It could have been good if they chose a lead who was believable. His acting was sub par - seemed as if this were his first acting job on a student film. Totally took me out of the story. He may be a great actor - I haven't seen him in anything else - but this was definitely not the right part for him. This part deserved someone who reflected the narcissism contained within on the outside. The handsome, buff, confident, rich, morally corrupt woman hater is WAY out of the leads lane. I understand and appreciate acting against type but this was not the script. Still love Ryan Murphy and everything he does.
6 Reviews
Season Three (A??) Review
southdavid19 April 2024
I'm not sure what's really going on with season three of "American Horror Stories". It might have just been truncated by the SAG-AFTRA strike, or that might be it for this run and the show will return with season four at a later date? For now, I'm going to review these as 'season three', and if more are added I'll review those as 'season 3B'.
A young girl is encouraged to acts of violence and self-harm by a friend she meets online. During a pandemic, an art dealer bonds with his new virtual assistant, until she becomes fixated on him. An aspiring model goes to extreme lengths to maintain her weight loss and stay at the top. A sexist womaniser has his kidneys stolen following an online hookup, but a new unidentified organ is there in its place.
I keep saying this about all forms of "American Horror Story" at the moment, both these and the main show, they're not scary - they're just boring. Again, I wonder if the problem with this series is that, what could be a high-profile showcase for new and inventive writers, is largely dominated by the existing team that Ryan Murphy uses. Two episodes of these four are written (or co-written) by Manny Coto, who unfortunately passed away last year, but has been a regular contributor to Murphy's work. The rest are written by regular producers on other Murphy shows.
The scariest is probably the first one "Bestie" and that uses the unfortunate trope of a physical disfigurement as the basis of the horror. That one at least had me guessing as to what might be going on, and I maintain that my idea for the resolution of the episode would have been better. The other three are all painfully obvious from the premise, each of which can be explained in a couple of words and none of which have a resolution worth talking about. The opening credits of each episode remain the best aspect of show, maybe whomever does those should be asked to contribute an episode.
I'm disappointed to learn that I've been alive long enough that Seth Gabel now plays, father of protagonist, rather than slightly unhinged, charismatic protagonist though, that was a shock to the system.
It's an anthology series still, so I guess at any point one could come along and be brilliant, but it still feels like a pedestrian show, unwilling to do anything too interesting or clever to be worthwhile.
A young girl is encouraged to acts of violence and self-harm by a friend she meets online. During a pandemic, an art dealer bonds with his new virtual assistant, until she becomes fixated on him. An aspiring model goes to extreme lengths to maintain her weight loss and stay at the top. A sexist womaniser has his kidneys stolen following an online hookup, but a new unidentified organ is there in its place.
I keep saying this about all forms of "American Horror Story" at the moment, both these and the main show, they're not scary - they're just boring. Again, I wonder if the problem with this series is that, what could be a high-profile showcase for new and inventive writers, is largely dominated by the existing team that Ryan Murphy uses. Two episodes of these four are written (or co-written) by Manny Coto, who unfortunately passed away last year, but has been a regular contributor to Murphy's work. The rest are written by regular producers on other Murphy shows.
The scariest is probably the first one "Bestie" and that uses the unfortunate trope of a physical disfigurement as the basis of the horror. That one at least had me guessing as to what might be going on, and I maintain that my idea for the resolution of the episode would have been better. The other three are all painfully obvious from the premise, each of which can be explained in a couple of words and none of which have a resolution worth talking about. The opening credits of each episode remain the best aspect of show, maybe whomever does those should be asked to contribute an episode.
I'm disappointed to learn that I've been alive long enough that Seth Gabel now plays, father of protagonist, rather than slightly unhinged, charismatic protagonist though, that was a shock to the system.
It's an anthology series still, so I guess at any point one could come along and be brilliant, but it still feels like a pedestrian show, unwilling to do anything too interesting or clever to be worthwhile.
A touch on this episode, but thoughts on S3 as a whole
Phanatic427 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
A shorter season this year than the last 2. 1st 3 episodes were actually pretty good, compared to the uneven writing in season 2.
