S11.E01: Something's Coming

[AnimeMania]

Mysterious deaths and disappearances ramp up in the city. A doctor makes a frightening discovery, and a local reporter becomes tomorrow's headline. 

Original Air Date: October 19, 2022     FXX    10 pm    

[SunnyBeBe]

I’m really curious as to why this isn’t more popular.  I haven’t watched in ages, but thought a lot of people did.  

[peridot]

In the beginning, it seemed like the pilot was closeted.  Wouldn't it be risky to dress like that where his coworkers could see him?

I don't know why, but all the nighttime scenes filled me with dread.  The scene at the tunnel freaked me out.

I really liked this episode.  I better enjoy this feeling before it inevitably goes downhill.

[LoveLeigh]

I am surprised that gay NYC in the early 1980s is the theme of the new season. The Ramrod or a similar gay bar, golden showers, cruising the piers, the gay bath houses, rough trade, handkerchief signals, gay men in the closet.... and inserting the beginning of AIDS into the mix certainly will be a scary season. A serial killer who targets gay men... this looks like a real horror story. 

ETA: and oh, Robin Byrd's old show on Manhattan Cable tv right before Al Goldstein's Midnight Blue... they got it right. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by LoveLeigh

[Anela]

3 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I’m really curious as to why this isn’t more popular.  I haven’t watched in ages, but thought a lot of people did.  

I have to wait until it shows up on Hulu.

For the most part, I don't enjoy it, when it goes off the rails, so I'm also seeing what other people think, before watching. 

[SunnyBeBe]

3 hours ago, Anela said:

I have to wait until it shows up on Hulu.

For the most part, I don't enjoy it, when it goes off the rails, so I'm also seeing what other people think, before watching. 

Yeah.  It might be too dark for me.  I’ll give it a shot. 

[Redrum]

3 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Yeah.  It might be too dark for me.  I’ll give it a shot. 

Sunny, have you seen the other seasons? Some are better than others.

[iMonrey]

So far so good. Although I wish Ryan Murphy would stop trying to make Billie Lourd happen. She is without a doubt the worst actress I have ever seen. Aside from her they seem to have a really good cast this season. 

[hatchetgirl]

So will this season have any paranormal element or is it going to just be serial killer extravaganza, because the latter does not interest me?

[SunnyBeBe]

9 hours ago, Redrum said:

Sunny, have you seen the other seasons? Some are better than others.

A few.  I watched Murder House, Coven, Roanoke, and Asylum….maybe parts of others.   

Edited October 21, 2022 by SunnyBeBe

[Mr. Sparkle]

21 hours ago, peridot said:

I really liked this episode.  I better enjoy this feeling before it inevitably goes downhill.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I found this episode compelling and watchable and I want to see where they're going with this. In 5 episodes I'll be asking what happened to that character we haven't seen in 3 weeks and why they took that weird left turn with zombies or something like that. 

2 hours ago, hatchetgirl said:

So will this season have any paranormal element or is it going to just be serial killer extravaganza, because the latter does not interest me?

I really hope they go paranormal. Maybe mask guy is a ghost or something. 

[Dobian]

Wow, given this show's history, New York in 1981 they could have pulled out every stereotype in the book and gone full-on Village People.  Instead, this was probably the least campy AHS episode ever made.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Dobian

[gesundheit]

16 hours ago, iMonrey said:

So far so good. Although I wish Ryan Murphy would stop trying to make Billie Lourd happen. She is without a doubt the worst actress I have ever seen. Aside from her they seem to have a really good cast this season. 

It's such a bummer -- the first couple times I saw her in something I was really excited, but it turned out she just fit those parts perfectly with the Just One Thing she does. And wow does that Just One Thing not work for most roles, especially this one. (Okay, and the ten prior.) This episode just deflates whenever it shifts to her.

[TexasGal]

1 hour ago, gesundheit said:

It's such a bummer -- the first couple times I saw her in something I was really excited, but it turned out she just fit those parts perfectly with the Just One Thing she does. And wow does that Just One Thing not work for most roles, especially this one. (Okay, and the ten prior.) This episode just deflates whenever it shifts to her.

She's REALLY not the one to play the ahead of her time super concerned doctor and researcher.

I don't think I've ever heard Russell Tovey do an American accent.  I've seen him in plenty of British things and it really threw me to hear his voice this time!

[Avaleigh]

Definitely an improvement over last season. I honestly wasn't looking forward to this season because last season was so boring but this season has grabbed me. So far so good. 

I wonder if the Denis O'Hare character is involved with Zach Quinto's character?

[Cinnabon]

On 10/20/2022 at 6:54 PM, hatchetgirl said:

So will this season have any paranormal element or is it going to just be serial killer extravaganza, because the latter does not interest me?

I’m the opposite, lol. I hate supernatural BS.

[Glade]

On 10/20/2022 at 4:46 PM, Dobian said:

Wow, given this show's history, New York in 1981 they could have pulled out every stereotype in the book...

