Wednesday, December 12, 2012

'American Horror Story' 209 'The Coat Hanger' Review

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Now that is more like it, show. Last week’s American Horror Story was…not my favorite. Not even of both seasons. I mean the crazed Santa thing along with all of the Christmas trimmings just felt like the definition of filler with the exception of some forward motion in some of the more important storylines that have been ongoing since the first episode. Now in ‘The Coat Hanger’ we get to see how the journeys of the respective characters have shaped them so far. We also get the return of the alien storyline, but don’t worry because it may actually be going somewhere!





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So the first thing that needs to be dealt with is the epic tale of Lana Winters and Oliver Thredson. What we have here is classic homage to the revenge tale however AHS wouldn’t be the show that it is this year without some social commentary and a need to go to some ethical and moral dark places. This is the kind of the show that, partly because the headlining actor happens to be one of the worst villains of the piece, allows a rapist to argue for the life and well-being of his unborn child. It isn’t something you have to like or agree with but AHS is going to go there. Seeing how Lana has progressed into a more brutal version of herself is one of the triumphs of the writing this year. She absolutely showed every sign of going through with every plan tonight no matter how ill-conceived they might be and that says a great deal about her current mental state.

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What’s so compelling about their story now is what we glimpsed in the present as Dylan McDermott’s glorious return to the show was in the form of what pretty much everyone already guessed he would be—their child who now aspires to be just like daddy despite his lack of medical training. It’s never too late to live your dreams to the fullest Johnny, go for it! I also can’t rule out some level of bullshit coming out of Johnny’s mouth. Like father, like son there. This modern-day Bloody Face carries an inverse to the one from ’64—where Oliver is neat and technically proficient, Johnny's style is so a product of this time, all ruthless desperation in the form of ‘wrong side of the tracks’ swagger and cold brutality. He doesn’t have reasons, he has something to prove and that’s far worse to deal with. Plus all you fellow horror fans were no doubt pleased at the presence of actress Brooke Smith, of Silence of the Lambs fame, as John’s shrink. Buffalo Bill may not have gotten her but Bloody Face 2.0 sure as hell did.



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Never mind the fact that we now have another season one alum that gets to have a blast playing against their character type from last year, but we also have some bread-crumbs thrown our way during his failed therapy session about where Oliver Thredson’s story is going in the past. He seems to be found out about at some point; however that could mean any multitude of things. All we know now is he gets away from Briarcliff and Lana thanks to some help from the devil just in the nick of time. Lana in ’64 finds herself starting a tentative alliance with newly imprisoned former bride of Christ, Judy Martin. In a way it’s delicious that both Lana and Jude are precisely in the opposite position of how they began the show. They also have both been railroaded into this asylum with no one but each other ultimately to try and bring down the system of evil (and yes patriarchy) that keeps them in this place. Jude breaking the insufferable ‘Dominique’ vinyl was an excellent bit of symbolism into what we can expect from Lange’s character now that she’s on the other side of things. I couldn’t help but smile at the formerly pious character’s first easy utterance of ‘goddamn it’ either.



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It’s almost as though the show is now punishing the characters who wore the shield of godliness for the wrong reasons. We’ve learned the reason that Jude became a nun didn’t turn out to be true and so now she must face the sins that she wrought by being part of the institution she’s now trapped in so that she can truly be worthy of the cloth. This week gave us the most screen time for Monsignor Timothy Howard, he of Papal ambitions, in the entire run of the season. It’s a shame that this character hasn’t been used more this season as Joseph Fiennes is clearly doing something interesting in his portrayal of the Monsignor. From his campy accent to his wide-eyed naivety in not only doing the Lord’s work but being the best at it I feel this that this character is one that hopefully will get a chance to shine more in the remaining four episodes of the season, especially now that he’s bled for his sins of ambition and pride.



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The character that nailed Timothy Howard to the cross—literally—was Ian McShane’s Leigh Emerson. Yes, he did not die after Jude stabbed him last week. I much preferred how his character was used in this episode not only because he finally gave the Monsignor a hard-earned lesson about knowing when someone wants to truly seek redemption or they just want to bullshit you into a position of vulnerability. Could he have gotten a red flag when the guy was happily asserting that his eighteen victims are now merely inhabitants of Heaven a little sooner because of his actions? Hell yes. But the true joy in his character this week was being paraded in front of Sister Jude while she was bound to the bed as she had done to so many of the patients of Briarcliff including Leigh himself over the years. Oh, when Lange practically growled at McShane when Leigh Emerson made a show of forgiving Jude for the trespasses she had committed against his person…how is that Jessica Lange consistently one-ups herself every single week? It’s what has me the most excited about the turnabout in her character’s fortunes is seeing Lange indulge in Judy’s brassy, ballsy, go for broke personality on the road to real redemption.



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Even after all these big developments none pleased me more than Dr. Arden’s story this week. This is exactly why I love this character so much because on a show like this where random weird shit occurs there always has to be one character that stands up and actually investigates. He doesn’t just let Grace get abducted last week and ignore it, no he goes back to investigate the tunnel. He cuts through the bullshit and works to make the alien storyline—the one story this season that I don’t think anyone is a fan of truly—finally come together in a plan involving Kit Walker. 

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The young accused man seems to have some odd connection to the aliens and Arthur doesn’t just note this, he actually does something about it. Now Pepper has returned with a seemingly higher level of cognitive functioning alongside something wearing Grace’s body. I refuse that it’s Grace at least not fully. Anything could be wearing her skin around as that’s kind of a thing this season if you haven’t realized it by now.

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