S08.E01: The End

[PradaKitty]

Heh... I was watching with my significant other and the minute they brought out the “real food” I said out loud, “It’s Stu”. He looked at me strangely and said, “So? It’s Stew.”  Then they continued on and he finally got it. 

[Chaos Theory]

That's probably why you don't want me surviving the end of the world.  I'd be eating "Stu" happily after months of eating cubes.

[Dobian]

9 hours ago, asabovesobelow said:

Also, do we have to have animal deaths every freaking season? Ugh. I hid my face as soon as they showed the horses.

When I saw the horses trot up pulling the carriage I said, "Ebeneeeeezer!"

[Anela]

12 hours ago, MaggieG said:

Well that was interesting. I didn't love it but I also didn't hate it. I always give AHS a few episodes before making a decision. And I'm one of the weirdos that loved Roanoke :)

I'm really curious how the witches will be factoring into the story.

It would be nice if she appeared, her Marie Laveau was awesome.

I liked Roanoke, until they got into "The Hills Have Eyes" territory, with the redneck family. If I ever watch the season again, I will skip that episode entirely. 

[KatsaKriid]

I'm just wondering how these people haven't died from carbon monoxide poisoning with all of those fires a blazin'. ? They must have one hell of a filtration system.

Having said the above, I enjoyed ever minute of this episode and I think it's going to be a fun season. I cheered out loud when Michael Langdon showed up and the song, "You Belong to Me" from Murder House started playing. I think I am really going to enjoy Cody Fern in his role. I won't lie, I kind of have the hots for the antichrist.?

[sashayshante]

the promos for next week's episode look like things are going to get really good. More bare ass Evan Peters. He appears to be having sex. I fully admit I squeed when Michael first came on screen and they played the song.  I've been watching since day one and have stuck out every shitty season because Murder House was just that good.

Cody Fern is sexy AF. I admire how bold he is in interviews and his choice of roles. He's in a relationship with a man, so I assume at the very least he's gay or bi, and he doesn't try to hide it despite this being the beginning of his career. That's refreshing.

[willco]

I didn't get to see the premier until today. The beginning was great, but that probably cost  lot more to film, so they probably needed to get to the bunker quickly. At least they showed some of the chaos, when Falling Skies premiered, they showed almost nothing of the panic when the aliens came-- instead they just skipped ahead to a time when they had been here for a while.

 

My guess for the plane is that the Dad had a course already programmed into the flight computer-- if you are rich enough to have your own plane, you can do that ! I kind of doubt the plane could take off by itself, though. Not sure what they are going for there.

 

I'm glad you all recognized the name on the ID at the end, as I would not have. I've only seen Murder House all the way thru once and it's been a while.

 

I think every season has it's good moments, though I can't recall any in Coven. I just did not like that season-- the only part I liked was when Lilly Rabe was on & she didn't have a big role that year. Nothing will ever be as good, for me, as Asylum was/is-- I thought it was the best season easily.

[Etta Place]

For me, this was a very underwhelming premiere. There just wasn’t anything in it that really grabbed me. The Stu/Stew thing just made me roll my eyes and groan. There were a couple of other terrible lines that I have blocked out but that made me react about the same way. I could complain about the lack of explanation about anything, but 1. It’s only the first episode and 2. Sometimes when I get explanations on AHS, I wish I hadn’t. I dread whatever involvement Coven has in this season. It’s the only season I quit watching. I’ve slogged my way through others that I thought were bad, but I simply could not manage it with that one.

The good, for me: Evan Peters singing “Top of the World”, looks like we may get him gnawing on the scenery pretty seriously again this season. I’m on board with Joan Collins. Jay from Unreal! Sarah Paulson doesn’t bother me much and I think schoolmarm is a good attitude on her.

[Rap541]

I liked this better than say, the first episode of Roanoke, and I don't mind that the crossover aspect is still subtle. I liked the incoming missiles - it seems like we all thought that was universally effective. It's the bunker stuff that makes me groan. I accept that my own tastes in post apocalyptic fiction means I was eyerolling at the candlelit bunker, the robes, the caste system, the rule against procreation, killing Stu on a whim, no one protesting at any of the insane rules.... sorry, I can't buy it. Add in Joan Collins and Evan Peters camping it up? It's feeling a wee bit silly.

Michael Langdon (for some reason I really want that to be Michael Landon, its all around funnier) had a nice entrance and I am willing to wait and see.

The gay male stereotypes were a bit much.

[Sile]

On 9/14/2018 at 8:31 AM, TattleTeeny said:

I loved Hotel. So there!

