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omnibobb posted:I'm about to start watching this show tonight with my wife on Netflix. From the OP, I'm understanding that each season is totally seperate from the rest and even though the same actress is in each season, it's a totally different character and stuff. Right? I think the general consensus here is that season 2 was the best, but I really enjoyed the first season too.
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Dec 23, 2013 16:38
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WhiteHowler posted:Yep. Each season is completely self-contained, and the recurring actors (there are a lot of them) play different roles each season. I'd argue that each actor kind of gets type-casted into the same roles each season. Season 1 was very enjoyable when I first watched it. It was a TV show that was pretty different and unique from the rest of the stuff out there. Its plot was better as well, as pretty much every plot line was tied up nicely and it had a final, penultimate ending that laid to rest any questions of what happened. It wasn't as interesting as season 2, but it was written better. Season 2 had better characters and a more interesting plot, but you can tell that the writers got overwhelmed and couldn't come up with good endings for a lot of the story arcs. It's also the darkest of the three seasons. Season 3 is stupid campy trash TV that I enjoy but is nothing like the first 2 seasons. They write story lines through picking gross things out of a hat.
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Dec 23, 2013 17:29
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Season 1 is the most immediately gripping. If you know someone on the fence about the show, or who likes propulsive TV, show them season 1. It's almost impossible to resist, and has hands-down some of the scariest and most memorable moments, set-pieces and episodes in the entire series to date. That being said, season 1 falls apart really badly around episode 7 or 8 and never really recovers. There are some standout moments in the back half (like the reveal that Violet has been dead, Viv giving birth, Ben dying, and the new family moving in, and out just as quickly) but most of the character arcs (Moira, Tate, Constance, and Ben) are botched and the season arc is sloppily and hastily wrapped up. Season 2 is, I think, the most technically accomplished the show has been. The writing, with a few notable exceptions, was very strong this season. The characters were beautifully realized and went through very emotional and very intense personal arcs. The show pushed boundaries of direction, cinematography, editing, and scoring. The season-long plot came to a very effective and very satisfying (if gutting and devastating) conclusion. Very few characters (only Sister Mary Eunice and Dr. Arden, really) were shortchanged when it came to their resolutions. If there's someone who wants real emotion and a season-long plot that won't fizzle, season 2 is the best place to start. Despite being the darkest, grimmest and saddest season, it's also the one that I think holds up best to critical scrutiny. They swung for the fences in this one and I think they achieved their goal. Season 3 is...gently caress, I dunno. Do you like Kathy Bates? Angela Bassett? Jessica Lange? Frances Conroy? Stevie Knicks? Patti LuPone? Do you not care if they're really doing anything except chewing scenery? Then season 3 is the place for you! It has the most inconsistently-paced plot, the wildest disparities in acting ability, the most pointless of shocks (a Comet enema! pointless voodoo rituals that accomplish nothing! the resurrection of every dead character ever to the point where death is utterly meaningless and holds no dramatic weight!) and the most scattered season-arc yet!
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Dec 23, 2013 18:07
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Season 1 was good but not really scary.Violet's death was not a surprise to me at all, just when it happened. When she slit her wrists in the dream sequence I immediately predicted her actually being dead.. The ending confused me as well - what is their endgame? To scare the poo poo out of every new owner until the city comes in and demolishes the house?
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Dec 23, 2013 20:02
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limeincoke posted:Season 1 was good but not really scary.Violet's death was not a surprise to me at all, just when it happened. When she slit her wrists in the dream sequence I immediately predicted her actually being dead.. The ending confused me as well - what is their endgame? To scare the poo poo out of every new owner until the city comes in and demolishes the house? I remember being in huge denial about Violet because it seemed impractical for a show to do that to a main character. That was before we knew that AHS didn't give two shits about any character in any season, except this one. Violet in this season would have OD'd, come back as a zombie, been made unzombified, died again, then get resurrected at the end credits. Their endgame was nothing. That was the point of the finale. They were now just a part of the house and wanted to fiercely defend it like the rest of the ghosts. They became just another family of ghosts in the growing history of the murder house, which is a pretty scary outcome to your life. It would have been better if the family who moved in didn't immediately move out in the finale, thus beginning the cycle anew. Also season 1 was pretty scary. Like when Violet was exploring the basement for the first time, or the home invaders. There was a lot of good oh poo poo moments.
