S05.E08: The Ten Commandments Killer

[Tara Ariano]

John closes in on the Ten Commandments Killer and Sally details her arrangement with March.

[GoneGirl]

Wow, just wow.....

[toodywoody]

Wow. That hour flew by for me.

So where are Valentino and his wife? Liked not having the Countess hog the episode.

[dizzyd]

I like when everything falls into place. Good episode. Evan Peters is awesome.

Edited December 3, 2015 by dizzyd

[GoneGirl]

This episode was amazing! Loved March, and not having the Countess hogging the limelight. Wonder when we will see Valantino and Natasha again?

[Chaos Theory]

Well that might have been my favorite episode of the season.

 

As always March and Evers were fantastic.  Evan Peters has never been better.  

 

I loved seeing John's backstory and how it intersected with what we already knew.  Plus I already had a soft spot for the Sally/John relationship.  Now I down right love it.     John "Then along came Sally; a bottomless pit of need."     From start to finish I loved the Sally/John scenes from Sally's "It's you John.  It's always been you." to end when she pointed out that kill his wife and his partner wasn't exactly smart.

 

Also of note  Iris's line at the end ris:  "Are we ever ready to see ourselves for what we are?"

Edited December 3, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[ShadowHunter]

This was a good episode the hour flew by and everything connected and made sense. Evan Peters is just a blast to watch this season.

 

I loved the hug between March and John at the end lol. Props to March for calling a Gaga a "perverted animal".  I also got a kick out of John "You had coffee with my wife" lol.

 

Grateful to see less Gaga this episode. I feel Donovan brought John to James because it was the night he knew she was with James. Other then that Donovan did nothing lol.

 

Miss Evers was a delight as always. She wonders about sparkles and laundry haha.

[SteveAC10]

I'm flabbergasted!  This is about the point the last couple of AHS runs have descended into a miasma of plot-less style and camp. How dare they try to make the preceding weeks of this season make some sense?

 

 

Seriously. even if it's more than a little predictable, it's a vast improvement on the last two seasons (fun as they were).

Edited December 3, 2015 by SteveAC10

[Straycat80]

Awesome episode. I think most of us called it that John was the serial killer. I liked how they tied all of it in with the past and present events. Great acting by Evan and the guy who plays John ( I'm tired and can't think of his name, sorry). Kudos to Sarah Paulsen too.

This season has been has better than I thought it would be. Very happy about that.

[morgankobi]

This episode was amazing! Loved March, and not having the Countess hogging the limelight. Wonder when we will see Valantino and Natasha again?

 

Likely the same time we see all the vampire kids from the school. (Possibly never.)

Edited December 3, 2015 by morgankobi

[fuzzysneakers]

I did enjoy the episode even though I had already guessed that John was the killer. What I didn't expect was that March keeps Drildo away and that he is something that was conjured up by Sally. It was sort of a throw away line, but now I want to know exactly what that thing is and where it came from. What's the deal with that thing? He's kinda like a forgotten little brother of the Cenobites from Hellraiser. I can hear Pinhead now. .."Uh, who's that guy? Oh, don't pay any attention to him, he's my perverted little brother Drildo, who's visiting from LA. He's a total pain in the ass, just ignore him. Now, where are you hiding my puzzle box thingy?"

And, as always, I love March. Evan Peters is so much fun as this character. I also want to say I kinda got the feels when John noticed Kathy Bates's character. The look of happiness that someone actually noticed her and knew her name mixed with the relief of not having to carry on the charade anymore was perfectly expressed in her face.Well done Ms. Bates.

Oh, one more thing...Now that John and Hypodermic Sally are officially a couple, can we call them 10cc?

Edited December 3, 2015 by fuzzysneakers

[Spacecow]

Maybe it's because this show comes on so late, or because we had a week with no episode and I forgot where things left off but I had a really hard time following this episode. Was that Donovan who brought John to March and the Countess? I thought he hated her? I figured John was going to be the killer but did they explain why he was suddenly remembering all the stuff he'd done? Everything jumped around a lot. I may have to rewatch this one after I get some sleep because I have no idea what's happening.

[marsha]

I found this episode positively interminable. I mean, I figured John was the serial killer but the way it was shown (the how/why it happened) seemed just ... I don't know, I want to say 'stupid' but it's not quite what I mean. Listen, not that I'd have a better idea on how to move the story forward and towards some sort of conclusion at this point but ... I guess I was just disappointed .

