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fullroundaction posted:If I were to marathon seasons 1 & 2 because I'm an OCD completionist, which order would you guys do them in? Going to have some free TV time coming up soon. Honestly, I don't think it matters. Even though they bring many/most of the main actors back, each season is entirely self-contained. Just pick whichever season sounds most appealing and if it doesn't hook you in the first few episodes you can always try the other. Both of the first two seasons are really good.
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Oct 14, 2013 23:54
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This show is fun, and I'll keep watching it, but it's not nearly as gripping as Season 1 or 2. There's no tension or suspense at all right now, supposedly there's a war between the witches and the voodoo ladies but that hasn't really gone anywhere yet. All of the dead characters come back with no real consequence. There's no real mystery or unknowns other than the identity of the next Supreme.
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Dec 6, 2013 01:33
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hoobajoo posted:That last one is by far the biggest problem. Without mysteries you can't have real horror, because nothing is frightening when it is understood. Yeah really at this point it's just witch fantasy drama with occasional shock factor. I mean, Season 1 functionally resurrects most/all of the characters it kills off, right? That's the entire point of Murder House, people who die there come back as ghosts and most of the cast are or become ghosts. But there's still the unknown of each of the ghosts' backgrounds which are revealed gradually, and the existential horror of being trapped in the murder house as ghosts for eternity. Edit: also the pieces that come together in the overarching Antichrist plot are great. You can't have any suspense, horror or otherwise, without leaving something unknown. And right now we pretty much know everything other than who the next Supreme is and that's some seriously weak tension. Pellisworth fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Dec 6, 2013 |
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Dec 6, 2013 02:24
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I just rewatched the Asylum pilot and Coven has just been so disappointing in comparison. Even just in the first episode of Season 2 you have three "forbidden love" arcs with Kit's interracial marriage, Lana's lesbian lover, and Jude's secret fangirl crush on the Monsignor. You have the existential horror of being wrongfully imprisoned in an asylum with a harsh headmistress, nutty and often violent inmates, and an evil doctor experimenting on inmates (who is secretly Dr. Mengele). Then there are the aliens and later a demon, angel of death, serial killer, and everything just gets crazier and crazier. But we have pretty noble heroes and I'd call Jude an anti-hero we can empathize with, who are enduring these horrors throughout. Coven has no suspense, no actual horror element, it's just a campy witch drama with a lot of shock factor. American Horror Story: Hogwarts
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Dec 11, 2013 05:37
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Ugh, sorry if I'm harping on it repeatedly, but there is no horror or suspense element left in this show. I feel like it's drifting into True Blood territory where it's campy crazy fun but it's only thematically "horror." I mean, I'll keep watching because it's still an enjoyable show, but it's not remotely as gripping or high-quality TV as season one or especially season two. American Hogwarts Story: Coven Edit: I mean for fucks sake, not only does everyone immediately come back from the dead but as of this episode Cordelia's eyes are just fixed no biggie and Kyle has progressed from Horny Zombie to cards and chit-chat with Fiona. It's disappointing in comparison to season two which managed to be absolutely bonkers but routinely disturbing and disgusting to me. At this point it's just a witch-themed drama, meh. Pellisworth fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Dec 12, 2013 |
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Dec 12, 2013 09:23
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I really hope they explore the trauma/emptiness of being resurrected some more, but it seems like that's another idea they've thrown out entirely which makes it some truly silly plot baggage. In Murder House, everyone who dies comes back as ghosts, which gives the first season an opportunity to kill off most of their characters in gruesome ways but keep them on-screen as ghosts throughout the season. That's central to the horror element of Murder House, though--you're trapped in that house for eternity as a ghost. So far we have Misty, Kyle, Madison, Queenie, and Myrtle who've been resurrected bodily and as of Kyle's cards with Fiona scene, there seem to be absolutely no negative repercussions other than short-term emo horniness. I'd argue that LaLaurie, the Axeman, and Fiona (last episode when Spalding's ghost stops her from poisoning herself at the brink of death) have all also experienced "resurrections" of a sort. LaLaurie is long-dead history to everyone but the witch/voodoo ladies, she's dug out of the ground and thrown into modernity. Axeman is a ghost made corporeal or something?? Anyway, it feels like "resurrection" really should be another major theme of this season. There are some hints of character growth after their resurrections, but it feels like it's mostly been abandoned. I'll be really disappointed if they don't go any further with it, because then it'll just have been a cheap plot device. Edit: and maybe some juxtaposition of Fiona's running from death and all the other characters' deaths and resurrections. That's pretty central to Fiona's character at this point, she's willing to kill Madison and Myrtle to avoid a new Supreme rising (meaning Fiona's death). What would happen if Fiona dies and Misty resurrects her? I'm not a TV writer, but it bothers me they haven't done much with the death/resurrection theme. Pellisworth fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Dec 15, 2013 |
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Dec 15, 2013 22:50
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AGirlWonder posted:I don't know, last episode was incredibly funny. I need Kathy Bates's singing as my ringtone, alarm clock, personal theme song, etc. Oh, I'm definitely still enjoying Coven and will continue watching the season. It just seems to be more toward the campy fun True Blood end of the spectrum rather than a serious drama/horror like Hannibal. I think the first two seasons struck reasonably good balances between the two extremes, but the third is really lacking in the horror department. I realize Ryan Murphy has said Coven was supposed to have a lighter tone, but there doesn't even seem to be a coherent overarching plot to make this much of a drama. It's still pretty good TV, but for different reasons than the first two seasons (other than standout actors).
