American Horror Story: Gaslight
September 16, 2021 4:09 PM - Season 10, Episode 5 - Subscribe
The penultimate chapter of Red Tide.
I don't know when I'm going to get a chance to watch this, but I figured people would want to talk about it. See you soon!
I don't know when I'm going to get a chance to watch this, but I figured people would want to talk about it. See you soon!
That's an interesting observation about Harry. I thought he might have some latent paternal instinct or something, doing anything for his kid daughter, but yeah its looking like he's always been doing what leads to the least pain/ bother for himself.
"I just can't believe your father would do this, that he would bring his darkness and horror into our family."
So, there's history and acknowledgement of pre-existing sociopathy there.
Holy crap, Alma, and double, and triple holy crap. The writing that is. The actor is more than adequate, but doesn't break through that barrier to outstanding yet.
Adult human body has just shy of 80mL of blood per kg body mass. Give or take. I don't know what that is for babies, but a 10lb baby is about 4.5kg, so that's about 350ml of blood all told; about a can of pop. Once you lose 1/5th (in adults) of total blood, that's hypovolemic shock territory.
Alma could sip 70ml of blood (about a very small dixie cup) without immediately killing the baby unequivocally - but there's continued bleeding to consider; she doesn't have any coagulants in her saliva or anything.
Yeah, I'm going down that rabbit hole again; didn't The Chemist talk about hormones and stuff in the blood? Alma saying baby blood is better... eh, dunno. I can't think of any biochemical or protein offhand that's significantly higher in concentration than in adult blood. It's all just mumbo jumbo magic to me now.
I am enjoying that this isn't a straight up opioid allegory; this is really sticking a finger into the wound of self-perceived inadequacy - but only compared to externalities.
So, allegory for social media?
posted by porpoise at 8:56 PM on September 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
"I just can't believe your father would do this, that he would bring his darkness and horror into our family."
So, there's history and acknowledgement of pre-existing sociopathy there.
Holy crap, Alma, and double, and triple holy crap. The writing that is. The actor is more than adequate, but doesn't break through that barrier to outstanding yet.
Adult human body has just shy of 80mL of blood per kg body mass. Give or take. I don't know what that is for babies, but a 10lb baby is about 4.5kg, so that's about 350ml of blood all told; about a can of pop. Once you lose 1/5th (in adults) of total blood, that's hypovolemic shock territory.
Alma could sip 70ml of blood (about a very small dixie cup) without immediately killing the baby unequivocally - but there's continued bleeding to consider; she doesn't have any coagulants in her saliva or anything.
Yeah, I'm going down that rabbit hole again; didn't The Chemist talk about hormones and stuff in the blood? Alma saying baby blood is better... eh, dunno. I can't think of any biochemical or protein offhand that's significantly higher in concentration than in adult blood. It's all just mumbo jumbo magic to me now.
I am enjoying that this isn't a straight up opioid allegory; this is really sticking a finger into the wound of self-perceived inadequacy - but only compared to externalities.
So, allegory for social media?
posted by porpoise at 8:56 PM on September 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
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*So did Karen have "it" or not? No one will ever know, presumably...the tide will wash her masterpiece away, and that's that.
*Yikes, poor Doris. Harry never really wanted to be a family man, but family was so important to Doris that she was willing to destroy herself to hold on to it. Also: nice Rosemary's Baby allusions all around, it goes without saying.
*Harry is gradually morphing into the least sympathetic character on this show. Others may behave worse (I'm pretty sure no one behaved worse than the snuff movie lovers), but at least they aren't full of shit. Alma, Ursula, Belle...selfish, awful human beings. And yet! They're all at least brutally honest with themselves about their own selfishness and lust for personal gratification at all costs. Harry, on the other hand, doesn't just bullshit his wife, but himself. Finn Wittrock (mostly memorable on AHS as the outlandish Dandy in Freakshow) has done quite a thing here, shifting from boyishly, even blandly, charming to sociopathic with such subtlety and grace over the course of five hours that you don't see what's gone on until it's too late. And also: has he really changed at all? Or was this always him, a monster that he simply never felt bold enough to let himself be until he took the pill?
*I'm a little worried about Alma's twitches.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:55 PM on September 17, 2021 [3 favorites]