Two episodes into this season of American Horror Story, and we’re already doing the time warp…again. Which means it’s time for two major flashbacks, with one much more successful than the other. Brooke gets marginally more interesting with a look into her appropriately blood-soaked past. Her would-be husband shooting his groomsmen, Brooke’s dad, then himself means she definitely isn’t going to be saving that terrifyingly ’80s wedding dress for her children. But more importantly for the show and the rules of slasher flicks, the fact that the man she was “saving herself” for shot himself before the honeymoon means Brooke might have held onto to her virginity and will thus be spared from Mr. Jingles’ spikes—because the crazed killer has diversified his weapons cache and is now dealing in spikes.
The less effective flashback belongs to Richard, who is this season’s head-scratcher. The satanist is really very quick to be seduced by a Christian camp leader with Farrah Fawcett hair. To explain to his new potential victim turned therapist why he kills, he runs through his childhood, which is full of genuinely bad things to happen to a child, but without any through-line to Satanism, or mass murder, or how he went from a sickly kid to a supermodel who’s very, very bad at stabbing a moving target. Richard and Margaret’s exchange is strange in an already strange world. Margaret’s God monologue is great, but it does feel like it’s less the character saying, “Do you want to know the other great thing about God?….you can also use him to explain why you did something,” and more like the writers saying it while winking and gesturing to a certain true crime clip that proves their point. Making him promise not to murder anyone as he takes on the new position of camp protector is a good call for Margaret, but it is suspect that she feels so comfortable putting a serial killer on the payroll (that being more an expression, of course, they didn’t actually discuss his hourly fee).
What this season continues to do well is hit the predictable slasher film tropes, which, in an increasingly complicated storyline, come as moments of comforting familiarity. The synth sounds are so nostalgic they’re no longer truly spooky, and even though most of the characters are still empty archetypes, when they’re finally together and on the same page about the danger they’re in, all but standing back to back with weapons in hand, it feels like the story is really coming together.
The revelation that Xavier is being blackmailed by the gay porn director that got him off the streets and made him into a star wasn’t that exciting even before “Daddy” gets impaled, but the idea he could find a replacement for himself with Trevor was confusing. Did he think he could easily convince Trevor to trade his aspirations of work out home videos to porn? That the director would surely find blackmail on Trevor and would think, fair is fair, and drop his pursuit of Xavier entirely?
Beyond the mystery of how the showrunners are going to keep the action to a single night (because while being stranded without cell phones in the forest with multiple serial killers is scary all hours of the day in real life, sunrise would take away some of the edge on screen), this episode seemed to hint that Margaret’s miraculous survival might have a sinister side. When the not-quite-dead camper remembers seeing her bloody face, she’s completely upright and wide-eyed in a way someone who had their ear cut off and had suffered other various slashes probably wouldn’t be. This episode took pains to paint her as a little off, beyond the unwelcome proselytizing at her obviously pro-sin staff. Insisting she can handle Mr. Jingles on her own because she owns the world’s tiniest shotgun is a little shortsighted, but it was her reaction to the psych ward director, immediately accusing her of snooping in her room, that makes it seem like Margaret might need “God and trauma” to explain away more than a camp with a dangerously low staff-to-camper ratio.
Next week at least one new character shows up at a remote, previously abandoned summer camp, things shift towards American Ninja Warrior with the introduction of a deadly obstacle course, and a lot of people stand completely still and scream in the face of fast-approaching danger. It’s like they’ve never seen an ’80s horror film!
Stray observations
- “Jump (For My Love)” might technically be an ’80s song, but sixteen years after being used for the iconic Love Actually scene, it kind of evokes 2003 more than 1983.
- Montana’s trek to fat camp was played for laughs, but being shipped off at six to, as she explained it “nom and vom” would be traumatic.
- In case you forgot Trevor is well endowed, this episode really went the extra mile to remind you. A man died because he was marveling at it.
- There might not be a Marie Kondo in 1984, but I don’t think you need the philosophy of sparking joy to know that you should pawn the engagement ring from the man who killed your father in front of you on your not-quite-wedding day. Turn that reminder of the worst day of your life into a brand new VCR, or something.
- How did Rita escape Mr. Jingles with what amounts to a pretty superficial wound? Forget leading the charge for the escape, she should be sitting her fellow staffers down to teach them whatever self-defense moves she used.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ramirez#Early_life_and_education
Grossman may just be the ideal fit for the weird mix of camp, zaniness, and trauma that is AHS. That long scene with Ramirez was all sorts of nonsense but she sold it.
Im not sure I like how attractive they made Richard Ramirez look. Where are the rotted teeth?Margaret is definitely a killer. She said she saw the hitchhiker’s “lifeless body” but he was killed out in the road. And he only heard “Mr. Jingles”, didn’t see him.Im liking the season but prepared for a gianyt messy, plot-hole filled end.