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Dec 16, 2013 09:13
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Well, at least we're getting some character developments? It's felt like they've been treading water for the last few episodes with nothing happening but Hogwarts Supreme drama, now all of a sudden Laveau and Fiona are soul-selling bffs, Madison and Nan get new powers which make them bloodthirsty bitches causing neighbor lady's cleansing and Misty sealed alive in a crypt. Papa Legba was great and we got to see the transition from Fiona willing to give up absolutely anything (including her daughter's life, without hesitation) for immortality to the final scene where she seems to be accepting her fate. I'm optimistic we'll see the plot actually go somewhere in the next few episodes, but I was disappointed at how they hamfisted all these developments in last night's episode when a lot of them don't really make sense or have any feeling of gravity for me. The pacing is really hosed up and terrible.
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Jan 9, 2014 17:34
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Lord Krangdar posted:Wouldn't it be supremely boring if everything had unfolded the way it seemed it would early on? Like if the whole show was just watching Zoe's education as a witch and journey to replacing Fiona as Supreme. You say this as if it's not going to happen!  Edit: Misty was going to be the next Supreme but she gets incinerated by Madison and doesn't resurrect. Madison gets hers from the witch hunters and since Zoe is the last young witch left she's the new Supreme and she gains a ton of power levels, Highlander style. Fiona and the witch hunters and Laveau all come after Zoe but Cordelia tutors Zoe on how to be a good and wise and not selfish witch, then with the help of sentient zombie boyfriend Kyle and her murder vagina she beats them all. Laveau's stolen black baby and LaLaurie's severed head chill in the bottom drawer, forgotten. Pellisworth fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Jan 10, 2014 |
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Jan 10, 2014 04:19
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OmegaBR posted:Not to toot my own horn, but that Badlands idea I had way back when included a traveling circus as one of the focal points along a largely empty highway, as well as an Indian reservation, a hippie commune, and the only diner/motel around. Having a grown up on a reservation near the Badlands that does indeed sound like a pretty cool setting, though the hippie commune is far less realistic than, say, a polygamist cult religious compound or something. Looking back, I feel like they did a good job handling the religious aspect of Asylm and while it was irreverent I didn't pick up much that would seem to be directly attacking Christians or Catholics. I think you could do some excellent horror in a secluded cult compound. Throw in some Native American mysticism and imagery (the Sun Dance involves blood sacrifice, vision quests), a carnival, and the lone diner/motel. That would be a pretty grim, dark season, though I guess you could contrast the bleakness of the reservation and religious compound with a colorful and magical/fantastical carnival.
