Simon's Introduction: American Horror Story 1.5: "Halloween, Part 2," Part 1

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting my first post on "Halloween, Part 2" here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for some more of my thoughts on the fifth episode of season one.

  

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Oh, hullo, Dennis.

So, as promised, I've finally started to come around on American Horror Story. I've kept with the show because I've hoped it would get as good as and then better than the standard set by "Pilot." Now, I think "Halloween, Part 2" is probably the best episode of the series thus far. Granted, we're only five episodes in, but shut up, that's why. 

Anyway, I rewatched "Halloween, Part 2" so that this introductory post would be a little more detailed than my previous plot synopses have been. And as I rewatched it, I got a better handle on what I liked about this episode and why it mattered more to me than what I disliked. A good part of what I liked can be credited to episode director David Semel, who not only paces "Part 2" with great care, but also shoots it with an eye for negative space, and an artful use of natural lighting and extreme close-ups. 

Generally speaking, I also found the way that various characters' arcs were immediately resolved in this episode to be satisfying. Addy's dead, so now Constance can, to paraphrase Manohla Dargis's review of Premium Rush, let a little light into her storyline (ie: be more than an ostensibly complex but mostly just lovably catty old crone). Thanks to Hayden, Ben is forced to accept that he can't superhumanly hold his family together. And thanks to Violet's increased interest in him, Tate's past is revealed just a little more. All of these revelations would not be as satisfying as they are without Semel's direction, I think. He's got my vote for MVP of "Halloween, Part 2," easy.

Simon Insists: American Horror Story 1.4: "Halloween, Part 1," Part 4

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting my second post on "Halloween, Part 1" here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for some more of my thoughts on the fourth episode of season one.

  

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Hey, grrl, hey.

Again, I agree that in theory, Constance's actions make sense given how she has so far been defined on the show. It's in her character to show her love in that way. But that doesn't mean I need to appreciate it on said level. Constance's identity is so loaded with portentous bathos, the kind typified by the tacked-on Southern Gothic atmosphere provided by the "Stay away from my boy toy!" sub-plot in "Halloween, Part 1," and earlier in the AHS's second episode. The crude way that Constance is established as a monstrous parent are just cheap enough to be in a Charlaine Harris novel. 

I admit I'm making the Harris connection so I can go back to the Alan Ball-esque quality to American Horror Story that I find so risibly obnoxious. Falchuk and Murphy have this nasty habit of tonally front-loading their material so we know exactly how we're supposed to feel all the time (hence the declamatory speechifying). If we're meant to jeer at certain characters, they pour it on thick, and if we're meant to like a character, they pout it on equally thick. And in the case of Constance, that thick-ness is a prime example of why more is not more. More specifically: I disagree that there is as much of an interior life to Constance as you imply. 

Dennis Fights Back: American Horror Story 1.4: "Halloween, Part 1," Part 3

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting Dennis's second post on "Halloween, Part 1" here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for some more of Dennis's thoughts on the fourth episode of season one.

  

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Whew. When they called it Labor Day they weren’t kidding. Oh, wait. The holiday is intended to be a break from work, a tribute to those who work their asses off all year. Yet unless I actively contrive to take some time off, it inevitably turns out to be a ludicrously busy weekend for me, work-wise and otherwise. On top of that, a family wedding-- a far happier priority, by the way—is taking precedence over everything else. So there’s not going to be a huge window of time to respond to your thoughts on “Halloween, Part 1,” but I’ll do my best.

Of course I’m disappointed that you didn’t care much for the episode. But in reading your post, and seeing the episode again for what now must be the fourth or fifth time, I was struck by how much of your reaction—specifically in regard to the general tone of (some of) the dialogue and how overwritten it tends to be at times, in this episode and in the series in general—I agreed with. I’d have to go back and look to be sure, but if I didn’t explicitly complain about it to you in one of the “Pilot” posts, this has been a sticking point for me from the beginning and at the risk of being slightly off-topic (or at least off-episode) I’ll bitch about it now in the hope of illuminating the current episode as well.

