“American Horror Story: NYC” Review – A Patient, Procedural Double Header Starts Spreading the News
Season 11 of “American Horror Story” kicks off with a stylized, sexy, stereotype-laden descent into New York City’s vibrant, violent nightlife.
“Something dark is coming.”
Regardless of one’s opinion on whether American Horror Story is past its prime, there’s still a lot of fun to be had in the different subgenres that inspire each season’s storytelling. After ten seasons, American Horror Story has hit most of the major bases. Now that the broader archetypes have been crossed off the list there’s a certain freedom in going off the beaten path. Season Eleven of American Horror Story turns the major metropolitan city of New York into this year’s horror hub, but it narrows in on a very specific time and subculture.
It feels as if American Horror Story: NYC was tackled back during the show’s infancy than this season would operate more like a mélange of New York City horror movies. There would be references to the filmographies of Frank Henenlotter and Brian De Palma, Jason Takes Manhattan, C.H.U.D., and even Roman Polanski’s Apartment Trilogy instead of what largely seems to be a riff on William Friedkin’s Cruising. How is there not some character who’s always holding a wicker basket that may or may not contain his severed conjoined twin!? Granted, it’s entirely possible that these pockets of horror will be addressed further down the line, but at the moment the season’s theme feels shortsighted; “AHS: BDSM” might have been the more appropriate title.
In a show that prides itself in excess, it’s a little surprising that these first two episodes more closely resemble an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit or Bones than American Horror Story. The start of this season is derivative of procedural network crime dramas, right down to the fact that all of the murders happen offscreen. These are surprisingly bloodless installments of American Horror Story that don’t exploit the fact that it’s a Mature-rated horror series on cable television. This distance to the kills and the sanitized presentation of it all must be intentional, but it’s a choice that robs AHS: NYC of the typical gratuitous gore that’s helped define it.
AHS: NYC plants the seeds for a full-fledged serial killer who targets New York City’s gay nightclub community, but the season starts as slow burn that’s still only beginning to catch fire. The premiere, “Something’s Coming,” is so preoccupied with setup and introductions that it’d be a lot more frustrating if it was the only episode that aired. It’s entirely possible that the double-episode airing strategy this season is a response to the season’s slower pacing (or it could just be an attempt to burn the show off in half the time). There are decapitations and copious kills, but none of it makes enough of an impression. Even the season’s Big Daddy Leather Man feels derivative of Murder House’s Rubberman. AHS: NYC needs to do more than a Zodiac Killer-esque cipher that’s built around the queer community’s handkerchief code to make this material stand out.
Casting is another typical highlight in American Horror Story and AHS: NYC is a bit of a departure in the sense that it’s lacking many of the usual heavy-hitters like Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, or Kathy Bates. A lot of the fresh faces that make up the cast of AHS: NYC, like Joe Mantello and Isaac Cole Powell, have extensive histories on Broadway, which is a bit of a fun meta wrinkle to the season’s New York City theme. Mantello’s Gino Barelli, a conflicted reporter, is quite captivating and effectively sells this material. He’s left to do a lot of the heavy lifting here and rises to the occasion. It’s also promising that both Billie Lourd and Leslie Grossman are properly played against type instead of just doing more of the same. Out of all of the returning players in AHS: NYC, it’s Zachary Quinto who makes the biggest impression in maximum creep mode. That being said, not everyone is at this level of camp, which creates some tonally jarring whiplash between scenes and performances. Oh, and Patti Lupone sings “Fever” in a bathhouse in what’s easily one of the Ryan Murphiest scenes to ever Ryan Murphy.
All of these characters do what they can to not get swallowed up by the darkness, whether that means getting forgotten because they’re irrelevant or because they’re a decapitated corpse. These are fed up individuals who are tired of life perpetually knocking them down. There are lengthy discussions over the nature of decadence, excess, and why people kill. Or how peace and quiet can be terrifying in their own way. These first two episodes highlight how everyone has their own wicked vices and are equally in danger, even if they’re not all decked out in leather.
The second installment, “Thank You for Your Service,” is much more energized. The episode’s story is fueled through Gino’s palpable, understandable rage, which feeds off of and encourages Adam’s equal frustration over Sully’s disappearance. This episode covers a lot of the same material as “Something’s Coming,” but it’s considerably more exciting with how it builds upon the premiere’s foundation. “Thank You For Your Service” also just looks better as an episode and is full of more creative visual flairs that attempt to make this a visually exciting experience. This includes the most effective sequence from both episodes, which involves an eerie dissociation during a subway ride.
The way in which Gino’s military service saves his life, but also highlights a greater moral code for its killer is effective. There’s also an early glimpse of Mr. Whitely (Jeff Hiller) and his “rash that won’t go away.” At this point it’s appreciated that American Horror Story doesn’t draw out the killer’s identity as a mystery. There’s tension that’s instead created out of the audience’s knowledge of this secret instead of turning it into a laborious whodunnit. There are moments like this that work and then there are bizarre cat-filled fringe spaces that function as showy performance art that goes nowhere, which is unfortunately far too often the case with American Horror Story as a whole. The episode’s final beat is also lackluster and it continues to feel like an episode’s worth of content has played out between two entries, along with plenty of characters who are extraneous at this point.
Creatively, this has the potential to be one of the most exciting seasons of American Horror Story yet and Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have assembled very specific people here to tell this story that indicates a greater level of thematic resonance and passion. There are going to be obvious comparisons between the time period and subject matter of AHS: NYC, Pose, and Dahmer, but the creative team behind this season of American Horror Story feels like a more refined amalgamation of those shows’ staffs.
There’s always been a musical chairs quality to the cast and crew of Ryan Murphy productions, but this feels the most deliberate on AHS: NYC. For instance, Charlie Carver who plays Adam Carpenter and first made waves in Murphy’s Ratched, has his first professional writing credits on this season and is one of the co-writers of “Thank You for Your Service.” Additionally, Jennifer Salt–who’s been one of Ryan Murphy’s strongest writers ever since Nip/Tuck–returns this season for the first time since AHS: Hotel! This is all extremely encouraging even if it’s still too soon to tell if these choices will trigger more compelling storytelling. It’s already been announced that the current 1980s setting will only be present for half of the season before a substantial time jump, so it’s clear that AHS: NYC has some grander plans for the story and scope of this season that transcends what’s on display in this introductory pair of episodes.
“Something’s Coming” and “Thank You for Your Service” mark an atypical start to American Horror Story, for both better and for worse. A more patient, methodical pace is never a bad thing for a show that’s notorious for juggling needless storylines and stepping on the gas in a way that prioritizes spectacles over narrative development. There’s little to grab onto in these first two episodes, but there’s a construction to these puzzle pieces that already makes sense. Any fan of American Horror Story knows that early optimism is typically a fool’s errand, but AHS: NYC has good bones. Subtlety has never been something that’s of interest to American Horror Story and NYC is currently as on-the-nose as the series has ever been with its metaphors. However, there remains promise that this accomplished team will find more to do and say with all of this so that it doesn’t just play as a redux of better movies and television. It’s not necessarily a bad thing that this season of American Horror Story appears to be having a bit of an identity crisis. It just needs to make sure that it doesn’t regress into even more stereotypical, toothless television.
Something’s coming all right, it just better be worth it.
