S10.E07: Take Me To Your Leader

[jewel21]

Quote

A group of college students on a camping trip are swept up in a horrifying & deadly conspiracy decades in the making.

Airdate: 09/29/2021

[EllaWycliffe]

But will Sarah Poulson be screaming "motherfucker!"?

[BK1978]

Never change AHS.  You give me a pretty good first half of the season.  I say pretty good because I was not fond of how the story ended, I am not sure how they should have ended it but I was not crazy with how they did end it.  Anyway as I was saying, you gave me a pretty good first story only to follow it up with this steaming pile of horse crap.

What the hell did I just watch?  Was it supposed to be horror?  A parody of a 1950's scifi movies?  Was it supposed to be funny?  I don't know the answers to any of those questions.   All I do know was, what I watched just a few minutes ago was not very good.  Granted I will stick it out and watch, at the very least, one more episode.  But if tonight's episode is any indication of what to expect from this season...well then AHS has once again failed.

 

Edited September 30, 2021 by BK1978
Just fixing some typos. Or many typos.

[CrazyDog]

Are we getting Murphied already? After a decent first half, minus the finale, we get this? 

The black and white parts of the story were decent, but the rest...okay. 

I know the "this was Stefon from SNL" joke gets repeated, but seriously. This episode had everything...golf, Ike, head-exploding aliens, face-sucking aliens, Amelia Earhart, sperm allergies, spineless cows, pregnant male Princeton students, and Luddites.

The intro was cool though. 

I'll still watch because I can't help myself, but this wasn't great.

[Glade]

I couldn't stop rolling my eyes at the cliche buffet in the first half; they even had to include amelia earhart, who was abducted by aliens in star trek voyager thirty years ago too.  The second half feels like it was a rejected script for an episode of the spinoff american horror stories, and filled with the one dimensional caricatures murphy loves to writer over and over again.  I guess they're not worried about the tent and other gear they abandoned in the desert? 

[Whimsy]

5 hours ago, Glade said:

I couldn't stop rolling my eyes at the cliche buffet in the first half; they even had to include amelia earhart, who was abducted by aliens in star trek voyager thirty years ago too.  The second half feels like it was a rejected script for an episode of the spinoff american horror stories, and filled with the one dimensional caricatures murphy loves to writer over and over again.  I guess they're not worried about the tent and other gear they abandoned in the desert? 

These are rich, spoiled kids.  No, they don't care.

I hate that the guys are pregnant.  I get that they were abducted by aliens, but you can't tell me the aliens completely changed their biology.  

I liked the black-and-white sections.  Love Neal McDonough.  Not as I Like Ike, though.  Not that I have anything to compare it with.  It's not like I watch old news reels.  It just seems like he's playing the same character he has 100 times before. 

[Starchild]

1 hour ago, Whimsy said:

I hate that the guys are pregnant.

It's funny, if I were part of this group and the guys got positive pregnancy tests, I would not immediately accept that they're pregnant, no matter how weird our experience was. In fact, I would take it as a sign that I am NOT pregnant. Instead I would think that, since we're all sick, that something was introduced to our bodies that was affecting us all biochemically in the same way. 

And I would insist we all go to a doctor for testing.

[EllaWycliffe]

7 hours ago, CrazyDog said:

This episode had everything...golf, Ike, head-exploding aliens, face-sucking aliens, Amelia Earhart, sperm allergies, spineless cows, pregnant male Princeton students, and Luddites.

See, I am probably in the minority in that I loved the alien abduction storyline from AHS: Asylum  and always hoped that they would go back to it.

The cows weren't *spineless*, they were cut in half but still alive which is a fun play on the cattle mutilation mythos.

I know it won't happen but I kinda want David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson to do cameos in this. Maybe drinking shots in the bar? Am I asking so much?

 I do hope the Princeton students grow a little bit beyond "vapid and constantly fucking". Thats going to get old. And I do agree the guys being pregnant is super stupid but I accept the story might not be going exactly where I think it will.