In interviews Ryan Murphy is understandably proud of his cast and likes to promote their talent and agility with the material, and I’ve heard him crow about how the vicious argument scene between Ben and Vivien that immediately precedes their passionate screw (the one we don’t see, which itself precedes the deeply disturbing screw Vivien has with the Rubber Man, which we do see) has been used in acting classes and how it wouldn’t be as effective without the element of emotional vitality that Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton bring to it.

Simon's Cri di Coeur: American Horror Story 1.4: "Halloween, Part 1," Part 2

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting my first post on "Halloween, Part 1" here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for some of my thoughts on the fourth episode of season one.

  

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Hiya, Dennis:

To begin, a confession: I skipped ahead and watched both "Halloween, Part 1" and "Halloween, Part 2." This is partly because I wanted to see how the two-parter ended and partly because I realized, with the Toronto Film Festival coming up next week, I'm probably going to have to skip ahead at some point to get all my required viewing in (I still need to get my computer issues resolved, alas. Word of advice: don't use Tekserve for your repair needs). That having been said, I did not find "Part 1" to be as compelling as you did. I know, I know, I'm no fun but I at least agree that the show starts to pick up soon. I just think it only returns to the standard of quality established by "Pilot" in "Halloween, Part 2."

There were a number of little things that bugged me about "Halloween, Part 1," and generally contributed to my dislike of the episode. For starters, again, the tone of the show is still too kitschy, for my money. I think this is even true of the declamatory way that Constance addresses Addy in the speech you highlighted where she mentions sharing men with Addy. If this were a habit of Addy's that I felt were more than just a tacked-on means for Constance to fight with Addy before her big accident, I'd be fine with this scene. But apart from a winningly vitriolic tirade from Jessica Lange, I just don't buy this scene. 

Dennis's Kickoff: American Horror Story 1.4: "Halloween, Part 1," Part 1

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting Dennis's first post on "Halloween, Part 1" here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for some of Dennis's thoughts on the fourth episode of season one.

  

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2010. Images of earthy domestic bliss as Chad (Zachary Quinto) bakes pies and meticulously carves pumpkins in anticipation of Halloween. But those images are tarnished quickly as Chad’s partner, Patrick (Teddy Sears) comes into the kitchen and the tensions between the two, based on Chad’s suspicions of Patrick’s promiscuous infidelities and their dire economic straits, explode. They are the previous owners of the Murder House now owned by the Harmons, and after Patrick stomps out in anger we see the event that Marcy was obligated to disclose when selling the house a year later. Someone appears to Chad in the kitchen dressed in the rubber suit that Vivien and Ben discovered in Episode 1. Chad of course assumes it’s Patrick, but we’re not sure— Patrick was none too happy when he left to get ready to go to the gym, but was he angry enough to jam Chad’s head in a bucket meant for bobbing apples and then snap his neck? Unlikely, as Patrick walks in on the assailant seconds later. Marcy, remember, mentioned in her description of the “murder/suicide” something about one of the victims having a poker shoved up his— But we don’t see any of this (yet), as the scene cuts away to the main titles.

(Is Marcy just passing along the conventional wisdom about these deaths being a murder/suicide, or does she know something and is just covering up? Because no coroner would conclude from a snapped neck and a death-by-fireplace-poker that one of the assaults was self-inflicted.)

Dennis's Reply: American Horror Story 1.3: "Murder House," Part 2

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting Dennis's first and only post on "Murder House" here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for some of Dennis's thoughts on the third episode of season one.