 

Evan Peters really is wonderful as March, though, and I hope his work gets, at the very least, an Emmy nomination (Mare Winningham, too).  

[tom87]

Maybe it's because this show comes on so late, or because we had a week with no episode and I forgot where things left off but I had a really hard time following this episode. Was that Donovan who brought John to March and the Countess? I thought he hated her? I figured John was going to be the killer but did they explain why he was suddenly remembering all the stuff he'd done? Everything jumped around a lot. I may have to rewatch this one after I get some sleep because I have no idea what's happening.

Donavon brought John to the Countess and March 5 years ago when he first stumbled into the Hotel Cortez.  Donavon and the Countess were tgether then.

[BaseOps]

I loved that they didn't draw out the reveal, and while I think Wes Bentley is the weak link in the cast I quite liked this episode. The flashbacks worked well, and despite being obvious I thought they pulled the reveal off well. I love that the loose ends are tying together, and I hope they're able to tie Ramona and Donovan into everything more next week.

 

After a good episode for her acting, I thought Gaga was sort of stiff here. Even, and I hate to say this, Iris was a bit stiff in her last scene. I hope she gets some meaty story and a good payoff. Evan Peters was easily the standout, and he's certainly my favourite part of the season. I also loved Evers line about not being sure how to launder the countesses glittery outfit. 

 

Overall, I'm just glad that there's at least one central story that sort of ties everyone together. It's loose, sure, but it's there. And now we have very clear directives for (almost) every character going forward: The Countess to marry Drake and get his money, Donovan / Ramona to get revenge on The Countess, March to complete his killings, and John to carry those killings out. 

 

Still up in the air: 

- Valentino and Natasha 

- All the infected kids

- John and Alex's daughter (lol) 

Edited December 3, 2015 by BaseOps

[Sakura12]

I knew John was the killer and figured they were going with a Shutter Island thing, but I was still drawn into this episode. I'm glad this show has gone back to telling a story instead of just being a mess of nothing happening. 

 

I loved Iris' Thank God, reaction to John, it probably was exhausting having to pretend with him for 5 years never knowing if they were getting clueless John or killer John.  

 

Evan Peters is still great as Marsh and being a Serial Killer Life Coach.

 

So I'm confused was Alex having an affair with John's partner? That wasn't really clarified. 

Edited December 3, 2015 by Sakura12

[Avaleigh]

I'm glad they gave us the reveal since many of us were convinced that John was the killer during the Halloween episode. I want there to be more twists down the road.

When they were discussing how to get to John saying that they can use his children it made me think that Alex will end up helping Scarlett. Not so much out of maternal love but more because she won't want Scarlett around for eternity to mess up her unhealthy obsession with Holden.

I'm still unclear as to how Donovan knew that March would be amused by John.

Why did the vampire girl die? I thought they were immortal within reason. That seemed like something she could have healed from given how solid her body appeared to be. It's not like they function like normal people.

Drilldo being part of Sally--how does she have that power to begin with?

I too would like to know what Valentino and Natascha are up to. Same with the vamp kids.

 So I'm confused was Alex having an affair with John's partner? That wasn't really clarified.

I don't believe for a moment that Alex was having an affair. It was all in John's mind because he was just unstable and crazy. Like Jake LaMotta asking his brother if he fucked his wife. They had coffee because both were worried about Jon. It was as innocent as the Gwyneth Paltrow character in Seven having coffee with the Morgan Freeman character only John's partner was better looking than Morgan Freeman. Truthfully though he probably would have found some other reason to kill the partner since he was closing in. It's crazy that John managed to hang on to his job for as long as he did.

[Chaos Theory]

This is definitely shaping up to be a version of AHS I will want to watch again in binge mode. (Along with murder house and asylum).

[Primetimer]

It makes Evan Peters work twice as hard. Fortunately, he's up for it.

Read the story

[basil]

Why did the vampire girl die? I thought they were immortal within reason. That seemed like something she could have healed from given how solid her body appeared to be. It's not like they function like normal people

 

 

 

After the Countess turned Tristan, he asked her if they could be killed. She responded in the affirmative and in fact, even killed him later by merely slitting his throat.

 

So I'm confused was Alex having an affair with John's partner? That wasn't really clarified.

 

 

It wasn't clear, I would have said "no" right up until Hagh said "You didn't deserve Alex" just before the fatal blow makes me wonder. 

