“American Horror Story” has been a part of FX’s most well-known and well-doing shows for the past five years. Its cast is filled with household names from Jessica Lange to Kathy Bates, and even includes musical trendsetter Lady Gaga this season.
Which, I guess, is cool. Not many shows get as much praise as what Lady Gaga has said about AHS and everything they’ve done. In fact, it seems as though everyone was more than welcoming towards her taking over Jessica Lange’s role of the matriarch powerhouse of the show.
Now, here’s a little something you should know about “AHS: Hotel.”
It’s freakin’ weird.
And not scary, like “Murder House” was. Or filled with deliriousness like “Asylum” was. Or dramatic and sophisticated like “Coven” was. Or wild and all-over-the-place like “Freak Show” was. No, “Hotel” is just weird.
Like, seriously. Look at this:
Does that not weird the crap outta ya?
First, we have a cross-dressing bartender who goes by Liz Taylor (which, I think she [or he; I’m not sure how the character identifies] is actually the most sane character out of all of them). Then, we have Kathy Bates as Iris: an over-caring mother who spends all of her time worrying and trying to take care of her son, Donovan, played by the delicious but obviously gay Matt Bomer, who is a vampire turned by Lady Gaga’s character, The Countess; a century old vampire that has spent her time just trying to find someone to love her, including Angela Bassett’s washed-up 1970’s actress Ramona Royale (who’s hell-bent on getting revenge on Lady Gaga’s character for killing the man she loved).
The cast also includes Evan Peters as the original owner and builder of the Hotel Cortez, Mr. March, a serial killer who indulged his fantasies in the hotel for many years before killing himself and the loyal hotel maid right before the police could apprehend him. Speaking of police, Wes Bentley plays John Lowe, who is a police officer that checks into the hotel after his family becomes endangered by a serial killer on the loose in L.A. that’s killing people based off the Ten Commandments and his wife kicks him out. And, of course, in true “AHS” fashion, there’s bisexual male model Tristan Duffy, played by “Freak Show’s” Finn Wittrock, who has romantic history with the hotel’s new owner, Will Drake, played by Cheyenne Jackson. Lady Gaga has kidnapped multiple towheaded children, including Bentley and his in-home pediatrician wife Alex’s (played by Chloe Sevigny) son, and turned them into mini-vampires:
Oh, and there’s also a weirdo mummified-looking ghost that rapes and murders male patrons of the hotel with his drill bit dildo and then has Sarah Paulson’s junkie character Sally sew them into the middle of the hotel beds:
And there’s still more to come.
Confused yet?
Yeah, me too.
I constantly ask myself during the show: What role would Jessica Lange play if she were present for this craziness? Would she be the hotel manager, taking over Iris’ place? Would she have been a patron ghost of the hotel? Or would there have been an entirely new role made just for her? Honestly, I don’t know where she’d fit in.
But, I can tell you it’s not the same without her.
And, while I absolutely ah-dore Evan Peters, I don’t think he’s very attractive with that painted on mustache he’s sporting this season (but him in that suit, though…):
Honestly, what more can we expect with this season? More fanatical murders? More gruesome sex? I mean, “AHS” has prided itself on bringing twists and turns into its plotlines like no other show before, so maybe I’m underrating it when I say I’m not sure it’s the best work I’ve seen from their team of writers.
It is pretty interesting to see Sarah Paulson as one of the villains instead of the hero, though. Especially when she ground her teeth out in Episode 2. Talk about freaky.
What kind of behavior are we going to expect from our characters next? We have a father, guilty for not being able to bring his son home to his family. We have a mother, wanting desperately to find her child that she lost so long ago. We have a son, trying to escape the suffocation his mother brings him by turning to drugs. We have a vampire, desperate for someone to return the feelings she gives. We have murderers, ghosts… They all wander the hotel, trying desperately to have their stories and feelings heard, lost like the hotel they inhabit.
One thing I am sure of: the soundtrack for this season is killer.
Stay classy, Captains!