  

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Simon:

“Murder House” was an compelling episode for me in that I liked the sense I got of some of the pieces falling into place re the house’s history and the implications for some of the characters—by now it’s becoming clearer as to the trajectory and logic of the story, and Mssrs. Murphy and Falchuk do a good job of keeping us interested and setting the hooks for the elements that beg further development. I’m especially anticipating the storyline involving Nora and Charles (Nora Charles? Hardly the upper-crust blithe spirits of Myrna Loy, or William Powell, in operation here) and what might come of their grisly basement abortion operation, to say nothing of the contrast between Nora’s apparent resentfulness of motherhood, (Nora disregards her own child, and she more or less forces the abortion scenario upon Charles) and the desperate maternal longing she displays when she shows up in the present day.

I like the impending sense of the walls closing in on Ben the way that they do—the pileup of circumstances is almost farcical-- the potential uncovering of Moira’s burial place (Constance tries to deflect Ben not because she fears her act being discovered so much as she wants Moira to stay right where she is); the missing patient (and Ben’s missing patch of memory regarding what obviously happened to her in his office, something that left a pool of blood for Moira to clean up); the ever-present outside force of Larry undermining Ben’s sense of stability—to what purpose we remain unsure, but we have to believe there is one, right?; and the unnerving sound of the almost constantly ringing doorbell, which brings not only reminders of the home invasion but now a police investigator into the picture, and also Hayden, who isn’t crazy (her assertion), she’s just angry at being left behind at the abortion clinic. The pitch-black farce hits high gear when Hayden reveals to Ben that she did not go through with termination the pregnancy but instead plans to move to Marina Del Rey and make Ben’s life in climes ostensibly sunnier than the ones he left behind with her in Boston, well, even a little cloudier.

Simon's Provocation: American Horror Story 1.3: "Murder House," Part 1

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting my first post on "Murder House" here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for some of my thoughts on the third episode of season one.

  

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Hey Dennis:

Apologies for the delay. My computer is still in the shop. The good news is it is supposed to be done by today. The bad news is I expect I have to pay more money for additional parts. The ugly news is I don't have the money to pay for them or anything else until my next paycheck comes in....

Anyway, "The Murder House" moves American Horror Story's plot forward significantly. I mostly liked this episode with some major reservations. The episode begins with Moira's death. The year is 1983 and the lecherous owner of the titular house is feeling frisky. He wants Moira, but she doesn't want him. More to the point, she doesn't want to lose her job, having already regretfully had sex with her boss once before (this tryst is alluded to only in dialogue). But it turns out that the philandering man in question is actually Constance's husband. Constance walks in, shoots out Moira's eye, makes a sullen (But dramatic!) speech decrying her unfaithful hubby, and then shoots him dead.

Simon's Conclusion: American Horror Story 1.2: "Home Invasion," Part 4

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting my response to Dennis's post here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for some of my thoughts on the second episode of season one.

  

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Hey, again

I appreciate that even-handed tone of your second post on "Home Invasion," Dennis. Mostly because I now readily admit I was jumping to conclusions in most regards. I mean, you asked me to so I blame you! But yeah, no, this is the

problem with writing about a serial narrative piecemeal as you watch it. It's also important to note I could not have my notes on the episode in front of me as my computer was and still is in the shop. So I'm tip-tep-typing this on my lil phone. Forgive the typos, please.

In any case, I hadn't even considered something as direct (re: Constance's motivation for the cupcake) as revenge for Violet harassing Addy. It's a crucial piece of evidence in my hare-brained argument so, uh, woops.

Dennis's Correction: American Horror Story 1.2: "Home Invasion," Part 3

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting Dennis's response to my post here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for some of Dennis's thoughts on the second episode of season one.

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Hey, Simon,

My apologies to you and anyone following this exchange for my tardiness in responding to your last post. As you’ve already implied, it’s been one of those weeks for me too.

I’ve never seen Nip/Tuck, though I have certainly heard plenty about its inconsistencies of tone and intent, so I can’t speak directly to that show. But given my relatively vast experience with Glee, the other hit show spawned from the creative loins of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, one of the reasons why I resisted even watching American Horror Story for as long as I did (I only began looking at the episodes near the beginning of this summer) was because I wasn’t sure I needed a similarly flip take on a beloved genre. Horror has already been run perilously close to the ground with self-reflexive deconstructionism and a simple dearth of ideas on how to make overly familiar tropes scary and resonant again, and what I had seen from Mssrs. Murphy and Falchuk didn’t go far in making me think they were the ones that were going to make an enterprise like this work.

