Season 4 of American Horror Story

[Geordie9]

I thought it was a good start to series 4

[Giganticface]

I liked it too. I thought it was the least scary/intense of all four season premieres, but definitely a great start, and I'll be looking forward to each week's episode. I like the exploitative nature of having real "freaks," and also thought the killer clown dude is pretty messed up. I want to understand what's up with his face.

[ChronoGrl]

Caught up with the first episode last night (fell asleep too soon on Wednesday ), and, boy... I'm currently listening to this while I type...




What follows may be SPOILERS, so be warned...



The Good

• Geez. The costumes, the makeup, the direction - Not too surprising there. Everything looks absolutely gorgeous and we have that classic dizzying direction that tips and turns.
• The opening theme song and visuals - So creepy and overtly SEXUAL. Part of me was aghast that they got away with that on cable! I know that sounds very Old Lady of me but I love it when art can shock me like that.
• Jessica Lange. Jessica Lange. Jessica Lange. Good golly. PLEASE tell me that this isn't ACTUALLY her last season.
• Twisty the Clown - Wow. The scene with he and the couple in the field legitimately creeped me out - The hubby started to mutter about how our clown-fearing friend would hate this and I shushed him immediately.
• The cast. I love how it stars both actors and "actual freaks" (for lack of a better term) - Jyoti Amge as the Smallest Woman is simply lovely and, man, not gonna lie - I think I might have a crush on Matt Fraser (the guy with the small arms). Also - Evan Peters. Ohhhhh, Evan Peters... Do I need to mention Kathy Bates? Naw - Everyone knows how great she is. And she's pretty damn great here (hopefully she won't be wasted like she was in Coven).
• I loved our spectators - Can't wait to see where their creepy, odd story goes
• I really like the duality of Bette & Dot
• And the musical number - I wasn't sold at first but I've watched it a couple of times today and I LOVE IT. I thought that maybe my initial love was not only because I love David Bowie but I LOVE "Life on Mars" so the combination of my favorite actress in my favorite show singing my favorite song by my favorite singer - Well, that made my head explode a little bit.
• I've already mentioned Twisty the Clown but I really do love his introduction and can't wait to see what they do with him this season.
• As for the rest of the freakshow I'm excited in terms of who we met but am really wary - Last season they had too many characters they tried to focus on and most of them didn't have much of a journey - I hope that doesn't happen again.
• Lange's legs - Our final view of her. So sad and beautiful (like the musical number)

The Nit-Picky (not bad but stuff that bugged me a little)

• So while I was a bit gaga with Lange's musical number, there was a part of me that thought perhaps it was forced... And seeing Bette/Dot sing Fiona Apple in the preview of the season, well that concerns me - When AHS had the "Name Game" singalong, it was random but it worked - it was fantastic and one of my favorite episodes of that show. I worry that these will seem forced and shoe-horned in (while I loved Stevie Nicks as a surprise last season, her musical number did seem stuck in because they had her as a guest star, but because it actually fit)... That's more of a nagging concern than anything else. I don't want the series' trying to fit in music numbers cheapen its creepy brilliance
• Lobster Boy's "second job" - Ok, it's unfair to put it here because MAN do I love that concept - It just felt random and really stuck in - I wish that we had introduced that later perhaps... I hope that we somehow come back to it - The concept of him further selling himself - The concept of housewives "embracing" this freak as it were, and, well, the awesomely freaky creepy sexual vibe - I LOVED IT. I just hope it wasn't a random throwaway scene, like so many last season.
• Lange's accent was hard to get my head around at first, but that's more of a testament to how much I loved her in previous seasons.
• Kathy Bates' accent bugged me; no idea where that comes from
• The two-headed girl - This is going to sound bizarre but the CGI is almost too perfect - She's too pretty to be a "freak" - Another odd complaint but that's been something that bothered me from the beginning.

That's really it in terms of gripes, though...


Oh, and by the way - did you see the look alike while Lange was singing? Is she a twin or just crazy and watching/dreaming about herself? Excited to see where that goes.

All in all, I'm totally pumped to see more. Meanwhile I've binge-rewatched the first season and am working my way through the second. This is my favorite television series ever.

[ImmortalSlasher]

While watching this show I kept thinking about about how Machoman pronounced "Freakshow" when he fought against Spider-Man at 1:55.



Also, I've never been afraid of clowns. The Killer Klowns from Outer Space were freaky and kind of scary at times. But this clown in Freakshow is the scariest clown I've ever seen. Probably one of the scariest characters I've seen in horror movies or TV. He gave me shivers and an unsettling almost nauseous feeling whenever he was on screen. I don't know if it's the large teeth or the way his face is cutaway. But it's not a good feeling.

The episode itself was ok. The singing part was really good. But overall it's probably the slowest or least interesting start of the American Horror Story series. I've never liked the idea of a freakshow. It's probably because I don't like the fact that nature isn't perfect and things like this happen. I don't know if I'll watch the full season. Maybe I'll catch it when it's finished and all on demand if it turns out to be good.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Oh, and by the way - did you see the look alike while Lange was singing? Is she a twin or just crazy and watching/dreaming about herself? Excited to see where that goes.

I didn't get that at all. I thought at first that she too had a twin or something. And the twin was the singer and star. Didn't she say when she leaves the restaurant that stars don't pay?

[Elvis_Christ]

I'm enjoying this more than Coven already. I'm hoping it'll be on par with Asylum.

Speaking of nitpicky things... why the fuck would someone be singing Bowie jams in the 50s?

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by ImmortalSlasher

I didn't get that at all. I thought at first that she too had a twin or something. And the twin was the singer and star. Didn't she say when she leaves the restaurant that stars don't pay?

True; it'll be interesting to see what the reveal is - I actually originally thought that the double in black was the REAL character and she was hallucinating the whole thing.

[newb]

just caught the season opener last night.

I'm thinking I'm gonna like this season. Very stylish as usual and we already know the cast can act. Yeah....the clown is great.

got a Halloween party coming up this weekend and thinking of going as Lobster Boy......the wife thinks that's a good idea.

[horcrux2007]

The show was renewed for a 5th season :)

[Monkey Astronaut]

SPOILER

The scene where the kid finds the decapitated head was pretty cool. Nice to see Michael Chiklis show up. Twisty the Clown is easily the best thing about this season so far. John Carroll Lynch is underrated as a character actor. The musical scene was kind of funny despite one of my biggest pet peeves with period pieces being the use of music that doesn't belong in the time period.

[Manimal]

I absolutely love this series, and this season is off to a great start! Of course, Twisty the clown is a fan-favourite because of his demented face and eerie silence. But Dandy! He is kinda growing on me. I'm hoping he becomes more sinister as his character develops a bit more.

I've been reading some interesting theories online about what viewers think is going on. Is it all in Sister Jude's (Jessica Lange) head and she's still locked up in the asylum? Maybe it's all Pepper's dream, since she is the only cast member who looks the same as previous seasons?

Either way, it's a fantastic show and this season is proving to be a great one so far!