Same. And I don't do well with fictional apocalyptic scenarios--I get so nervous hypothesizing about being able to get where I want to be during one that I freak myself right out.

Scoot over and make room on the love train for Hotel! *fist bump*

Asylum and Hotel are 1 and 1a on my AHS season rankings.

The premiere wasn't what I was expecting, but I found it interesting.  I liked the costumes and set decoration, to me it had a kind of Edward Gorey feel.  Except for Mallory, who I expected to drop her tray and bust out can-canning with that La Goulue hairdo she had going on.

I can understand the nutrition cubes and the song rationing.  They obviously couldn't stock too many provisions given all the room they needed for eyeliner, lipstick and hair gel.

[Lady Iris]

On 9/13/2018 at 11:44 PM, Dewey Decimate said:

I was simultaneously giggling and crying during the first quarter of the premiere and loved it. Maybe watching "Threads" and "The Day After" as a kid primed me for the all-too-real nightmarish possibility of nuclear war. While both Cult and Apocalypse share a "this is happening/this could happen" element, I found last season just dark, depressing, and disjointed. This season seems to hold more campy and fucked up promise, but I won't set my expectations too high. (Though the missile launch scenes reminded me to review my suicide-after-murdering-the-pets-because-I-cannot-bear-the-idea-of-them-suffering plan in case of WW3. Womp womp.)

Add Testament to the trifecta of 80’s nuclear war movies and the opening to this season left me with a queasy reminder of how scared I was back then. Please take me out in the first blast because I don’t wanna be around for after. 

I love Evan Peters on my tv. I do hope and wonder that we’ll be treated to ever increasing crazy hairdo’s.

[In a dream]

I have a feeling that Timothy and Emily have some relation to Kit's children from Asylum.  Anyone know who the actress was that played Timothy's mother.  She looked so familiar to me. but I can't quite place why?  

Liked this episode although AHS usually takes me about the first 2-3 episodes every season to really get into the story.  The mixture of horror, dry comedy, and the occasional over- the-top bits make me love this show.

Edited September 16, 2018 by In a dream

[Mr. Sparkle]

1 hour ago, In a dream said:

Anyone know who the actress was that played Timothy's mother.  She looked so familiar to me. but I can't quite place why?  

Dina Meyer. She's done tons of tv & movies. 

[txhorns79]

Quote

Dina Meyer. She's done tons of tv & movies. 

If you ever watched 90210, she was the married professor (Lucinda Nicholson) who had an affair with Brandon, and tried to seduce Dylan, during the fourth season of the show.

Quote

My thoughts, exactly! I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that was odd. 

I figured it was his way of saying his expectation that humans would end up causing their own extinction had finally come true.   

Edited September 16, 2018 by txhorns79

[hatchetgirl]

When the wagon came into play, i actually said "ooooh, here comes the coven..." only to have my hopes dashed. 

I think it's hilarious that it's 18 mos later and evan peters hair is the same. Ummmmm... didn't it grow out? Who's cutting it? 

Meh, wasn't impressed with how slow it was once underground but I'll keep watching. I couldn't watch Cult (didn't like the characters so not invested - I'll try again) so glad this appears to be slightly different. 

[Rap541]

9 hours ago, Lady Iris said:

Add Testament to the trifecta of 80’s nuclear war movies and the opening to this season left me with a queasy reminder of how scared I was back then. Please take me out in the first blast because I don’t wanna be around for after. 

<raises hand>Child of the eighties here, didn't expect to see 2000, had impromptu plans of how we could quickly block up the basement windows for better radiation protection. Spent the first ten minutes gripping the pillow on the couch.

 

17 hours ago, Sile said:

Asylum and Hotel are 1 and 1a on my AHS season rankings.

Asylum is still my number one, and I still think it's the one that feels dark, with humor, instead of funny with a creepy scenario (the rest). But Hotel really is better on a second viewing.

[Chaos Theory]

On 9/16/2018 at 10:18 AM, Superclam said:

Dina Meyer. She's done tons of tv & movies. 

 

On 9/16/2018 at 11:48 AM, txhorns79 said:

If you ever watched 90210, she was the married professor (Lucinda Nicholson) who had an affair with Brandon, and tried to seduce Dylan, during the fourth season of the show.

 

 

I will forever love her for the campy as all hell Starship Troopers (which I watch every time it’s on).   I only hope RM likes her enough to give her a bigger part next go.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[Mr. Sparkle]

27 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

I will forever love her for the campy as all hell Starship Troopers (which I watch every time it’s on).  