The black and white stuff was a lot of fun. When I saw it was Albuequerque, I was sorta hoping they were in Walter White's house :D

[rhofmovalley]

I guess I'm the only one who enjoyed it. I found it to be along the lines of the Scream franchise, a somewhat silly parody played for laughs. 

I was entertained, but I guess that isn't supposed to happen with AHS?

[EllaWycliffe]

9 minutes ago, rhofmovalley said:

I guess I'm the only one who enjoyed it. I found it to be along the lines of the Scream franchise, a somewhat silly parody played for laughs. 

Thats the vibe I am getting from it. I think the black and white stuff is the "serious" part of the story, and the modern stuff is where we laugh and take pets on who dies first. My bet is on Luddite Girl. 

[CrazyDog]

12 hours ago, BK1978 said:

What the hell did I just watch?  Was it supposed to be horror?  A parody of a 1950's scifi movies?  Was it supposed to be funny?  I don't know the answers to any of those questions. 

Probably a mix of both, but as is common with AHS, it just becomes a muddled mess. I can love campy AHS, but this was just bad, including the acting by the kids in the second half.

All the restraint he showed in the first half of the season just went out the window.

I did enjoy Neal McDonough but that was about it. 

[sashayshante]

Fell asleep when Amelia Earhardt was introduced. Woke up to Debbie Harry's Rapture. Fell back asleep when they learned they were pregnant.

All I can say is the use of Rapture in this episode SLAPPED.

[TVMovieBuff]

I can't BELIEVE  they talked about ass eating! Thank God I am not dating in this day & age!

[Chaos Theory]

Alien abduction stories are my least favorite kind of story so I am probably not going to enjoy this.  I liked  everything about the First part of the season (even how the story ended) but this looks dumb in all the ways I hate when horror gets dumb.

is that Zinn from the Bro House episode?

Edited September 30, 2021 by Chaos Theory

[sugarbaker design]

2 hours ago, sashayshante said:

All I can say is the use of Rapture in this episode SLAPPED.

Is SLAPPED a good thing or a bad thing?

[iMonrey]

I think I like this better than the vampire thing in the first half of the season. I really enjoyed the black and white portion. Neal McDonough makes everything better. Sure there were a lot of tropes, and I'm not a big fan of the splodey-head effect, but I found myself invested and enjoying the atmosphere. 

However, I was highly disappointed in the time jump to the vapid Princeton students. That whole half was weak sauce. Lame writing, lame acting. Kaia Gerber was in the AHS spin-off, I thought she was OK there but she's terrible here.

It appears they are going to keep jumping back and forth in the coming episodes so at least I have half of something to look forward to!

[Lethallyfab]

Saying a song SLAPPED is a good thing, along the lines of saying a song is a banger or is my jam.

I read an article on NewNowNext (an LGBTQ+ site) from the perspective of someone who had contracted giardia and other intestinal parasites *multiple times* from doing, you know, and yet never stopped doing it.  As gay as I may be, thank you, but no thank you.

We only get four episodes for this section, right?  I’m not sure why we need two timelines, then.  It seems one or both will be given short thrift.  

It seems like Ryan Murphy is grooming Kaia Gerber to be the next Emma Roberts - specializing in characters that are young, pretty, vapid.  Kaia makes me long for the comparative range - and I don’t think it’s *that* much of a range, mind you - of Miss Roberts.  Between her AND Paris Jackson in ‘American Horror Stories,’ the crew is *loving* giving some talent-challenged hacks a chance due to nepotism.

I find it extremely weird that Neal McDonough signed up for this, given that he is on record as being so religious as to refuse doing love/kissing scenes on-screen.  I guarantee you that Murphy & company will make you do something much more perverse than kissing a woman who is not your real-life wife.

[EllaWycliffe]

8 minutes ago, Lethallyfab said:

It seems like Ryan Murphy is grooming Kaia Gerber to be the next Emma Roberts - specializing in characters that are young, pretty, vapid.  Kaia makes me long for the comparative range - and I don’t think it’s *that* much of a range, mind you - of Miss Roberts.  Between her AND Paris Jackson in ‘American Horror Stories,’ the crew is *loving* giving some talent-challenged hacks a chance due to nepotism.

