• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

American Horror Story: Asylum |OT| Nuns, and nazis, and scares! Oh, my!

Status
Not open for further replies.
E

EleventhDoctor

Banned
Just finished watching.

tumblr_lf5mv1s1vz1qe4xqxo1_400.gif
 
A

Alex Connolly

Member
Holy hell.

Hellishly entertaining. Last season was great, but I agree with the sentiment that the cast here is wonderfully dynamic. I love the Lange/Cromwell dichotomy and friction.

Awesome stuff. This should be fantastic.
 
Z

Zalasta

Member
As expected the acting was great, especially any scenes involving Lange, Cromwell & Fiennes. The plotting, however, was all over the place. Some interesting, others quite preposterous, but never a dull moment. It's exactly what Ryan Murphy does all the time, throw a bunch of ideas together and hope something will stick. He put a bunch of crazy people in crazy situations, except this time there isn't a single relatable person for the audiences to identify with (yet), not even the couple from the beginning.

Anyway, the writing is still pretty bad, marked by character inconsistencies and plot contrivances. Lana just happened to be in the woods in the middle of the night to catch Sister Eunice as her way into the asylum. Sister Jude somehow managed to discern that Lana is a lesbian and concocted a plan to blackmail her partner to get her committed in such a short span of time. Sister Eunice, even though she fears Sister Jude so much, working with Dr. Arden behind her back.

Despite all that, AHS always manages to entertain.
 
Nemesis_

Nemesis_

Member
Zalasta said:
Lana just happened to be in the woods in the middle of the night to catch Sister Eunice as her way into the asylum. Sister Jude somehow managed to discern that Lana is a lesbian and concocted a plan to blackmail her partner to get her committed in such a short span of time. Sister Eunice, even though she fears Sister Jude so much, working with Dr. Arden behind her back.
Click to expand...

I treat the Lana thing to be just coincidence. It might happen. She also might've been skulking around and just heard noises (be it Eunice's screaming or the creature growling or whatever) so she honed in on it. I do understand why you might think that's a bit flakey.

Sister Jude is incredibly savvy - you'll notice that Jude talks about how Lana isn't religious at all and this already implies that she knows. This kind of dialogue follows after Lana adjusts her shirt - implying that Lana could be self conscious that Jude is checking her out.

I do think you're 100% correct with the whole Eunice / Arden relationship though. Though I have a feeling that Eunice is
smarter than she lets on (heck, it's mentioned in the character profiles). My personal theory is that Eunice acts this way in a manner to elude Arden and act as a kind of mole for Jude
.

Was Zachary Quinto featured at all in this episode? I didn't spot him

This episode was so fantastic though, I cannot wait to see where it goes from here.

8v1Fh.gif


I AM READY
 
B

Bel Marduk

Banned
Zalasta said:
As expected the acting was great, especially any scenes involving Lange, Cromwell & Fiennes. The plotting, however, was all over the place. Some interesting, others quite preposterous, but never a dull moment. It's exactly what Ryan Murphy does all the time, throw a bunch of ideas together and hope something will stick. He put a bunch of crazy people in crazy situations, except this time there isn't a single relatable person for the audiences to identify with (yet), not even the couple from the beginning.

Anyway, the writing is still pretty bad, marked by character inconsistencies and plot contrivances. Lana just happened to be in the woods in the middle of the night to catch Sister Eunice as her way into the asylum. Sister Jude somehow managed to discern that Lana is a lesbian and concocted a plan to blackmail her partner to get her committed in such a short span of time. Sister Eunice, even though she fears Sister Jude so much, working with Dr. Arden behind her back.

Despite all that, AHS always manages to entertain.
Click to expand...

There wasn't a single relatable character from the first season, although I think Connie Britton's character was intended to be, but just came across as incredibly self absorbed due to her bad acting. Things don't seem to add up here any more than they did in the first season but you're absolutely right, its an incredbly fun show to watch and I think that's the intention.
 
Nemesis_

Nemesis_

Member
I agree that the characters aren't very likeable but I don't think they are meant to be. Do we really need to like characters to enjoy them? This isn't a rhetorical question but me genuinely asking.