Simon's Lament: American Horror Story 1.2: "Home Invasion," Part 2

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting my response to Dennis's post here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for some of my thoughts on the second episode of season one.

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Hey Dennis

You'll have to forgive this post's lack of focus; last week was not so good and today got off to a bit of a rough start. Also my notes on "Home Invasion" are on my laptop, which is currently in the shop for repairs. Guh.

Anyway, I think what makes Fulchuk and Murphy's thematic concerns uniquely "American" kinda speaks to what irritates me about the show's flip attitude. American Horror Story is set in Los Angeles because, so far, it's a story about our morbid conflation or celebrity and macabre crime. The fact that, as you said, "Home Invasion" is the first proper episode of the show is telling. Here is where Fulchuk and Murphy, the co-creators of Nip/Tuck, start to explain why physical beauty and fears of birth defects are a concern in this L.A.-based show. Simply put, it's because image is everything. We already know that Constance failed as an actress and that she almost exclusively disdains Addy for her physical deformities, as is shown with the mirror-lined closet. If nothing else, that closet is Constance's evil way of punishing Addy for reminding Constance of her failure to make it as a star. 

Dennis's Way: American Horror Story 1.2: "Home Invasion," Part 1

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting Dennis's opening post on the show's second episode here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for Dennis's first thoughts on the second episode of season one.

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As I said, back into the house we go. Not unlike the beginning of the pilot episode, which set us down immediately at the threshold of a key event from the past, specifically in 1978, once again we viewers find ourselves looking at the now familiar Harmon house as it was in 1968. The Fifth Dimension’s hit single version of “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” is heard on the soundtrack as we come upon the outside of the house at dusk. It’s hard to tell if it’s just because we know we’re watching American Horror Story, but the use of the song takes on unaccountably, inevitably sinister vibes as we’re introduced to three young women descending the stairs, talking about being late and rushing out to see the Doors at the Hollywood Bowl. We realize, as they encounter two other women, Maria and Gladys, in the living room that the house is at this point in its history being used as a dormitory for nursing students. Maria and Gladys are invited to the concert by the three, but they opt to stay home—Maria is studying, Gladys (in uniform) looking as though she’s just spent a long day on an internship, is watching Laugh-In on television.

Sometime later (the TV is still on, but we’ve moved on to either an old movie or some generic drama) there’s a knock at the door. When she opens it (Yet another clue that we’re in the past—who would do such a thing in 2012?), a man, blood trickling from a wound on his head, pleads with Maria for assistance. “Excuse me, ma’am,” he says to her in a soft, sincere-sounding voice, “I don’t want to bother you, but I’m hurt and needing some help.” Maria hesitates but takes her calling seriously enough to allow him inside and begin treating his wound. While he lies on his back on the couch he notices the cross dangling from her neck and asks insinuatingly, “You think Jesus is going to save you?” She and Gladys, who is looking on, both smile and Maria responds that they’re both already saved. “We all are,” she says, implying that the school is obviously some sort of Catholic institution. 

Dennis Ends the Beginning: American Horror Story 1.1: "Pilot," Part 6

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting Dennis's response to my third post here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for Dennis's concluding thoughts on the first episode of the show's first season.

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Simon,

I tend to agree about the use of the Twisted Nerve cue in the sequence involving Tate and the imagined (or are they?) high school murders. It’s distracting not because of the fact that it’s a recognizable sampling of Bernard Herrmann’s music, but because it’s already been appropriated and now associated strongly with Tarantino’s movie, so it’s like a reflection of a reflection. I would argue that it’s now, since the release of Kill Bill, probably even more strongly associated with that movie, and with the shot of Daryl Hannah moving down the hospital corridor toward the immobile Uma Thurman, than with the film for which it was originally written, which I’m guessing 99% percent of the appreciative Tarantino audience has never even seen (or at least never heard of before they saw Kill Bill Vol. 1).

