American Horror Story: Chapter Seven
October 27, 2016 8:53 AM - Season 6, Episode 7 - Subscribe

As the Blood Moon rises, so does the body count. Agnes leaves a bloody trail, Shelby works out her issues with Matt, and a mission for help goes awry.
posted by yellowbinder (17 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
They're certainly moving things along aren't they? So many deaths, and almost all caused by people and not spirits.

This was at least the second 37 minute episode this season, and while during My Roanoke Nightmare my reaction was "The food is terrible, and such small portions!" now I'm actually hungry for more.

I am loving the way the spirits are not quite matching up with their depiction. As someone mentioned last thread the nurses were quick and grimy, not glam and seductive. The Mott-thing in the tunnel is not a helpful dandy. The Butcher is not a raving force of vengeance. The elemental woman is not a bewitching beauty but a hairy half glimpsed thing. The reality of coming face to face with a heartless dead thing versus a romanticized Hollywood portrayal of same is striking.

Another thing I was struck by as Lee, Audrey and Monet set off on their mission - I can't remember the last time I saw three women in a scene together. Three women with their own subplot. Not even to mention these are older and two thirds nonwhite women. I give Ryan Murphy a lot of flack for some simplistic politics and piss poor storytelling but damn he mostly does right by his actresses. Of course that plot ended up taking a turn that I really could have done without, one that I hope we get out of fairly quickly.
posted by yellowbinder at 9:02 AM on October 27, 2016 [7 favorites]


I'm not crazy about the cannibals, either; on a story level, their inclusion made sense as long as there was still a suggestion that nothing supernatural was really going on at all, but with the arrival of the real Butcher and company at the end of the episode, the Polks now just seem like filler.

I loved this episode, though. There isn't a lot else to say. Other than: How good is Kathy Bates? They've written some pretty terrific roles for her on this show, but this is easily the best.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:20 AM on October 27, 2016


I was astounded by how many people were killed off in this episode. To the point where I started wondering if any were faked and they'll pop up again later alive.

The reality of coming face to face with a heartless dead thing versus a romanticized Hollywood portrayal of same is striking.
I'm finding this to be a fabulous touch to the whole thing.

Another thing I was struck by as Lee, Audrey and Monet set off on their mission - I can't remember the last time I saw three women in a scene together. Three women with their own subplot. Not even to mention these are older and two thirds nonwhite women.
I had a similar thought and am glad you pointed it out here.

This is the first season of AHS where I've made it past episode 3 and it's making me want to give the other seasons another shot, especially the first one.
posted by Burn.Don't.Freeze at 10:50 AM on October 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is very different in tone than the first five seasons, just FYI.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 11:15 AM on October 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


This one lost a little momentum for me. I really dislike torture porn, and that seems to be where the woods-cannibal plot is headed. Bleh. The real butcher is suitably scary and menacing, though. None of Bates' monologuing, just a cleaver to the dome.

This is the first season of AHS where I've made it past episode 3 and it's making me want to give the other seasons another shot, especially the first one.

The other seasons aren't scary at all, really. They're Murphy and Falchuck revelling around in a bunch of spooky genre tropes that paper over a (sometimes entertaining, sometimes not) soap opera. This is the first season that actually feels like horror in any sense other than gratuitous gore and surface themes. That being said, season 2 is the most scary out of all of the previous ones and has maybe the tightest story.
posted by codacorolla at 12:50 PM on October 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yeah the first five seasons are really sort of comic horror homages to specific genres or horror. The first two have some scary stuff, but 3-5 don't, really. (Maybe parts of 5). This whole season is just creepy, and piling it on. I do like that they have stuck to their "pick a genre and beat it to death" roots, with the haunted mansion in a rural area, plus cannibal hillbillies in a rural area, and the house in the woods has multiple different ghosts in it. The whole "different kinds of supernatural reality tv" frame on top of it just makes it better.

Who do you all think will be the last person alive?
posted by Elementary Penguin at 1:03 PM on October 27, 2016


That's a good question. I think it might be a pairing between the IRL persona and their actor doppelganger. Fiona / Shelby would make a lot of sense to me.
posted by codacorolla at 1:09 PM on October 27, 2016


I had hoped that Finn Wittrock would be playing the real Mott ghost, not some random Polk. I liked Dandy and it would be a nice way to tie the two characters together. But a screaming thing in the shadows is good too.
posted by painquale at 4:10 PM on October 27, 2016


Well FINALLY an episode of AHS I actually enjoyed. Took long enough.

I was surprised how quickly the bodies piled up and how most of them were not the result of the supernatural. I'm sad that the elemental woman/first supreme love affair with Matt ended so quickly. That was really intriguing to me. If Matt was in love with EW, why then did he only end his relationship with Shelby after she cheated on him? Why let her continue to think that she was at fault?

