AHS 10 (so far)

Overall, the 10th season of American Horror Story, Double Feature, already appears to be an improvement from AHS: 1984. 1984, in my opinion, is the worst of the series The series is split in half – Red Tide and Death Valley. Red Tide constitutes the first 6 episodes of Double Feature, with Death Valley owning the last 4.

Red Tide follows the Gardner Family. Harry Gardner (Finn Wittrock) is a tv writer without a big hit. Doris, an interior designer, is his pregnant wife, played by Lily Rabe. Completing the family trifecta is their young daughter, Alma (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), a burgeoning violinist. The story is centered on mysterious black pills that turn creative people into maestros of their specific craft. Inversely, uncreative people who take said pills are turned into chalk white feral humanoid creatures who feed on any live thing that they can get their claws on.

Also, joining in on the fun is newcomer, Macaulay Caulkin, who is in a lead role playing Mickey, a heroin-addicted male prostitute. Returning to the show are Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Frances Conroy, Billie Lourde, Adina Porter, Angelica Ross, and Dennis O’Hare. Red Tide is much more subdued in its depiction of violence, sex, and overall subject matter than previous seasons. It’s PG-13 in comparison to Hotel, Freakshow and Asylum. It’s a good change of pace and shows that Ryan Murphy isn’t gimmicky nor reliant on shock value.

Red Tide is a retelling of an old tale: the price of fame. Or more specifically: the consequences of the pursuit of talent above everything else. Red Tide poses the question of what you would sacrifice to become the Michael Jackson of whatever you’re already good at. Red Tide is a horror story but above that it’s a cautionary tale showing the destruction of a group of people who want success and talent above all else and are willing to throw their morals away to attain it.

Red Tide uses tension, suspense, and chills over conventional horror and violence. It’s a gradual burn that paces itself perfectly in the first 4 episodes; telling a captivating story with perfectly placed cliffhangers. Things don’t start to decline until the 5th episode, and they go completely amuck in the 6th and final.

Red Tide unnecessarily manufactured villains out of Austin Sommers (Evan Peters) and Belle Noir (Frances Conroy). Sommer and Belle should have remained quirky morally grey side-characters instead of being thrust into the forefront as antagonists. The story, as told in the first 3 episodes, was strong enough to stand on its own without forcing the plot re-direction that we saw in the back half. Red Tide should have stayed about the deterioration of the Gardner family and the police investigation into the mounting body count. Instead, Belle and Austin Sommers became villains, babynapping the Gardner’s infant, resulting in a letdown of a final showdown between the Gardners and Co. to get the baby boy back.

Storylines left in the dust were: the police investigation, the council committee’s possible interference, Tuberculosis Karen’s fate, Mickey’s arc, deeper insight into The Chemist’s background and an explanation of how the pale people are running around like they’re Pac and getting away with it.

Red Tide being only 6 episodes may have worked against it, forcing the show to end prematurely before addressing the above storylines. It’s unfortunate because there were some truly intriguing side stories that were left unresolved. American Horror Story is no-fucking-torious for fumbling its finales and unfortunately, Red Tide doesn’t end the streak. After the clunky showdown between the Gardners and Belle & Austin Sommers, the perspective shifts to Ursula, The Chemist and Alma’s life in LA after making it big with the black pills. Ursula is a pretty awful human so her not getting her comeuppance makes me want to rip my hair out.

The storyline in Provinectown abruptly ends. All arcs and subplots centered there, end without any resolution or explanation. Instead, we see Alma, The Chemist and Ursula’s future, which could have been entertaining if there was a moral to the story but there wasn’t. The three made off like bandits. All three did some awful things without penalty for there actions leaving the story yearning for retribution that we never received.

Red Tide had a lot of promise and many fans considered it a return to form following 1984, but it ended up leaving a lot of runners on base. Despite the disappointing conclusion, it’s still ahead of 1984 but still ranks on the low end of the series which is a bummer because it had the potential to crack the top 6. Despite this, Sara Paulson knocked her role out of the park as did Ryan Kiera Armstrong. The two, along with Frances Conroy, were the stars of the season.

The first 4 episodes of Red Tide are rock solid. There’s a definite drop off in the last 2 but the story is still worth watching. Unfortunately, fans will have to wait until the second part of Double Feature to see if AHS can nail an ending.

-----6.4/10