[ClareWalks]

Yeah, when they say "immortal," it basically means they don't age and don't get sick. They can still be killed through violence, blunt force trauma, etc.

 

Great episode. Evan Peters was doing some Emmy-nominee-worthy shit. 

[Tara Ariano]

So I'm confused was Alex having an affair with John's partner? That wasn't really clarified.

 

I don't think even Lowe thought Hahn was having an affair with Alex given that Hahn was the victim for "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife." To me, that reads that Lowe just thought Hahn wanted to sleep with her, and that was sin enough.

[MeloraH]

I don't know if this has been better than the other episodes this season but it was definitely the most coherent (a low bar). I think the Countess is a good prediction and I feel like maybe he'll kill himself for Thou Shall Not Kill. I also can't believe there are five episodes left.

[RazzleberryPie]

I'm in the minority again, but I thought this episode was so boring. It seemed to me like the writers were trying to retroactively tie up a lot of loose ends and explain a few plot holes, but that's about it. It reminded me of some of the old Sherlock Homes type plots, where there's suddenly a bunch of info that only the detective knew, and was just added in, just for the purpose of closing holes. Big ole YAWN.

 

Like they started off with the whole 10 Commandments Killer, Sally, Evil Countess, etc, then forgot about it, and are now circling back.

 

Then next week's preview - oh, yeah, totally forgot the Countess is evil and not campy, and that Angela Bassett is somewhere in a Diana Ross wig plotting something. Just messy, but thankfully not literally blood bath messy. These are not eco-friendly, waste not/want not vampires.

[basil]

I don't think even Lowe thought Hahn was having an affair with Alex given that Hahn was the victim for "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife." To me, that reads that Lowe just thought Hahn wanted to sleep with her, and that was sin enough.

 

 

That's a good point, but then taking his penis seems excessive - on the other hand, Lowe is finally entering the completely batshit crazy mode, so who the hell knows?

 

I think the Countess is a good prediction and I feel like maybe he'll kill himself for Thou Shall Not Kill.

 

 

I'm betting he tops himself. It seems so obvious that I'm probably wrong, though.

 

Loved Liz showing her vicious side and threatening to cut John's throat in his sleep.

 

It seemed to me like the writers were trying to retroactively tie up a lot of loose ends and explain a few plot holes, but that's about it. It reminded me of some of the old Sherlock Homes type plots, where there's suddenly a bunch of info that only the detective knew, and was just added in, just for the purpose of closing holes.

 

 

Are you sure you're not thinking of Miss Marple? ;) We usually were given all the clues that Sherlock had - in canon, anyway.

[WhosThatGirl]

Eh, I mean, I kind of figured John was the killer, so kind of a "not reveal" episode for me. So, I guess we are never going to find out what happened with those vampire school kids are we?

Edited December 3, 2015 by WhosThatGirl

[caracas1914]

While I think Wes has done a fine job as John, the problem was the character was shown as so fucked up and tortured from the get go that there is impact to his revulsion at being the 10 commandment killer.

His story just doesn't hold my interest.

[TheGreenKnight]

Yeah, this episode was a waste because everyone already figured it out. They should’ve only given the reveal half the episode.

Edited December 4, 2015 by TheGreenKnight

[WhosThatGirl]

I think they maybe thought everyone wanted to see the backstory on it, which I don't think anyone cared all that much. At least I didn't.

[ferretrick]

I don't think even Lowe thought Hahn was having an affair with Alex given that Hahn was the victim for "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife." To me, that reads that Lowe just thought Hahn wanted to sleep with her, and that was sin enough.

I agree with this, and further, I don't think that part was in Lowe's imagination. I think Hahn was interested in Alex, and Alex didn't reciprocate. Just because Lowe's a paranoid schizophrenic serial killer doesn't mean his partner isn't out to get him.

[Bruinsfan]

Yeah, she barely had any time or concern for Holden's father and sister, it's a sure bet the partner never showed up on her radar except when talking about John.

 

Loved Liz showing her vicious side and threatening to cut John's throat in his sleep.

Girlfriend still has some stones on her, to be threatening a serial killer with a split personality who's also March's protege. At this point I wouldn't want to be the person who buys the last blueberry donut just before he has a chance to in case that would trigger a psychotic break and end up with my stomach in a display case.

