First off, there are absolutely no stakes, and before tonight, there was no real main conflict. It’s hard to feel any real terror for any of the main cast when everyone keeps coming back from the grave. No one can stay dead, and even the one’s that do, like Spalding, inexplicably pop back up as ghosts who somehow have the ability to administer medicine. Why should I be worried about anyone? If there they are of any real importance to the story, they’ll be back sooner or later. This even applies to characters that haven’t been killed! Cordelia loses her eyesight, but after only a few episodes, she has her eyes replaced. Boom! Problem solved! Speaking about melodrama though, tonight’s episode felt a little campier than usual to me. I definitely think it was the increased screen time we’re getting from Myrtle, who was really hamming things up. At times tonight, the show breached Joel Schumacher Batman and Robin levels of over-the-top camp. The melon baller scene reminded me of Uma Thurman’s turn as Poison Ivy, it was that exhaustingly overwrought. The only real scenes that grabbed me tonight were surprisingly Hank’s. Usually AHS is a show that doesn’t know how to utilize their utility players, but I was drawn to Hank tonight because he was the only character that seemed to have real things at stake and real motivations for his actions. Perhaps the worst part of this episode, and definitely one of the more deplorable aspects of this season in general, is the continued botching of their race material. Along with the themes of womanhood, AHS seems to be trying to say something about race and racism this season, but boy, are they failing. The writers really don’t seem too sure with what they are trying to accomplish. Yes, they seem to grasp that slavery is unimaginably wrong and horrifyingly sickening, but they spend an awful lot of time trying to get us to empathize with the ignorance of the racist white character instead of showing us why we should understand the African American antagonist, Marie Laveau. Too much screen time is given to Delphine’s racist remarks and not enough time really saying anything insightful, and Queenie’s character is definitely an unflattering portrayal of an African American as well. I mean, this is a show where, tonight, they thought it seemed appropriate to have majority of the African American characters (who, by the way, are treated more like set-pieces) slain by a white man with a gun while Civil Rights anthems of freedom played over top. It just felt uncomfortable and in bad taste. Den of Geek Rating: 2.5 Out of 5 Stars Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
