American Horror Story

Really enjoying this season so much more than the last one. Im looking forward to see how it goes now that all the actors and real people are in that house. You couldn't pay me to stay there.

Shelby smashing Matt's head in was disturbing. I've more than had my fill of heads getting smashed in between this and TWD over the last week.

They're going for a different kind of horror this season. And it's really effective.

I think it's been pretty good so far. I haven't seen any of the other seasons, but I really like what they're doing with this one—looking forward to seeing how the clowns tie in with everything else.

So, been waiting a long time for Netflix to get Roanoke, I don't have TV so I can't watch the seasons as they air.

I absolutely hate this season and I'm not even done with it.

The Unsolved Mysteries-style Framing Device sucks. There's no better way to undermine whatever tension exists than for it to...not be real, at all. Nothing has happened for the first half of this season, save for Mason and Cricket's murders, and nobody seems to give a shit so it may as well not happened. Some people tell a spoooooky ghost story, others reenact it.

It's the difference between watching Daryl in The Walking Dead and watching Norman Reedus portray Daryl on Zombies Are Totally Real, with the "real Daryl" piping in to say "I was scared that I was going to die, zombies are absolutely real".

And now the second half is full-bore Idiot Plot about reality show bullshit. Oh no, the producer is a scumbag who only cares if he's legally liable if he encourages the Axe-Crazy ex-cast member to crash Big Brother in a Haunted House. I want to see him die if only because he's as repugnant as a caricature as the villains from Atlas Shrugged.

The people who lived through the event know it's absolutely real and should have no reason to go back. But no, they just pick up the Idiot Ball and decide to move back in for the weekend.

And then after a first half where nobody was in peril because it was all a Show Within a Show, now we get a title card declaring "EVERYONE DIES, EXCEPT THE MYSTERY SURVIVOR". Thanks a ton for that. American Horror Story is a meatgrinder, I expect that Anyone Can Die and that they might just Kill Them All. But come on, seriously? Now I'm just waiting to check off names until they reveal the Mystery Survivor. And it'll probably be Scumbag McProducer just to spite me.

God, and all I've heard is that the next season is worse. I got excited when I heard "cult" but it's apparently actually AHS: the Real Horror is That Trump is President. Thanks, AHS—I hadn't fucking heard that today.

Give it a chance. Cult has gotten better with each episode.

Roanoke was a weird season, but at least it wasn't Coven. I find myself saying that with each subsequent season of AHS: no matter my problems with it, at least it didn't have the same problems as Coven.

I don't know. Freakshow was a pretty low point. I hated Coven because the women were terrible people, but Freakshow was just kind of boring and frustrating rather than infuriating.

Freakshow at least had Dandy, Coven had nothing.

I had to force myself through Freakshow, because I can't stomach that kind of Body Horror, but I was shocked at how good a villain Dandy was. My jaw dropped at the first "Mommy, I don't like it!" scene, thought there was no way to take this character seriously. And yeah, Dandy turns out to be both a shocking pathetic Manchild and Axe-Crazy.

Its kind of funny how Dandy has ended up one of the most memorable characters in the whole season. He wanted to be a star, and so he ended up being the most popular character from the season.

Its a funny kind of irony.

This guy gets it.

Coven is one of my least favorite seasons of television ever.

edited 6th Oct '17 2:17:01 AM by BearyScary

Eh. Dandy was grating. I get the 'manchild' aspect but I felt like the plot cheated to let him win a couple of times. Meanwhile the whole 'killer clown' thing disappeared pretty quickly.

Well, I think I'm done with this series. Finally done with Stupid People Die Like Idiots: Big Brother Edition, followed by Stupid People Die Like Idiots: Blair Witch Edition, and finished with Stupid People Die Like Idiots: Ghost Hunters Edition.

And of course the worst character gets to be the focus at the end, and she gets to make a big Heroic Sacrifice for her daughter, aw what a sweetheart that mass-murderer is.

Seriously, Lee is such a Karma Houdini I half-expected her to wipe out the SWAT, police, and rescue teams on live TV, then the world just shrugs and accepts that the house and the land are her private Mama Bear fiefdom; where she battles and defeats the ghosts each year.

This might have been the worst Found Footage-style thing I've ever seen, and I watch a ton of these movies; because I can get really invested in the tiny handful where it works. People are running around filming for absolutely no reason; and this is a genre with a built-in Hand Wave of "but we gotta DOCUMENT teh things, always, even when it's killing us". Because if there weren't three separate cameras dragged out of the house then how would we never know what was going on outside of the house?

Ug. And I thought this season was supposed to tie everything together. I was expecting mostly a period peace that might explain why these are "American horror stories", that this is a horribly cursed land or the first colonists delved into seriously dark shit and ruined it for everyone, or something. Not just a few CallBacks to Asylum and some Murderhouse references I forgot about. In a place that's not even Roanoke.

God, I'm glad I decided not to binge everything (maybe sans Freakshow) again to "prepare" for this season.

edited 7th Oct '17 8:26:48 AM by Rotpar

You know when I started, I really didn't see Kai Anderson the Trump Supporter as being the seducer type of villain. Except now he's basically fucking everyone to get them to join up with him. This is half a clown cult, half Kai's Bugfuck Crazy Harem.

Just like a real cult leader.

I wonder what the uncensored version of the episode was.

^Pretty sure there was just more gun violence and death.

By the way, the ending to the latest episode (and Kai's gambit) impressed the hell out of me. Can't wait for tonight.

Well... can't say I saw that coming.

That was a pretty disturbing episode. Perhaps one of the most disturbing of the season.

On Twitter the reception to the episode was interesting. Some people seem to think that this episode doesn't fit in well, when they really wanted to find out what happened to Ally after last week's episode. I think I kind of agree with them, but OTOH, I kind of like it when AHS gets historical.

Many people seem annoyed with the presence of Lena Dunham.

Evan Peters as Andy Warhol was really good.

Kai is playing them all. His ability to play The Chessmaster would be admirable if it wasn't for, oh, everything else about him.

I keep hoping his supposed care for his family is a put-on too, just because I'd love to see him under discussion for Complete Monster (not until two weeks after the season ends, per the cleanup thread rules). I'll admit to probably being stuck in that "trope as a badge of honor" mentality which that thread discourages.

But yeah, this the first season I've tuned in for, and it's pretty interesting so far.

So this is your first exposure to AHS, eh? Do you feel like checking out the other series after finishing Cult?

I wonder if Kai will fall under Complete Monster as well as Gary, because he's a sadistic thug.

Definitely. I've heard about bits and pieces of previous seasons, and the Twisty tie-in made me more curious.

If you look at the CM cleanup thread you'll see there's pretty high criteria, especially considering the evil acts in previous seasons of this show- someone would have be comparable to the folks listed on this page. So maybe Kai would end up qualifying if he didn't seem to truly still love his mom, but Gary and the others joining in seem like small potatoes- then again, until the season's done, who's to say? Maybe even Beverly or Dr. Vincent depending on how much influence they end up having on the cult. At any rate, word of warning, do not try adding anyone yet or talking about it in that thread; they're not big on it.

Okay. I thought it would be best to at least wait until the season's over to contemplate whether or not anyone will qualify as a CM considering how twisty (no pun intended) the season has been.

Someone on the writing staff really likes Zodiac.

This SCUM subplot is coming out of nowhere.

Welp, this is one song I can never listen to again.

Words fail me, besides maybe "Sick and Wrong" or "This Is Wrong on So Many Levels!".

And the cop is a neonazi.

edited 24th Oct '17 7:46:11 PM by BearyScary