Episode 4 of "Monster: The Ed Gein Story" opens with a chilling scene as Ed carefully coats Evelyn’s lifeless body with a thick, viscous lotion, meticulously wrapping her entire form in layers of gauze. Meanwhile, Adeline, driven by a sense of foreboding, stumbles upon the corpse seated eerily in Augusta’s favored chair. Her eyes widen in terror, and in a panic, she flees Ed’s house, sprinting back to her own sanctuary, where she bolts the door shut behind her.
Not long after, Ed barges into Adeline’s home, making his way straight to her bedroom. There, he finds a tantalizing pair of lingerie laid out for him. Adeline, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and accusation, confronts him about the stolen undergarments and inquires if the body is that of her mother, Augusta. In a moment of eerie calm, Ed confesses that it is not Augusta’s body and that he hears the haunting voice of his deceased mother emanating from the corpse.
Adeline, playing along with a perverse curiosity, coaxes Ed into revealing the gruesome details of his deeds with the woman’s body. She assures him, with a twisted sincerity, that she is not repulsed by his actions. We then witness Ed methodically cutting away the gauze from Evelyn’s body. In a disturbing act of self-identification, he undresses her and dons Evelyn’s bra and panties himself.
The narrative then shifts to Ed’s mundane errand as he heads to a local shop to purchase more lime. The cashier, Bernice, a middle-aged woman with a weary smile, expresses her gratitude for Ed’s occasional kindness. Bernice, her emotions heightened by the effects of appetite suppressants, becomes teary-eyed. Ed, sensing an opportunity, takes Bernice out to a nearby diner, where she flirts openly with him. In a brazen request, he asks Bernice to remove her bra and hand it over to him.
Later, the duo ventures to a skating rink, where Ed’s grip on reality begins to slip. He hallucinates, seeing Evelyn’s ghostly figure skating beside him. In his deluded state, Ilsa also appears, her voice echoing in his mind, urging him to craft a couch from Bernice’s very skin. Bernice, oblivious to Ed’s inner turmoil, takes him back to her place, where he reveals the bra he’s been secretly wearing under his shirt.
In a darkly intimate encounter, Bernice and Ed engage in sex, after which he slips into her lingerie. She, embracing his twisted desires, encourages his kinks and even goes so far as to ask him to move in with her. Ed, caught in a whirlwind of madness and desire, returns home and begins packing his bags. He tells his hallucinated “mother” that he’s planning to marry Bernice, only to be harshly rebuked by the specter of Augusta, who accuses him of being consumed by base lust.
Augusta confides in Ed with tearful eyes, her voice trembling as she reveals that he's breaking her heart. In the same breath, she insinuates that Bernice has a notorious reputation for indulging in casual liaisons with numerous men and is rumored to carry a sexually transmitted disease—a malady Ed now finds himself burdened with.
The following day, Ed finds himself at the hardware store, where Bernice greets him with a seductive smile, offering him wine and sandwiches. As a token of her affection, she presents him with her cherished lingerie. However, Ed, feeling betrayed and repulsed, severs their relationship abruptly.
In a fit of rage and accusation, Ed calls Bernice, blaming her for transmitting the STD to him. He hurls vitriolic words, accusing her of leading him down a path of sin and even holding her responsible for his mother's supposed damnation in hell. Bernice, overwhelmed by Ed's venomous outburst, pleads with him to leave. Instead, Ed, consumed by his fury, shoots her in the back of the head, ending her life in a brutal act of violence. He then drags Bernice's lifeless body to a shed behind his house.
Later, a pair of unsuspecting hitchhikers arrive, seeking shelter for the night. Their faces turn pale with terror when they witness Ed wielding a chainsaw, mercilessly dismembering Bernice's corpse.
That same night, Ed encounters Adeline and lures her to the shed. There, he unveils Bernice's mutilated remains, her internal organs meticulously removed. Adeline, in a state of shock, captures the gruesome scene with her camera.
The narrative then leaps forward to 1973, where filmmaker Tobe Hooper, inspired by the chilling tale of Ed Gein, decides to craft another slasher horror film. Seeking to amplify the terror, he conceives "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," a movie where the protagonist dons masks fashioned from human skin, mirroring Ed's macabre penchant.
In a haunting twist, the scene depicts Ed draping Bernice's skin over his own body, her face contorted onto his in a grotesque imitation of femininity. The episode culminates with Tobe Hooper reflecting on his intent to create a film that would unmask the true, monstrous nature of Ed Gein for the world to see.