I disagree, they did pull out every stereotype in the book when it comes to the gay culture of hyper-masculunity, leather, bathhouses, bodybuilders, cruising, shitty relationships occurring between primarily a bunch of middle-aged middle class cis white men and of course occurring in NYC.   I find it amusing that even when depicting 1981 Murphy is still putting all the attention on 50-something gen X men (though to be fair, he had some 50-something gen X lesbians storm the press office too, since there weren't any young people in 1981.) I found this mind-numbingly terrible and cliche, something that has been done to death already, especially by Murphy himself.  His work is so played out and over-saturated I can't stand any more of it.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Glade

[LoveLeigh]

On 10/20/2022 at 10:46 PM, Dobian said:

 Instead, this was probably the least campy AHS episode ever made.

This si totally not campy. it seems like a thriller, not a horror show.

[Cinnabon]

1 hour ago, LoveLeigh said:

This si totally not campy. it seems like a thriller, not a horror show.

It’s still somewhat campy, imo. But so far it’s my favorite season in many years .

[Chaos Theory]

I have been busy but I have this on my DVR and Ryan Murphy is my guy so I usually enjoy his stuff and finally got a chance to watch chapter 1.   The idea of a serial killer targeting gay men during the emergence of the AIDS epidemic and a time when gays where further down the food chain then prostitutes makes for a real life horror story.  I only hope that RM avoids adding aliens, dragons or the like because with the setup up the season doesn’t need it.    I like the reporter dude and hope he’s ok but it was really dumb of him to drink whatever it is that he drank at the bar.  And the young guy who is chasing down his friend are the two characters I am hoping out for.

[Starchild]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

I like the reporter dude and hope he’s ok but it was really dumb of him to drink whatever it is that he drank at the bar

But he drank something the bartender mixed and brought over, no? Wouldn't we all do that?

How many of us would suspect that the man we're interviewing had some prearranged signal with the bartender to mix a drugged cocktail?

[tennisgurl]

This was a good start, I was surprised at how dark and intense this was. I was fully expecting a Ryan Murphy camp-a-palooza, being set in the gay community in early 80s New York, but this felt more like a pure thriller. The scenes with the possible killer out in the park at night were creepier than almost any of the bloody messy sequences we normally get in this show. We also have a solid cast, decent mix of new comers and AHS regulars, even if that means we have more of Billie Lourd, who Ryan Murphy so desperately wants to make happen. She's fine as a supporting character but I fear that she's going to be a big part of this deer plot. 

I'm going to enjoy this creepy more down to earth season for now before everything goes off the rails by the end of the season. 

[hatchetgirl]

On 10/21/2022 at 8:51 PM, Cinnabon said:

I’m the opposite, lol. I hate supernatural BS.

I get it - different strokes and all.  :)  I just think every season has had paranormal stuff - but I didn't watch Cult or the Camp one.   Did they have any paranormal element?  

[Redrum]

Cult didn't ( its a secret favorite of mine) and by Camp I assume you mean the 1980s one and gosh it sure did get supernatural big time.

[LoveLeigh]

On 10/22/2022 at 2:49 AM, Glade said:

I disagree, they did pull out every stereotype in the book when it comes to the gay culture of hyper-masculunity, leather, bathhouses, bodybuilders, cruising, shitty relationships occurring between primarily a bunch of middle-aged middle class cis white men and of course occurring in NYC.   I find it amusing that even when depicting 1981 Murphy is still putting all the attention on 50-something gen X men (though to be fair, he had some 50-something gen X lesbians storm the press office too, since there weren't any young people in 1981.) I found this mind-numbingly terrible and cliche, something that has been done to death already, especially by Murphy himself.  His work is so played out and over-saturated I can't stand any more of it.

But it was a cliche environment. I know it was. I lived right in the middle of all those stereotypes. He managed to get it right and show it all as it was. It was so real in terms of the cruising and leather and bath houses it was almost like a documentary filmed in the Village and not a movie. Until you hear a gay guy call another gay guy "Mary" or "Nellie" or have gone to a drag show at Les Mouches you have not internalized that world. 

Edited October 25, 2022 by LoveLeigh

[Bali]

Mmm okay. It is more realistic than some seasons. I know it won't last. 

But- they FINALLY let Patti Lupone sing. If she keeps singing, I'll keep watching.

[giovannif7]

2 hours ago, Bali said:

Mmm okay. It is more realistic than some seasons. I know it won't last. 

But- they FINALLY let Patti Lupone sing. If she keeps singing, I'll keep watching.

I agree - her numbers were highlights, especially her take on Peggy Lee's hit Fever. I'll forgive them for using Calling You from Baghdad Cafe, as the song's atmospheric tone is great as a mood-setter - even if this season is set in the early 80s, years before the film's 1987 release date. I also appreciated the inclusion of an instrumental version of the theme from Making Love in the piano bar scene. Bravo to the music coordinator!

[Bali]

15 hours ago, giovannif7 said:

I agree - her numbers were highlights, especially her take on Peggy Lee's hit Fever. I'll forgive them for using Calling You from Baghdad Cafe, as the song's atmospheric tone is great as a mood-setter - even if this season is set in the early 80s, years before the film's 1987 release date. I also appreciated the inclusion of an instrumental version of the theme from Making Love in the piano bar scene. Bravo to the music coordinator!

And then, there were her hats. Those were some uhm unusual choices.