I think all of the characters are interesting though, despite them being unlikeable.

Now that I think about it, I really like Grace and Kit. They both seem quite nice even though Grace was accused of chopping up her family lol.
 
S

stupei

Member
Kind of curious to see how this plays to people who lack historical context or how much effort the show will put in to make that more clear.

Surprised by the number of people I saw elsewhere on the internet who thought Kit's friends calling Alma his "maid" were being honest and that the scandal here was he's sleeping with the help. This isn't Downton Abbey.

Regarding Sister Eunice: I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she deliberately got out of that beating by manipulating Sister Jude. She acted like she was genuinely worried about Lana being found out, but then left her in a pretty good position to be caught and captured. Maybe her larger concern was intentionally getting the woman who could blackmail her regarding Sister Jude locked up?

Bel Marduk said:
No, but he was in the preview for next week's episode.
Click to expand...

Do you mean the one that aired at the end or the one posted in this thread? Didn't click on the one in the thread, but the one that they showed at the end of the broadcast was an overview for the entire season.
 
T

Trigger

Member
First time I've watched the show. It's strange. I'm not sure how to feel about it, but I do like most of the people involved.

Also: That priest is pretty hot. I don't blame Sister Jude for the attraction.
 
Nemesis_

Nemesis_

Member
stupei said:
Kind of curious to see how this plays to people who lack historical context or how much effort the show will put in to make that more clear.

Surprised by the number of people I saw elsewhere on the internet who thought Kit's friends calling Alma his "maid" were being honest and that the scandal here was he's sleeping with the help. This isn't Downton Abbey.
Click to expand...

This is a good point, you're right. Though to be quite fair I didn't realise this kind of behavior and prejudice was happening as early as the 60s! I thought it was much further back.

stupei said:
Do you mean the one that aired at the end or the one posted in this thread? Didn't click on the one in the thread, but the one that they showed at the end of the broadcast was an overview for the entire season.
Click to expand...

The one in the OP is meant to be a preview of the next episode, I believe. I haven't watched it yet as I try to go in fresh but it's been sent around as "2x02 Teaser" apparently.
 
Nizz

Nizz

Member
Sielys said:
Forest monsters, aliens, ghost (from the beginning segments).

I'm liking this series already.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm finding things more interesting this season than last. I thought it was a great season opener. The time period and setting are a nice change of pace.

Jessica Lange was great but I think we knew going in she would be. Her scenes with James Cromwell were some of my favorites.

And I'm curious to see just what the hell ripped off Adam Levine's character's arm off at the beginning.
 
Nemesis_

Nemesis_

Member
I really like the subtle undertones, though. The whole science vs. religion thing. The prevalence of homophobia and the historical contexts mentioned previously like the whole interracial thing.

I really hope they keep it well-researched and accurate
 
E

EleventhDoctor

Banned
By the way-I realized this episode how great Jessica Lange is. Last season I enjoyed her character but I thought she was basically playing "Jessica Lange" The way her character this year is completely different than last is really astonishing-she truly is an amazing actress.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
That was an insane premiere. Jessica Lange remains the best part of this show; Sister Jude is the exact opposite of Constance, which makes discovering her new character a lot fun. She chews scenery like nobody's business.

Thoughts:

The new opening credits aren't very good or scary. Season one's were way better.

I'm disappointed that they kept the overall filming style of the first season: lots of quick cuts and weird camera angles make for a very disorienting and unpleasant viewing experience. (and not in a good horror film kind of way)

Manimals and aliens...cool! Way better than ghosts.

Grace is hot. I think the show wants us to think that she's secretly crazy right now, but by the end of the season she'll turn out to be completely/mostly sane. You're can't fool me Ryan Murphy! :O

No dog this week. Very disappointing.

FMZd3.jpg


Though we did get a cute little alien robot, so that's something!

Zoe said:
My only gripe so far is all of the <wink wink, nudge nudge> commentary on how things have changed.
Click to expand...

Yeah. That was handled with Ryan Murphy's usual subtlety. "Hey everyone look how different the 60s were! Interracial couples had to hide their relationships! Lesbians too! And $3 for a gallon of gas? That's just crazy talk!"
 