And here I proceed to out myself about the true crime phase I went through last year:Yeah, even at first glance Ramirez was terrifying and unhinged person. Creative liberties and all; but I wish they’d gone for a March approach where they instead make a fictionalised version of an existing killer to suit whatever they have planned. It just feels in bad taste, or something? Even the look at his childhood really trivialises the horror of his actual history, which is some of the grimmest shit I’ve ever heard
I had to rewind to get “nom and vom” and I am pretty sure “nom” wasn’t a thing in the 80’s.
And “stalking” was not a term (at least in the sense of humans “stalking” other humans) in 1984. The term as we know it now didn’t come into use until 1990.
How can that be when there were not one but two “night stalkers” at that time
Richard Ramirez being called “the Night Stalker” was a specific name of a specific person like Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer, the Son of Sam. But using “stalker” as a generic term for any type of creepy unwanted attention (as in Montana grousing “Why don’t I have a stalker??”) didn’t become generally accepted until the early 1990s. It was a term coined for that kind of pathology after the Rebecca Schaeffer murder in 1989.
i guess reflected in the film Cape Fear
Im getting “OUATIH” revisionist vibes with the Ramirez thread. LG is really slaying (sorry) it and I ♡ her. Thats the gayest line read of “I’m not gay I’m straight!” I’ve ever heard. Even irl gay porn. Lou Taylor Pucci once had a very promising film career. Now it’s guts falling outta him.
The real villain of AHS 1984 will be the ghost of George Orwell!
I kind of thought the show might actually go here before the season started. That the twist would be that this is all some kind of set-up and the key players are under constant surveillance.
““Jump (For My Love)” might technically be an ‘80s song, but sixteen years after being used for the iconic Love Actually scene, it kind of evokes 2003 more than 1983.”
I guess I haven’t watched Love Actually enough (I know that my guilty pleasure group, Girls Aloud covered the song for the original, but not US, soundtrack album). At any rate, they also featured it on this week’s 1985 set episode of The Deuce.
So… this review doesn’t mention the ghost at all, except in the headline? I mean that was a pretty big element. I’m not sure using an actual serial killer in this case is really working for me—and, like most viewers, I have no idea what was up with that scene between him and Margaret. I get that this season is more often than not a campy send-up, but I’m still not sure if we are meant to buy it, or what (though I enjoyed that Margaret apparently has her radio tuned to a mid 70s disco porn instrumental station).
And c’mon, I know this is FX, but a male shower scene (as opposed to the female shower scenes of most slashers) and no rear nudity?
Yes! The ghost means everyone dies at least once and comes back for a fun finale. Also, I’m kind of surprised there isn’t more focus on how we have three serial killers, Mr Jingles (looking like a rough David Cross), The Camp Reopener, and Richard. She obviously had her own killing spree rudely interrupted by Mr Jingles in the 1970s and was worried the ghost was going to rat her out before convincing The Nightstalker to stop Mr Jingles for her. The whole “You’re not supposed to be here” is going to be a take a shot line this season. Also, how about that scene on the dock that was a nice reference to Cabin in the Woods.
Also Camp-Reopener seems like a good canidate for “kid who was mercilessly bullied in 1970 and has come back as revenge”, killing those no-good drug doers and sex havers for Jesus.
i was assuming she was the girl at the beginning
So did they allude to King Saul asking the Witch of Endor to call up the shade of Samuel? That’s the only Biblical ghost I can think of (unless you count the risen Christ).
This is a weird season so far in that, um, is going to mainly take place over one night? It moves quickly and sometimes you realize you have missed things because your mind wandered. I am just having a hard time with the idea that the show is going to have a bunch of children show up, unless we are preparing for my first horror movie, a children of the corn sort of situation.
Of course, the real and most urgent question of all to be answered is… what early 80s songs will be used as musical cues for scenes (that haven’t been used so far?) Some wild-ass guesses:“Thriller” – Micheal Jackson (seems like a given)“On the Darkside” – Eddie & the Cruisers (involved in some way to a flashback to the earlier Mr. Jingles murder spree)“No Way Out” – Jefferson Starship (playing over a scene where somebody is trapped somewhere with the / a killer and there’s… no way out!)“Tainted Love” – Softcell (Because it’s a series set in the early 1980s and it is required by law that this song be used sometime in it to establish that, yes, this is the early 1980s)“Bark at the Moon” – Ozzy Osbourne“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” – Cyndi Lauper (I’m guessing it will come up in the flashback scene in which we learn that Brooke totally totally DID sleep with the best man before her own red wedding and is so totally NOT the virginal “final girl” we are being led to believe she is.)BTW, I have to fault this series for its lack of valley girl speech. I mean, these are kids from 1984 Los Angeles and yet two episodes in, not a single one of them has said “I am SO TOTALLY…” or “gag me with a spoon” or “Oh how totally gross!” Or said anything at all with a deeply inflected rise in the tone of their voice or even inserted an unnecessary use of the word “like” into a sentence.
