S06.E01: Chapter 1

[Wryly]

First ep was slow-moving as hell for me. Kind of startled at how bored I was for some of it -- mainly the parts about the couple's backstory. I can't say I like any of the characters yet, except perhaps Addicted Black Cop Lady. The most interested I was was at the very end when the ground breathes and the torch mob closes in around her. And then the episode ends. Harrumph.

If it's the middle of the night, and the person I hit has a meat cleaver, and does not respond to my shouts, and disappears creepily into the trees, and I am armed with only a flashlight, ain't no way I'm runnin' after them. Especially in my PJ's. That is textbook Stupid White Girl. Don't be a stupid white girl, Shelby.

I disliked the whole "skeptical husband" and "hysterical wife" stereotype they played on in this first ep, where most of the supernatural stuff was only happening to her. All hubby saw was stuff that could be explained by hostile neighbors. Fortunately they seem to be moving away from that.

Anyway, it's only the first episode and I am very willing to see how things develop. I have a feeling things will pick up.

[Terrafamilia]

On 9/14/2016 at 10:20 PM, Madding crowd said:

And how is that huge house a three bedroom house? It looks like 6 or 7 bedrooms at least. 

I concluded that the house we see is the dramatization house, not the real house, which is probably smaller and less impressive (but still creepy).

[bistor]

I liked the episode. Much simpler than Hotel, I hope it stays that way.

 

The flashback for Angela Basset's character bugged me though, it didn't make sense. She didn't really do anything wrong while chasing the guy, and having her fired like that seemed like a stretch to me.

[WhosThatGirl]

3 hours ago, bistor said:

I liked the episode. Much simpler than Hotel, I hope it stays that way.

 

The flashback for Angela Basset's character bugged me though, it didn't make sense. She didn't really do anything wrong while chasing the guy, and having her fired like that seemed like a stretch to me.

I wondered this too. We as the viewers had probably concluded she was abusing her pain meds, from what we saw and what the world knows, but she chased a bad guy, and he drove into an area where both cars would get destroyed  and then he got out and shot himself. She pulled out her gun but he already shot himself before she made a move. Then the other officer went into her car and saw the bottle? And just assumed? Why wasn't she put on probation? We could still get that scene with her husband, given that all those things about her not getting her daughter was due to the drugs. I feel like they just wanted to move the plot along. 

 I like that it's nothing like Hotel's first episode. That was awful. I like that it feels like murder house, which I have felt was always the season that gets under rated. I enjoyed that season, a lot more than most people, it's not my favorite, but it's a close second. 

[Chaos Theory]

Not being a police show and being for Basset's characters POV it wasn't implesidly stated but my guess is that drugs were found in her car and she failed a drug test and with a questionable bust she was put on leave without pay then things just snowballed from there.  This isn't a cop show so and a lot of it is unrealiable narrator so a lot of the story you just have to take as is and go with it.

[txhorns79]

Quote

Not being a police show and being for Basset's characters POV it wasn't implied stated but my guess is that drugs were found in her car and she failed a drug test and with a questionable bust she was put on leave without pay then things just snowballed from there.  

I thought that it was said that after the incident where she was shot, her pain pill use had increased to the point where she was taking them at some ridiculous rate, like two an hour or something.  I just figured they found the drugs in her car, realized she was addicted and using during the incident, and that ended her career.  Or maybe we will find out the situation wasn't as she described, and she acted in a way where it was obvious her career as a cop would be over.   

[Nowhere]

On September 15, 2016 at 3:46 PM, mamadrama said:

It's a personal preference and my original post was made in a lighthearted, poking fun at myself (and later my mother), manner. That's all. Just a joke. 

I hate Jolene and that's not a joke. I hate it with every ounce of my being and I won't allow it to be played in my presence. Again, not a joke. But now that I've actually voiced my opinion, I'm finding my passion about the subject to be a little ridiculous. :)

Ok so while I'm here I have to say that I am disappointed with the documentary format. It's not that the real people are more attractive. What bothered me was that they were obviously much younger. In a real documentary, time has passed, people are telling their memories so the real people are older. The actors are the younger version. 

