sashayshante

Re: the last scene. Did the writers really think they could rip off Primal Fear and nobody would notice? .

I think Lupone is somewhat of a beloved figure in the older gay community. I can remember a Will & Grace episode where Jack was a super fan. When he finally got to meet her, he was trying to prove to will that he wasn't self centered. Lupone was sat right behind him in a restaurant and Jack was dying to say something to her but he was trying to be a good friend to will. Finally, Lupone tapped him on the shoulder and asked him for something and Jack screamed, "Not now, Patti Lupone!" I checked the show's tag on Twitter while the episode's aired. I cannot believe how many people were asking where the horror was. Many had no idea how accurately those episodes portrayed what was going on during the AIDS crisis. I think this season was very well timed. COVID highlighted how - to this day - people dismiss AIDS because of its association with the gay community. I loved both episodes. The end of the 1st one had me bawling. I don't think I've ever been that moved by a TV show before. God, did Mantello and Tovey sell those scenes. The 2nd episode was especially emotionally devastating. Watching Gino so defiantly refuse to let Big Daddy take him while simultaneously watching friend after friend die only to finally succumb was heartbreaking. To end with Adam giving what was probably yet another eulogy at yet another friend's funeral was especially powerful. I remember during the aftermath of 9/11 that it was funeral after funeral for months in Manhattan. Now multiply that a few dozen times. The trauma fatigue had to be never ending. I'm sure the pregnancy store line was written in to accommodate Billy Lourd's real life pregnancy at the time. However, I found it odd they never once mentioned the baby's death when Hannah died. Not even Adam. Did they ever Is clarify how Hannah and Adam met? I'd give the season a solid B+.

I went back and watched And The Band Played On last night. That was an HBO movie from the mid nineties about the early days of the AIDS crisis. They mentioned how a guy who had recently died looked perfectly healthy just a couple weeks earlier. I think once they figured out what it was they were able to slow down the progression of the disease but not before that.

Probably because there was no hype around it. Murphy's teasers and cast announcements in the months leading up to the premiere drive fans into a frenzy. It's almost impossible to meet such high expectations.

I think Murphy wanted to give the AIDS storyline its own episodes. Understandably. I have older friends in the gay community and they talk about how the younger generation treats HIV too casually because of Prep. I would think a significant portion of the AHS viewership is young gay men. They weren't around during the crisis. They don't know what gay men before them sacrificed for them to not carry this burden and its stigma. I'm a woman who grew up in the 80's. It had to be absolutely traumatizing for gay men to have nobody care they were sick, disappearing, and dying. And it had to be infuriating to watch the government finally take notice of the disease only when a heterosexual rich male athlete (Magic Johnson) announced he was HIV positive. Only then did politicians care because it made them realize HIV was not a "gay disease." Making that worse was that Freddy Mercury died a few months after Johnson went public with his diagnosis. How many more game changers - people who would have made enormous contributions to society and bettered it - did we lose? We'll never know. Despite the campiness, I found the end of the episode quite compelling. "You will be remembered." I got chills when I heard that. Will he be remembered for his photography or because he was one of the first to die from this mysterious virus? What about those that died that just...disappeared? Will they be remembered? Or will they be forgotten? /off my soapbox It's now established that Big Daddy is an entity and not a sentient being. The Death card obviously prophesizes the oncoming plague. All in all, this is one of the first seasons in a long time that I've enjoyed from start to finish.

Absolutely. The dialogue came right out of a brochure. When Shona Rhimes had Olivia Pope get an abortion it was incredibly powerful BECAUSE of the lack of dialogue surrounding it. Grey's writers always over do it Ryan Murphy doesn't does a lot of things wrong but one thing he does well is work the struggles and oppression of the gay community into his stories without hammering you over the head.

The reason I don't think Patrick killed her is because they very intentionally showed her in the bathroom after she had vomited and fainting soon after. She appeared to be sick. Considering both Patrick and Gino now have lesions, I'm going to assume that means they have AIDS. Patrick could have infected Barbara. That's why I think Big Daddy represents AIDS and why Patrick keeps seeing him.

Since it appears like the police outside Margaret's apartment didnt see a hulking man i a leather harness and mask go inside, it's looking more and more like Big Daddy is not a person but an embodiment of something. My guess is AIDS.

The acting is what elevated the show. Without it, it was, well, 1984.

I thought the 1st 2 episodes were boring but episodes 3 and 4 felt like old school American Horror Story. When Murphy puts the material in the hands of actual actors and not a bunch of his friends and nepo babies and stops relying on shock value and torture p*rn, it works. I read a pretty cool theory on another board. The recapper said he thought Big Daddy is actually a manifestation of something and not real. I really like that idea. I think Big Daddy represents shame and that the theme for the season is how insidious and dangerous shame can be. We're obviously building up to to the beginning of the AIDS crisis so that fits. Joe Mantello is carrying the season.

Right? It was certainly interesting enough that I binge-watched all 10 episodes in 24 hrs. I think the main challenge it had was a cast nobody recognized except for Neve Cambell. (Who looks amazing, btw.) Though I did like the cameo from Rebecca from The Practice (another David E. Kelly series) as the judge who handed over all of Jerry's coaches to Mickey. Manuel Garcia Rufo made a great lead. Handsome without being pretty. A little weathered to make his year of addiction believable. I thought Cisco was well cast. Loved Becki Newton. Hopefully since it was Netflix's top show for the week it will get more press.

That scene reminded me of The Good Wife. It was the episode where they were prepping Mayoral candidate Alicia for one of her debates. Out of everybody else, Finn (Matthew Goode) is picked to stand in for the other candidate. It was his only scene in the episode. If anyone watched TGW they know how they completely bungled Goode's time on the show and under-used him so badly they didn't bring him back for the next season. That is to say, Che had no valid reason to be at an auction for some privileged Upper East Side private school auction. That is not their audience. I seriously doubt any of them ever heard of Che. Watching two of the UES Moms gush and fawn over Che as though the Moms would ever watch Che's special gave me second-hand cringe.

Che's excuse for why they hadn't responded to Miranda's DM was pathetic. But not as pathetic as Miranda buying it. If this were 15 years ago and Carrie was whinging about Big giving the same excuse for blowing Carrie off, Miranda would have grabbed Carrie by the shoulders and told her to get a grip. Che is easily the most insufferable character this show has ever introduced. I get that the entire season's theme is how nothing can stay the same forever but Christ on a pogo stick. What are they doing to these characters when Carrie - CARRIE - is the most grounded??? Of course, she's still wildly self-involved and has to make everything about her but considering the circumstances, she's been pretty reasonable. I get what they were trying to do with Charlotte and Harry and her refusal to apologize but they really missed the mark. That was an instance where Charlotte should have apologized. As the season progresses, Charlotte is becoming more and more hysterical. The most annoying part of the episode for me was when Herbert introduced Carrie at the auction by calling her sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw. She's a best-selling author, FFS. She wrote a column 15 years ago that was about relationships and dating. Calling her a sex columnist is a classic example of how society sexualizes women as a way to diminish their accomplishments. More Anthony and Seema, please.

There seems to be a lot of speculation regarding Miranda's storyline. Many say she'll realize she's gay because of her chemistry with Che. Others says she's going to be an alcoholic. I don't think they'll do both. In fact, I don't think they'll do either. They already blew up the biggest relationship on the show. Miranda and Steve were second biggest followed by Charlotte and Harry. I doubt they'll do away with another core marriage on the show. Especially between two regular characters. That's too much change for the viewers.