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Dec 23, 2013 21:23
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Doltos posted:Their endgame was nothing. That was the point of the finale. They were now just a part of the house and wanted to fiercely defend it like the rest of the ghosts. They became just another family of ghosts in the growing history of the murder house, which is a pretty scary outcome to your life. It would have been better if the family who moved in didn't immediately move out in the finale, thus beginning the cycle anew.
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Dec 23, 2013 21:38
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limeincoke posted:Season 1 was good but not really scary.Violet's death was not a surprise to me at all, just when it happened. When she slit her wrists in the dream sequence I immediately predicted her actually being dead.. The ending confused me as well - what is their endgame? To scare the poo poo out of every new owner until the city comes in and demolishes the house? Well "scary" is a subjective term. I know some people found a lot of what happened in season 2 to be "scary" because much of it was based on real-life practices for treating mental "disorders" like nymphomania and homosexuality. But for sheer horror imagery and on-screen scares, I'd say season 1 still takes the cake. The first episode is teeming with legitimate (as opposed to cheap) horror moments (the death of the twins, the foreboding presence of the Rubber Man, the sudden and unexplained appearance of Larry, Tate's prank in the basement, etc.) Moreover, I'd say that season 1 maintains an extraordinary level of tension and fear for the first 7 episodes, moving effortlessly from the Harmons' arrival to their terrifying home invasion to the reveal of the house's first owners to the reality of what the afterlife is like for most of the dead characters on the show. It's a very, very strong start for a show, and I would say it's much much better at presenting an engaging and gripping horror narrative than season 2 was at first (which didn't really kick into high gear until the Anne Frank two-parter if you ask me). But I still think season 1 is the scariest the show has been. Season 2 was the most gruesome, grueling, and disturbing, but season 1 is still the scariest. I don't sometimes wake up in fear that Bloody Face is in my room, but I still see the Rubber Man out of the corner of my eye, or suspect that Piggy Man might be lurking behind my shower curtain.
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Dec 23, 2013 21:47
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I'm finally just getting through season 2 and liking it a lot. People seem to think 2 wasn't that strong, so now I'm extra excited for season 3. Posting links to the archived threads so I can read them on Awful: Season 1: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3441118 Season 2: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3506319
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Dec 23, 2013 23:39
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I don't know, I find season 2 a lot scarier than 1. Ghosts don't spook me but I'm mentally ill and Asylum made me realize that, if I was born a couple decades earlier, I'd probably be in a place like that, or dead. So, I don't know, personal experience obviously colors my experience but I found season 2 terrifying just because of the setting.
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Dec 24, 2013 00:03
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This season seems to be CW XMen High School Drama.
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Dec 24, 2013 00:04
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Snowy posted:I'm finally just getting through season 2 and liking it a lot. People seem to think 2 wasn't that strong, so now I'm extra excited for season 3. Really? I think generally the consensus is Asylum > Murder House > Coven.
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Dec 24, 2013 00:43
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ThatPazuzu posted:I don't know, I find season 2 a lot scarier than 1. Ghosts don't spook me but I'm mentally ill and Asylum made me realize that, if I was born a couple decades earlier, I'd probably be in a place like that, or dead. So, I don't know, personal experience obviously colors my experience but I found season 2 terrifying just because of the setting. Again, I think that's the real difference in what people find scary about the two seasons. Season 1 has lots of supernatural imagery and the threats are all otherwordly. Things like the infantata and the Rubber Man are all inhuman and unnatural. As much as season 1 wants to be a horror about the darkness in all of us, too often it was about the way that darkness accumulates in places and makes them inescapably evil. A lot of the characters might have had a shot at being good people (Ben, Tate, even Constance) if the house and attendant ghosts hadn't tormented them and driven them to extremes. Season 2 is, aside from some notable exceptions, focused on real-life horrors like being declared insane, or being the victim of a serial killer, or being falsely accused for a crime you didn't commit. It's about the horror of being powerless, and not even able to trust your own perceptions, let alone the institutions that purport to help you, because in reality they're going to dehumanize you even more. So really it's about what you, personally, find scarier. Some people are more scared by immediate horror--the kind of stuff that jumps right out and looks terrifying. And some people are scared by the slow burn kind of horror--the horror that takes time to sink in and disturbs you in an existential way. Personally, I still think that even though season 2 is the "better" season, season 1 is the easier sell for the majority of new viewers. It has a better comedy-to-horror ratio, and the darkness of season 1 is rarely dark enough that it can't be momentarily forgotten through laughter or sheer what-the-fuckery. Season 2 is a totally different ballgame, and right off the bat the sense of despair is ubiquitous and overpowering. Astfgl fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Dec 24, 2013 |
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Dec 24, 2013 01:10
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Season 3, meanwhile, is primarily focused on fear of commitment to a plot.
