American Horror Story

[Ella]

I wasn't Impressed with the first episode but I'm in it for the whole series.Lots of pretty men and I'm sure Sarah's character will be interesting.

[GirlyGhoul]

First the good:

Every American Horror Story has had the effect of pulling me into the world that's being created so that I believe in it and feel I'm there for the 50 some minutes my ass is in the chair with my eyes glued forward. For better or worse, AHS always does that for me.

The maybe not so good?: Every place this season of AHS took me is somewhere I've been before:Hello, Overlook Hotel! Hi Se7en crime scene! Hey there Village of the Damned kids! Bonjour Hostel dungeon room! Well howdy blood orgy from The Hunger, oh and you brought your Bauhaus soundtrack with you! Terrific! Wait, hold up guys someone's on the phone! Who's calling please? Oh Jigsaw Killer! So good to hear your voice again! And Hotel California, how could I ever forget you!!

At first, I took it all as homage... but near the end of the episode it began to feel more like 'rip off'. Time will tell I guess.

But in the meantime, I am interested to see where it'll all get taken. Freakshow turned out to be disappointing and full of missed opportunities. This one could really go either way.

And more of the good. Lady Gaga... is good! I mean, she's not exactly playing against type here, but so far she's coming off as believable and not 'ACTING!!!'. I mean, if she's this generation's Madonna- then by all accounts she'd be as likely to bomb and as badly as Madge once she tried her metal gloved hand at acting. But so far, she doesn't suck! She's keeping her own with the likes of Kathy Bates and Sarah Paulson. So good for her!

The VERY good: Serious PRETTY from the male cast this season! And yes, I share Kathy Bates' dilemma. I need to see Matt Bomer every day! Umm hmm! (He made 90's grunge heroin junkie look HOT! How does he do that?!?!?) Wes Bently and Cheyenne Jackson adding to the yums. And I love that Wes's character will keep a serial killer on hold so he can read to his daughter. Devoted Daddy is super hot!!

And I know Lady Gaga is the fashion queen here, but I'd rather have Denis O'Hare's wardrobe!! So flowy!! So fun!! And rocking that Cleopatra eye!! Good for him!

But will it all be style over substance? Eh, keep Denis O'Hare in his wardrobe and Matt Bomer out of his and I doubt I'll care too much. I'd like a good story to be told. But since I've seen all of this before and The Countess Bathory trope's been done to death I'll settle for enjoying the pretty. It could still be a fun ride, and hopefully more satisfying than Freakshow turned out to be.

[Ella]

Anyone watch last night? I got into it a more this week than last.Still tons of gore but this is called American Horror Story. Evan Peters was really camping it up and it was great.He character must be based on H.H Holmes. I really miss Jessica Lange but it's time for Sarah Paulson to step up and be crowned the Queen of AHS. She's crazy this season but I have a feeling she may be a sympathetic character soon. She scared that little girl away for a reason.Also, lots of beautiful mean this season.

ETA: I called the H.H Holmes part a few months ago. Yeah me!

ETA 2: Sometimes this season we'll probably see GAGA bathing in the victims blood ala Elizabeth Bathory.

[bklynred]

I hate this season. Even more than last. I think I'm checking out (no pun intended). I think the 'strange people in a strange building' story is old. I think the last time I was interested was Coven.

[scarlet]

It seems more convuluted than it has in past seasons. I did like the Mr. March story in the second episode--Evan Peters was impressive. The rest? I'll continue to watch to see if any cohesion comes to light, but...meh. I feel like I haven't really liked a season since "Asylum" (and even that was a mess).

[GirlyGhoul]

LOL! I was just coming to post how much I'm liking this season so far. It's reigniting the teenage part of my brain that really loved Anne Rice novels back in the day where it was all just pretty people rolling around and being pretty and enjoying their prettiness and being immortal and pretty through various centuries/decades. The potential of where the pretty people could go, where they could have gone and what they can do and did appeals to me.

That said, I got tired of Anne Rice eventually because pretty people being pretty gets boring and repetitive after a while- and I'm already half expecting this season to run out of steam well before the end. They've already blown their wad on the worst of the gore and violence. The missing kid has already been revealed and even spotted by his own sister. The tale of HH Holmes err JP March has already been told (although I do love his adoring cleaning lady).

Countess GaGa's already grown bored with Matt Bomer (are you nuts woman! He just wanted to watch House of Cards! Who cares if that's not your thing. He's Matt freakin' Bomer!!!) and replaced him with the bassist from Duran Duran errr I mean Finn Wittrock. Which, ok, I won't begrudge her on that one. But why not keep both?