Which one is Kaia?

[iMonrey]

Quote

It seems like Ryan Murphy is grooming Kaia Gerber to be the next Emma Roberts

It seems to me he's grooming her to be the next Billie Lourd. They both went to the same School of Flat Effect Acting.

Quote

Which one is Kaia?

The one who can't act. Oh wait, that doesn't narrow it down does it?

She's playing Kendall. The white girl of the Princeton four. She also played Ruby the lesbian ghost on the AHS spinoff Murder House sequel. If you watched that monstrosity.

[EllaWycliffe]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

The one who can't act. Oh wait, that doesn't narrow it down does it?

She's playing Kendall. The white girl of the Princeton four. She also played Ruby the lesbian ghost on the AHS spinoff Murder House sequel. If you watched that monstrosity.

Hee hee hee. 

I did watch some of the AHS stories but I'm a rarity in that Murder House was never a fav and the joke about the dad masturbating in front of the window was funny once. 

Neither girl in this episode impressed me with their talent, but they didn't shock me with their awfulness. White not Jewish guy was horrid though.

Emma Roberts was never awful to me but really most of the casting is hit or miss to me. I could never see Adina Porter and her cold eyes again and it would be too soon. On the other hand, Billy Lourdes amuses me. 

[BK1978]

15 hours ago, EllaWycliffe said:

See, I am probably in the minority in that I loved the alien abduction storyline from AHS: Asylum  and always hoped that they would go back to it.

 

I liked that storyline as well and thought it was well written.  This alien storyline thus far just was not well written.  Though I do say upon further review I do lean more towards liking the 1950's portion and not like the present day portion of last night's episode.

7 hours ago, Lethallyfab said:

We only get four episodes for this section, right?  I’m not sure why we need two timelines, then.  It seems one or both will be given short thrift.  

It seems like Ryan Murphy is grooming Kaia Gerber to be the next Emma Roberts - specializing in characters that are young, pretty, vapid.  Kaia makes me long for the comparative range - and I don’t think it’s *that* much of a range, mind you - of Miss Roberts.  Between her AND Paris Jackson in ‘American Horror Stories,’ the crew is *loving* giving some talent-challenged hacks a chance due to nepotism.

I did not know that it is only going to be four episodes long.  I am pretty sure I can force myself to watch four episodes of this crap.  I think that was about when I tapped out on Hotel (The only season I stopped watching entirely.).

I agree Kaia is just bad at acting.  Part of why I think this, and it really is not her fault, is her voice is kind of annoying and very bland.  Sort of like the female version of Ben Stein.  Granted I was not expecting much out of her anyway and I did roll my eyes when I saw they had cast Cindy Crawford's daughter in this. 

[TheGreenKnight]

I was mostly interested in the black and white half of the episode, but at least the two guys in the color half were attractive. Unlike others here, the twist of the men being pregnant sort of made it for me. I knew from the opening credits images alone that this part of the season was just going to be Murphy's excuse to indulge in tentacle porn, LOL. No way would he not involve the guys in that somehow.

[kj4ever]

Cindy's kid makes me wish Emma was playing this part, and that is saying something.  All of the people in the second half gave off high school play vibes, and I mean like high school play where all the talented kids had mono and they found random people to make up the play.

I usually dig the alien vibe, and I like the front half and going with the aliens gave us technology spin.

[tennisgurl]

I am glad that at least we are getting the promised aliens here. After Red Tide promises us sea monsters and gave us vampires, I thought that this season could promise us aliens and instead give us Chupacabras or something. So after the aliens were a big part of Asylum and were never brought up again, they finally return. Still knocking people up and making it weird I see. 

