American Horror Story, Watch or Pass, PT 2

Yesterday, we discussed the first six seasons of American Horror Story. Season thirteen is coming next week, and it’s going to reference the whole series for the first time. So if you’ve been skipping around and missed some seasons, now is the time to get caught up.

Turning our attention to seasons seven through twelve, here’s what I’d watch and what I’d pass on. I’m also continuing to include my personal rankings. And yes, today we’re going to talk about my number one favorite season.

Cult- Watch

Nicole’s Ranking: Number seven

I wonder if they’d have done this season if Trump hadn’t won?

Based on the real American horror story, this season is about an all-too-honest reaction that some people had to Trump’s first presidential election. Kai Anderson starts a misogynistic cult and drags a whole community along with him.

It’s upsetting, not going to lie.

Cult is also memorable because there isn’t anything supernatural going on this season. No magic, no ghosts. No locations that don’t release their dead. Just monsters made flesh. Just people.

Apocalypse- Watch

Nicole’s Ranking: Number two

Apocalypse is the first time American Horror Story blended two previous seasons. In this case, Coven and Murder House. And it’s better than the sum of its parts.

Heartbreaks were healed, plotlines were closed, and the world ended. There’s witchcraft, demons, and the triumphant return of Mamma Marie Laveau. Could not have been better.

Actually, I might need to rewatch it just because. As a treat.

1984- Watch

Nicole’s Ranking: Number four

Do you enjoy summer camp slashers, final girls and scream queens? Then you’re going to love this season. It’s another iconic AHS space where the dead don’t move on. This is apparently a huge issue in the AHS universe. Summer camps, houses, hotels. The dead don’t seem to have anything better to do than to stick around.

And, you know, feed people into a wood chipper.

Double Feature- Part One, watch. Part Two, pass.

Nicole’s Ranking: Number 10 and number 12

Part one of Double Feature was fantastic. Of course I loved it. It’s about a writer who becomes a vampire to write better than he ever has. It was funny at times and chilling at others. And it was clearly written for writers by writers. And Macaulay Culkin was in it. That was fun! 10/10, no notes.

Part two was, to be blunt, fucking awful. It’s about a group of friends who are abducted by aliens and impregnated with human-alien hybrids. It’s honestly, terribly written. It’s confusing. Some plotlines go nowhere. The characters are dull and unremarkable. Honestly, it feels like what someone from part one might write after taking the creativity pills and then trying to quit. Don’t bother watching.

NYC- Watch

Nicole’s Ranking: Number One

This is a bit controversial, but NYC is my favorite season. It’s about the aids epidemic in New York in the 80’s. And it is heartbreaking.

The story mostly consists of a dark and ominous being known as Leather Daddy. He stalks members of the gay community, and eventually those people vanish.

Okay, yes, there’s also a serial killer called the Mai Tai killer. He’s played by Jeff Hiller, and is quite a fun character.

That’s not the part that I care about, though. Look, I’m a pretty hardened, cynical person. I don’t just burst into tears over any old thing. But the end of NYC gets me every time. I’ve watched it three times, and I’ve wept three times. Because it’s real. No Leather Daddy was stalking gay people. It was just a deadly disease that our government let run wild for far too long. Far too many people died who didn’t need to die. I was a child at the time, so I don’t have the weight in my words to describe the experience. I think it’s summed up best by this famous quote by queer author and activist Dan Savage.

“During the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night. The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for.”

Delicate- Skip

Nicole’s Ranking: Number 13

This one hurts me.

I didn’t have the weight of words to discuss the aids crisis. But I do to describe being a woman in America after the overturning of Roe V. Wade. I understand that quite well. And there’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you do too. The body horror of pregnancy is never-ending. The things it does to our bodies, the gaslighting of the medical industry, the feeling of existing in a body that no longer feels like it belongs to us.

This season was based on a novel called Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine. And it was perfect. It captured the desperate desire to have children, and the reality of the sacrifices women make to have them. It explored the strength of women who protect each other and support each other. Honestly, just writing this, I need to read it again. It made me a lifelong fan of the author. I actually have her latest book, Deadly Little Lessons, sitting on my desk right now.

The AHS season didn’t do any of that. It added ridiculous storylines that were not even implied in the book. The story was muddled and confusing. And rather than inspiring sisterhood, it had women preying upon women.

It was terrible. Having a Kardashian involved didn’t help.

So that’s it. We’ve got less than a week until the new season of American Horror Story launches. And honestly, I cannot wait to watch it with all of you. Stay tuned for my episode-by-episode reviews.

And if you used to follow me on a different site, we are officially back, Killer Queens. We are back.

My dark science fiction book, Station 86 Volume One is coming out on October second! It contains two stories of murder and political intrigue on the space station of First Contact.