[Valny]

I'm in the minority again, but I thought this episode was so boring. It seemed to me like the writers were trying to retroactively tie up a lot of loose ends and explain a few plot holes, but that's about it. It reminded me of some of the old Sherlock Homes type plots, where there's suddenly a bunch of info that only the detective knew, and was just added in, just for the purpose of closing holes. Big ole YAWN.

 

Like they started off with the whole 10 Commandments Killer, Sally, Evil Countess, etc, then forgot about it, and are now circling back.

 

I didn't love this ep either, so I'm in the minority too. I don't know, I just never felt any interest in the whole Ten Commandments Killer case...I think mainly because I was never invested in the John character, I'd usually zone out when he was in any scenes and these killings were almost an afterthought, and to me, it never was really in the forefront of all the many storylines going on. Things like, who was the Rubber Man from S1 or who was Bloody Face in S2 was way more interesting to me.

 

So this one and the last ep which was Countess-centric,have be my least favorites.  At least the promo for American Crime Story:The People vs OJ Simpson promo looked pretty interesting!

Edited December 6, 2015 by Valny

[Consternation]

Why did the vampire girl die? I thought they were immortal within reason. That seemed like something she could have healed from given how solid her body appeared to be. It's not like they function like normal people.

I'm still not sure she did.  I was waiting for her to jump up off the slab the whole time.  When the medics checked her, she would have been ambient temperature with no vital signs. 

[Snookums]

I figured John was going to be the killer but did they explain why he was suddenly remembering all the stuff he'd done?

 

 

No? Yes? Hell, who knows anymore. I don't get how John's psychotic break/alcoholic blackout/schizophrenia is totally at March's beck and call. Sally told him why he couldn't remember anything outside the Cortez; okay, that makes as much sense as anything else on this morass of a show. But why couldn't he remember knowing March for five years when he checked in in 2015??? Like, when he was (re) hooking up with Sally the Pit of Bottomless Need who apparently was fine with him not remembering who she is, or during the Serial Killer Dinner Party, where March, who at that point had been mentoring him since 2010, was treating the situation like it was the first time they'd met? Why? What the hell? 

 

I mean, it's not Wes Bentley's fault that he's saddled with this unplayable one-note sputtering reedless oboe of a character-- anybody who can't find an open bar in downtown Los Angeles is hopeless from the get--but I never got a vibe from him or March that they cared at all about why they were committing the murders. March gleefully and cheerfully slaughtered anybody and everybody he could get his hands on. He was impossible to profile. He didn't care what sex, race, age, ethnicity or religion his victims were in the slightest, he simply adored murder the way a ten year old girl adores ponies--so why did he decide on a framing device at all, let alone The Ten Commandments? 

 

John, meanwhile, while clearly a giant depressive blob of psych eval badness, certainly never manifested the kind of rage (despite March's insistence otherwise) that could lead to suddenly becoming a serial killer in his late thirties/early forties with absolutely no flags or precondtions. The scene he came from, the dad killing himself when he found his family accidentally asphyxiated? That was horrible and sad, but it made him want to get stinking drunk and sit around crying, not run out to slaughter with no selectivity. NONE of this stuff lined up, chronologically or otherwise, and having Mare Winningham/Kathy Bates on for thirty seconds each to act rings around everybody wasn't enough to save it. 

[Surrealist]

No? Yes? Hell, who knows anymore. I don't get how John's psychotic break/alcoholic blackout/schizophrenia is totally at March's beck and call. Sally told him why he couldn't remember anything outside the Cortez; okay, that makes as much sense as anything else on this morass of a show. But why couldn't he remember knowing March for five years when he checked in in 2015??? Like, when he was (re) hooking up with Sally the Pit of Bottomless Need who apparently was fine with him not remembering who she is, or during the Serial Killer Dinner Party, where March, who at that point had been mentoring him since 2010, was treating the situation like it was the first time they'd met? Why? What the hell? 

 

I mean, it's not Wes Bentley's fault that he's saddled with this unplayable one-note sputtering reedless oboe of a character-- anybody who can't find an open bar in downtown Los Angeles is hopeless from the get--but I never got a vibe from him or March that they cared at all about why they were committing the murders. March gleefully and cheerfully slaughtered anybody and everybody he could get his hands on. He was impossible to profile. He didn't care what sex, race, age, ethnicity or religion his victims were in the slightest, he simply adored murder the way a ten year old girl adores ponies--so why did he decide on a framing device at all, let alone The Ten Commandments? 