That's what I remember her in. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

I'm glad you all recognized the name on the ID at the end, as I would not have. I've only seen Murder House all the way thru once and it's been a while.

Even if I saw the name on the ID badge, which I can't remember, I wouldn't have recognized it. I honestly don't remember any of the character names from Murder House, except for Tate. I sure as hell don't remember what the babies were named. BUT. I do remember that iconic song. So as soon as they started playing that I grinned from ear to ear.

[Daltrey]

3 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

BUT. I do remember that iconic song.

I didn't even remember THAT.....thank god for this board, lol!

[gunderda]

3 hours ago, Daltrey said:

I didn't even remember THAT.....thank god for this board, lol!

Ditto! Even reading how this all pieces together so far i'm like uhhh what?  I've watched them all and completely forgot about Asylum .

[hilaryvm]

Finally got around to watching this.  I tend to start every season, and give up somewhere in the 4 - 6 episode range.  Only season I watched all the way through was Coven.  That said, I did think the opening scenes of the apocalypse were very well done.  Also, Joan Collins!  I hadn't heard she would be in this, so I quite liked that.

I wondered whether at the beginning, the food cubes was just another way to torture the people (like, they had plenty of "real" food but only gave the guests food cubes) but with the appearance of the guy at the end stating that other bunkers had failed, this seemed less likely.  If, however, they didn't have stores of other food, that seems like some poor apocalypse planning.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I wondered whether at the beginning, the food cubes was just another way to torture the people (like, they had plenty of "real" food but only gave the guests food cubes) but with the appearance of the guy at the end stating that other bunkers had failed, this seemed less likely.  If, however, they didn't have stores of other food, that seems like some poor apocalypse planning.

I know right?? I mean this was supposedly financed with hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars from the richest of the world's richest. You'd think they would have stored enough canned goods and non-perishables for more than a couple years. Especially given how few people there seemed to be in that one outpost.

[Terrafamilia]

With a hundred million dollars I could have stocked their pantry easily. Plus some hand-cranked generators to run some LED lights. What's the point of having a stocked library when the light is too dim to easily read?

I am really bad at recognizing actors. I saw Cheyenne Jackson's name in the credits and was on the lookout for him. At first I thought he was done up as Timothy's salt & pepper dad but then decided they wouldn't have had him on for one scene. Then, when Michael Langdon showed up I thought at first it was Wes Bentley. And I just got new glasses!

Murder House came out in 2011 so unless Michael had one of those magical growth spurts this season could very well take place after 2020.

[BookWoman56]

On 9/18/2018 at 7:53 PM, Terrafamilia said:

With a hundred million dollars I could have stocked their pantry easily. Plus some hand-cranked generators to run some LED lights. What's the point of having a stocked library when the light is too dim to easily read?.

The nutritionally complete cubes instead of actual food was what took me out of the story. I'm in no way a prepper, but even I could have done what @Terrafamilia did and find emergency rations online and had enough delivered to the various outposts to last for way longer than 18 months for the maximum number of people the outpost would hold, plus overage because people will probably eat more when they have very limited entertainment. Not to mention, even if you don't go the route of prepackaged emergency food, there should have been enough room to store various canned goods, nonperishables, and water. I can't really blame Coco for being pissed off about the food. Also, anyone with the smallest understanding of human nature would have figured out that humans are going to get stabby if they have to subsist on small nutritional cubes for a couple of years. The cooperative was financed by numerous wealthy people; there is no excuse for the food situation. So my guess would be that the food cubes are a way of fucking with the survivors' heads, or the cooperative was very skilled at identifying and snatching people they considered to be useful while simultaneously having the planning skills of a toddler when it came to food, or this is just some random plot device to advance the narrative some way. Also, I don't think too much of the cooperative's skill set if they have used outposts so vulnerable that several of them have been overrun. I know there are various companies online that sell survival shelters in different sizes, and they're supposed to be very difficult to break into. Again, with the money the cooperative had from their wealthy patrons, they should have been able to purchase land and build underground fortresses with intense defense systems that are not dependent on electronic systems, which presumably would have been fried when the missiles hit. So the entire setting there makes me suspicious. 

[Rap541]

When the idiots on Doomsday Preppers are preparing for the end better than millionaires, it does take me out of the story. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 9/13/2018 at 10:30 AM, BlancheDevoreaux said:

I'm intrigued enough to keep watching.  I do have some concerns.  I don't get Murphy's obsession with Sarah Paulson.  I suppose she is fine but something about her just grates me. I'm not fond of her acting style and there is something about her mouth that bugs me.  Not too excited for her to have 3 different characters this season. I would love to see more Joan Collins. Her character cracks me up. I think Coco will be good, too, as long as she is in small doses.

