So American Horror Story's first season is coming to an end and I thought I would pay tribute to the show I disliked at first but totally grew to love. There are some things that I didn't put on the list that I DO believe are excellent. For instance, I love the theme music. It sets the tone so well. I also love how the history of the house is weaves into each episode. [Warning: full of spoilers and sarcasm.]MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT AMERICAN HORROR STORY
10. Dr. Harmon's failed practice. Ben Harmon actually admits that his work as a therapist is all bullshit on the final episode. However, even before this, you're pretty sure that's how he feels. He uses therapy techniques instead of talking to his family and blunders into just about every mistake he can.
But the fun part is watching the constant failures with his patients. One woman kills herself. One may tries to confront his fear of urban legend only to become one. One girl tricks him into seeing her so she can sneak through his house and unlock the doors so she and her friends can come back and recreate one of the home's previous murders.
The truly ironic thing about Ben's therapy is that the only person it seems to benefit is Tate. Tate wants to continue working with Ben. Not sure how well that will work out. We'll see.
9. Hayden. One of the fun things about AHS is how it gives allusions to great horror themes. Many of the characters function as icons of the horror genre. Hayden is every Alex Forrest nightmare you could have. Bunnyboiler of the undead variety. She plagues Ben mercilessly before she's killed and to the nth degree of that afterwards.
The great thing about Hayden though, is that she is a little more complex than just the scorned woman. Unlike some people in the house, she's completely aware she's a ghost. She helps some of them to accept this, even giving comfort to The Black Dahlia and Nora. She was even trying to warn Vivian that Ben was responsible for killing her (Hayden).
Hayden can play the villain, but is best when she's being a foil for Ben, Constance, or Tate. She also has some of the best lines in the show.
8. The Very Unhappy Bliss of Chad and Patrick There is this almost PC need a lot of shows have to depict gay couples as happy and blissful, great, supportive, and wonderful. That's not realistic though. Not for any couple. And with Chad and Pat, we get two men who were once . . .possibly . . . in love, but who fell into hard times and eventually grew distance. Left to their own devices, they would have separated and never spoken to each other again.
However, Nora and Tate decided they needed to die so a new family could move in. And when Pat was on the verge of just walking away, Tate killed both of them, dooming them to an eternity in the house, with each other.
To their credit, Chad and Pat try to make the best of it. They form what alliances they can. They make agreements as to how to get along. This never lasts. Almost any conversation can dip into bitter feelings and acid comments. They're now completely miserable with each other and it's damned fun to watch!
7. Marcy, the world's most frustrated real estate agent and her war with the tour bus. Marcy is horrible. She's full of bias. She's narrow minded, judgmental, and hates it when she has to show the house to "those kind of people," whomever she has decided that happens to be at the moment.
It's a nice bit of karma that this little snit of a person is stuck selling and reselling and reselling this house. She gets someone in, only to have them drag her back into the house within weeks and demand she put it back on the market. I think for some people, this really would be Hell.
Of course, Marcy's efforts are constantly in peril due to the tour bus that drives by every day. I mean, how would you feel if you were trying to sell a house and some guy was driving by telling the whole history of "Murder House" on his loudspeaker.
I have feeling she'll end up killing that man.
6. The Montgomeries. Dr. Montgomery came to LA to be a physician to the stars. He built the house as an honor to his wife. The Tiffany glass, after all, has a color of blue that matches her eyes. Theirs should have been a fairy tale. It's what his wife Nora wanted, and certainly what she demanded. It did not, however, work out quite that way.
Dr. Montgomery is every "creepy evil doctor" rolled into one and given a nice big drug problem. Nora is a spoiled shrew. And their son Thaddeus.....well......after he died and his father "fixed him," he was a far more scary monster than just about anything else that can be found in the house. It's still unclear WHAT he was, exactly, after his father sewed him back together, but it was enough to cause his mother to murder/suicide herself and the good doctor.
These days, Thaddeus keeps to the shadows, only coming out when someone needs the bejesus scared out of them or their throats ripped out. Dr. Montgomery is oh so very helpful! He chops up bodies so they can more easily be removed from the house. He sees to all medical procedures (most of which end in someone's death), and gives the occasional piece of advice.
As for Nora, she still views herself as Mistress of the House. In fact, it was her want for a new baby that lead to the deaths of Patrick and Chad, as well as the rape of Vivien and her eventual death. Nora would have what Nora wanted, as always.
I think one of the best moments all season was how Nora's desire for a baby, the whole catalyst behind much of the drama happening, was brought to a climax with a bit of ironic self-realization. "I'm not really good with babies. Mother wasn't either. We always had nannies." In the end, she just hands the ghost infant back to Vivien and walks away. Nora, as always, is dissatisfied with everything.
And thus ends my part one of this post. I was going to do all ten, but it was getting way too long. Part two to be added tomorrow.
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