I’m betting on Pat Benatar’s “Shadows of the Night.”
I think they steer clear of MJ, given… everything
I dunno. It could be the glaring “ironic hindsight” statement that TV shows so love to make (re: Don Draper on “Mad Men” bragging about how Richard Nixon getting elected will whip the country back into shape.) I, like, TOTALLY wouldn’t put it past Ryan Murphy to, like, have all the characters gush about how great Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby are, just as a glaringly meta-wink to the audience.
If they didn’t use Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” in the pilot (my brain is broken and two weeks feel so very long ago) then I would bet a minimum amount of money that it’s coming.
After watching the first episode I felt like it was a little too straightforward for AHS, and then this episode adds in a ghost and Leslie Grossman seducing the Nightstalker. There’s that signature brand of AHS nonsense I love so much
but signature AHS often goes overboard and adds too many elements
Trevor’s giant dong is being set up as its own character. In the finale he’ll beat the shit out of Mr. Jingles with it while Montana looks on in awe.
Rather bland but enjoyable episode. I did get a kick out of this line;“What’s a Ninja?” -Brooke“A badass motorcycle” – MontanaIt seems bland on its own but the way Lourd sold it was funny
I was born in 76 and did not realize those bikes were that old.
Wait, this is all going to be in one night? That’s disappointing. For a full season of television, we need more darks and lights, ebbs and flows. The everyday stuff is what makes the freaky stuff freaky.
In the preview for next week I thought it looked like it was getting towards dawn at one point but maybe I didn’t see that right
It’s not, no. There’s a logline for an ep a few from now talking about the next day
Whew.
I think Roberts is doing good work here. I know she’s not everyone’s favourite but I actually think she could really grow as an actress if they keep throwing her different shit to do on this show
I will say that I was a little worried where this show was going after last week. It seemed to be doing a straight up 80s slasher flick with little variation.This week, with the weird-ass inclusion of the Night Stalker as potential hunter of Mr. Jingles and the shower scene that focuses on and sexualizes men rather than women, I am now more intrigued. It could be a hot mess, but at least it’s a hot mess that has me interested.
I loved this episode, it was bat shit crazy. I want to see batshit killer vs. Batshit killer!
“Did he think he could easily convince Trevor to trade his aspirations of work out home videos to porn? That the director would surely find blackmail on Trevor and would think, fair is fair, and drop his pursuit of Xavier entirely?”What does it matter what he was thinking? Not everybody thinks locally in situations like that. I’d say hardly anybody does.
“Jump (For My Love)” might technically be an ’80s song, but sixteen years after being used for the iconic Love Actually scene, it kind of evokes 2003 more than 1983Sure. If you are a child, then, sure
Enjoying this season so far (haven’t watched since Roanoke, which i enjoyed). I found myself wondering if any of the Night Stalker’s biography is actually true but too lazy to look it up. And i would assume that the AC DC “Night Prowler” song will be used at some point, sure its a bit on the nose but that seems to be how this show rolls.
“How did Rita escape Mr. Jingles with what amounts to a pretty superficial wound?” She didn’t. My money’s on her being dead since she got Jonas’d (hit by a vehicle) after the Jingles scene. Also worth noting, Jonas is an anagram of Jason. Ch ch ch ha ha ha.
I get the throwbacks to the 80’s slasher flicks, but damn is this garbage so far.
Predictable in every way.
Oh the doctor from the insane asylum came to warn everyone about Mr. Jingles.
Let’s sit in the car while a tow truck no one called comes up at night. Rolling the window up will surely help protect you!
I realize the car had a flat, but it could still run. GTFO out of there.
Could there not have been a series like this where everyone wasn’t fucking stupid as hell? If I wanted to watch this crap I would have an 80’s slasher movie marathon.
Same with Cult – if I wanted to watch a political shitshow I’d turn on the TV.
This may be the first season I don’t actually watch all the way through… And the last couple were tough to stick out.
“It’s like they’ve never seen an ’80s horror film!”I think this era for the show is supposed to be like none of those other slasher movies exist in their world. If they did start quoting Friday the 13th or Halloween, the show would dive into meta territory ala Scream. I like how oblivious they are to the typical horror movie tropes. Ya see them go down by the dock by themselves or down a poorly lit road and ya just groan to yourself that they are going to die if they do that. Lol. It’s what makes this season so fun and creepy/scary to watch. You kinda hope they don’t fall into the typical horror movie tropes. But when they do, that’s ok.