Kinda European Horror Story

Essentially the plot of American Horror Story
told in one Reel Big Fish album.
"Jerry, this woman hates me so much... I'm starting to like her!" - George Costanza, Seinfeld, S05E09 

Ever since 1989, when Lonesome Dove came out, a new expectation for the miniseries has been around. Before Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones ever laced up a pair of cowboy boots, miniseries had been around, but a level of quality wasn't really held quite yet. Afterwards, these extended television movies were held to a new level of quality... at least they were... until they were largely forgotten. After the nineties, I feel like miniseries began to dissipate, until one show, the one I'll be discussing today, began airing episodes. Yes, it wasn't until four years ago, when FX first began broadcasting American Horror Story, that miniseries had a major revival. After that first season, suddenly the miniseries came back into style. Only, this time, it was different. Instead of a solid piece of work, like Lonesome Dove, miniseries suddenly became serialized... kinda. Each season of Horror Story is different, but they use the same actors, the same world, and the same themes throughout the seasons. Recently, FX and HBO picked up two more shows set to be in the same vein of serialized miniseries in True Detective and Fargo. Now, in my humble opinion, both of those shows are miles and miles better than Horror Story, but as far as historical significance goes, we must give credit where credit is due.

So, all of that being said, let's get on to reviewing the first two episodes of this ridiculously fun yet over-the-top show! This year, heading into our fourth season (where did all the time go? It feels like just yesterday that Dylan McDermott was moving into a haunted house), the show is set in a freak show in the 50's. Although the show is in Florida, it kinda feels like it's in Europe, due to the fact that multiple members of the show (including the owner) are all not really American. Eh, whatever. Fuck the title of the show.
Anyways, the cast for this season may be the best since season two, featuring Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Michael Chiklis, Angela Bassett, Denis O'Hare, Emma Roberts, and a number of other, less important people. In this season, Jessica Lange plays her usual role, being a bitchy wannabe starlet who owns the freak show, Kathy Bates is a bearded lady, most reminiscent of her character in Stephen King's Misery, and Chiklis plays a very toned down version of The Shield's Vic Mackey in the strongman Guillermo Del Toro... or Wendell Dell Toledo or whatever. What's great about something like Horror Story, is that despite the amount of plot holes and stupid characterization, the show really likes to have fun. Thus, casting these actors and actresses, they are aloud to overact their role to a silly perfection. Where Kathy Bates in Misery is at first subtle about her ferocity before having it outed later in the movie, she is able to be incredibly blunt and violent from the get-go. Chiklis played a layered character in The Shield, but in Horror Story, is able to be badass, brutal, and another word that starts with a B. Alliteration, hooray!
Of course, the real talking point of the premiere episodes of Horror Story is Twisty: the insane, murderous clown. Played by a much less scary man, Twisty is a hulking behemoth of a clown that murders people and kidnaps them for seemingly no reason. The make-up is terrifying and the performance captivating. Where normally I would criticize a show for making a villain have no humanization, it actually does well in Horror Story. For instance, on HBO's The Wire, I always found Marlo Stanfield to be a weak character because unlike everyone else on the show, he had no humanization. Where Avon and Stringer were very realistic, with clear motivations as to why they had to kill, Marlo was always just a cackling villain without any substance. That was a big problem I had with that show. On Horror Story though, the show doesn't really take itself seriously, just throwing in horror tropes and characters willy-nilly. So, when a villain appears like Twisty, it's easy to accept him into the world of the show.
Moving from the ridiculously fun villains of the show, let's talk about the ridiculously dull protagonists, shall we? One of the biggest flaws in Horror Story for me, has always been their heroes. Unless they're played by Jessica Lange, like in season two, I always think they fall flat. Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters really just don't do it for me. Paulson always seems to fall flat, and Peters always seems like he'd rather be in Ryan Murphy's other show, Glee. Thus, as the two central protagonists of the season (it's still unclear whether Lange is a hero or a villain at this point), I fear a bit for the show. I may run into the problem I've had with past seasons, wherein I begin rooting for the villains a lot more than the heroes. I start to wish that the psychopathic villains will kill Paulson and Peters, just to get them off of the screen.

So, in the first two episodes of Horror Story, the creators have done a decent enough job setting up some intriguing characters, but the show still has some major flaws. Another issue I worry about this this season is the amount of characters. Much as I love the actors and actresses on this show, it's already past episode two and we have yet to see Denis O'Hare or Emma Roberts. In a twelve to fourteen episode miniseries, there's not that much time! Spreading the screentime evenly will end up letting some characters lack development, while weighting it too much could also hinder the show. Who knows, perhaps the show will stun me and do a great job, but based on the two episodes aired thus far, it looks that we will be seeing more of the same from Horror Story. All of that being said, more of the same is not necessarily a bad thing. Much like The Strain is full of plot holes yet still very watchable, Horror Story still provides a very fun hour of television every week. Currently, American Horror Story: Freak Show feels like a downgraded Carnivale.

P.S. - With True Blood and The Leftovers over the Summer, Game of Thrones in the spring, The Strain in the early fall, and Horror Story and Walking Dead in the late fall, it feels as if the whole world has become fantasy/horror shows! Now with Boardwalk Empire ending in two weeks, television is losing its touch with reality fast. Not saying this is a bad thing, but it's a real change from a few years ago, when Lost was the only one holding up the fantastical ship.
Oh, and also, who else heard about Twin Peaks being brought back for a nine episode run? Talk about dark fantasy, the predecessor is coming back!

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