D

DarknessTear

Banned
purple cobra said:
Yeah, I'm finding things more interesting this season than last. I thought it was a great season opener. The time period and setting are a nice change of pace.

Jessica Lange was great but I think we knew going in she would be. Her scenes with James Cromwell were some of my favorites.

And I'm curious to see just what the hell ripped off Adam Levine's character's arm off at the beginning.
Click to expand...

Same thing that grabbed the journalist chick, perhaps?
 
N

Nyx

Member
Saw the new ep last night, didn't start as good as the first season imo.

Too many characters at once, too messy...

But as S1 started awesome and ended a bit meh, maybe this season it's the other way around.
 
Nemesis_

Nemesis_

Member
RATINGS UPDATES ARE IN

The premiere of the anthology-style drama's second incarnation, Asylum, opened to 3.85 million viewers in its inaugural 10 p.m. broadcast. Equally impressive, the episode also pulled 2.78 million in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic. Final ratings will likely have it positioned as cable's top performer in the demo and total viewers.

Last year's debut of American Horror Story opened to 3.18 million total viewers, ultimately growing to 3.22 million for the finale. This second opener marks a 22 percent increase, year over year.

Asylum has big shoes to fill on the network. Its predecessor, which led this year's Emmy nominations with 17 kudos in the miniseries categories, was dubbed 2011's most time-shifted program by Nielsen. The DVR heavyweight averaged an impressive 3.3 million adults 18-49 with every episode in Live+7 data.

The second helping of dark thriller, from Glee co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, sees returning cast in Jessica Lange, Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson.
Click to expand...

I am assuming this is good for America?
 
D

Dabanton

Member
Delicious episode.

Cromwell adds class to anything he features in. Also second time I've seen him on TV this week the first being in Boardwalk Empire.

New characters all good so far. Knew the journalist was going to get trapped in the hospital. What do people think were dealing with here? 'They' looked like aliens but then we have those creatures in the forest as well.

Look forward to the second episode.
 
I

ivysaur12

Banned
I hated the first season.

The season premiere was already better than the entirety of the first, but: WHAT THE FUCK. Pretty much my entire reaction to every scene. But this time in a good way. There seems to e much of a narrative consistency. Book ending it with the Lovers (god, Adam Levine is so hot) is a really good narrative technique to ground the story slightly more.


Also, why does Ryan Murphy think it's a good idea to have Evan Peters play a straight man? Come on.
 
i_am_ben

i_am_ben

running_here_and_there
I thought it was too over the place. I would have preferred a slower episode that built the tension better. Things just happened way too fast.

Also I'm not really on board with the whole aliens thing.
 
F

Fantastical

Death Prophet
Nemesis_ said:
Is Evan Peters gay?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. I think maybe ivysaur wanted to see him make out with dudes? I don't know. I think he's attractive, but he's not crazy attractive to me, at least not all the time. I am looking for a picture of him laying in bed in his underwear though. That was...

ncpda.gif


i_am_ben said:
I thought it was too over the place. I would have preferred a slower episode that built the tension better. Things just happened way too fast.

Also I'm not really on board with the whole aliens thing.
Click to expand...

It was kinda all over the place, but it didn't really bother me. I'm not sure about the aliens though. It doesn't really feel like it fits with the tone of the rest of the show.
 
D

Double D

Member
i_am_ben said:
I thought it was too over the place. I would have preferred a slower episode that built the tension better. Things just happened way too fast.

Also I'm not really on board with the whole aliens thing.
Click to expand...

Just embrace the aliens. Don't fight it. I'm prepared for utter absurdity.
 
Nemesis_

Nemesis_

Member
I think it kind of fits with the time era though. Wasn't the contactee era really rampant / prominent throughout the 60s?

I also find it interesting that the actual scenes with the aliens parallel similar scenes in Nip/Tuck where they dealt with aliens. I actually think the probe they found might've been similar to the one inside Kit.