I mentioned to someone tonight that when they dial Paulson back from 'woman on the verge of total emotional collapse' she's surprisingly effective. Venable comes off as not quite right, obviously, but one of my biggest complaints about last season was how close Paulson's character always seemed to hysterics. When she isn't playing someone who acts like she needs a Xanax every half hour to not paste herself to the ceiling, she's much less annoying to me.

[Chaos Theory]

11 hours ago, Rap541 said:

When the idiots on Doomsday Preppers are preparing for the end better than millionaires, it does take me out of the story. 

Well millionaires have been conditioned to think that the world will take care of them.  Especially toughs born into wealth.  Which is why I love Lesli Grossman’s character so much.  She is literally bringing her hairdresser and personal assistant to a bunker because she can’t survive without them.  

[LoneHaranguer]

19 hours ago, BookWoman56 said:

Again, with the money the cooperative had from their wealthy patrons, they should have been able to purchase land and build underground fortresses with intense defense systems that are not dependent on electronic systems, which presumably would have been fried when the missiles hit.

Like the computer in the plane would have been when the passengers were able to look yonder at the nearby mushroom cloud?

[Jadzia]

On 9/13/2018 at 2:10 PM, BlancheDevoreaux said:

I'm probably reading way too much into this, but I was wondering if the newscaster is part of all of this.  When he said, "I can't believe we did it", it just seemed... odd. Out of place.  What did "we" do?

I finally watched the premiere and caught up with the comments here, but I thought that was a reference to The Planet of the Apes (1968).

 

Spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen it:

Spoiler

[last lines]

George Taylor: Oh my God. I'm back. I'm home. All the time, it was... We finally really did it.

[screaming]

George Taylor: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

[Daltrey]

4 hours ago, Jadzia said:

I finally watched the premiere and caught up with the comments here, but I thought that was a reference to The Planet of the Apes (1968).

 

Spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen it:

  Reveal hidden contents

[last lines]

George Taylor: Oh my God. I'm back. I'm home. All the time, it was... We finally really did it.

[screaming]

George Taylor: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

I didn't think of it but you're probably right.

[candall]

On ‎9‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 7:49 PM, willco said:

...  The beginning was great, but that probably cost a lot more to film, so they probably needed to get to the bunker quickly. ...

I was completely engrossed in the beginning portion and snuggled in to enjoy some first-rate story telling about the world ending.  (A goldmine largely ignored by the Walking Dead shows, IMO.) 

Then I remembered it was AHS, so the emphasis would soon switch to someone's fingernails being ripped off in slow motion.  

[kokapetl]

I can believe how old Travis Schult is!

And in reality, Leslie Grossman wouldn’t last day. 

Edited September 26, 2018 by kokapetl

[Maurina]

On 9/13/2018 at 12:31 PM, iMonrey said:

But once they got inside the compound, and literally the moment Sarah Paulson appeared on screen, everything sort of fell apart. Everything about her and Kathy Bates screams "camp" and up until that point the story had been much more grounded in reality, which was a significant tonal shift away from the usual Ryan Murphy schlock. 

 

Yes to all of this.  It's SO ridiculously over the top that it crosses over into tedium.

[Anela]

I knew Dina Meyer from 90210, and then whatever else she was in. I remember the Starship Troopers, but I didn't love it, the way other people did. I mostly remember her from a Christmas movie. 

[methodwriter85]

On 9/13/2018 at 6:04 PM, iMonrey said:

But one baby died and one baby lived . . . right? So we're only dealing with one living child of Vivian at the moment. Not that dead/alive is much of a distinction on this show, I'm just trying to get my history straight!

This show has basically set up the conceit that ghosts can age, although they can appear as whatever age they want to appear as.

Quote

Anyone know who the actress was that played Timothy's mother.  She looked so familiar to me. but I can't quite place why?  

She was on an episode of Criminal Minds as a woman who got raped while the rapist played "Total Eclipse of the Heart", I believe.

Timothy looked so damn familiar but then I realized he just reminds me of Joseph Gordon Levitt, just with lighter hair.

Edited October 12, 2018 by methodwriter85

[kokapetl]

On 04/10/2018 at 8:05 AM, Anela said:

I knew Dina Meyer from 90210, and then whatever else she was in. I remember the Starship Troopers, but I didn't love it, the way other people did. I mostly remember her from a Christmas movie. 

She was in an episode of Nip/Tuck.