One thing I do question is leaving all the cameras up. Earlier in the ep they think nutcase Iris may be using the cameras to see where they are/what they are doing. Why not knock out the cameras?

And why doesn't Sidney have a phone with a connection? That seems weird.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:24 AM on October 28, 2016


Cannibal stuff is one of my "oh hell no" triggers, but I'll keep watching with one hand over my eyes because Adina Porter is a motherloving badass and I refuse to believe Lee will just end up being Racist Jerky at the end of this season.

two reasons:

1. Ryan & co. are notorious for leaving plot holes open and unanswered questions each season, but this one's so fucked up that the major question going in -- "Is this stuff actually happening?" -- has already been resolved. The second-biggest question -- "Is Kathy Bates actually killing everyone, not ghosts/witches/hillbillies?" -- is already answered, too. The third question, "Who killed Lee's ex-husband?" I think might also get answered, simply because I think she'll be the lone survivor.

2. She's the only person left alive who's a trained cop and you can tell she's very calm and using her reasoning voice in the preview for the next ep. I think Monet and Fiona's hysteria will draw enough attention away from Lee that she'll break free and either shoot a hillbilly or try to escape, and if she does get killed, it'll be by the Butcher and her ghost army, not the hillbillies. If she's confronted, well... we haven't seen anyone say "Croatoan" yet on the second half of this season, and it apparently worked in the first half IRL? What's up with that? The actors are dumbasses and might not think to say it, but Lee DEFINITELY would. She's already gotten out once, why not twice?

One last thought: It's possible that real-life Cricket is still alive and he'll pronounce Lee innocent of all the murders. In fact, he'll be the one who discovers everyone's missing phones after the dead lead him to them after the Blood Moon sets for another year.

PPS. Lily Rabe's IRL Shelby with her "oh fuck oh fuck I actually killed Matt, OMG OMG OMG" wailing and crying reaction was IMMACULATE this episode. Cuba still came off as an actor who was totally out of his depth offering bullshit comfort and fake advice -- aka, he was STILL acting instead of viscerally reacting to the reality of witnessing Matt's crowbar-to-the-skull death -- but Lily's performance felt genuine, to me. I really love Sarah Paulsen and Kathy Bates is great too, but Lily Rabe, you're bringing your A-game acting to this season. I thought she was fun but also kind of a weak character as far as Coven goes (because stereotypes), but I'm always happy to admit I'm wrong! Damn girl, that was some intense shock and grief-crying you pulled off -- super-realistic!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:02 PM on October 28, 2016 [6 favorites]


In terms of Cuba's character, "Hey I know you're in shock and just bashed in your husband's skull, but come to the window and see how hosed we are!" seems like a really bad strategy for survival.

I think the survivor may be someone who appears to be dead, but isn't.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:26 PM on October 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


One thing that bugs me is that Matt, Shelby, and Lee's escape cannot have happened as depicted in My Roanoke Nightmare because it depended on the ghosts acting like people rather than like the things they are. The Mott-thing would. It have helped them in the tunnels, and the real ghost colonists wouldn't have turned on the Butcher. I want to know what really happened and I assume we'll find out.

On a rewatch, Shelby is pretty blasé about Agnes getting a knife to the head, isn't she?
posted by Elementary Penguin at 7:25 PM on October 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


I am curious how the elemental woman is going to deal with the death of her lover.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:04 AM on October 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


I wonder how many times Matt met with the Elemental Woman while he was living in the house? We only have his word and the one time Shelby caught him. His experience could have been very different from what we saw. He might not have been at a hotel that one night he was away, for example.
posted by painquale at 2:44 AM on October 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


That would make sense. He was probably sleeping with her for a while. I don't understand how h could have fallen in love enough to come back to a haunted house that was clearly going to kill him otherwise. Lee and Shelby similarly must have motivations we don't know about.

I love how the super gross ghosts and the wanton killing off of fan favorites works as a commentary on the flaws in the first five seasons of AHS as well as of the in-world My Roanoke Nightmare. I also like how the second half of the season is playing out as tragedy. We know the ghosts are going to kill all of them. We know the cannibals are going to catch and eat some of them. All the things that happened in the reenactment are happening again, just in a more horrible way.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:18 AM on October 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


I feel like it's important that we haven't heard a word about Lee's IRL daughter -- have we?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:59 AM on October 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


Yeah, I've been wondering about that too. Her dad is dead, Lee is getting eaten, so where is the kid?
posted by Elementary Penguin at 11:04 AM on October 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


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