Contributor: Gregg Wright
Written by Tim Minear
Directed by Bradley Buecker
The first season of “American Horror Story” was a really pleasant surprise. It didn’t exactly sneak up on me, of course. The marketing blitz for the show was certainly attention-grabbing. It left me intrigued and hopeful about the show. The horror genre is very near and dear to me, and has lately been somewhat poorly-represented on television lately (despite my love of “Supernatural”). I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with the show, but I hoped for something in the vein of classic horror films that emphasized suspense and dread over gore and shock tactics.
It was clear from interviews with show creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk that the two had a deep appreciation for the horror genre, and the show attests to this, but I was initially somewhat disappointed by “American Horror Story”. The show was overly referential and seemed to be going out of its way to poke fun at every trope in the horror genre. The show was packed with weirdness, the macabre, and twisted sexuality, but it just didn’t quite gel together at first. It didn’t take long, though, for the show to iron out the kinks. After the first three episodes, the show quickly started to find its own voice.
Before I’d even realized it, “American Horror Story” had become one of the most entertaining, fascinating, and offbeat shows to have aired on television in recent years. Murphy and Falchuk had a clear vision for the show, and the planning for the first season was exceptional. Each new episode seemed better than the last, playing an integral role in the overall story. The show had a distinct visual style, being one of the rare modern TV shows to be filmed on actual film stock. And the acting was fantastic. Jessica Lange quite rightfully gained many accolades for her scene-stealing performance, but Evan Peters was similarly impressive.
So now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we can move on to discussing the current season. Like many, I was slightly disappointed at first to discover that the second season would not be a direct follow-up to the current season, and that it had been Murphy and Falchuk’s plan all along to tell a different, self-contained story each season. But I very quickly warmed to the idea. I still love multi-season, serialized television epics, but the anthology format now strikes me as being a perfect approach for this show. What better way to continue to keep things fresh every season?
The new season comes with a new title, new locale, and a new set of characters, but many of the original cast have returned in new roles alongside new additions to the cast. At first, one wonders if such a thing can work. Would audiences have a hard time accepting the actors in different roles? My opinion is that Murphy and Falchuk have done an excellent job of crafting new characters for the returning actors, making them significantly different while somehow fitting the actors perfectly. Jessica Lange and Evan Peters have returned in the two most important roles, which is, perhaps, as it should be.
And “Asylum” is far from being just a retread of the first season in a new location. Very far from it, indeed. The bulk of the story takes place at Briarcliff Sanitarium in 1964, where Sister Jude (Jessica Lange) rules with an iron fist. She’s similar, in some respects, to Lange’s character from the first season. She sticks to a fundamentalist Christian faith and has the potential to be something of an anti-hero and a force to be reckoned with. Standing in opposition to her is Dr. Arthur Arden: the science to Sister Jude’s faith. But the show seems to sidestep the usual problems of such an obvious thematic representation by making both characters so monstrous.
It’s hard to decide which is worse: Sister Jude’s rigid belief in outdated superstitions or Dr. Arden’s psychopathy. Sister Jude does some awful things, but at least she seems to have some kind of moral code, and seems to actually care about the welfare of her patients. Dr. Arden have no moral code whatsoever. Arden represents everything people fear about science. Whether or not it’s a rational fear is irrelevant. We have nuclear bombs and people like Josef Mengele to blame for this fear, and Arden every bit the uncaring, cold, scientific monster. And the 60s is the perfect era to study the clash between science and faith.
Evan Peters returns this year as a young man named Kit Walker, who seems to have been the victim of a prototypical alien abduction. Yes, that’s right, I said ALIENS. Did I mention that this season isn’t a retread of the first? As the newest resident of Briarcliff, Walker is accused of being the Bloody Face killer: this year’s version of Rubberman. Walker is probably the most immediately sympathetic of all the characters. And the alien abduction angle is truly unexpected and perfectly fitting, considering the decade. The UFO craze was in full swing during that time. I’m excited to see Murphy and Falchuk deconstruct the trope and re-invent it.
Despite the fact that Walker’s story appears to be true, there does appear to be a real Bloody Face killer out there. Or at least, there is one in modern times. Are aliens really to blame for all the killings? Who is the Bloody Face killer? Is Walker really totally innocent? What on earth are those monstrous things in the woods that seem to enjoy preying on flesh? How much does Arden know about them? This season is loaded with mysteries, and I can’t wait to see them answered. It’s a good feeling knowing that the people behind the curtain probably do hold all the cards, and aren’t just bluffing us into thinking they know the answers to their own mysteries.
Simply put, the premiere feels jam-packed, and I mean that in a good way. This is every bit a proper follow-up to the first season. The hallmarks of “American Horror Story” are all there. If you loved the last season, then you will very likely love this one just as much. Yeah, I am calling it a bit early. But I think this season is off to a tremendous start, and I expected nothing less from Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The show had the benefit of a whole previous season to work out its issues, so “American Horror Story: Asylum” hits the ground running. There’s just so much going on here that it would be impractical to discuss it all in a single review. Suffice to say, I loved the premiere, and I’m pretty sure that this season will be just as good as the first.
Score: 9/10