 

John, meanwhile, while clearly a giant depressive blob of psych eval badness, certainly never manifested the kind of rage (despite March's insistence otherwise) that could lead to suddenly becoming a serial killer in his late thirties/early forties with absolutely no flags or precondtions. The scene he came from, the dad killing himself when he found his family accidentally asphyxiated? That was horrible and sad, but it made him want to get stinking drunk and sit around crying, not run out to slaughter with no selectivity. NONE of this stuff lined up, chronologically or otherwise, and having Mare Winningham/Kathy Bates on for thirty seconds each to act rings around everybody wasn't enough to save it.

 

I agree with everything you said. I'm guessing most viewers figured out that John was going to be the killer, but I can't help feeling that I wish it hadn't been so obvious. As in choosing John to be the murderer was a bit of a cop out. I thought Evan Peters ruled this episode, but the backstory left me feeling "meh" about the reveal. A case of Ryan Murphy quickly trying to tie together all of the details.

 

As I've been saying this entire time, Scarlett is the only decent character left and I hope she doesn't die or get turned. Hahn wasn't an evil character either and I was disappointed that John killed him.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Surrealist

[queenanne]

n/m, story comprehension problems

Edited December 4, 2015 by queenanne

[morgankobi]

I don't believe for a moment that Alex was having an affair. It was all in John's mind because he was just unstable and crazy. Like Jake LaMotta asking his brother if he fucked his wife. They had coffee because both were worried about Jon. It was as innocent as the Gwyneth Paltrow character in Seven having coffee with the Morgan Freeman character only John's partner was better looking than Morgan Freeman. Truthfully though he probably would have found some other reason to kill the partner since he was closing in. It's crazy that John managed to hang on to his job for as long as he did.

I immediately thought of that scene while watching this episode.

 

I don't think even Lowe thought Hahn was having an affair with Alex given that Hahn was the victim for "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife." To me, that reads that Lowe just thought Hahn wanted to sleep with her, and that was sin enough.

It would have been funnier if John's second "You had coffee with my wife?" line (which was, to me, unintentionally hilarious anyway) was more of a putting-the-pieces-together-tone because it seemed he didn't know about that and had just discovered he had a "reason" to kill his partner that fit with the Ten Commandments-yay! It seems he only kills within theme, so unless the tablet was mis-read and "Thou Shall Not Caffeinate Thy Neighbor's Wife" was the actual commandment, John was about to be screwed.

Edited December 4, 2015 by morgankobi

[Disraeli Ears]

No? Yes? Hell, who knows anymore. I don't get how John's psychotic break/alcoholic blackout/schizophrenia is totally at March's beck and call. Sally told him why he couldn't remember anything outside the Cortez; okay, that makes as much sense as anything else on this morass of a show. But why couldn't he remember knowing March for five years when he checked in in 2015??? Like, when he was (re) hooking up with Sally the Pit of Bottomless Need who apparently was fine with him not remembering who she is, or during the Serial Killer Dinner Party, where March, who at that point had been mentoring him since 2010, was treating the situation like it was the first time they'd met? Why? What the hell? 

 

I mean, it's not Wes Bentley's fault that he's saddled with this unplayable one-note sputtering reedless oboe of a character-- anybody who can't find an open bar in downtown Los Angeles is hopeless from the get--but I never got a vibe from him or March that they cared at all about why they were committing the murders. March gleefully and cheerfully slaughtered anybody and everybody he could get his hands on. He was impossible to profile. He didn't care what sex, race, age, ethnicity or religion his victims were in the slightest, he simply adored murder the way a ten year old girl adores ponies--so why did he decide on a framing device at all, let alone The Ten Commandments? 

 

John, meanwhile, while clearly a giant depressive blob of psych eval badness, certainly never manifested the kind of rage (despite March's insistence otherwise) that could lead to suddenly becoming a serial killer in his late thirties/early forties with absolutely no flags or precondtions. The scene he came from, the dad killing himself when he found his family accidentally asphyxiated? That was horrible and sad, but it made him want to get stinking drunk and sit around crying, not run out to slaughter with no selectivity. NONE of this stuff lined up, chronologically or otherwise, and having Mare Winningham/Kathy Bates on for thirty seconds each to act rings around everybody wasn't enough to save it. 

