American Horror Story: Massacres and Matinees
October 15, 2014 8:56 PM - Season 4, Episode 2 - Subscribe

Elsa gets jealous, Jimmy sets out to prove a point, Twisty the Clown gets hired, and the twins take on Fiona Apple.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord (15 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Well, of course Dandy was going to be scarier than Twisty. I had to chuckle when Dandy complained about babies being boring -- I instantly thought of Axe Cop ("Babies are dumb!").

And we meet Michael Chiklis and Angela Bassett -- hurrah! Well, kinda.

I never thought I'd feel sorry for someone who bites the heads of of chicks, but poor Meep! :-(
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:35 PM on October 15, 2014




Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett are playing characters who I would think are bit players but for the fact that they are played by stars. It makes me wonder what is in store for them.

Dell Toledo started out being pretty charming, but he quickly became incredibly unlikeable. I like Michael Chiklis very much, so I'm excited to see his arc.

I guess Twisty the clown doesn't have any sort of secret identity. I assume that Dandy is going to take up his role, presumably after killing him. Dandy is a great character. I loved the bourbon bottle with a nipple.

Here's a pretty good interview with Ryan Murphy about future episodes. It's interesting that he is so blunt about their having no idea where the story will go. They don't know how or even whether Evan will discover that Dell is his father
posted by painquale at 7:21 PM on October 16, 2014


Here's Price Peterson's wonderful photo recap again. The sixth photo --- the one with Twisty hidden in the background --- was surprising to me... I didn't see him on first watch.

The picture of the cook in the diner reminded me to mention a cinematographic trope from the season that I like a lot. When they film Sarah Paulson's character(s), it makes sense to shoot one head at a time poking diagonally up from the corner of the screen. So they made this a theme throughout. They shoot a bunch of scenes and characters this way. It's very striking.
posted by painquale at 7:35 PM on October 16, 2014 [2 favorites]


Some of the scenes, especially those in in the Mott house, seemed to me to be channeling Kubrick (in a good way). What with the slow pacing, the solid white walls, the decor, and the long shots with a character centered in frame.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:09 PM on October 16, 2014


Thanks for the GIF recap, painquale! I'd forgotten about Dandy's Little Lulu curls.

Why can't people smell the clown from miles away?
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 2:14 AM on October 17, 2014


From that Ryan Murphy interview:
And I feel like Dandy is a metaphor of the audience who is just bored bored bored by everything and wants more and more and more carnage. He’s been interesting to write. He’s not just a spoiled rich kid—I think he’s sort of a metaphor for American culture.
And we'll learn how Twisty came to be next week!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 2:28 AM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


Okay, I'm less jazzed than I was last week. There are so many wonderful things here, but I'm nervous they aren't coming together. The show has a lot of little conflicts, but no overarching one (or at least no overarching one that seems like it could support thirteen hours). And the characters are just too cartoonish to identify with so far. It's like a slapstick horror movie. And I can't help but think they really missed a bet by not having Michael Chiklis be the charming nice guy he seemed to be at first. For a moment, I thought I was looking at the heart of a show I was going to like a great deal, but he was quickly turned into an abusive jerk with no discernible motivation and it was just so disappointing.

Don't get me wrong: The "Criminal" scene is fantastic. Twisty is fantastic. Dandy is...I mean, a little goes a long way, but that guy is hilarious. Frances Conroy could probably just make faces at the screen and mouth random syllables and I would watch it. Angela Bassett could just stand there for an hour and I would watch it. Meep's death gutted me. But I really, really, really, really, really, really wish there seemed to be a direction all this was heading in.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:58 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


> But I really, really, really, really, really, really wish there seemed to be a direction all this was heading in.

Yeah, I dunno, man. We're four seasons in and I've kinda given up hoping it was that kind of show.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 6:07 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]


And the characters are just too cartoonish to identify with so far.

Yeah I mean have you seen any of the other seasons of this show because that is not a goal to which Ryan Murphy aspires
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 7:01 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


Yeah, I mean, I'm aware there are things this show does well and things it doesn't, and some things it isn't interested in at all, but there are usually some fairly realized and grounded characters surrounded by broader ones. This season is more like, I dunno, Rocky Horror.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:19 PM on October 17, 2014


When the clown killed the kid in the open, was that look on his face boredom or orgasmic?

I love that a filthy clown walking down the road doesn't bother anyone.

You have to approach AHS, especially this season, as a sort of 3rd level, next-gen Grimm fairy tale.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 12:48 PM on October 19, 2014


News! News! News!

American Horror Story has been renewed for a fifth season!
Meanwhile, Murphy has said that the clues about Season 5 are there in the first two episodes of "American Horror Story-Freak Show." He said to Entertainment Weekly, "I figured out season 5 very early on and I know that the fans love that. So there are clues that are dropped."
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 1:23 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm sure this isn't original, but Dandy reminds me of Mason Verger in Hannibal.

Kathy Bates's American Horror Story accent, explained by a linguist
posted by Room 641-A at 5:16 PM on October 22, 2014 [3 favorites]


Some good points in this thread. How could you not smell Twisty. Also, lots of nods to Kubrick in Dandy's house. As a lifelong resident of Pittsburgh, lemme say "I'm hearin you Kathy Bates. I know people say otherwise but..."
posted by firemouth at 12:47 PM on October 23, 2014 [2 favorites]


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