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American Horror Story: Freak Show |OT| Let your inhibitions go, it's a crazy night...

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odiin

My Apartment, or the 120 Screenings of Salo
Upon some reflection on the first episode. I'll check out the next 2 episodes to get a better idea of where it's going. But honestly, I thought that was an incredibly weak episode 1. It says a lot when you feel more impressed by the opening credits sequence than the entire episode.

I like the way it's shot, the majority of the cast are fine, theme is fine. I think it's the writing. While I love me some Bowie and Fiona Apple. What are those songs doing in the early 1950s??? 50s had some great music.

I would have hated it a lot less if we a sweet-ass '50s arrangement of the song instead.
 

obin_gam

Member
do we know which of the actors are actual "freaks" (and I mean that in the most respectful way possible, I mean they use the term in the show :/)

I know the tiny indian lady is for example. I cant tell if the tattooed guy with the tiny arms is CGI or real, really liked his character. Tall lady could be camera tricks or just...a very tall lady I guess

Those without special or visual effects:
Ma Petite (Jyoti Amge)
Amazon Eve (Erika Ervin) The actress is 6 feet 8, I dont know if the character looks this tall on the television
Paul the Illustrated Seal (Mat Fraser)
Legless Suzi (Rose Siggins)
Meep (Ben Woolf)
 

Monocle

Member
I liked it. The twins are great with their opposing personalities and different body language. I'd keep watching just to see their storyline play out.

The creepy clown wasted no time getting down to his creepy business. That Zodiac homage was predictable yet effective.

The opening credits have loads of twisted sexual imagery, to the point where I have to wonder if freaky sex is going to be a major theme of this season.
 
Lobster boy finger sex didn't have to "go anywhere". It spoke for itself. Women don't want to be with him but are happy to have him stick his deformity up their vagina. And then leave without anyone knowing. It also speaks to Elsa's speech about the bored housewives.

But he looked more than happy doing it, which goes against his crappy "I'm sick of being treated differently. WE ARE NOT FREAKS!!!" speech.

Hope he dies next episode.
 

Matt_

World's #1 One Direction Fan: Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you~~~
But he looked more than happy doing it, which goes against his crappy "I'm sick of being treated differently. WE ARE NOT FREAKS!!!" speech.

Hope he dies next episode.

finger fucking the women isn't his issue, the issue was the fact that he has to leave through the back door without anyone seeing because the association of those women to him would likely ruin their reputations.
 
I wish AHS had 8-10 episode seasons instead of 13 eps.

Even though I mostly liked the premiere, you can already start to see the plethora of storylines that will emerge. And we've yet to meet quite a few of the main characters at this point, so we'll almost certainly get even more.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
I wish AHS had 8-10 episode seasons instead of 13 eps.

Even though I mostly liked the premiere, you can already start to see the plethora of storylines that will emerge. And we've yet to meet quite a few of the main characters at this point, so we'll almost certainly get even more.

Yep. I'm kinda glad this is Lange's last season. I can at least stop watching after this.
 

Nemesis_

Member
Anyone notice near the start of Lange's song, it flashes to an almost clown looking Lange, balding and seemingly watching herself?

Confuses me.

I interpreted it as her being depressed that she's performing and still isn't doing that well. I assumed she was just done doing "another show" and rewatching her performance and becoming depressed that she's stagnating as an artist. The costume was a bit weird but I assumed it was her "winding down" directly after a show where she dressed up like that, for some reason.

Yep. I'm kinda glad this is Lange's last season. I can at least stop watching after this.

She's definitely great but I think there's so many other people here that make it worth watching now, some even more so than her.
 

Zoe

Member
Meep (Ben Woolf)

Oh, this guy played the baby monster in the first season.

Which, BTW, I had no idea was actually alive rather than a ghost.
Ryan Murphy has said that Infantata is not a ghost, but a still-living creature that has been eating possums and bugs to sustain himself, and that he typically does not leave his hole in the basement unless provoked. Despite Infantata being alive the phrase "Go Away" apparently still works in keeping him at bay.
 

Taruranto

Member
Oh, so that Jessica Lange number was a recreation of a David Bowie music video and the rest of the season is going to have anachronistic Baz Luhrmann-esque musical numbers. Okay.

Inb4 David Bowie appears in the story and it's revealed he copied Elsa song and style.
 
Upon some reflection on the first episode. I'll check out the next 2 episodes to get a better idea of where it's going. But honestly, I thought that was an incredibly weak episode 1. It says a lot when you feel more impressed by the opening credits sequence than the entire episode.

I like the way it's shot, the majority of the cast are fine, theme is fine. I think it's the writing. While I love me some Bowie and Fiona Apple. What are those songs doing in the early 1950s??? 50s had some great music.
I do agree the inclusion of these tunes just didn't fit. It seemed disconnected from the storyline for whatever reason.
 

Finalow

Member
they always manage to do a great opening sequence. creepy as usual, in a good way. sadly they can't do the same with the actual episodes.
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
Hated it...the freak show isn't really creepy, but neither was coven, it just was not entertaining. The clown looks like what a typical scary clown and quite a few scenes could have been cut short. I'm not going to lie, I am actually missing Coven and that was bad, but at least entertaining.
 
Hated it...the freak show isn't really creepy, but neither was coven, it just was not entertaining. The clown looks like what a typical scary clown and quite a few scenes could have been cut short. I'm not going to lie, I am actually missing Coven and that was bad, but at least entertaining.

It was bad but entertaining. I'm confused.
 

Snake

Member
Didn't especially like the premiere but hopefully it'll be a reverse Coven, and will start out weak but get better.