It doesn’t seem so much a clever choice on the part of Murphy and Falchuk to include it either, largely I think because it now seems too obvious, but also because it also plays a little lazy, as if they’re going for a quick and easy bit of pop culture cachet rather than searching out another sample or, heaven forbid, a piece of original music that could evoke the same emotional response they’re going for. I think they miss the opportunity by using the Herrmann cue, and I think, as you suggest, they fall short of understanding here what separates Tarantino from the usual suspects when it comes to this kind of borrowing. It’s the meaning of the scene that is, if not entirely missing, then at least hopelessly confused by their easy grab of Herrmann’s odd little theme.

Simon's Thrust: American Horror Story 1.1: "Pilot," Part 5

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting my response to Dennis's second post here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for Dennis's thoughts on the first episode of the show's first season.

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Heeeey,

Unfortunately, I have not see Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice? or many other psycho-biddy films. Almost all of the films of that peculiar sub-genre, including Alice, are however on a long-ass list of horror-y films I'd like to catch up with. So much to view, so little time, amirite? In any case, that's a really funny reading. I wonder what Ryan Murphy and Brad Fulchuk would think of it? 

Generally speaking: yes, you're absolutely right, the use of music in "Pilot" did bug me a little. I thought the use of "Tonight You Belong To Me" was appropriately coy but the use of the Twisted Nerve theme was really irritating. I'm convinced that that song wouldn't be so fondly remembered without Kill Bill, a film that I really enjoy but also feel has also enabled some of the worse tendencies in genre filmmakers. Tarantino tends to have that effect: lesser filmmakers see that he can get away with things and they accordingly take that as permission to act on creative impulses that are usually more showy than they are thoughtful.

Dennis's Parry: American Horror Story 1.1: "Pilot," Part 4

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting Dennis's response to my second post here, but you can also follow along with our conversation atSergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for Dennis's thoughts on the first episode of the show's first season.

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Simon,

Have you ever seen What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969; Lee. H. Katzin) It’s a pretty spiky psychological thriller that came near the end of the run of a popular sub-genre in the ‘60s which featured older actresses, some of which could be said to have seen better days, pitted against each other, usually in an escalating and increasingly gory series of grotesque face-offs. (Wikipedia dubs the genre ”Psycho-biddy”, a term I confess I’ve never heard until today, though I am familiar with “hagsploitation” and “Grande Dame Guignol,” both of which are also recognized by the mighty Wiki.)

In WEHTAA, Geraldine Page plays Claire Marrable, a widow who discovers, upon the reading of her late husband’s will, that she has inherited not the vast holdings she believed were his (theirs) but instead an apparently worthless stamp book and a mountain of debts. This news does not go down well in her estimation, so she immediately snaps and begins a cycle of killing off her housekeepers for their modest savings (which she then invests wisely) and hiring replacement models, grooming each successive one for the same treatment. The bodies, as it turns out, make for excellent fertilizer, buried as they are under a healthy grove of trees which our protagonist nut job cultivates with great satisfaction. Ruth Gordon is Mrs. Dimmock, the titular Aunt Alice, who smells a rotten egg and gets herself hired on as Claire’s latest maid so she can investigate the disappearance of her best friend, who happens to have been the most recent victim of her boss’s calculated temper.

Simon's Riposte: American Horror Story 1.1: "Pilot," Part 3

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. Here is my response to Dennis's reponse. You can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for my thoughts on Dennis's thoughts on my receipt, I mean thoughts on the show's first episode.

