When American Horror Story : cultus dictation leave-taking last calendar week , I cheered like detestable main character Kai Anderson ( Evan Peters ) cheered Trump ’s victory — because at long last , the excruciating Cult was over . Withat least two more AHS seasons to come , there ’s still go for it ’ll be able to muster a riposte to form . But how ?
( I ’ll take on that not everyone is caught up with Cult since it just terminate , so will leave this here in case you ’re still slogging through the caper of Clown Town . )
Bring back the supernatural elements
Despite my overall dislike of the season , I will give Cult credit for doing something completely unlike with its plot . One thing American Horror Story will never do is exhibit any amount of simplicity ; it wants to startle you , repulse you , and campaign every possible push button . The show knows that its fans gestate this , so it delights in rise to the challenge . In Cult , it certainly achieved that , but the patch stay stubbornly , deliberately rooted in realism . This was the first AHS season that did n’t contain any supernatural chemical element , which tilted its shock value somewhat . Sure , we ’ve had man being awe-inspiring to humans in previous seasons , include multiple serial Orcinus orca . But there ’s always been some variety of otherworldly threat to really bring up the stakes above and beyond that . American Horror Story ’s previous “ real people ” characters always became more compelling when their life sentence became snarl with sinister phantasy — like Murder House ’s Harmon family , who picked the most cursed house in Los Angeles to try and make a fresh start , or Roanoke ’s Matt and Shelby , doomed winner of the most ill - fated property auction bridge in North Carolina history .
In Cult , the horrors feel too real , to the point of being hyper - existent — they offered a very exaggerated take on reality but never crossed fully into the spirit realm the way other time of year have done . Instead , they feasted on the inscrutable unease that ’s permeate America since Trump take office . There ’s certainly something to be articulate about being the first show to really capitalize on that — the story and themes cooked up by creator Ryan Murphy and work party were sometimes breathtakingly prescient , as when a long - since - completed episode about a lot shot had to be promptly re - edited following the tragedy in Las Vegas .
Other times , the show felt forced ; the clown gang never really made any sense , nor was it especially scarey , and the reenactments of Jonestown and other historical cults were at long last superfluous to the main storey . Even the SCUM subplot , which at last connect into the time of year ’s net mental image , mat kind of vacuous . Aside from playing tight and loose with chronicle ( are we really to believe militant feminists plotted the offense assign to the Zodiac Killer ? ) , it sure did n’t have enough impactto supply Kai ’s need . It also was n’t explored nearly enough to make Ally ’s last motion , get into the group ’s theme song hood after her election to the US Senate , be the kind of “ Holy shit ! ” moment it was distinctly trying to be .
Besides , that form of stuff is not what endear American Horror Story to its viewing audience , and that ’s not what it should be trying to redeem . There are already already tons of offense dramas and docudramas and factually iffy recreations on television , including a few in Murphy ’s own horse barn of show . But there ’s only one series whose wild ride has included ghosts in bondage suits , alien abduction , conjoined twins , hag feuds , glamorous vampires , and a origin - dowse spin on the bemused Colony , to name just a few . Would n’t it have been awe-inspiring if , say , the decompose corpse of Kai ’s brother ( Cheyenne Jackson ) had actually hail back to sprightliness — instead of just speak to Kai in his twisted mind — and get down kicking ass from beyond the grave ? Next time of year , whatever the theme may be , let ’s hope AHS brings back its signature vicious ghosts and campy ghouls , and cut into back into a story that exists in its own weird house of cards , instead of trying to be such a real - minded reaction to current effect .
Bring back more fan favorites… and write some likable characters
Cult had a relatively small cast liken to other season of AHS . That meant we spent a lot of time with its main role . mayhap too much time , considering how across - the - card unlikable they were . The character do n’t have to be good citizenry — Roanoke fundamentally had zero sympathetic part , though I sure did enjoy Kathy Bates ’ performance as “ the Butcher ” and also her bonus turn as “ the Unstable Actress Who play the Butcher on TV”—but a little more balance would have been a relief . Ally ( Sarah Paulson ) and Kai did 90 percent of the heavy - lifting and scenery - manduction , while everyone else pretty much existed just to react to their character . This was especially annoying because while the cast had some intriguing new gain — especially Billie Lourd as Kai ’s goth sister , Winter , and Leslie Grossman as suburban trainwreck Meadow — Cult never matte like it had the right blend of AHS ensemble conjuring trick . It was almost all the Ally and Kai show , and that get really tiresome after awhile .
manifestly , not every season of AHS can have the same cast , but Cult in finicky seemed to be missing a flock of fan favourite and conversant faces . Besides Bates , notable absences included Denis O’Hare , Angela Bassett ( who directed two Cult sequence ) , and Lily Rabe . Murphy may never get the serial ’ original touchstone superstar , Jessica Lange — who clear critical acclaim originally this year act as Joan Crawford on another of his shows , Feud — back to AHS , though apparentlyhe has n’t totally given up on that , so that would be an amazing goal for time of year eight or nine . To be fair , some conversant faces did crop up up in small guest role — including John Carroll Lynch reprising his Freak Show character of Twisty the Clown , who appear as the personification of a comic book quality , and Emma Roberts as a TV reporter who meets a morbid remnant . But overall , Cult ’s key mold feel like it had less spark than previous AHS time of year . in person , I was hoping for a Lady Gaga cameo , but maybe the eternal Countess / Wood Witch was too busybodied to stop by and wreak someone so boringly normal .
Do the crossover next
Here ’s a simple answer that would cross both of the above items off the lean . With only two more planned season , the eighth go - daily round seems like the perfect time to cash in on AHS ’s many between - time of year connections and Easter egg and give fans the crossover voter they ’ve been waiting to see , peculiarly since Murphy’sbeen hinting at the ideafor some time now . Though in true American Horror Story way , we wo n’t jazz anything for sure until the affair actually hits the air , Murphy has said he need to do a “ return - to - Coven ” season that will also bleedMurder House into Covensomehow . That sounds like a recipe for the most memorable American Horror Story of all time — and would surely go a long way toward arrive at up for the unpleasantness of Cult .
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