I absolutely adore Lily Rabe but the way she played the character irked me. The typical yogi, free spirit, sex crazed bullshit is annoying because it's cliché. I hate it when shows box people into a stereotype. I was put off by one of her lines when she said the sex was amazing that night. Yeah ok like a real documentary would include that tidbit of useless info. Not in this kind of documentary at least. So when Sarah Paulson played the character so much different, it didn't feel right. She was more likable. I feel like the characters should have been reversed. 

I didn't like how Adina Porter played Lee either. Again, in a real documentary, she wouldn't have talked about her SIL with that much venom. Their relationship would have changed after an experience like that so I'm thinking she would have acknowledged her past problems with the SIL but wouldn't have still felt the anger she displayed in the talking head. The actor Lee would have portrayed the old hostility. 

Anyway, I guess I take it too seriously lol but if they're going to do a documentary style format, the least they can do is make it believable. It's distracting when I have to stop every couple of minutes to say a documentary wouldn't really do it like that. I want it to be realistic in that way.

[halkatla]

Did not like. The most boring beginning of a AHS season, by far. These documentary-type haunting shows are usually pretty boring but they´re still more exciting than this, since they´re supposedly maybe real. I just couldn´t stand it and I never thought there´d be anything lamer than the witch-school story, but this was way, way worse than that. I think this might have been tolerable in a call-back to season 1, if they´d have just gone with a couple moving to the country and dealing with horrors, ghosts and hill-billies.

[FanOfDorks]

I liked the episode but I am a sucker for AHS.  My only complaint was the huge lack of Evan Peters.  But just means hes getting ready to make his grand entrance.  Seriously the could do AHS:  Sesame Street I'd still watch 

 

I'm easy pleased *sometimes*

[psychoticstate]

This was 100% up my alley.  I love haunted house stories, I'm from the South and I watch ID and the many reenactment paranormal shows.  I loved the episode and look forward to what's coming.  Fingers and toes crossed that Ryan Murphy stays focused with this story and doesn't feel the need to throw everything and  the kitchen sink into it.

This may have been mentioned so apologies if so . . . the "real" Shelby is being played by Sarah Poulson, the "real" Matt is Cuba Gooding, Jr., the "real" Lee is Angela Basset.   Lily Rabe is the reenactment Shelby; Adina Porter is the reenactment Lee, etc.  The show is apparently called My Roanoke Nightmare, based on the bottom of the screen (just like real reenactment shows.)   So maybe that will help anyone who was confused by the format.  Also, if you watch the ID type shows with reenactments you know that even those people who are victims and/or missing can get a reenactment actor/actress who speaks to the camera so basically, no one is safe in this format.

Can't wait for the next episode! 

Edited September 18, 2016 by psychoticstate

[Pixel]

No, Sarah Paulson is the reenactment Shelby, Lily Rabe is real Shelby. And so on. The talking heads are the real people. I rewatched the first 15 minutes. The reenactment subtitle clearly shows up when the Sarah Paulson/Cuba Gooding Jr scene starts. 

[psychoticstate]

1 hour ago, Pixel said:

No, Sarah Paulson is the reenactment Shelby, Lily Rabe is real Shelby. And so on. The talking heads are the real people. I rewatched the first 15 minutes. The reenactment subtitle clearly shows up when the Sarah Paulson/Cuba Gooding Jr scene starts. 

I just rewatched the beginning and you're right.,  My apologies, I was wrong.

[Pixel]

3 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

I just rewatched the beginning and you're right.,  My apologies, I was wrong.

I was confused at first too. 

[Captanne]

Although I kind of like the gimmick (talking heads and re-enactors, a la Discovery ID), I'm not clear on the casting.  You'd think Lily Rabe (who is so damned good) would be in the re-enactment which seems to be the home of the "better" actors.  I'm glad the sister-cop talking head is limited because she's awful.

