surprising, but it sure is a gift!
American Horror Story: Delicate Part 1 airs Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. on FX, and streams next-day on Hulu.