This episode however? Not sure what's worse - the plot, which is just an expansion on the old "stolen kidney" trope from childhood campfire stories, or the acting. Simply terrible acting across the board, including, and surprisingly, from Laila Robins, who has turned in some great roles in the past. Still, none worse than the lead. I never got invested in the story, as it seemed he was just cold-reading his lines from cue cards. One of the stiffest performances I've seen.
As for Season 3 as a whole? I watched them all in a single sitting, and honestly forgot and didn't realize until it was over that I was watching AHS. With the central point in 3 of the 4 stories centering around technology, it seems that this season strived to be like the earlier seasons of Black Mirror. Not a bad thing, as BM is a great show, but these 4 stories just don't quite fit into the AHS universe.
This episode however? Not sure what's worse - the plot, which is just an expansion on the old "stolen kidney" trope from childhood campfire stories, or the acting. Simply terrible acting across the board, including, and surprisingly, from Laila Robins, who has turned in some great roles in the past. Still, none worse than the lead. I never got invested in the story, as it seemed he was just cold-reading his lines from cue cards. One of the stiffest performances I've seen.
As for Season 3 as a whole? I watched them all in a single sitting, and honestly forgot and didn't realize until it was over that I was watching AHS. With the central point in 3 of the 4 stories centering around technology, it seems that this season strived to be like the earlier seasons of Black Mirror. Not a bad thing, as BM is a great show, but these 4 stories just don't quite fit into the AHS universe.
Organ
bobcobb30117 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode could have been thoroughly entertaining, but it went a little too far over the top. I feel like they could have generated the new organs without the implant. They were not sure if they wanted to go all out spooky with things or just have this mystery of would he actually track them down and make them pay for their sins.
It had a classic, old-school horror ending of the victim shouting as we knew what his grim fate would be, but this was one of the weakest of the season. Not very imaginative, and then not at all practical when they did delve too far in the futuristic elements, in my opinion.
It had a classic, old-school horror ending of the victim shouting as we knew what his grim fate would be, but this was one of the weakest of the season. Not very imaginative, and then not at all practical when they did delve too far in the futuristic elements, in my opinion.
Still good after all this time
icantoo21 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I love the story. I was totally invested but I really had to get over the acting of the lead character. This could have been sooooo much more! But lets get on with the good because there was a lot of good.
The story line perfect, I love the old missing kidney when you wake up, haven't seen it used so skillfully! It was funny, scary and every thing I would expect from this series. Worth every minute of watching. This could have been a home run with a different actor, however he did a great job making himself unlikable. So there is that. It would have been better if he made me hate him after all that was the whole thing right?
The story line perfect, I love the old missing kidney when you wake up, haven't seen it used so skillfully! It was funny, scary and every thing I would expect from this series. Worth every minute of watching. This could have been a home run with a different actor, however he did a great job making himself unlikable. So there is that. It would have been better if he made me hate him after all that was the whole thing right?
Remarkably poor acting from a lead actor in a big show.
nansjune20 December 2023
I seldom write reviews of individual episodes of television however having watched this particular episode I immediately looked up the lead actor expecting to see some kind of nepotism at play. This was one of the worst performances I have ever seen from an allegedly professional actor, it was like watching a good actor act at being a bad actor and overdoing it.
The episode itself was not particularly great, the gist being that women will act like men (indeed can be worse) when they have access to the same level of power as powerful men, which in this context amounted to it being a letter of apology of sorts to all the me too guys. This gives the episode about as much appeal as a 9\11 joke on 9\12, there's edgy and there's this.
Yet despite this the biggest issue with it was the lead actors performance. Truly woeful.
The episode itself was not particularly great, the gist being that women will act like men (indeed can be worse) when they have access to the same level of power as powerful men, which in this context amounted to it being a letter of apology of sorts to all the me too guys. This gives the episode about as much appeal as a 9\11 joke on 9\12, there's edgy and there's this.
Yet despite this the biggest issue with it was the lead actors performance. Truly woeful.
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