 

Yeah, I'm pretty much on board with you on these points. I enjoyed the episode because I loved Evan Peters (who I have not been as enamored with this season as some have) - he was actually pretty great in this episode.

 

I was disappointed that John turned out to be the killer and, yeah - the whole "March's masterpiece" thing - why are those murders any more special to him than any of the others? He is just digging on doing a theme because he never did it before? Doesn't really make sense.

 

I usually watch this show when I'm walking/running on my treadmill so sometimes I mishear dialogue: I thought Miss Evers called the Countess "sparkle tits" instead of talking about laundering the "sparkly bits" of her outfit. I found the mishearing funnier. Also - what part did he cut off Hahn? I think I know, but I wasn't sure.

[Chaos Theory]

Lowe is hardly the best character in the show but I do think this was one of the better episodes of the show and I enjoyed ever minutes of it. I do think the story needed a full hour to tell. John being the killer was obvious but that wasn't the point. The point was showing how he became the killer and why he became the killer. The point was to also fill in the details we didn't know.

I personally thought the episode flew by.

[caracas1914]

Until now it seemed Lowe killed people for the sheer exhilaration and fun he got out of it. The whole "heavy" moralistic tone of the 10 commandments structure seems the antithesis of that.

This was a man who was killing homeless people before the Countess pointed out that it was more profitable to dispose of others.

[Dobian]

A very focused episode that brought a lot of things into clarity and moved the plot along nicely.  I'm really loving this season now.  Past seasons have always been very disjointed with all these different horror themes and subplots, but this season has been very successful at bringing everything together into a cohesive whole.  And I'll echo what everyone has been saying, bravo Evan Peters, I look forward to every scene that has March in it.

[toodywoody]

Morgankobi, though shall not caffienate thy neighbors wife was awesome.

[mirrorrim]

No? Yes? Hell, who knows anymore. I don't get how John's psychotic break/alcoholic blackout/schizophrenia is totally at March's beck and call. Sally told him why he couldn't remember anything outside the Cortez; okay, that makes as much sense as anything else on this morass of a show. But why couldn't he remember knowing March for five years when he checked in in 2015??? Like, when he was (re) hooking up with Sally the Pit of Bottomless Need who apparently was fine with him not remembering who she is, or during the Serial Killer Dinner Party, where March, who at that point had been mentoring him since 2010, was treating the situation like it was the first time they'd met? Why? What the hell? 

 

I mean, it's not Wes Bentley's fault that he's saddled with this unplayable one-note sputtering reedless oboe of a character-- anybody who can't find an open bar in downtown Los Angeles is hopeless from the get--but I never got a vibe from him or March that they cared at all about why they were committing the murders. March gleefully and cheerfully slaughtered anybody and everybody he could get his hands on. He was impossible to profile. He didn't care what sex, race, age, ethnicity or religion his victims were in the slightest, he simply adored murder the way a ten year old girl adores ponies--so why did he decide on a framing device at all, let alone The Ten Commandments? 

 

John, meanwhile, while clearly a giant depressive blob of psych eval badness, certainly never manifested the kind of rage (despite March's insistence otherwise) that could lead to suddenly becoming a serial killer in his late thirties/early forties with absolutely no flags or precondtions. The scene he came from, the dad killing himself when he found his family accidentally asphyxiated? That was horrible and sad, but it made him want to get stinking drunk and sit around crying, not run out to slaughter with no selectivity. NONE of this stuff lined up, chronologically or otherwise, and having Mare Winningham/Kathy Bates on for thirty seconds each to act rings around everybody wasn't enough to save it. 

 

This x1000. This episode was so bad. While all the seasons of AHS have had their hits and misses, and most people have said each season has gotten worse, I've been fine with how they turned out. THIS episode was the first time I thought "Wow, AHS really has gotten terrible." Which is super disappointing because I really loved everything leading up to it.

 

What happened to "Show, Don't Tell???" An entire hour of 2 characters explaining everything to me with no clues of any of this happening during the episodes leading up to the exposition dump. SO. BAD. An exposition dump is only entertaining when you had the clues all along, but didn't know how to put them together. This was not that. I found it especially ridiculous the pains they took to explain every detail, like the part where John explained how he drugged the adulterous couple "I found some drugs in the evidence locker of another case," WOW, thank you brilliant serial killer. Or Sally's "Let's take 10 minutes to list the Ten Commandments on each of these jars and explain why the people were killed, because they broke these commandments..." Uh, Duh. We know what they mean.

