*NOTE: Originally published on Readwave
Rarely has a show placed brilliance and poor tastes side-by-side this compellingly.
I have an embarrassing confession to make. Two weeks after telling viewers to be cautious of Scream Queens (news flash: it's abysmal) because Ryan Murphy embodies haphazardness, I found myself in a corner. I was looking for something to fill up last week due to the new TV season being TOO underwhelming. It was then that I took on American Horror Story's second season, known as Asylum. By week's end I made it through season three, a.k.a. Coven. You figure that 26 episodes of "haphazardness" in rapid succession would dampen my excitement for season five, a.k.a. Hotel. However, it was then that I understood the genius of the franchise.
It's not the greatest show since Breaking Bad. The show exists in this space time continuum that nobody with a capable brain could create. The Twilight Zone is too moral; Ed Wood is too creative; and Wednesday Addams is too optimistic for the vision in Murphy's brain. What he has created annually is a tribute to something better. He is the short kid wanting to be picked during P.E., needing to overcompensate. The one advantage? He has some intriguing friends that carry him on their shoulders. I'm sure he sees Rudy as his life story.
To understand his vision is to let go of your pretension. As I came to the end of Asylum, I found myself in awe at what I had just seen. Over 13 episodes, I had seen a story involving alien abductions, a Nazi doctor, possessed nuns, a homicidal Santa Claus, a girl claiming to be Anne Frank (yes, that one), and a lesbian confronting her son: the offspring of a serial killer with mother issues. It was never going to entirely make sense. It also was a depiction of the tragedy of how some fail to be cured of mental health issues. Whether or not that beautiful theme was intentional is beyond me. However, I don't think that a single sane mind could've made something so ambitious and continually shocking - mixing brilliance with poor tastes - quite as effectively.
Speaking as I was attracted to season four, a.k.a. Freak Show, I was also impressed with the visual aesthetic of the series. The show referenced F.W. Murnau alongside contemporaries, creating a unique vision in which a killer clown reenacts a scene from Zodiac - unbeknownst to casual fans is that it's the same actor. These things don't happen accidentally. Murphy clearly knows his history. However, Coven reflected the opposite side of this in which a season based around feminism and racism proved some embarrassing results. Anyone who has seen the final minutes of the episode "Head" can attest to Murphy sometimes going too far. What's even more baffling is that he had THREE Oscar-nominated actresses (Jessica Lange, Gabourey Sidibe, Kathy Bates) delivering such nonsense, thus making you forget that they're actually good performers.
You see, it would be easy to write off American Horror Story if it was just bad. Sure, Coven is a chore. But it has moments of inspiration throughout. Murphy creates a world that you're not going to see anywhere else on TV. This haphazardness benefits him greatly, considering that other horror-based shows like The Walking Dead try too hard to be taken seriously. Its an unpredictable ride that because of its anthology format means that it can reset every year. Considering the binge-watching culture that's formed, Murphy has found a formula that works more by necessity. I'm confident that every Halloween someone looks for short, accessible horror content (like I did) and decides to give it a shot because someone said nice things about it. I for one have been privy to strangers at restaurants suggesting it to me - meaning that someone out there genuinely likes it.
With Hotel now only hours away, I find myself in the familiar hole of "what will they think of next?" It's the curiosity mixed with the apprehension that I may get some brilliance akin to Asylum, but I also will get nonsense. To see it side-by-side creates a unique, immersive experience that I'd more recommend for watching as a whole than week-to-week. Separately, it is a frustrating show because you have to think about it. It may sound condescending, but this is both the best and worst horror show out there. Just ride along and hope it doesn't crash too hard.
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