S11.E10: Requiem 1981/1987 - Part Two

[AnimeMania]

(Season Finale)

Grief and peril dominate Gino. The discovery of a tragedy becomes a revelation for Adam.

Original Air Date: November 16, 2022     FXX    11 pm 

[Lily H]

Best season ever.

[txhorns79]

So this season essentially was Dahmer meets The Normal Heart by way of Angels in America.  I didn't love it.  It was a little all over the place in terms of tone, and there was not much development of the characters outside of Adam, Gino and Patrick.          

[jade.black]

I was bored through most of this season, but I'm glad I pushed through to see these final two episodes. That was really affecting.

[rhofmovalley]

That was powerful, especially the very last episode. It's not usually what I tune in to AHS to see but I can't deny it got to me. 

I really wanted Gino to somehow survive. Watching that last sequence, seeing him gradually fade away...that was wow and not in a good way but also in a good way, if that makes sense. The loving way he cared for Patrick while he was dying. Jeez. Gut punch.

My question, if Adam gave AIDS to what's her name (Billie Lourd's character), why is he the last one still alive? And other than some lesions did he have any symptoms?

[madhacker]

56 minutes ago, rhofmovalley said:

My question, if Adam gave AIDS to what's her name (Billie Lourd's character), why is he the last one still alive?

That and HOW did she get it from him? Did I miss the part where the 2 of them had sex? Did she get blood from him in her system somehow? Inquiring minds want to know.....

[luckyroll3]

6 minutes ago, madhacker said:

That and HOW did she get it from him? Did I miss the part where the 2 of them had sex? Did she get blood from him in her system somehow? Inquiring minds want to know.....

In one of her recordings she said that she inseminated herself with Adam's sperm using a turkey baster and that helped her to determine that the disease was most likely sexually transmitted. 

This season was not for me. I prefer my horror a little less real. But damn if I didn't cry through this whole season and sob my way  through these last 2 episodes. I was regretting watching this before work this morning. Really heartbreaking and powerful.

[iMonrey]

I'm of two minds about the season as a whole. I appreciate the attempt at doing something different than the previous ten seasons, and the casting was excellent. It certainly wasn't the worst season they've ever done. I'm just not sure it was the best either. Some of it was effective but some of it didn't really work for me.

This last episode did not work for me. First of all it was only 50 minutes long and 30 of them were commercials. I am not exaggerating. I sped thru the commercials and finished it in about 22 minutes. The last half seemed like an overly long music video. I thought a lot of the fantasy/dreamscape parts that made up these last two episodes were pretentious and indulgent.

That said, the season was an acting tour de force by Zachary Quinto, Russell Tovey, and Joe Mantello. I'd say they have pretty good Emmy reels but I have sincere doubts the Emmys have any love for this show anymore. Can't say as I blame them after the last few dreadful seasons.

[Madding crowd]

I thought they should have ended on the last episode, part one. It was sad and very well done. This one did seem a bit like a music video and the figures with masks falling into the graves was not really needed to emphasize the horror of so many dying. 

[Faceplant]

Was there any point to Sandra Bernhard's character? I feel like I missed something maybe, but it has been more of a background show. 

[txhorns79]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

This last episode did not work for me. First of all it was only 50 minutes long and 30 of them were commercials. I am not exaggerating. I sped thru the commercials and finished it in about 22 minutes. The last half seemed like an overly long music video. I thought a lot of the fantasy/dreamscape parts that made up these last two episodes were pretentious and indulgent.

I kept thinking, Pose managed to do similar storylines in what I thought was a superior fashion, along with better working Sandra Bernhard into the plot.   

[Mr. Sparkle]

8 hours ago, Faceplant said:

Was there any point to Sandra Bernhard's character? I feel like I missed something maybe, but it has been more of a background show. 

I was thinking the same thing. Same with Patti LuPone, although I liked her character. 

[rhofmovalley]

My theory is the producers didn't want an all male cast. So they kind of squeezed a few women in.

[FierceCritter]

I actually hadn't realized these were the last 2 episodes. Somehow, they left me feeling like something more was coming.

I thought the previous 2 episodes were bad when it came to dialogue. The acting seemed oddly melodramatic. I'm going to blame that on the writers. But it left me a bit worried the following episodes would be the usual weird sew-up.

I didn't dislike these episodes. I think I'll have to re-watch to see if I get a better sense of finale.

[BingeyKohan]

5 hours ago, rhofmovalley said:

My theory is the producers didn't want an all male cast. So they kind of squeezed a few women in.

So true. Billie Lourd’s character didn’t really *need* to be a woman let alone pregnant, I guess they just wanted a unique way for her to have become infected? 

[sashayshante]

10 hours ago, tpwilder said:

Was there some significance to casting Patti LuPone?

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+.

