Need to get caught up? Check out my review of the first three episodes of this season.
Last night, American Horror Story episodes nine and ten aired. And for anyone else who watched it already, I have a question. Did the pacing seem a little off to you? Almost like the story feels like it’s running out of time and needs to hurry up?
Secrets were certainly revealed this episode. Lots of family secrets. Were they surprising? Well, your mileage may vary.
We begin the first episode of the evening with Constance. She’s feeling trapped in her current situation, and goes looking for Mr. Nas. She lays into him and immediately starts making demands. Since Mr. Nas is going to be running the world soon, she wants him to promise to rule out nuclear war. She also wants a woman president, and for her children to have jobs.
I think we can all get behind that.
The whole back and forth is very fun. Constance is pushy and demanding. The literal devil lets her push to a point. Then, he lets her know that she’s never been the good person she thinks she is. He pulls out a whole scroll of her sins and starts reading them off to her.
It’s a great recap if you haven’t seen Murder House or Apocalypse in a while.
Meanwhile, we finally catch up with our supposed main character, Ben. He and Ashley go to a tattoo artist to see what he can tell them about Ben’s 616 branding.
Seems like a doctor might have been the better option, since we’ve already assessed that this isn’t a tattoo. But doctors are expensive, I get it.
Ben seems to be having strange visions every time someone touches the branding. And soon, he comes to a realization. He politely shoves Ashley out of his apartment and tries to get some rest. But the flashbacks to ritual murders from his childhood make that all but impossible.
Don’t you hate when that happens?
There was a lot to love about this episode. For starters, American Horror Story is just never subtle. There isn’t a part of this that is low-key. From the clothes to the effects to the background. This whole episode was so bright, vibrant, and active! It was just fun to watch visually.
I also loved the back and forth between Constance and Mr. Nas. Constance in general is just a fantastic character. Constance is like a cat in human form. Have you seen those memes online that say cats act like God left them in charge, and it’s just a video of cats beating up tigers and chasing bears? That’s the energy Constance is bringing.
That being said, I do have some complaints. To start with, American Horror Story is just never subtle. There are several revelations in this episode that were just not overly surprising. I’m sure they were supposed to be, but they weren’t.
I wasn’t surprised to learn Ben’s ancestry. Or Constance’s, for that matter. It just wasn’t shocking.
I also didn’t like how they’re all but beating us around the head with symbolism. I get it, Mr. Nas is the Devil. We don’t need to see the very shiny gold snake pin all the time. It’s a lot. I feel talked down to.
Overall, this episode was alright. It moved the story forward and revealed some things we probably guessed, but it was nice to hear them out loud. It’s really the next episode in which things start getting crazy.
But we’ll talk about that tomorrow. See you then, Killer Queens.
My book, Station 86 Volume One, is available now on Amazon! It’s got two dark sci-fi stories about murder and mayhem on the station of First Contact.
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