There's so much going on and I'm not sure if it can all be tied together and sewn up neatly as in a mattress... or if it'll just be a mismash of gore and pretty people that eventually gets as tired as my more grown up brain eventually found all those Anne Rice novels.

But for now it's fun. (For me) And I'm looking forward to hearing more of Countess GaGa's decadent decade adventures (if she actually had more tales to tell) and also Liz Taylor's backstory. 'Skinny Jeans are out. Fringe is in. Ponchos are forever!' Love it!!!

[fabrichnova]

I'm pretty meh on this season so far, too, scarlet. Although I was also impressed and surprised with how well Evan Peters tackled this particular character's accent. It's funny how he's also the only non-prettyboy blue-eyed, brunet actor on this season (well him and Denis O'Hare)... there's even an internet meme floating around about how physically interchangeable most of the male cast is this season.

Not hating this season enough to tune out, but I find it even more convoluted than in seasons' past. There's lots of storylines but very little actual story, just lots of musical montages with naked blood. I don't mind crazy, and with a Ryan Murphy show you can pretty much guarantee there's going to be lots of unresolved shit being thrown at the wall, but usually there's more of a narrative. This season just feels hard to get emotionally invested in when it seems as if they lack the patience to cobble a story together, it's just a bunch of visual ideas without any connective thread.

Gaga isn't AWFUL, but based on this, I find her acting pretty weak. Not that she's been given much to do, but with what few lines she's been given, I'm constantly being taken out of the show with her stilted line readings. It's like she's trying too hard to seem mysterious and creepy, which makes her seem even less so.

[forever1267]

So. Much. Pretty. Making out with each other!

However, this one did seem to sputter, despite the make out sessions and AB looking fabulous in the 70's film. And Lady Gaga totally channeled Sharon Stone in that 90's look. (And how come Sharon hasn't been brought into this show?)

Lady Gaga isn't bad, but like Madonna's acting, she seems very aware of the camera, and she has not been given much besides look alluring and sensual and exotic and mysterious. She's a Duran Duran video so far.

They are interchangeable. I had to check twice, especially between Bomer and Jackson. Mr. Murphy's type is really apparent this season.

[GirlyGhoul]

I keep wondering if there will be some payoff to so many look-a-like pretty boys down the line. Like there will be some mistaken identity tragedy or else someone will steal the other's identity, etc. Or else, yeah, it's just a case that Murphy had a sea of headshots of the prettiest blue-eyed, brunette, jaw-lines for days actors and couldn't just pick one. Such a dilemma there, poor Mr. Murphy ;-).

I'm definitely appreciating all the pretty, but at this point, I think the plot, if there ever was one, has become over stuffed like a corpse filled mattress. Way too many characters and too many storylines. I actually enjoy all of them individually, but there isn't enough time to give all of them their fair share. I didn't think we got enough JP March this past episode. And now that he's hinted about just how many rooms and secrets his hotel hides, I want to explore every one of them. But there won't be time for that. Not with all the 10 Commandments to get through, and supposedly dead children to expose themselves to their family, and GaGa's marriage to Cheyenne Jackson to get her Bernie Madoff-ed money back, that is before Angela Bassett exacts her revenge... and that's not even getting into Matt Bomer's mommy issues. And we still haven't gotten a backstory for Liz Taylor.

"No pity parties at my bar!" Love it!!

I think Ryan Murphy has a problem with 'murdering his darlings' as Hemingway called it. Sometimes beloved sentences or paragraphs or in this case plot lines have to be cut out for the sake of the whole... even if they're awesome and their creator loves them. Ryan Murphy either never heard Hemingway's advice or else blatantly chose to ignore it. Heck, the man can't pick only one of the same type of pretty boy, so I'm not surprised he can't settle on a manageable handful of storylines. But still, it makes for a very bloated 13 episode- and Hotel is probably the worst offender of all the AHS.

Still... so. much. PRETTY!!! I guess that's why Angela Bassett's main man Moses had to bite it so soon after getting vamped. The show just couldn't contain any more pretty!
It can barely contain her and GaGa's hair (that must be why Liz Taylor is bald)

Speaking of GaGa. I praised her lack of sucking at acting earlier. But when she had to act heartbroken over Angela Bassett falling for Mo... erm.... that was Madonna levels of bad. Sorry GaGa. .

[scarlet]

Caught up last night--and I'm marginally more into it than I was the week before. As has been noted, there's WAY too much going on, but I'm just sort of going along for the ride at this point. I love Elizabeth Taylor and so want to get some of his backstory, still am getting Cheyenne Jackson and Matt Bomer confused and continue to be amused by Evan Peters (perfect line read on "that sounds obscene" to the "I googled you" comment).