This season had all the hallmarks of being one of the best -- Paulson was allowed flex her considerable acting muscles as conjoined twins, Lange got her usual meaty material as Elsa Mars, champion of the downtrodden and cast aside and Michae l Chiklis joined the ensemble for one season, which was a great get.
But the musical numbers were weirdly jarring, the plot was wildly unfocused and the season really lost steam as it came to a close. It's a shame, because the supporting cast of "freaks" did some incredible work, and Dandy Mott Wittrock and Twisty the Clown John Carroll Lynch were two diametrically opposed villains -- a handsome man who turns out to be a psychopath and a disfigured killer who is actually rather sympathetic -- that made for an interesting juxtaposition.
But the strength of the cast and characters still could not overcome the haphazard storytelling. Dramatic highs: For me, the final competition for the Supreme was a highlight. The Halloween two-parter, with a zombie attack and the appearance of Myrtle Snow Frances Conroy , was also really great. Dramatic lows: For most fans, the test of the Seven Wonders was actually a lowlight of the season. Also, almost anything involving Delphine LaLaurie was a big misstep, which is a shame because Kathy Bates is a national treasure.
I loved it, but I do also acknowledge that it wasn't as strong story-wise as some of the other seasons. Season 3 was just a lot of fun, though, and that's something lacking in a lot of AHS seasons. Yes, it is a horror TV series, but some of the best horror movies are punctuated with levity and it's something I wish Murphy used more with this show. The Stevie Nicks cameo was delightful, as was the use of New Orleans as the backdrop, and bringing in Angela Bassett and Bates added some heavy hitters to the cast so that Lange and Paulson weren't shouldering that particular burden alone.
However, revisiting this season in "Apocalypse" reminded me all over again of how much I actually enjoyed Season 3. Dramatic highs: The episode that revisited "Murder House" was excellent and the witches from "Coven" going up against the warlocks from the Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men was also really fun — lots of snark and posturing with incredible displays of magic.
If I were only talking about the "Coven" and "Murder House" parts, I would rank this season at the top of the list; if I were only talking about the adult Michael Langdon arc, I would put this near the bottom; if I were only talking about the actual apocalypse and the outposts part of it before the season pivoted to the witches, I would put it in the middle.
The early episodes, which focused on the apocalypse and people being chosen for these secret bunkers, was mildly interesting; it was interesting enough that I was curious where a season that kept that focus could have gone.
Instead, a few episodes in, the season pivoted to the witches, warlocks, and grown-up Langdon, who is the spawn of Vivien Harmon and the Devil from "Murder House. Langdon eventually found two tech billionaire Satanists the aforementioned Mutt and Jeff and learned that the Illuminati wanted to cause the global apocalypse. That was when the season really lost me.
Sure, it all got erased when Mallory Billie Lourd became the new Supreme, traveled back in time and killed young Michael, but still. It was a storytelling mess. The "Murder House" and "Coven" parts, though, were total bright spots for longtime fans. Dylan McDermott 's crack about Ben Harmon's cry-masturbating — "the tearjerker" — still makes me laugh. Dramatic highs: The midseason twist of taking everyone involved in the Roanoke documentary and putting them back in the nightmare was an incredibly clever twist -- and it still could have flopped, but AHS pulled it off really well.
The Blair Witch comparisons are inevitable, but there's a reason that movie is so scary — the found footage style can convey an atmosphere and tension that regular filming cannot duplicate.
Unfortunately, the season should have been one episode shorter. The epilogue finale was kind of a waste of time. That is one thing AHS is guilty of in nearly every season — not knowing how to properly wrap things up. Briarcliff holds a very specific record for this crazy show. She appeared two seasons later in Freak Show where it was revealed that she and her sister were placed in an orphanage before being adopted by Elsa Mars Jessica Lange and made to be circus performers.
Based on the timeline of these two seasons, Pepper lived with Elsa around The Lana Winters Special comes into play one final time. In Cult Lana requests an interview with Ally Mayfair-Richards also Paulson after learning that her twin escaped a sadistic clown cult.
Ally refuses the interview, but still it happens. This creepy asylum has one more pointed connection. And one of her properties is none other than Briarcliff Manor, likely because of all the human experimentation and Bloody Face. Direct Connections in Coven? Murder House, Apocalypse, Hotel, and Roanoke.
In Apocalypse we finally learned what Hotel Cortez is. Up until this point two different AHS universes have emerged. Roanoke is the bridge we need between these two universes. Direct Connections in Freak Show? Asylum, Hotel , and Cult. In addition to Pepper, there are two other characters connecting Freak Show to Asylum. This deranged mother and son duo share an ancestor with a common last name.
Edward Phillipe Mott Elliott Ehlers was the head of the Mott family who is responsible for creating the mansion in Roanoke , meaning that Freak Show shares some history with Roanoke. Whereas most seasons of this show embrace magic and ghosts, all of the horrors that unfold in Cult are caused by normal people. Stock Market Basics. Stock Market. Industries to Invest In.
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