Linked continuity? lol
 
Nemesis_

Nemesis_

Member
Some "news" and "updates" about the show, since I just got home and didn't want to start writing this assignment (lol)

An interview with Ryan has been put up by EW as well, though it has a lot of details. I'll summarise them here, but you can check out the rest of the interview here

  • The opening scene offers "metaphors" for the goings-on at Briarcliff
  • The girl walking up and down the staircase is explored in Episode 2
  • Murphy has a "nifty plan" for the final episode
  • They chose 1964 because it was when religion and science collided, and the space programs created all these stories of abductions.
  • You will see the Aliens.
  • Bloody Face's story and such will be detailed (der)
  • Leo (Adam Levine's) fate is unknown. The wrote the role for Adam Levine, however.
  • Murphy loves the idea of new Briarcliff dissolving with old Briarcliff. The 2012 sequences will not appear or bookend every singe episode
  • They are "figuring out" if they can bring Eric Stonestreet back
  • Ian McShane will go
    head to head with Lange
    in episodes #
    8 and 9.
  • Frances Conroy will appear in episode #
    7 onwards
  • Franka Potente will appear in episodes #
    4 and 5
  • Dylan McDermott is returning (though it's unclear if it's this season or not >_>)
  • The series will take a break and return in January following episode 9
A teaser about next week's episode

Can you tease next week&#8217;s episode, &#8220;Trick and Treats?&#8221;
It&#8217;s our Halloween episode, and it&#8217;s about the powers of Satan. It&#8217;s about a boy who is or is not possessed who suddenly, strangely knows a lot about Sister Jude&#8217;s secrets.
Click to expand...

The next episode is confirmed to be their "halloween" special.
 
W

White Man

Member
I'm concerned. This wasn't nearly as batshit as the first ep of last season. I'm concerned that being too competent might make it not as fun. I'm fairly sure that I did not see Dylan McDermott's naked ass even once. No crysturbation either.
 
Nemesis_

Nemesis_

Member
You saw Evan Peters though?

I don't know if GayGAF finds him attractive

EDIT: I have updated the casting information in the OP, for anyone who cares. :p
 
R

Replicant

Member
I love it. The way I see it there are 3 types of monsters here:

Imaginary monster
These are the aliens. A by-product of guilt, I assume?

Monsters created by human error
Grotesque/crazy individuals who roam around killing people due to the experiments by crazy doctor (ie. Monsters in the forest, Bloodyface?)

The monster in human heart
As exemplified by Sister Jude and the crazy doctor. What Jude did to that journalist and her lover was really despicable.

As for relatable character, I assume that falls into Zac Quinto's character. Grace was not bad either.
 
R

Replicant

Member
Nemesis_ said:
Do you actually think that the
Aliens aren't real?
Click to expand...

Well, kind of. It's likely that
he and his wife were taken to be experimented with by someone and in his guilt for not being able to protect his wife he concocted the idea that it was Aliens because then it'd explain his sense of helplessness
.

Yeah, I'm an expert in psychology. BTW,

Nemesis_ said:
You saw Evan Peters though?

I don't know if GayGAF finds him attractive
Click to expand...

Fugsville. Don't know what his tumblr fangirls see in him.
 
N

NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
Ok, that was... fantastic. The season premiere was single-handedly better than any episode of AHS Season 1, by miles and miles. I mean, sexy ghosts are great and all... but damn season 1 was just bad. I didn't have much fun with it. Hated all the characters. Only made it six episodes (I was in it for the hot maid till I just couldn't do it anymore). But this... this is awesome. I love Alien horror. I love psychological horror. And here, those seem to collide. Love the science-fiction bent to the horror here. I like the setting as well, it's much more intriguing and nutty and dynamic. A very demented setting.