[LoneHaranguer]

On 9/15/2016 at 10:22 PM, LittleIggy said:

You think people would know better than to buy an extremely underpriced old house. Don't they watch horror movies? ;-)

The house could just have a low price because it's in poor condition and out in the middle of nowhere, where you wouldn't have any modern tech like cell phone service. There are gadgets that can let you use your cell phone to make/answer calls through your landline, but I don't know how Matt can connect to his surveillance cameras. That jump in price he made was a "f##k you" bid, so he shouldn't have been surprised if the "hillbillies" are pissed. It's a dumb way to start out in your new surroundings, but everybody's already being dumb when the plot suits it, just like past seasons.

[Chaos Theory]

Maybe the way it will be "connected" to everything will be Murder House to insane asylum to some sort of witches coven to circus freak show only winding up in some haunted hotel where they get abducted by aliens.  

[FanOfDorks]

PEPPER, PEPPER, PEPPER.

The winter finale of "Freak Show" was the first time two seasons actually collided, when Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe), from Season 2's stellar "Asylum," came to Sudbury, Massachusetts to take fan-favorite Pepper (Naomi Grossman) to Briarcliff Manor after the death of her sister.

......

SPEAKING OF MASSACHUSETTS...

The state of Massachusetts has been one of the common threads throughout every season. In Season 1's "Murder House," the Harmon family moves to Los Angeles from Boston. Briarcliff Manor in "Asylum" was built in Massachusetts in 1908 as a tuberculosis ward, and was then taken over by the Catholic church in 1962. Meanwhile, Season 3 showed up glimpses of the Salem witch trials, and Queenie mentions she's a descendant of Tituba. In Season 4's "Freak Show," we learned that Elsa worked at a Boston circus in 1936, and Pepper also went to live with her sister Rita in Massachusetts in 1952 before being committed to Briarcliffe. While there's no direct reference to the state in "Hotel," Mr. March's (Evan Peters) unique accent has been described as a Boston Brahmin accent, which alludes to the fact that the reprehensible serial killer was most likely born in the Boston area in 1895.

.....

ELSA MARS AND DR. ARDEN CROSSED PATHS IN GERMANY.

In flashbacks we learned that Elsa's (Jessica Lange) legs were sawed off during a snuff film gone wrong, and one of the Nazi soldiers responsible for mutilating her was none other than Dr. Hans Gruper (James Cromwell). If that name sounded vaguely familiar at the time that's because he was also known as Dr. Arden upon entering the states, otherwise known as the psycho, mutilating doc from "Asylum."

.....

THE FLORIDA CONNECTION.

Not only was Florida the setting of "Freak Show," but "Murder House" matriarch Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) also mentioned she had family in Florida way back in Season 1. Eagle-eyed fans have speculated that the doctor who Desiree visited in Season 4 -- the one who allegedly killed himself -- may have been a distant relative of Vivien's, especially since the doctor's daughter mentioned that she, like Vivien, was from Boston.

....

DR. MONTGOMERY MADE AN UNSETTLING RETURN.

Back in Season 3 ("Coven"), fans speculated that Dr. Charles Montgomery, the famed "surgeon to the stars" from Season 1, had some connection to Emma Roberts' teen witch Madison Montgomery. Charles moved to Los Angeles with his wife Nora (Rabe) in 1922 in "Murder House," and we met movie starlet Madison in present-day 2013 in "Coven." However, the Madison connection was fully cemented in "Hotel," when a flashback to 1926 revealed that Lady Gaga's The Countess visited Montgomery to perform an illegal abortion -- but the blood-thirsty fetus survived and The Countess gave birth to Bartholomew.

....

"MURDER HOUSE" MARCY MADE HER LAST DEAL.

We knew Marcy (Christine Estabrook), the realtor who sold the haunted Murder House to the Harmon family in Season 1, would return in Season 5 as the realtor for the Hotel Cortez. She ultimately facilitated the transfer of the hotel's ownership from Elizabeth to Will Drake before she met her untimely end at the hands of thirsty vampires Rudy Valentino and Natacha Rambova. For what it's worth, Marcy deserved what she got after selling both the Harmons and the Drakes haunted establishments that lead to their own deaths.

....

BILLIE DEAN HOWARD CHECKED INTO "HOTEL."

