"The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one."
- Bill Hicks, 1993
"And we also have evidence that Darth Vader tried to buy yellowcake uranium from unwed teenage mothers."
"Those things all sound scary! How much money before I can feel safe again?"
- Family Guy, 2007
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction ... The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."
- Martin Luther King, 1963
"I am interested in reaching out to people, making contact with other human beings, building bridges, not walls."
"What's that behind your back? This door is new. Strong. Why would you need a strong door like this? Bars in the windows? Why would you need a knife to answer the door? Are you gonna melt all this metal down and build a bridge?"
- American Horror Story: Cult, 2017
Episode 2 - Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
AHS: Cult loses depth and nuance, but gains strong focus in it's second episode. It's as subtle as a sledgehammer, and it's treading rather familiar ground (see above), but it tells it's message well, and it's one that really needs to be heard right now. All of this also reinforces exactly why AHS has taken on this political angle, and how it ties into the horror genre. It's by reflecting that sometimes the truest, scariest darkness is in men's souls.
The episode begins with another frustrating cameo from our returning clown Twisty. This scene doesn't do any more to explain his particular significance though or how he fits in to the season's plot. Additionally the episode loses all the potential doubt about what is real. I'm certain these clowns are actually there now and, despite casting the same actor as Twisty, I have a feeling that I know exactly who's going to be revealed under the mask, and if I'm right then it's a cheap trick and the show should be above that.
Although the specific focus on the 2016 election seems to have become softer it soon becomes apparent that this isn't the case. Our reality is used as the dystopia that's causing everything. Ally is being manipulated and twisted into fear and darkness just as we see the whole world is. Men like Kai have become empowered to be truly cunning and free to spread their negativity and try and let it infect others. This seems to have been exactly what has happened to Winter. Billie Lourd plays creepy so well, the detached menace showing even as she switches to seductive mode. A comment on the potential allure of fear and wanting to feel safe perhaps.
We are also introduced to most of the season's new characters, as expected. There is a nice vocal cameo from a great actress who debuted in last year's AHS and we are also introduced to Billy Eichner and Leslie Grossman's unusual suburban couple. The pair seem to both confuse and reinforce the central themes, being militant liberals. This seeming contradiction introduces the potential for more morally grey thinking going forward. They also reveal just what the significance of bees is this season, as seen in the marketing already. The hives are a trigger for Ally and her apparent trypophobia, while the hive nature of a bee colony serves as a perfect metaphor for cult thinking. Eichner delivers a blatant speech to this effect which also comes off as none too subtle but thought-provoking.
Finally the episode, though slow, ends with a shocking moment (which really shouldn't be). Without spoiling anything it is perfectly thematically relevant and seems to pay homage to the classic ending of the original Night of the Living Dead.
The episode as a whole, then, is a little uneven. It starts fairly pedestrian and loses a little interest by abandoning some of its uncertainty. Likewise certain character motivations are poorly explained at this point. For example it's not made super clear why Oz is developing such disdain for Ally, and gravitating towards Ivy more. Sure, I can gather it's part of Winter's continued manipulation and brainwashing (presumably on behalf of Kai) but with everything else that's hammered home it would be nice to see some of that, and it had better be explained in future episodes as to what exactly Kai and Winter are doing, and why. This episode ultimately succeeds on the back of interesting performances (once again) and compelling, if not ground-breaking, storytelling. I would reinforce, however, that it's a message we urgently need to take to heart. I know I'm going to hate Kai and be increasingly frustrated with him "getting away with" things, but we need to recognise the real Kais in our world. Even when they're in a big, white house.
***1/2 (3.5/5)
MM
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