I actually thought the 50s portion of the episode was very entertaining, I have always had a soft sport for cheesy 50s science fiction movies so I enjoyed the homages to the genre, the black and white, the goofy alien music, and they did actually manage to be a bit creepy a few times. Plus Neal McDonough is always great to have around, I thought that portion was fun in a way that a lot of AHS period pieces are fun. Not historically accurate but they revel in the tropes and aesthetics of the era in a way that I enjoy. Then we smash cut to the annoying Princeton kids straight out of slasher movie central casting and I start losing interest. I feel like I am going to spend most of their segments waiting to get back to the 50s segments, but sadly I know that we are going to spend a LOT of time with these idiots because these are the kind sort of idiots that RM loves and the stories that he most enjoys. For whatever reason.

Rapture being played during their desert party was fun at least.

[jewel21]

16 hours ago, BK1978 said:

Granted I was not expecting much out of her anyway and I did roll my eyes when I saw they had cast Cindy Crawford's daughter in this. 

The entire time I was watching and she was on, I was like this girl looks like Cindy Crawford. I had no idea her daughter was an actress so thank you for confirming I wasn't going crazy, lol. 

[farmgal4]

On 9/30/2021 at 1:54 PM, iMonrey said:

I think I like this better than the vampire thing in the first half of the season. I really enjoyed the black and white portion. Neal McDonough makes everything better. Sure there were a lot of tropes, and I'm not a big fan of the splodey-head effect, but I found myself invested and enjoying the atmosphere. 

However, I was highly disappointed in the time jump to the vapid Princeton students. That whole half was weak sauce. Lame writing, lame acting. Kaia Gerber was in the AHS spin-off, I thought she was OK there but she's terrible here.

It appears they are going to keep jumping back and forth in the coming episodes so at least I have half of something to look forward to!

Ditto!

[iMonrey]

Quote

I actually thought the 50s portion of the episode was very entertaining, I have always had a soft sport for cheesy 50s science fiction movies so I enjoyed the homages to the genre, the black and white, the goofy alien music, and they did actually manage to be a bit creepy a few times. Plus Neal McDonough is always great to have around, I thought that portion was fun in a way that a lot of AHS period pieces are fun.

With Ryan Murphy, you are always going to get highly stylized schlock. The very best you can hope for is a cohesive story that at least makes sense. The "Red Tide" story was stylized to hell and back and had some great acting but the story had holes big enough to drive a truck through. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this story just keeps it simple.

Quote

but sadly I know that we are going to spend a LOT of time with these idiots because these are the kind sort of idiots that RM loves and the stories that he most enjoys. For whatever reason.

RM gets great work out of the older actors like Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Denis O'Hare. They can chew the scenery like nobody's business. But yeesh - the younger actors he gets are just terrible. He must pick them on looks alone, or famous relations. He lucked out with Evan Peters but never again after that.

Edited October 1, 2021 by iMonrey

[Mattipoo]

I may be the only one, but I am actually enjoying the vapid modern day college kids. I know it's cheesy and like a Netflix teen drama, but it's fun as hell. The black and white scenes were strangely for me, flat and cliched, except for the head explosions. I am looking forward to how the 2 timelines intersect. Since "Red Tide" ended so badly, I don't have high hopes for the remainder of the season, so I am just hate-watching and hoping the rest of the episodes will at least be cheesy and fun like "1984". 

Edited October 2, 2021 by Mattipoo
Typo

[Lethallyfab]

And the moment Evan Peters escaped from Murphy’s clutches, he got an Emmy.  Ryan must be seething and I thoroughly enjoyed the memes on Twitter depicting him as such.

He really lucked out with Taissa and Evan in the first season and has foolishly been chasing down attractiveness and nepotism ever since.

That said, I forget that Lily Rabe is technically the offspring of a star as well, but she’s great, so I’ll forgive her.

For me, the huge gap between the older and younger actors is a matter of tone: when you’ve reached Lange or Conroy’s level of experience, you can convey several conflicting tones/ideas at once: this is a humorous line, but I’m also very serious about what I’m saying, but I’m also throwing in a wink to let you know that I know that I find this ridiculous too.  With the young folks, it’s just “the script says I’m bitchy here so that’s the note I’m going to play.”