The anachronistic songs look like they'll be a recurring feature and I can't help but think they're going to outstay their welcome. The opening was the worst in the series [based entirely on the music, not the visuals]. The characters were not very compelling (though in fairness, probably half of the main cast has yet to be introduced). Kathy Bates' accent was the only consistently entertaining part of the episode.

I'm trying to keep an open mind but Coven clearly burned most of the goodwill I had for AHS.
 

Bladenic

Member
Maybe this will be a reverse of Coven. Coven started off really strong imo then tapered off until it fell into the deepest abyss in the ocean. So I hope Freak Show starts off weak (which it really did, imo) and gets way better.
 
Why is everyone hating on the episode? ;_; I really liked it, and Sarah Paulsson is OBVIOUSLY grasping the Emmy in her hands.

It's true the premiere is a bit less interesting than Coven, which went nuts with events and stuff. But Coven's first episode was probably the only redeeming quality it had, so it means nothing.
 

SaintZ

Member
My favorite parts were the clown and when all the freaks started ripping the cop's body, lmao. I loved how all of them were ready to get their hands dirty.

I didn't think it was bad but it dragged in some parts, it would have been better as a 60 min episode. I didn't care about Dot and Bette's plot at all (the murder of her mom). And tbh, I'm not interested in Elsa's either.
 
I didn't hate the episode...but it was lackluster considering that they went all out with the hour and a half long premier. I feel like the actual content didn't warrant that. Regardless, I'll stick around for Sarah Paulson no matter what. And I think you'd be a fool to give up before the rest of the cast gets a say. Angela Basset really brought a lot of fun drama last year.
 

Nemesis_

Member
I didn't hate the episode...but it was lackluster considering that they went all out with the hour and a half long premier. I feel like the actual content didn't warrant that. Regardless, I'll stick around for Sarah Paulson no matter what. And I think you'd be a fool to give up before the rest of the cast gets a say. Angela Basset really brought a lot of fun drama last year.

I think their strategy is to get the exposition out of the way now with two longer episodes focusing on the core cast, so they can focus on the storylines for the remainder of the season. Rather than Coven which just drip fed you character development and exposition all over the place all over the season.

Maybe....
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
The writers who understood narrative must have left between seasons two and three.
 

aku:jiki

Member
I'm easy to please with this show. Just show me some random, fucked-up shit and I'm good... At least for 4-5 episodes, then something substantial needs to start happening. Hopefully Freakshow beats Coven in that regard.

Tiny lady is beyond adorable, I hope she has more scenes.
 

kirblar

Member
Seasons 1/2 were very structured, and it was obvious that S3 was being written on the fly for the most part. It sounds like they've gone back to the structured method, given that they've said that they're introducing the main cast in chunks in the first 3 episodes in order to let them breathe, hopefully they can keep up the quality.
 
Yeah, S3 really felt like they had no big picure or Bible to work off of. This is why I enjoy shows wit smaller episode orders. A tightly structured 12 or less season let's writers write scenes without losing sight of how it fits into the big picture.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Yeah, S3 really felt like they had no big picure or Bible to work off of. This is why I enjoy shows wit smaller episode orders. A tightly structured 12 or less season let's writers write scenes without losing sight of how it fits into the big picture.

Coven was only 13 episodes though.
 
AHS is just a stage for Ryan Murphy to jerk off on. Narrative is not something the show has ever been interested in. I still watch it because Murphy jerks off in entertaining ways but I stopped expecting it to be coherent a long time ago.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
AHS is just a stage for Ryan Murphy to jerk off on. Narrative is not something the show has ever been interested in. I still watch it because Murphy jerks off in entertaining ways but I stopped expecting it to be coherent a long time ago.

gcBh1ou.gif
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
There was nobody working on the show that understood narrative in season 1.

I'd argue that season one at least had a basic sense of propulsion. Maybe even a *tiny bit* of restraint. Not so much, nowadays.
 

Mononoke

Banned
I'd argue that season one at least had a basic sense of propulsion. Maybe even a *tiny bit* of restraint. Not so much, nowadays.

I mean, it's one episode lol. You may have a point if by episode 4 or 5 nothing has happened. But I find it strange people are arguing that Season 1 had writers that understood narrative.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I mean, it's one episode lol. You may have a point if by episode 4 or 5 nothing has happened. But I find it strange people are arguing that Season 1 had writers that understood narrative.

*understood narrative can be taken to mean "the story doesn't feel like it was improvised on set"
 

Choomp

Banned
Taissa Farmiga is so boring that I didn't realize until recently that she's the girl dancing next to Emma Watson in "The Bling Ring" GIF:

iblIFG6l7XS9wH.gif

I could use a lot more of that gif in my life.

I'll stick with the show for a few more episodes. Kept me intrigued to an extent. Michael Chiklis though? Damn, didn't see this coming for him.
 

Taruranto

Member
AHS is just a stage for Ryan Murphy to jerk off on. Narrative is not something the show has ever been interested in. I still watch it because Murphy jerks off in entertaining ways but I stopped expecting it to be coherent a long time ago.

But S3 had literally no MAN ASS!
 

SaintZ

Member
So American Horror Story has been renewed for a fifth season
It’s very good to be a Freak: FX has just announced that the premiere of American Horror Story: Freak Show has set a record as the most-watched TV episode in the network’s history(!), with 10 million total viewers (6.54 million 18-49), according to Live+3 numbers. That bests last year’s Coven premiere of 7.27 million by 38 percent.

Based on the success of AHS: Freak Show, the network also announced that it will deliver a fifth installment of American Horror Story in October 2015. Co-creator Ryan Murphy told EW last week that he’s already planted clues for next year in the first two episodes of this current season.
Yay?
 
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