American Horror story all but abandons any pretence of being political satire with this episode. We are now clearly in a sci-fi/ fantasy/horror trope: The fictional dystopia. A reality caused by alternate history. A sort of "what if the Nazi's won?". Ironic, since there are those who would claim they now have. In the process of this change the show becomes something else; a season of American Horror Story.
The hour opens with Kai narrating stories of past, real-life cult leaders. We see documentary style footage of Marshall Applewhite, David Koresh and Jim Jones. This whole thing was damn impressive. The "flashbacks" (actually Kai's warped view of history) are done so well that I initially thought the show was actually using historical footage. The direction of all of these scenes is laudable, full credit to director (and former series star) Angela Bassett. Likewise some of the prosthetic and acting work in a couple of moments led me unable to initially register that all of these cult leaders were played by Evan Peters, who does such a good job. Although I have my reservations about how on-the-nose it is to have Kai seemingly project himself into these roles, the point is not laboured and makes sense.
The whole thing also continues a very AHS trope, which makes this feel of a kind with past seasons. For example, the use of cast members as real-life serial killers in Hotel. It's something which I feel always works well. I also had deep reservations when we return to the Jim Jones scene later to see Kai's insanely twisted belief in Jones' divine abilities. In this scene Peters portrays Jesus Christ. Whilst I was initially concerned that the show was going to be sacreligious, or present Jesus as a cult leader, it became obvious that the casting here was again a representation of the level of Kai's descent into madness. He really does believe he is a messiah, as he literally says to Ally at the episode's denouement. Additionally the scene makes it very clear that this version of Jesus is a representation of a lie, via the brilliant decision to have him descend from the sky on obvious and fully displayed cables, accompanied by "angels" in theatre costumes. Sometimes it's the little flashes of genius that stick.
As the extent of Kai's power and hold over his "followers" is shown I had a couple of problems though. Firstly, the black, ott humour of the new names Kai has given his disciples (Speed Wagon, Gutter Ball, Pus Bucket etc) again seem more Scream Queens than AHS and, in my opinion, undercuts the point of their representation and kills some of the tension. Likewise, the scenes which show the ease of how Kai takes control of the town are incredibly unrealistic. Which contributes to the season's change from frightening real-life parable to dystopian fantasy.
We follow a penitent Ivy and it's shown that she, Ally and (initially) Winter all wish to leave Kai's cult. In honesty, whilst this scene was necessary exposition with outstanding performances from Paulson and Pill I'm highlighting it mainly for one reason: Twisty Watch! Ally hands Oz a Twisty comic book (reinforcing her conquering of her fears) and thus it becomes obvious that we probably won't be seeing the character again and he is likely just a fictionalized representation of an historical serial killer in the AHS world. Which is a shame, but still rather intriguing, particularly when you notice who the other characters are that are shown on the comic book cover.
As things develop we continue to show the extent of Kai's insanity again, testing his subjects' loyalty by invoking a fake version of the infamous Kool-Aid poisoning. We learn that Ally and Ivy are solely there to get their son, as Kai begins to develop a relationship with young Ozymandias (a name Ally says she chose deliberately, well aware of the connotations that he is "king of kings". Very intriguing). Kai reveals that he was a frequent visitor to the sperm clinic that Ally went to in order to get a donor and this, coupled with the boy's appearance, leads Kai to claim that he is literally Oz's father. I found this particular plot device actually pretty clever, when it could have been hokey. The idea of daddy issues had already been invoked earlier by Ivy as her reason for joining Kai, and is another introspection of the potential reasons that people follow these madmen even into death. It's also well developed as an examination of the potential consequences of toxic masculinity. This is the show at its best; asking questions, shining light on our fears and exploring the darkness in men's souls. Although it's not drummed in quite so much it's made extremely apparent how this could relate to our society too. As Kai narrates his insane notion that he is divine and like Jim Jones, who was touched by Christ and resurrected his dead followers, the intelligent and savvy Oz fact checks this b.s using the internet on his phone and an enraged Kai states that; "Wikipedia is fake news". Good stuff, if a tad muddled (Wikipedia literally can be edited by anyone. A more trustworthy source should have been cited by the writers here).
The rest of the episode shifts our focus entirely onto Allison, via two important interactions with Ivy and then Kai. It's all the better for it, too. Paulson never fails to impress and the character herself is shown to be the most compelling and interesting on the show. Firstly we get a scene of Ally making dinner for her wife. I worried at first during this scene as it was immediately apparent that Ally was poisoning Ivy. It lead me to question just how dumb Ivy is supposed to be. But mainly I was concerned that the show was going for shock, twist value and Ally was about to reveal her true allegiance to Kai. Particularly when I realised that Ally and Ivy were the only dissenters left opposing him at this point. That the show was smarter than that is commendable. Paulson gives an award-level monologue about how she maintained her sanity when she was locked up in an insane asylum by Kai and abandoned by Ivy. She reveals that she found her focus to get her through and make her stronger; revenge. Though not explicitly stated, the parallels are obvious. Revenge is her Kai. I also read this as a genius commentary on how indulging our fears can lead to them coming true. Ivy grew to hate her wife as she felt like she was trying to grow an exclusive bond with Oz, taking him away from Ivy and leaving her alone. Ally has literally become, through Ivy's actions, what she irrationally feared and hated her for.
Finally Ally and Kai have a dinner and the plot becomes unclear but intriguing. We see Ally doing her best Maury Povich work, discovering that Kai is not the father. But then she lies to him and claims he is. Revealing her murder of Ivy, presumably to imply to Kai that she is thinking like him, Kai helps her hide the body in his increasingly crowded "family crypt" and we see that Ally seems to have Kai convinced that she, Oz and him are a family now.
In conclusion, a great episode and a welcome return to form after two terrible installments. We progress the narrative along nicely, kill off yet another main character, and establish what's going to be our central conflict for the last two episodes. I can't wait to see what happens next.
**** (4/5)
MM
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