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Dec 24, 2013 01:45
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Doltos posted:They became just another family of ghosts in the growing history of the murder house, which is a pretty scary outcome to your life. It would have been better if the family who moved in didn't immediately move out in the finale, thus beginning the cycle anew. lol Yeah almost like there was an implicit cycle breaking going on hmmmm...
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Dec 24, 2013 02:04
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Don't forget the very end of S1 where for no reason whatsoever the antichrist is born. I guess. That would be my only complaint about the season, really. Just throwing poo poo in there because.
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Dec 24, 2013 05:11
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The only thing wrong with the antichrist stinger was that it hasn't come up again as a cross-season callback.
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Dec 24, 2013 05:14
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I love this show but the only part that's scary to me is that drat skeleton monster in the Coven intro. Dunno what scary parts other people are talking about.
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Dec 24, 2013 05:40
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fullroundaction posted:Don't forget the very end of S1 where for no reason whatsoever the antichrist is born. I guess.
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Dec 24, 2013 05:52
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I don't think us never understanding the aliens was because it was rushed, I think that's exactly what they were going for. They repeatedly said the aliens weren't cruel, they just think differently than us.
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Dec 24, 2013 07:50
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Yeah, the alien thing is pretty easy for me to forgive. I can't see human government scientists treating an ET test subject with any particular kindness, asking for consent or offering any explanation.
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Dec 24, 2013 07:55
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The only thing I can't forgive is the lack of a devil/aliens throwdown.
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Dec 24, 2013 08:15
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My problem with the aliens is that I feel like the fact that they were in season two (barely) makes it all the less likely for them to appear as more of a fleshed out storyline in another season. I would love an X-files/government conspiracy type season so much. That might have even been interesting with this season. Aliens vs. witches isn't something I've seen done before; I can't decide if that's just because it's a stupid idea, though. A slow-burn battle between witch and alien populations that had both integrated themselves into modern society, subtly influencing things to serve their own nefarious ends, would be cool if done right. Some sort of hosed up incident in the first episode could threaten the stability of their communities, setting the plot into motion.
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Dec 24, 2013 09:12
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Having the aliens be the ones to kill off Sister Devil would have been such an amazing conclusion to both story lines that yeah, I'm really angry we got what we got.
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Dec 24, 2013 09:26
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Shitenshi posted:For me, that plot point worked because it was constantly referred to throughout the season. Yeah they did kind of try to set it up, but in the weakest possible way. "If a ghost and a mortal have sex and a baby is born this thing happens". Oh by the way this is the first time in the history of humanity this has happened somehow, what a coincidence. If ghost sex/rape was possible it'd be happening since the first dude ever died.
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Dec 24, 2013 13:44
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fullroundaction posted:Don't forget the very end of S1 where for no reason whatsoever the antichrist is born. I guess. I think they introduced that because at the time it seemed that AHS would continue murder house into season 2. That was before we knew that AHS would have separate story lines each season.
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Dec 24, 2013 15:38
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QuickbreathFinisher posted:That might have even been interesting with this season. Aliens vs. witches isn't something I've seen done before Clearly you haven't looked hard enough 
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Dec 24, 2013 17:44
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The Aliens motives were explained, vaguely, but still. They gave Kit's kids amazing genes, one became a great leader and the other was a brilliant surgeon.
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Dec 25, 2013 01:08
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^^ That's an action/effect, not a motivation. I just finished Asylum in a binge over 24 hours. Wow, it was great. I was concerned at episode 11 that the last three episodes were going to lag, but it worked out.
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Dec 26, 2013 03:50
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AGirlWonder posted:^^ That's an action/effect, not a motivation. Experimentation is the motivation. Presumably the aliens were doing eugenics experiments. The mystery is why Kit was chosen.