Paulson first played the psychic in the first season of “AHS." Since “Murder House” took place in the Los Angeles area, it makes sense that we’d see a few of the premiere season’s most memorable kooks. When we meet Howard in "Hotel," we learn that she’s now starring in a psychic reality show and wants to do a special on the haunted Cortez. While checked in, Howard communicated with both Tristan and Donovan on the other side, telling their loved ones that things are pretty OK in the after life.

....

QUEENIE MET HER BLOODY, AND HILARIOUS, END.

Gabourey Sidibe resurrected her “AHS: Coven” character Queenie for a night in the Cortez. Queenie comes to LA looking to strike it big on “The Price Is Right.” But it really makes no sense that The Supreme -- who organized Queenie’s trip -- would make her stay in a sh-thole like the Cortez. But we digress. Unbeknownst to Queenie, Ramona and Liz orchestrated a plan to kill the witch so that Ramona could drink her blood and therefore become more powerful than The Countess. Queenie's appearance, and demise, in "Hotel" could have even bigger repercussions in the future. Given the strong ties between "Murder House" and "Hotel," and those between "Asylum" and "Freak Show," we wouldn't be surprised if Season 6 shares some surprising connections to "Coven."

*souce MTV.com*

[iMonrey]

Quote

lily rabe is a goddess, honestly. talented like her mom

I did not know she was Jill Clayburgh's daughter until you mentioned this and I looked it up. (Or, if I did know, I forgot.) 

And believe it or not, it did not occur to me all through this episode that Marcia Clarke was now married to OJ Simpson. I watched that whole miniseries and I didn't even think about it. I think that's probably because I associate Paulson more closely with AHS than with the OJ mini-series, and that she did such a great job playing Marcia Clark and was so physically transformed, I never really thought of her as Sarah Paulson. I don't know. Probably a testament to her acting and versatility.

[Valny]

Anyone know how this did in the ratings? Did it pull big numbers?

[ShadowHunter]

16 hours ago, Valny said:

Anyone know how this did in the ratings? Did it pull big numbers?

It had 5.1 million viewers, not counting DVR or OnDemand. That is still down from the premiere of Hotel. Freak show premiere still holds the record with over 6 million. Freak show is still also the most watched season.

[RazzleberryPie]

Although this was a little bit slow, I liked it so much better than the seasons with a lot of gore and rape right from the start. If I wanted to be nauseated and angry, I'd watch The Walking Dead.

[Natalie68]

On 9/14/2016 at 8:35 PM, mamadrama said:

Ha ha, me too! I watch just about everything on Investigation Discovery! It's my jam. :-) I think I am going to like this. It's like if those reenactment shoes were reenacted by better looking, and more talented, people. :-) 

Disclosure: Paranormal Witness has been courting me for years, trying to turn one of my personal stories into an episode. I have spent countless hours on the phone with the producers. The one reason I have backed out, so far, is because they seem to want to embellish, or at least misrepresent, my story. I imagine that others who have appeared on the show have let them, kind of given them what they want, but I won't. So this season of AHS is kind of like a Paranormal Witness or True Haunting Dream-real ghost stories without the pesky truth, ha ha. :-)

I am new to this show.  Friends have been trying to get me to watch all seasons and finally did it since I love ghost stories and the Roanoke part intrigues me.  I found it entertaining!  I am also a fanatic of the Investigation Discovery shows.  

Interesting to hear about Paranormal Witness.  I don't like that they want to embellish stories.   

[psychoticstate]

On 9/20/2016 at 10:41 AM, ShadowHunter said:

It had 5.1 million viewers, not counting DVR or OnDemand. That is still down from the premiere of Hotel. Freak show premiere still holds the record with over 6 million. Freak show is still also the most watched season.

I had not set my DVR so I watched this via On Demand.  Surprised that Freak Show was the most watched season.  It was the ONLY season I did not watch at all.

So far, I feel the first and second seasons were stellar.  The first one digressed a bit while the second seemed a bit more focused.  I watched a good portion of season 3 but gave up because it seemed all over the place.  I watched Hotel and I did like it although I felt it too digressed and went all over.  I think the March storyline, along with how Gaga's character was turned by Valentino in the 1920s was a lost opportunity.