Topic: the black and white stuff was infinitely more interesting than the present day, I am cautiously optimistic about this season, I think having shortened episode orders are a good thing.  I actually thought Red Tide was among the best, most focused seasons yet - just vampires, no asylums plus aliens plus deformed creatures or ghosts plus serial killers or apocalpyses plus witches and it’s all done in six episodes?  I dug it, I really did.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Lethallyfab

[Terrafamilia]

Hmm, from being a Power Ranger saving the world to getting Giardia from the quarterback. Not sure if that is a step up. But, hey, that's show business. 🤔

ETA: I guess it is technically conceivable (see what I did there) the guys could have ectopic pregnancies (via alien tentacle sex!) and if the aliens give them proper, superscientific, alien prenatal care the pregnancies could proceed to term to deliver by cesarean.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Terrafamilia

[Anela]

I watched this last night, when I wasn't feeling well. My dad walked in, sat down, and asked what it was, when it was still in the black and white part, so I said, "It's like what you and mum used to call 'Friday night at the cheapies'". The old campy movies they used to watch.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Based on the comments here, I watched this begrudgingly. I was kind of surprised that I enjoyed it. No, it wasn't great, but this show is rarely "great." It was entertaining enough for me to stick around for the next 3 episodes at least. 

Lil' Cindy Crawford isn't going to win any acting awards, but she didn't stand out to me as exceptionally bad in this. I think Billie Lourd is one of the worst actresses I've ever seen, so there's a bar at the bottom that's been set. 

[For Cereals]

20 hours ago, jewel21 said:

 I had no idea her daughter was an actress

She’s not…although she wasn’t as bad here. The camping scenes to Rapture felt like watching an H&M ad. I wouldn’t have left the boho camping gear, but these are spoiled rich kids. I had to put on the closed captions for the Giardia discussion.  Seems like the sound is always too low on AHS.

I like Neal McDonough.  I’ll take his typecasting any day.  Definitely preferred the black and white parts.

 

[Dobian]

I wish the whole thing took place in the black and white 50s.  Jumping ahead to the technicolor present was jarring and ruined the mood for me.

Pregnant dudes.. is this another muddled Murphy social commentary?

Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Check.

Scanners.  Check.

Alien.  Check.

Will Amelia Earhart jump into her old plane and fly it into the alien mother ship like in Independence Day?  I am eagerly awaiting that movie hijacking.

I want Bigfoot.  Bigfoot needs to make an appearance.  Make it happen, Murphy!

Edited October 4, 2021 by Dobian

[Bluesky]

On 9/30/2021 at 6:26 PM, Lethallyfab said:

Saying a song SLAPPED is a good thing, along the lines of saying a song is a banger

It seems like Ryan Murphy is grooming Kaia Gerber to be the next Emma Roberts - specializing in characters that are young, pretty, vapid.  Kaia makes me long for the comparative range - and I don’t think it’s *that* much of a range, mind you - of Miss Roberts.  Between her AND Paris Jackson in ‘American Horror Stories,’ the crew is *loving* giving some talent-challenged hacks a chance due to nepotism.

I

Which part did Paris Jackson play?    So many children of actors or famous people, hopefully they’ll get back to casting the best people, not so much nepotism.  

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Bluesky said:

Which part did Paris Jackson play?    So many children of actors or famous people, hopefully they’ll get back to casting the best people, not so much nepotism.  

Paris Jackson wasn't in American Horror Story, she was in the spin-off series American Horror Stories airing on Hulu playing the part of Maya in Episodes 1 and 2.

[Genius]

Poor Maxwell Caulfield was in one tiny scene on the golf course.  Did he even get a line?  Why bother casting him for such an insignificant role?  I wonder if he had more but it was cut.  You don't hire Maxwell Caulfield to stand silently in the background of one scene.  Bizarre.

[TVMovieBuff]

39 minutes ago, Genius said:

Poor Maxwell Caulfield was in one tiny scene on the golf course.  Did he even get a line?  Why bother casting him for such an insignificant role?  I wonder if he had more but it was cut.  You don't hire Maxwell Caulfield to stand silently in the background of one scene.  Bizarre.

Editing went awry. Most of his role was left on the cutting room floor.