 

I felt like this episode was an "Aw crap, the network cancelled us, so let's dump everything into this episode and tie up all the loose ends." Except there are still a loose ends, ones that are MUCH more interesting, like VAMPIRE CHILDREN KILLING EVERYONE IN LA. This? I never cared about the Ten Commanments Killer. The show didn't really care about it either. Very little screen time was devoted to it. But now all of a sudden it's the climax of the story and we should all be in awe of how crazy John the amnesiac serial killer is? Sigh. So terrible.

 

Only good part was Evan Peters' acting. Disappointed he hasn't really gotten to do much besides storytelling.

[Captanne]

I like the season.  (Especially the Serial Killer Dinner.)  I like the acting (except for Gaga who has periodic amateur hours amidst otherwise acceptable acting turns).  I enjoyed this episode just fine.

 

However, I totally agree with what Snookums and mirrorrim are saying and I see the same "ram dump" of exposition about what, up until now, has been a very "less than interesting" subplot.

 

Also, while not upstaging anyone, Evan Peters and Liz Taylor (to confuse actors and characters) are totally running away with the show.

 

ETA:  Is there another Hannibal watcher here?  (I watched the entire thing.)  I have to say that when March and Lowe were gushing, "Murder is now your ART!" I cried, "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.  Didn't you see Hannibal?  Talk about Murder Art -- you guys are amateurs.  All you've got are mounting sticks and bell jars.  Hannibal used vocal chords and human necks as cellos, entire corn silos to turn various human skin tones into a gigantic eye, and bodies to form mushroom farms."

Edited December 4, 2015 by Captanne

[Dobian]

I get that the reveal of Lowe being the killer wasn't much of a reveal, but it was clarifying his connection with the hotel and the reason behind his son's kidnapping that was important.  I didn't mind the exposition.  The Ten Commandments killer wasn't supposed to be some great big murder mystery we were supposed to be trying to figure out to the last episode, it was a plot device to show how this one character came under the control of this hotel.

 

I disagree that the series has been getting worse each season.  I find this season much better than season 2, which was all over the map, and season 3, which didn't have a very strong main plot.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Dobian

[jnymph]

Ugh.  What did I just watch?  Guess I'm in the minority,  I thought it was awful.  Didn't hold my attention and as usual, the story was all over the map.

 

I love Lady Gaga as a performer, but she really blows as an actress.   The character is not making any sense from a writing standpoint either.

Also, disagree with everyone on the Evan Peters character, I think a) the character is written way over the top and b) he's scene chewing.    

 

Cringe worthy.    Even "Coven" was better than this, at least there was some solid acting there.     

 

I'm out.

Edited December 4, 2015 by jnymph

[Etta Place]

I want to finance a tattoo for Ryan Murphy that says "Show, don't tell." 

 

That was exhausting.

 

But Evan Peters was awesome, as he has been the whole season.

[Surrealist]

Also, while not upstaging anyone, Evan Peters and Liz Taylor (to confuse actors and characters) are totally running away with the show.

 

I would be perfectly content watching James March and Liz Taylor chew scenery for the rest of the season.

 

The other characters are sort of just there.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Surrealist

[Mattipoo]

Yeah I thought the whole episode was boring, as John Lowe is easily the least interesting character in the entire season. Now that they revealed the identity of the killer, what are they going to focus on the rest of the episodes? Hopefully not Lady Gaga. So glad we didn't get to see her much this episode. Evan Peters and Denis O'Hare are killing it with their acting and hopefully they both get Emmys for this season. Matt Bomer is so pretty but he is not much of an actor is he? He had like 2 lines this episode and I think he was basically hired to look pretty and stay in the background for this season. So is Cheyenne Jackson.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Mattipoo

[Snookums]

ETA:  Is there another Hannibal watcher here?  (I watched the entire thing.)  I have to say that when March and Lowe were gushing, "Murder is now your ART!" I cried, "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.  Didn't you see Hannibal?  Talk about Murder Art -- you guys are amateurs.  All you've got are mounting sticks and bell jars.  Hannibal used vocal chords and human necks as cellos, entire corn silos to turn various human skin tones into a gigantic eye, and bodies to form mushroom farms."

 

 

 My God, seriously. Hannibal was to this "art" as the Sistine Chapel is to the turkey-from-a-handprint your five year old brought home from kIndergarten.