Edited November 19, 2022 by sashayshante

[Terrafamilia]

But what happened to the baby?

[yourdreamer]

I thought she was still pregnant (7 months along?)

[txhorns79]

58 minutes ago, Terrafamilia said:

But what happened to the baby?

The implication was that she had been dead a while when she was found, so I would presume the baby was lost.

13 hours ago, tpwilder said:

Was there some significance to casting Patti LuPone? I admit to being not familar but aside from seeing a lot of theater stuff in her bio, I didn't see any huge red flag for "AND THIS IS WHY WE CAST HER"

I would guess it was because she's done other Ryan Murphy projects, he likes her and she was available.  He has a pretty regular stable of actors who appear again and again in his various series. 

[Mattipoo]

This was totally not what I expected, but I find the entire episode to be strangely poignant and surreal. Gino dying at the end really got to me. I really like the 2 central characters Gino and Patrick this season and it was nice that Gino got to live happily ever after with Patrick in the afterlife. I wish they had tied up all the loose ends better but this ending is not nearly as bad as those from the last season, specifically the "Red Tide" one.

[rhofmovalley]

The scene with man after man falling into the open grave really spoke to me.  I think people who were born after the worst of the AIDS crisis was over don't realize how very many gay men were dying and how much they were being ignored and disregarded simply because they were gay.  The disease didn't really get much attention until Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive.  Then suddenly people realized it wasn't just a "gay thing".  Which was awful, because it proved much of the world didn't care if gay men died.  And those of us who were or were about to be at the sexually active part of our lives were terrified to even kiss someone because you couldn't tell by looking at someone if they were infected.  You were literally taking a risk of dying if you chose to have sex.  

Even though it wasn't what I normally expect from an AHS season, I did find it compelling.  And for the most part the acting was excellent IMO.

[SunnyBeBe]

Was the Patti LaPone character transgender woman or a female lounge singer?  Hope I worded that correctly.  

[Cinnabon]

On 11/17/2022 at 2:09 AM, Lily H said:

Best season ever.

Definitely the most truly horrifying. Bravo, Ryan Murphy.

[Dobian]

So the final episode was mainly montage, music video, and metaphor.  It was also ten minutes shorter than the usual episode.  They really didn't have any story left to sustain a final episode.  There was no big reveal coming, no showdown with a Big Bad, no plot threads to resolve.  It was alright as an epilogue and a social commentary.  But they really could have simply added fifteen minutes to the previous episode and wrapped it up there.  That's what happens when you have an episode commitment to make and not enough material to fill the last episode.  The final scene in the previous episode with Patrick's death to me was the finale.  I applaud Murphy's effort this season.  It was very earnest and heartfelt.  As a miniseries about the destruction caused by AIDs it was terrific.  But as a horror story it didn't really work for me.

[iMonrey]

Quote

On the other hand, it wasn't a very good season of American Horror Story, if that makes any sense. Yes, AIDS was an American horror show of the nth power, but I don't watch this show for grim realities like say, the AIDS epidemic

Cult had a similar problem. NYC was much better in terms of acting and story.

[Mr. Sparkle]

16 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Cult had a similar problem. NYC was much better in terms of acting and story.

Cult started out strong and then took way too many strange left turns. I was waiting for NYC to do that, but they stayed mostly to the main plot. 

The guy who played Gino was fantastic in this. 

[Hedgehog2022]

I applaud the writers and producers for putting this season's AHS out there...anyone who lived in NYC in the 80's knows the terror the HIV/AIDS cast over the city at that time. Having said that...I thought it was not well put together and the writing seemed sloppy. The acting was spot on...particularly Joe Mangello and Zachary Quinto. 

[Starchild]

Unlike other seasons, AIDS in the 80s was not just an urban legend, though it may seem mythic to later generations.

I don't think Murphy could have conceived of anything more horrifying than what really happened. In that respect, this really was a horror story.

If you take away words and just have emotions left, this last episode must have been what it felt like to be a gay man in NYC in the 80s.

NYC takes its place with Asylum and Hotel as one of my favourites.

[paul4295]

Just finished watching this.  I think I saw the first season of AHS, but have not really watched since.  I was interested in this season because I grew up in NYC and went to college in the East Village in the 80s, so I had a front row seat for a lot of this.  (I also had a cousin who died of AIDS in 1986.)  I found it mostly interesting, but the whole Big Daddy thing just took me out of the story too much.  I kind of got the idea that he wasn't supposed to be real, but then when he appeared in scenes with multiple characters (like when Patrick shot him, and when he was menacing the lesbians), it didn't make any sense.  Were they all supposed to be having the same hallucination?  I kept wondering if other things were supposed to be real or not.  The ending didn't elicit much emotion from me, because I was just never that connected to the characters.  I did think the acting was mostly good, though.