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Jan 14, 2014 18:25
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Any continuity in plot and character motivations died about the same time as Madison. Kyle the zombie boyfriend is a metaphor for this season's plot. He seems like a pretty decent guy when he's introduced and maybe they were going somewhere with him and Zoe, but then he's forgotten about suddenly and relegated to being the subject of boring witch bitch drama over whose fucktoy he gets to be. On the bright side, Kyle actually got some lines this episode! Edit: oh, and it looks like the buried Nan in the same cemetery as Misty? Seems pretty likely there will be some more resurrection and we'll see them both again before the end of the season. Frankly, I'd be more surprised if they didn't resurrect them (and hell why not Spalding and/or the Axeman while we're at it) at this point. Oh, Queenie's alive? SHOCKER. Pellisworth fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Jan 16, 2014 |
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Jan 16, 2014 20:25
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Yodzilla posted:I want to slap whomever on the production team thought that stupid old-timey film about the Seven Wonders at the beginning of the latest episode was at all interesting or clever. I felt it was just a really lazy way of establishing what exactly the Seven Wonders are. We weren't really sure where we were going with anything this season, but we decided to kill off (permanently? hah, wouldn't you like to know) all the interesting characters except Myrtle so you should care about the trial of the Wonders now. Here, let me tell you exactly what they are. Show, don't tell. It's not quite as bad as inner monologue voiceovers and Ghost Dad in Dexter, but it's the same idea.
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Jan 24, 2014 20:47
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Or they could have told us about the Seven Wonders in some classroom scenes where Cordelia actually teaches the young witches about witchery. You know, at the boarding school they all live at.
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Jan 24, 2014 21:06
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Captain Mog posted:Finally, I also think they may as well have just set this season in present-day/past Salem. I see no point of the New Orleans setting since it's been woefully neglected and quite frankly Salem would've made much more sense. I felt like the setting was such a huge part of the first two seasons and even a bit of a character in its own right. Murder House is big and beautiful and creepy and we get to see it with a bunch of different owners from different time periods. Asylum you have the titular Asylum and all the bleakness and horrors that come with it. They could have done a ton with the witch school and New Orleans setting (remember early on Fiona and the girls get all dressed up and stroll around) but it's a bland and forgettable backdrop to inane teen witch drama.
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Jan 24, 2014 22:56
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f1av0r posted:I forgot why do the witches and voodoo people hate each other. Don't worry, no one else remembers either. Including the show's main characters. "Hey Fiona, I know I sent my minotaur ex-lover to terrorize and rape one of your students (whom I later convinced to defect to my team), I hired witch hunters to kill your coven, you stole my immortal racist pet, I summoned a zombie horde to attack your school... but let's put all of that immediate past behind us and forget that we're eternal sworn enemies. I know we've been building to a confrontation all season, but the witch hunters killed all my voodoo clan and I need your protection. It's totally in character for you to accept me with open arms right now instead of take advantage of my weakness." Did we ever learn who splashed acid on Cordelia? The plotting in this show is seriously terrible. All the major threats to the coven disappear suddenly and unceremoniously, and we're left with unintersting Supreme succession drama.
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Jan 24, 2014 23:36
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QuickbreathFinisher posted:The witch hunter guys said they "authorized it." So probably just some nameless witch hunter mook that got slaughtered by Axeman. I completely missed that, then. Here I thought it was just an excuse to frame Myrtle so she could be burned at the stake and arise phoenix-like, transforming into the only entertaining character left in the show.
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Jan 24, 2014 23:47
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I would be really disappointed in how the finale wrapped things up if there was actually any tension or interesting plot threads left to resolve.
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Jan 30, 2014 22:45
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Finndo posted:I must have missed the explanation of how Lana Banana got her eyes back for the second time. Because she's the next Supreme, and one of the sure signs of being the next Supreme is "radiant, glowing health." Which begs the question why she spent half the season blind and infertile. The writers decided to drop all pretext of doing anything interested with the setting or antagonists established early on (witch hunters, Laveau/voodoo, LaLaurie) and pissed that all away to focus on "who's the next Supreme??" drama. I get the feeling they hadn't actually decided who the next Supreme would be until an episode or two ago and pulled this terribly stupid ending together three weeks back.
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Jan 30, 2014 23:29
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xeria posted:Yeah, moreso the infertility than the blindness since the latter was forced upon her and you can make the argument that she was denying her innate Supreme-ness that would have allowed her to heal that right up. The infertility, we're never led to believe it was anything more than something she was born with, which seems like it'd disqualify her as Supreme as much as having a heart murmur would disqualify Madison on the basis of "radiant, glowing health". Yeah, the blindness is self-inflicted and all but it was extremely
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Jan 31, 2014 00:39
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