"Lesbians, we're under attack!"
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
As usual, with American Horror Story, after the initial "Oh, so that's what this season's going to be about" high from the premiere wears off we find ourselves in second episode "Okay, so how is this going to last through a whole season?" territory. That's where this week's clunky "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" naturally resides.
Last year's Roanoke did us a solid by not only cutting the average AHS season down by an episode or two, but by also putting an end to the show's habit of producing overlong episodes where, with commercials, a chapter could run for a few hours. It was a trait that seemed to mostly die with Jessica Lange's exit from the series, but Roanoke really reined it all in. Even then though, Roanoke's meta-upon-meta storyline only really spiked during the premiere and its halfway reshuffle point.
After two episodes of Cult now, we need to look at how this season might play out over the long run. How big will this get? Kai is now using his latino beatdown stunt to run for local office. Right now he's going door-to-door to drum up support, but how far will we ultimately see him go? Will this thing go national? Is Cult, in the end, going to give us a full dystopian tyrannical future born out of fear? Like...will we see President Kai Anderson? Going that big though might feel like "a hat on a hat" given that this season is already rooted in the Trump presidential win.
This week, Ally's fears and phobias got even worse thanks to the plots and ploys of Kai, Winter (who tried to seduce her), their secret squad of clowns, and a new couple played by Billy Eichner and Leslie Grossman. By the end, after a getting a gun and keeping it a secret from Ivy, Ally shot and (assumedly) killed her own employee, Pedro. It was pretty lame overall, watching Ally get so easily steered such a direct path toward shooting an innocent man and it makes me wonder if this season can hold up if the bulk of it is Ally being played like a fiddle and falling in line with each and every single thing Kai and the others want her to do. Where's the suspense and intrigue in watching things play out so obviously?
Big picture: It feels like Ally is destined to make a huge turn, thanks to Kai's prodding, and become a closed-minded isolationist bigot. At some point. This week, she was teetering. She'd fenced herself in and has a gun, all out of paranoia, but she wasn't willing to drop her liberal ideals, shooing Kai away from her doorstep when he first tried to lie to her about crime statistics and then attempted to physically threaten her (wow, his subterfuge really doesn't last, huh?).
Ally may soon wind up alone. Ivy might leave her (especially now that Ally's tempted by Winter), adding to her depression and anger, and Oz could easily be taken away from her after that (for a number of reasons). Then it wouldn't be long before Ally started acting more like her next door neighbor, Harrison (Eichner) - an openly gay man who's also, in what's supposed to be a flippant twist, a card carrying member of whatever hateful social experiment Kai is running.
We know Ally's being worked, from many different angles, but we're not sure why. It's supposed to feel vague and "all in her mind" in a way, but there's no doubt that she's being target specifically. Even Kai's latte spill from last week was intentional. Harrison and Meadow were Kai's white "American" witnesses and then they moved into the (fresh) murder house next door. I get why Kai had the neighbors murdered (out of both spite and political gain), but why is Ally being singled out in such a way that just drives her crazy? Why is she the key to all this? What does Kai have to gain by making her kill someone she didn't mean to?
Will he use it to boost his grass roots campaign? I'd imagine Ally will feel awful about shooting Pedro so it's not like he can go to her for support or soundbites. Why is this group going after Ally in such a way that they're buying homes next to her and being her kid's nanny and - you know - murdering her restaurant employees so that Ivy has to spend money replacing all the freezer meat so she won't be home when the power all goes out? It's the most complex plan for the shakiest results, at best, ever.
Basing an entire show, or a season, off a long con is very tricky. Not everything has to hold up to scrutiny, but most of it does. As viewers, we'll allow a few "gimmes" but most of the plan, and how it affects the target, needs to be solid. As of "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," nothing about Kai's plot feels real enough to work the way he wants it to. What we're left with then is the show just making things fall in line because that's what the story is - even if none of it makes sense or feels right.
Also, how big is Kai's troupe? How can he orchestrate a blackout? How can he afford to buy a house (even if it was on the cheap)? Who are the clowns and how are they able to, basically, act like supernatural creatures who can vanish in a blink?
For a con job this big, everything is working out way too easily. David Fincher's The Game springs to mind, though at least in the end of that movie - *spoiler* - we hear a few lines about how those running "the game" had alternate plans if Michael Douglas' Nick had done something else. Now, I guess, we'll get to find out if The Game can sustain itself for eleven episodes. It's already pushing its luck after two.
The Verdict
The madhouse manipulation of Ally started becoming a bit too obvious, and unbelievable, this week as it felt like she was being easily steered in whatever direction the show needed her to go for the sake of plot. There's some good acting, and decent jolts here and there, but right now the complex plot to gaslight her feels like an exhausting endeavor for seemingly minimal rewards.
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