American Horror Story: 1984

[olliebean]

No thread about this yet, which I presume means either nobody's watching it or nobody thinks it's worth commenting on, which is fair comment in itself. So far it's essentially been three weeks of people chasing each other around the woods, and leaden twists like we had last week aren't going to sustain that for 10 episodes. What's that, only 8 episodes this season? Nevertheless.

Ryan Murphy had better have something up his sleeve. If nothing surprising continues to happen for the duration of the next episode, I'm out.

[Bently Sheds]

It's ok, I suppose. I kind of liked the leaden twist, but there must be something else coming up to completely subvert our expectations otherwise it's just a lazy re-hash of every 80s slasher pic ever.

[holyzombiejesus]

Was there a thread for last year's, Cult? Not sure if to hither or not...

[Rev+]

That was actually the year before last.  Last year was the dual sequel series 'Apocalypse' which was shite.  'Cult' was the best one to date, in my opinion, but it's not that it had much to live up to.

I still sit through this rubbish every year, and '1984' has been sort of alright as a set-up to a second half that will be pivoting in some way.  I'm on board with the theory that's it's some kind of VR simulation, given the respawning we've had and the fact that everyone seems to have some kind of traumatic event they need to overcome.

Genuine spoiler, although it's just comes from the one-line TV guide description of the next episode:  The night ends in the next one, so we'll find out what this is about at that point.

[Glebe]

I've been watching the first season... the logic with the ghost people is a bit hazy, but it's quite decent.

[Twit 2]

1st season was really terrible, with the odd good moment. All too
earnest and cliched; 2nd season was brilliant, as it just decided to be full on silly in a knowing sort of way (Fortitude had a similar trajectory: misjudged all over the place 1st series and madcap hugely enjoyable nonsense 2nd season). Season 2 also had some genuinely unpleasant stuff which was quite refreshing in a mainstream show. Haven't watched any of the other series as I don't really watch TV anymore, but I can well imagine they're shite.

[Rev+]

It continued to lean into the silliness after that - the thing's absolutely crackers, and very tongue-in-cheek.  It misfires more often than not though.  The best series are Asylum (2), Roanoke (6), and Cult (7), with everything else being various shades of awful.  The current one may turn out alright, but they have serious form in starting off with a few decent episodes and then losing the thread, almost like they're writing the episodes a few minutes before broadcast.

[Mister Six]

Aye, Asylum (2) is great because they just throw everything in there - aliens, Satan, serial killers, Nazis, zombies, Ian McShane as a murderous Santa, the lot. It's meandering and daft and thematically incoherent and none of it really hangs together properly but the characters are solid, the vim is unmatched and the claustrophobic horror really works. Murder House (1) was all right but a bit long.

But since then they've been shite, at least the ones I've seen. Coven (3) was also meandering and pointless but wasn't crazy enough to make up for it, and all the characters were horrible. Freak Show (4) had basically the same problems, so I dropped out halfway through. I tried Roanoke (6) because that was supposed to be leaning more into the horror angle but it came across as a morose version of Murder House so I sacked that off too.

I do hang around reading these threads, though, in the hope that it will one day reclaim the mad glory of Asylum.

[mjwilson]

Maybe I should try Asylum then, normally when I watch a season of AHS it starts strongly and then falls apart.

[olliebean]

Maybe I should try Asylum then, normally when I watch a season of AHS it starts strongly and then falls apart.

Really hoping this one goes the other way.

[SteveDave]

I've liked them all apart from the hotel one (mostly because of Lady Gaga playing a "beautiful" vampire), the freak show one and the Roanoke one.

[Rev+]

Oh, American Horror Story, I always have such high hopes for you but you keep shitting the bed.

The second half of this series has plenty of scope for entertainment, but the sheets are definitely going in the wash.  They've not thought it through again.

[olliebean]

I think Ryan Murphy is essentially a little child. It's the sort of jumbled-up made-up-as-they-go barely-existent story structure you get when a little child makes up a story.

Next week is the 100th episode, and the episode title is "Episode 100," so I assume they've thrown everything at that one.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

So far, this season has been a reverse Too Many Cooks. We're watching a bunch of creepy psycho killers interact with each other in a plot that makes no sense, with the occasional wholesome character popping in for some variety.

[olliebean]

Just got around to last Thursday's episode; the eponymous Episode 100. It really is just total shit now, isn't it?

[Berthas Fat Leg]

It really is, watched first few episodes of 1984, liked the premise of it initially, but really now feels like same  old shit, over and over again.

[Head Gardener]

am 3 episodes in and it seems OK it certainly ain't as bad as The Walking Dead

[olliebean]

Fucking hell, what a load of mangy old wank this is now.

[Head Gardener]

Carrie Fisher's daughter is good in it and hey Britannia is back tonight

[Bently Sheds]

Best part - the accurate depiction of Nick Beggs' hair.
Worst part - the inaccurate depiction of Nick Beggs' bass playing.

[Rev+]

Sort of alright by its own standards, in the end.  There are little expectation gags that this series pulls off that are pretty funny, like the build-up to the festival massacre that ends up not happening because of a bloke waving the traffic away.  It did at least stick to being one story, rather than introducing twists it couldn't handle again.  I still feel stupider for watching it, but will be back again next year, obviously.

John Carroll Lynch is just ace though, he hogs the screen.  Hogs it!  He's either a weirdly ignored talent, or someone with a deliberate plan.

[Head Gardener]

I went to see top psychic and entertainer Clinton Baptiste in Northampton in the week and on his tramp around the audience doing his thing he came across
Kajagoogoo bassist Nick Beggs, but despite his demise in AHS recently Clinton couldn't get through to Nick's spirit, although the body was obviously willing.

[olliebean]

The whole thing felt like juvenilia, frankly. I'll probably give it a go again next year but I doubt I'll be so willing to stick with it if it doesn't impress early on.