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Dec 26, 2013 06:12
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That's fair. I'm watching the pilot now. I didn't realize the crying masturbation scene (not really a spoiler but whatever) was in the very first episode. It's kind of hilarious. EDIT: Also why would you not immediately tell your wife about the maid masturbating on your sofa? I feel like the overarching theme of these three seasons is ~People Are lovely At Communication~. gnomewife fucked around with this message at 06:50 on Dec 26, 2013 |
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Dec 26, 2013 06:36
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AGirlWonder posted:That's fair. because she is really hot, and wants to have dirty sex with her
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Dec 26, 2013 10:31
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When Moira said that she appeared to men as what they wanted to see, do you reckon that meant that straight men saw their own ideal embodiment of feminine sexuality? So to some other bloke she might be Jennifer Lawrence or Tyra Banks? I've always wondered about that, because male sexuality isn't so uncomplicated that a tsundere redhead who masturbates in common areas and flounces about the place in a thong is everyone's thing. I'm probably overthinking.
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Dec 26, 2013 13:03
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Actually, my question about Moria is "Why is her true ghost form older than when she died?" Have the creators said anything about that? Unless she survived the gunshot to the eye and somehow managed to die in the house 30-40 years later; it seems like everyone else is stuck at whatever age they were when they died (the baby doesn't age), so I'd assume the same of her. And it's a shame to hear that season three is so weak. Does it seem to be building to any sort of climax at all?
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Dec 26, 2013 15:12
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I think Moira's 'people see what they want to see' thing goes for women as well; women want an old, homely, motherly woman to be their maid whereas men want a sexmaid. That's what I find so sad about Moira, this idea that her entire life was spent keeping other people's lives orderly and comforting as a maid and even as a ghost she's still there being whatever other people want her to be. It's all part of Ryan Murphy's robust and highly developed understanding of human sexuality and womanhood.
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Dec 26, 2013 15:21
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timeandtide posted:Actually, my question about Moria is "Why is her true ghost form older than when she died?" Have the creators said anything about that? Unless she survived the gunshot to the eye and somehow managed to die in the house 30-40 years later; it seems like everyone else is stuck at whatever age they were when they died (the baby doesn't age), so I'd assume the same of her. Ghost Moira intentionally showed up as an old woman to make the Mom not suspicious of her. The true ghost Moira was the hot girl who got shot in the head. That's why the Dad couldn't go tell his wife that there was a hot maid masturbating on his couch. I remember several scenes where the Mom was like, wtf, seriously, are we talking about the same maid? Seems like her motivation was that she blamed men for being shot in the head and became bitter about them. I can barely remember specifics from the first season, but didn't hot Moira lure a dude to the basement and eat his penis? Fruity Gordo posted:It's all part of Ryan Murphy's robust and highly developed understanding of human sexuality and womanhood. That's a bit overdoing it, isn't it? It's kind of a common sense thing that men like attractive women and women like reliable, non threatening women. Same goes for women liking attractive men and men liking reliable, non threatening men.
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Dec 26, 2013 17:12
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Doltos posted:I think they introduced that because at the time it seemed that AHS would continue murder house into season 2. That was before we knew that AHS would have separate story lines each season. I think it would've been nice if that had some continuity between seasons, but were otherwise still self-contained. For example, if Season 2 was a take-off of "The Omen" but instead of the Antichrist being supernatural he's just Pure Evil who is incredibly good at lying and getting away with murder. He rises to a position of power through cunning and killing anybody in his way. Maybe at the end, someone snaps and kills him after realizing how evil he is, and that person gets taken to an asylum (not the asylum). That sets up the theme for Season 3 which would be Asylum, and so on. So basically one person or theme or something would carry over from season to season but they'd all still be self-contained. That would've been cool with me.
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Dec 26, 2013 17:18
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Then they have the problem of all the different mythologies co-existing and clashing with each other, and we'd be asking why Lana doesn't just magic her way out of the asylum or why the axeman was able to leave the house he died in when none of the murderhouse ghosts could. It's better to nip all that in the bud with a clean slate.
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Dec 26, 2013 17:24
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haveblue posted:...why the axeman was able to leave the house he died in when none of the murderhouse ghosts could. Well this one's easy, he was "freed" as per the arrangement he had with Zoe, so he could go anywhere he wanted. Up until that point he was stuck in the same house he died in.
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Dec 26, 2013 17:48
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My wife and I were just talking the other day about it being a shame the Hot Moira actress from season 1 never showed up in AHS again but apparently she was the first witch that Hank executed. Not a huge role though and sadly wasn't in Asylum in any capacity  
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Dec 26, 2013 17:56
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I don't think hot Moira was her true form. She appeared as an old lady to everyone (including us the viewers) except guys. Then she reveals her "true" form to the husband at the end. It's kind of a weird thing where I doubt there's an actual answer.
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Dec 26, 2013 18:16
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