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 I understand your trepidation, Dennis, and I appreciate that you're trying not to spoil the shit out of this conversation, you old so-and-so. But, if I may be so arrogant/bold, I feel like the fact that we're both coming at this show from different perspectives will only make our conversation more interesting. I also watched Kolchak: The Night Stalker (Love McGavin and the snappy dialogue, but yeah, it's kinda like Supernatural Mad Libs, huh?) and more of the original Twilight Zone than The Night Gallery (Jeff Lieberman just told me a funny story about how Rod Serling actually wore a red carnation when he first met Lieberman!). So yes, the anthology show format is one I also rather like. But I'm positive that you've seen more of this type of show than I have. I dabble, mostly; I'm a dabbler.


Also, I'm also coming at some issues from relative positions of ignorance. I've never watched Glee and I don't think I know anyone that suffers from Down's Syndrome. I only bring up the latter point because I feel that lack of perspective may have only served to de-sensitize to me to the representation of handicapped or autistic people. I mean, I did recently watch The Sentinel. And, after seeing that film's demeaning parade of pinheads, I essentially thought, "Eh, it's exploitative, but so what?" So, y'know, that lack of sensitivity is also a factor to consider. 

Dennis's Song: American Horror Story 1.1: "Pilot," Part 2

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. I am posting Dennis's response to my post here, but you can also follow along with our conversation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Read on for Dennis's thoughts on the first episode of the show's first season.

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Simon,

Right off the top I want to say thanks for indulging with me in this rather ambitious commentary we’ve decided to undertake. I’ve always been a fan of horror on TV, especially anthology shows, but as a fan I’ve always had to acknowledge that though TV has produced classic series in the genre (Night Gallery, Thriller, The Outer Limits, even The Twilight Zone), horror has thrived more in the one-off TV movie format than in series form. (Dan Curtis’ great The Night Stalker begat The Night Strangler, and then of course the short-lived Kolchak series, the enduring fondness for which has more, I think, to do with nostalgia and the legacy of those movies rather than the show itself, which is kind of musty.) American Horror Story exists, as it turns out, as a strange hybrid between the two storytelling formats, something we can discuss later as the attack of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s plan becomes more apparent.

Speaking of which, you and I are approaching this show from different angles—I’ve already seen it nearly in its entirety (I’ve missed now, I think, only one episode), whereas you are at the beginning of your voyage, the pilot being the only episode you’ve seen so far. This presents a challenge for me— to avoid getting ahead of myself and drawing inferences or outright conclusions based on information that has not yet been revealed. I will strive to keep myself (with one non-spoiler-oriented exception in this piece) within the limits of what episodes we have both seen as this discussion progresses.

It Begins: American Horror Story 1.1: "Pilot," Part 1

Dennis Cozzalio and I are going to recap American Horror Story's first season at our respective blogs. Each Monday, one of us will will start the discussion and we'll go back-and-forth on our respective blogs. Check out Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule for more of this week's conversation about, "Pilot," the first episode of the show's first season.

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In "Pilot," the not-so-imaginatively named first episode of American Horror Story, show-runners Brad Fulchuk and Ryan Murphy quickly but unhurriedly introduce us to the show's protagonists' and their world. The Harmons, Vivien and Ben (Connie Britton and Dermot Mulroney), move into a spooky old/new home with their misanthropic/teenage daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga). Vivien and Ben have hit a rough patch in their relationship after she had a miscarriage and he subsequently had sex with a co-ed. 

Ben, a character who has a more active subplot but is also paradoxically less well-defined as a character, is also treating a troubled teen named Tate (Evan Peters)--Ben is a psychiatrist, by the way. Ben tries to tell the authorities about Tate, who says he has recurring daydreams of killing his friends at school. But Tate is a liar (he lies about being on medication) so this is probably just a story. On top of that, Ben gets caught in the Web of Patriarchal Bureaucracy and conveniently cannot reach anyone that he can talk to about Tate. Probably because Tate is dead (idle speculation, not a spoiler!) and the shows' writers want to make it easier to reveal that later in season one.