I really wanted to enjoy this season. I've been a fan of AHS since season 1 and it's definitely had it's ups and downs since then. This season was not a high point.
I agree with what one of the other reviewers said in that Politics were more of a catalyst and background than the actual focus. One of the really clever things this season did is starting with it looking like Kai was something as simple as a Trump supporter, and then peeling it back as the season moved on to explore the 'cult of fear' that was really Kai's interest.
The first half of the season was spooky and intriguing and suspenseful. The 2016 election is still a big, painful wound for a lot of people, so it had an immediate emotional hook that became even more interesting when it started being clear that that wasn't really what the season was about.
For me, the turning point was when Kai randomly picked up his army of misogynistic sycophants. Where did they come from? Why were they following him? Why did Kai, who we had seen courting Hope to his team with some of the best dialogue in the season, suddenly surround himself with racist misogynists?
It really felt like the season went sharply downhill from that episode onward. The intelligent, charismatic, psychopath that Kai was at the start of the season became a parody of himself. The 'divine leader' nonsense; the religious rituals that came out of nowhere, the suicidal devotion from his army that as an audience member I just couldn't suspend my disbelief for... not gonna lie, the last four or five episodes were a chore to get through. It just didn't make sense that anyone was following Kai anymore, let alone with such extreme, fanatical devotion.
Aaaaaand then the SCUM storyline. Seeing Evan Peters as Andy Warhol was a treat (the dude is a seriously talented actor), but... adding a feminist cult to work as counterbalance to the misogynistic cult that Kai was starting, when it didn't make sense that Kai was starting a misogynistic cult to begin with... it just spiraled the story further into a 'why am I still watching this' nonsense pile. And it also made the finale make even less sense; at that point, every other member of SCUM was dead, so are we meant to believe that Ally, having just told her son she's going to make the world a better place for him, decided to take up the torch and lead a revival of an organization devoted to killing all men? What? Why? And also: what?
smh
I think the season could have been saved if there'd been some element of the supernatural to explain the character motivations. Something non-human or some power or influence to give us a 'why' on 'why the characters made those decisions.' And it just wasn't there. Towards the end of the season, just freaking none of the decisions the characters were making felt realistic or believable at all. It was such a disappointment, because the first few episodes set up the potential for such a good story.
Ah well. Fingers crossed for next season, I guess.
I agree with what one of the other reviewers said in that Politics were more of a catalyst and background than the actual focus. One of the really clever things this season did is starting with it looking like Kai was something as simple as a Trump supporter, and then peeling it back as the season moved on to explore the 'cult of fear' that was really Kai's interest.
The first half of the season was spooky and intriguing and suspenseful. The 2016 election is still a big, painful wound for a lot of people, so it had an immediate emotional hook that became even more interesting when it started being clear that that wasn't really what the season was about.
For me, the turning point was when Kai randomly picked up his army of misogynistic sycophants. Where did they come from? Why were they following him? Why did Kai, who we had seen courting Hope to his team with some of the best dialogue in the season, suddenly surround himself with racist misogynists?
It really felt like the season went sharply downhill from that episode onward. The intelligent, charismatic, psychopath that Kai was at the start of the season became a parody of himself. The 'divine leader' nonsense; the religious rituals that came out of nowhere, the suicidal devotion from his army that as an audience member I just couldn't suspend my disbelief for... not gonna lie, the last four or five episodes were a chore to get through. It just didn't make sense that anyone was following Kai anymore, let alone with such extreme, fanatical devotion.
Aaaaaand then the SCUM storyline. Seeing Evan Peters as Andy Warhol was a treat (the dude is a seriously talented actor), but... adding a feminist cult to work as counterbalance to the misogynistic cult that Kai was starting, when it didn't make sense that Kai was starting a misogynistic cult to begin with... it just spiraled the story further into a 'why am I still watching this' nonsense pile. And it also made the finale make even less sense; at that point, every other member of SCUM was dead, so are we meant to believe that Ally, having just told her son she's going to make the world a better place for him, decided to take up the torch and lead a revival of an organization devoted to killing all men? What? Why? And also: what?
smh
I think the season could have been saved if there'd been some element of the supernatural to explain the character motivations. Something non-human or some power or influence to give us a 'why' on 'why the characters made those decisions.' And it just wasn't there. Towards the end of the season, just freaking none of the decisions the characters were making felt realistic or believable at all. It was such a disappointment, because the first few episodes set up the potential for such a good story.
Ah well. Fingers crossed for next season, I guess.