Thursday, January 14, 2016

Say Good Night, Hotel

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That picture of Evan Peters & Charles Melton hanging out (heh) on the set of last night's American Horror Story finale has got me rewriting the entire episode now - dirty, dirty thoughts mixing together a little of this from Evan and a little of this from Chuck - but I actually thought, all things concerned, it was a pretty good finale as far as AHS finales go.

Same goes for the entire season - it was far more focused than years previous, and it was awfully easy to luxuriate in that set and the music and the sleazy disco vibe. I don't think it ever hit the crazy heights of what the show's possible of, but twas solid. (Now if the question is 'Would I have given Lady Gaga an acting award,' and over Kirsten Dunst at that, well you'd be hearing another story.)  

What did you guys think?
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9 comments:

sissyinhwd said...

I am so glad this season is ending. It fell apart as it went on and became a real mess. I'll watch the finale but Bye Bye.

And yes the Gaga thing over Dunst was appalling. I was surprised how much I liked Gaga in the part, but Dunst and, well, FARGO is on a whole other level of excellence. Even Cristin Milioti as Patrick Wilson's wife in FARGO was better than Gaga. Or how about FRICKIN Jean Smart in FARGO. Again, I like Gaga but an acting award; not for this, not now.

Mark Alexander said...

IMHO, I think Hotelwas the best (and most visually stunning) of the five seasons so far. I was initially worried about Gaga's acting chops, but she proved she was totally up to the task at hand. I found last night's finale to be emotionally very satisfying; the first time I think I can say that about an AHS finale...

Anonymous said...

The season didn't end so much as simply stop. I was very disappointed by what had ultimately become The Denis O'Hare Show. As was the case with previous seasons, multiple storylines went unresolved. I remember being excited by this season's premiere and wanting to know more about the addiction demon that had raped Max Greenfield but then Max popped up a couple more times in increasingly nonsensical fashion and the addiction demon only showed up once more (tonight). Such a wasted opportunity. Likewise the classroom full of vampires. There was a couple of references to some vampire attacks but, had a classroom full of vampires gone home to their respective parents and turned them and them going to their respective workplaces the next day and turning their co-workers and them going to their respective homes and turning their respective spouses/kids etc, the vampires would have taken over Los Angeles in less than a week. Chloe Sevigny who I really like had a few fun moments but otherwise had nothing to do. Likewise Angela Bassett. I did enjoy Evan Peters for the first time doing his Johnny Depp in Ed Wood routine. It seemed like most of the cast was only contracted to half a season which is why they disappeared every now and then. Probably off doing movies I expect.

Roark said...

Anonymous - the vampire kids killed their parents, were rounded up by Chloe Sevigny, and killed at the hotel by Angela Bassett.

I liked this season a lot - Evan Peters' Mr. March is my favorite character in the show's history, hubba hubba. But I liked the stuff that didn't involve him too, for the most part. I liked that the season was more coherent than the past couple, and though I agree that the ending was an oddly abrupt stop, more than a natural ending, I like it when AHS goes in unexpected directions for its finale.

I'd rank this season third of the five so far - not as good as Murder House or Asylum, but leagues better than Freak Show or Coven.

Anonymous said...

Roark, I'm aware that the kids were eventually tossed into the secured corridor but weeks had passed between the school incident and them being rounded up so all of Los Angeles should have been turned at that point.

That's one of the problems I have with Ryan Murphy - he's great at kicking off a cool storyline but forgets or fails to properly resolve said storylines. Much like the alien subplot in season two that went nowhere.

The other problem I have with him is that he has trouble focusing and wasn't helped this season by the fact that he not only had Scream Queens but also the OJ Simpson series he was doing at the same time.

Like, David E Kelly whose Ally McBeal was great for a while before getting three or four other shows at the same time that he was working on, the original show suffers from not enough attention being paid to it.

Am I the only one who noticed that Ryan didn't even write the season finale of AHS this time around?

Meanwhile there has been talk that there may be two seasons of AHS this year. One grand and one more down and dirty.

Anonymous said...

Anon 1 - I don't think the kids turned anybody because they were solely focused on feeding and keeping themselves healthy. The kids would have had to let their parents drink from them in order to turn them, and because they are kids I think they were more excited about bumping off their parents, feeding on them, and then running wild.

creamycamper said...

I thought AHS: Hotel was supposed to have 13 episodes? I didn't even know this was the finale until my DVR said there weren't any future recordings set.

Yummy Pizza said...

Eh. Weak season. I just... never cared? Freak Show wasn't any much good but at least it had Dandy and Gloria Mott. Frances Conroy was missed.

Unknown said...

I just do not understand people who like this show anymore. The writing is horrid; the characters without substance; and there IS NO plot. It just plain sucks. Season 1 was OK, (though predictable in the sense of M. Knight Schmoolieon). Season 2 was pretty good. Season 3 was a triumph: great plot, atmosphere, characters, ending. I should have stopped watching right there. Season 4 was beyond retarded and predictable, and I stopped watching half way through. This season started well, but went to hell when the writers once again resorted to cliches and predictability. WILL NOT BOTHER IF THERE IS ANOTHER ONE. Blech..