I really dig the characters as well. Sister Jude is horrific, but Lange makes her pretty magnetic to watch. I hated Tate in the previous season, but Kit comes off as a much more likable character and his actor does it well. I'm really intrigued in his story. I'm not sure about Grace, but she's gorgeous. Beautiful eyes. I'm interested in seeing where her and Kit's friendship/relationship goes. The Doc (James Cromwell) is suitably creepy and fucked up. Don't have much of an opinion of the Monsignor yet. Sister Eunice is hilarious. I bet she's not as stupid as she looks, though I laughed pretty hard at her flipping her habit up so Lange could spank her. I was kind of looking forward to that... which is weird. I think the only story/character that didn't grab me is the lesbian journalist. Kind of meh there, though Lange came off as incredibly evil during the final scenes. The frame story with Adam Levine and Teresa is interesting. I wonder if Levine will have more to do or he'll just bleed out more and more over the season until Bloody Face finds him and finishes him. Though the sex scene as gratuitous as it was, was kinda hot. Also, that freaky lady in the beginning (the deformed one)... she creeped me out, but it turns out the actress in real life is actually really pretty, so that was odd. Nice makeup work.

This lady played the creepy kid-killing deformed lady:

tumblr_mc5hv5aWiw1qeg58vo1_500.jpg


But all in all, great episode. I'm hooked. Well done, AHS.

Replicant said:
Well, kind of. It's likely that
he and his wife were taken to be experimented with by someone and in his guilt for not being able to protect his wife he concocted the idea that it was Aliens because then it'd explain his sense of helplessness
.

Yeah, I'm an expert in psychology. BTW,
Click to expand...

But what about the MicrochipSpiderRobot that the Doc pulled out of Kit's neck?
 
R

Replicant

Member
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
But what about the MicrochipSpiderRobot that the Doc pulled out of Kit's neck?
Click to expand...

Well I did say that he's experimented by someone. I just don't think it's an Alien. :D

And yeah, I like the characters from this season better than S1. The Harmons just annoyed me big time right from the first time I saw them. Ditto Tate and his family.
 
S

Spotless Mind

Member
That was way more entertaining than anything last season produced, but holy crap is the editing still as awful. So many terrific sets and shots wasted due to the incoherent, choppy editing of scenes. I don't think they once allowed a shot to linger in order to build tension or atmosphere, so i was constantly taken out of it. Did anyone seriously find this the slightest bit scary or disturbing? There was no sense of pacing. They just rushed through each and every moment without giving them a chance to sink in.
 
N

NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
Spotless Mind said:
That was way more entertaining than anything last season produced, but holy crap is the editing still as awful. So many terrific sets and shots wasted due to the incoherent, choppy editing of scenes. I don't think they once allowed a shot to linger in order to build tension or atmosphere, so i was constantly taken out of it. Did anyone seriously find this the slightest bit scary or disturbing? There was no sense of pacing. They just rushed through each and every moment without giving them a chance to sink in.
Click to expand...

Disturbing, yeah. Scary? Not so much... or not yet. I do think the actions by some of the characters are disturbing and the locale is certainly eerie. The Doctor in particular just gives me the creeps.
 
Nemesis_

Nemesis_

Member
Spotless Mind said:
That was way more entertaining than anything last season produced, but holy crap is the editing still as awful. So many terrific sets and shots wasted due to the incoherent, choppy editing of scenes. I don't think they once allowed a shot to linger in order to build tension or atmosphere, so i was constantly taken out of it. Did anyone seriously find this the slightest bit scary or disturbing? There was no sense of pacing. They just rushed through each and every moment without giving them a chance to sink in.
Click to expand...

Personally I felt like the way the scenes were shot, including the pacey nature, made it feel really intense and made your heart beat a little bit.

I remember after watching, I realised that I hadn't actually taken a deep breath throughout the whole episode. It was just so tense.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

LTTP : The Walking dead (all seasons/spoilers)
Spoilers
19
2K
Badlucktroll replied
  • Locked
How The Last of Us became 'the greatest story' ever told in video games
Opinion Analysis 2 3 4 5
203
23K
Elysium44 replied
31 Days of Horror: The Ravenous |OT| The October Movie Marathon
3 4 5 6 7
324
31K
Domisto replied
RTTP : Les revenants ("The returned", 2012 French TV show, atmospheric supernatural drama )
4
1K
DelireMan7 replied
Life Is Strange: True Colors |OT| Color Me Sadd
|OT| 2
99
12K
Ryuji Goda replied
Top Bottom