American Horror Story: Blue Moon
October 15, 2021 6:47 AM - Season 10, Episode 9 - Subscribe

Eisenhower is pressured to make a Faustian bargain that would have unimaginable repercussions. Meanwhile, in the present day, Kendall and her friends learn the truth about American history.
posted by kittens for breakfast (3 comments total)
 
Random Notes:

*For the first time in the brief life of Death Valley, the present day scenes were actually as interesting as the '50s/'60s sequences had been to this point, tho' in my estimation the old-school story leveled up significantly with this episode. Overall, I think Red Tide has been the more successful half by a pretty wide margin, but this week went toe-to-toe with it.

*I don't know much about alien abduction conspiracy theories, but evidently Valiant Thor has a big place in the mythos. A quick googling leads to some no-doubt wacky stuff, and I'm sure it's all very entertaining. I don't have time to delve into it, because I have a lot to do today, and I still need to watch Doom Patrol. Okay.

*Nixon seems fairly Nixon-y, but a lot more like Steven Van Zandt playing Silvio on The Sopranos. Maybe it's just me, I don't know.

*It seems hard to believe that Eisenhower can just wander all over the White House without nary a Secret Service agent around, but that and Nixon's weird unsecured call to the president himself just make me think our representatives aren't really in charge of shit in this universe. The aliens are running everything, and we're just like Maggie Simpson turning the toy steering wheel while Marge drives the car. It's the aliens, man!!!

*I haven't thought much of the young modern-day actors, to be honest, but Troy became shockingly believable and relatable to me under torture. Maybe they're fine actors after all, and just haven't had the best material up until now. I loved that last scene.

*The fake moon landing was pure genius.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:02 AM on October 15, 2021 [2 favorites]


Continued, in the unlikely event anyone sees this:

*I watched this again last night, and I'd forgotten how funny the line about "this device will bring peace and harmony to your world" was in reference to an early cell phone/iPod 0.0 or whatever that was. Yes, the internet has truly solved all of our problems; thank you, Valiant Thor.

*It's not at all clear to me why the captives of the aliens don't age -- you would think this technology would be prized above any Apple doodads or flat screen TVs, and also that if the aliens could solve aging, they could surely have produced a survivable human/alien hybrid by now -- but my guess is that time may not seem to pass the same way for the captives as it does for us. I'm guessing this season ends with the survivors emerging into a terrifying future earth.

*How would that tie into the larger AHS-verse? Meh. I'm not sure I care, really, but it is noticeable that neither this nor Red Tide seems to have any Easter eggs for past seasons...at least none I've noticed. If this all turns out to be Harry's screenplay dramatized at the end, I...I don't know. That might be okay?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:05 AM on October 17, 2021 [2 favorites]


Not being fighty (clarifying, just in case), but I think you've hit on some interesting points for discussion.

"this device will bring peace and harmony to your world"

You're familiar with "To Serve Man" (or at least, the Simpson's presentation of it)? It's not for our benefit the particular kind of peace and harmony that's being introduced. I'm viewing this (smartphones) as a shorthand for making us docile and complacent - spending all day glued to our phones/ the internet and bickering amongst ourselves instead of fighting our extraterrestrial overlords.

I really didn't get the non-aging thing either - maybe these are the "best chancers" so they'll keep trying to breed with it them. The ET treat humans like livestock, why bother giving immortality (and docility) treatments to a milkcow unless you're milking liquid gold from it?

I kind of starting to like the idea that the aliens are the reason/ behind-the-scenes cause for the larger AHS-verse and creating horror shows with existing lives is their form of premier television; all the other ones live in this universe.

--

Wow, Mamie Eisenhower did historically popularize Halloween.

The reassurances really reminded me of AC Clarke era science fiction.

Leslie Grossman's Calico is a way better than initially presented and, maybe something for the kids to actually act against?
posted by porpoise at 7:06 PM on October 17, 2021 [3 favorites]


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