I do like the overall idea of this season and I hope Ryan Murphy doesn't jack it up. 

[Armchair Critic]

Too much Cuba Gooding. I thought he was the weakest link in the OJ series. 

[FanOfDorks]

I'm enjoying this season so far.  I've just watched ep 1 & 2 *pre recorded*  I'm now sat in the dark *tv on* not wanting to move but I need to take the dog out before bed *haha I love a good scare*

[Mattipoo]

I like Cuba Gooding Jr and think he should star in every season of AHS from now on, and become the official replacement for Jessica Lange. I would watch the hell out of a season where Cuba plays a German circus freak show owner who has a penchant for wearing thick heavy makeup, powder blue suits and singing Bowie's "Life on Mars" badly in a German accent.

[DollEyes]

My verdict: I'm impressed, for the most part. Given some of the deep-fried fuckery of AHS seasons past, this Season Premiere is a nice change. As a VA native with NC roots, that this story takes place in Roanoke, NC is especially interesting. Making it a show-within-a-show is clever. If ever a genre deserves to be mocked it's "reality" horror. However, it's somewhat predictable. An interracial couple buying a big, creepy old house in the South out from under a couple of rednecks who weren't too happy about it already made me suspicious, but put a teeth storm, mysteriously moving knives and ghosts in the mix and chances of things ending well for the good guys are slim to none. 

  As for local law enforcement's response, the Keystone Kops were more competent.  If that video was a warning to get the fuck outta Dodge, I wouldn't be surprised. If I were Shelby, I'd wanna bounce too. $40K is a lot of money to walk away from, but I'd much rather take the loss than let a bunch of killer ghosts take my life. Then again, since I wouldn't have bought that place in the first place, that's a moot point. Performance-wise, Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Denis O'Hare & Lily Rabe can do no wrong in my book & here is no exception. As for Cuba Gooding Jr., he's OK, but Sterling K. Brown would have been better. Knowing RM's track record, chances are it'll implode way sooner than later, so I'll enjoy it while it lasts. 

Edited September 24, 2016 by DollEyes

[Mabinogia]

29 minutes ago, DollEyes said:

$40K is a lot of money to walk away from

Do neither of them have family? I mean, he has the sister but she apparently doesn't have a place to live. They have no friend? I'm just saying, yes, it sucks to walk away from a $40K investment but really, I'd sell that shit for dirt cheap to those hillbillies and crash on someone's couch before I'd spend another minute in that place. I really wouldn't care if the hillbillies won. I'd rather feel safe in my own house than stubbornly stay there to make a point. The show should have been a lot more subtle and slow with the reveal because now we are presented with two morons who really are too stupid to live. It's hard to root for them when any normal person would rather live in their own car, or a homeless shelter than stay in a house where they are being told something wants to kill everyone and they are all seeing crazy scary visions.

I think it wouldn't be as ridiculous if say, only Flora was talking to an imaginary friend while things are kind of moving on their own, subtle stuff that might make you think you're being forgetful but doesn't make you fear for your life. Then ease into the Shelby stuff and have everyone think she's just going nuts. But jumping right into pig head torture, ghost death threats, killer nurses writing murder in spray paint (which, how fucking lame are them. You write that shit in blood you amateurs!), etc leaving the audience wondering why they aren't just running as far as they can away from that place.

Even if we're meant to believe the house has somehow infected them, making them want to stay, that wasn't shown and is a conclusion we had to jump to in order to explain why they haven't left.

My only hope is, this isn't the actual story of the season. That this is going to end as quickly as it started and we will get to a different type of story because I don't think I can stop watch these idiots for a whole season without wishing for their bloody, violent demise.

[The Solution]

Not gon' lie. That straight-up scared the shit out of me. Nasty-ass rednecks? Not having it. Their teefs raining on me? uh-uh. Holding me under water? I'm not doing this today. Breaking into my house and leaving a creepy-ass video and some fucked-up dolls? I'm back to New York at that point. Hitting a random hillbilly in the middle of the street? Not stopping until I'm safely across the RFK.