American Horror Story: Thank You for Your Service
October 20, 2022 8:03 PM - Season 11, Episode 2 - Subscribe
Efforts are made to identify the killer.
More than anything, I find myself interested in how covid has affected this show: Last year, we had a split season, presumably so that if covid shut down one half of the production, the other could still be finished in time. This year, there's a million characters, most of whom are disconnected from one another, so that you could simply just shut down a storyline for a week or two as needed.
Tonally, this seems very off-model for AHS; there's a grim weight to all of it, and maybe three jokes in 90 minutes. Impossibly for a show in which the central fear figure is some kind of undead BDSM Bane, this season is probably the least campy AHS has ever been.
I'm not gay and I was a small child in 1981, so I feel like there's a metric fuckton of references to NYC nightlife of the period that are sailing right over my head, but I hope they're reaching their intended audience!
I'm interested so far, but I do hope this gets a bit more outlandish, plotwise. My guess is that the deer story will lead to some kind of elaborate conspiracy science fiction storyline, and I'm crossing my fingers for more aliens (Death Valley was a mixed bag, but the alien stuff was pretty cool). I can't help but see a little of Susan Sarandon in The Hunger in Billie Lourd's character.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:11 AM on October 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Tonally, this seems very off-model for AHS; there's a grim weight to all of it, and maybe three jokes in 90 minutes. Impossibly for a show in which the central fear figure is some kind of undead BDSM Bane, this season is probably the least campy AHS has ever been.
I'm not gay and I was a small child in 1981, so I feel like there's a metric fuckton of references to NYC nightlife of the period that are sailing right over my head, but I hope they're reaching their intended audience!
I'm interested so far, but I do hope this gets a bit more outlandish, plotwise. My guess is that the deer story will lead to some kind of elaborate conspiracy science fiction storyline, and I'm crossing my fingers for more aliens (Death Valley was a mixed bag, but the alien stuff was pretty cool). I can't help but see a little of Susan Sarandon in The Hunger in Billie Lourd's character.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:11 AM on October 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
so I feel like there's a metric fuckton of references to NYC nightlife of the period that are sailing right over my head
The Brownhouse Bar is a reference to the Townhouse Bar, a famous gay piano bar that still operates today. Fire Island, where the deer are, was a refuge for gay men and women starting in the 30s. It's still a very popular summer destination for gay men. I'm sure there are others, but those were the two that I caught.
posted by miss-lapin at 7:15 AM on October 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Brownhouse Bar is a reference to the Townhouse Bar, a famous gay piano bar that still operates today. Fire Island, where the deer are, was a refuge for gay men and women starting in the 30s. It's still a very popular summer destination for gay men. I'm sure there are others, but those were the two that I caught.
posted by miss-lapin at 7:15 AM on October 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
More references:
The photographer and his lover are inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe and Sam Wagstaff, (though I've never heard accusations of Wagstaff kidnapping guys and keeping them in dungeons...)
The plot so far shows a lot of similarities to the movie Cruising. (The bit in the police interrogation scene where a guy comes in wearing only a jockstrap and slaps Adam is a direct reference to a scene in Cruising.)
One of the performers at that underground party is clearly based on Klaus Nomi.
posted by dnash at 12:58 PM on December 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
The photographer and his lover are inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe and Sam Wagstaff, (though I've never heard accusations of Wagstaff kidnapping guys and keeping them in dungeons...)
The plot so far shows a lot of similarities to the movie Cruising. (The bit in the police interrogation scene where a guy comes in wearing only a jockstrap and slaps Adam is a direct reference to a scene in Cruising.)
One of the performers at that underground party is clearly based on Klaus Nomi.
posted by dnash at 12:58 PM on December 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by miss-lapin at 10:04 PM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]