Pressing play on an episode of American Horror Stories always seems to be a bit of a game. It’s a hit-or-miss situation, and for the majority of the latest episode, I thought it was going to end up as a miss. Unfortunately, the timing seemed to betray the series once again, but it all made sense in the end. This is certainly not the best work from American Horror Stories, but it’s not the worst either.
This episode began at a nightclub with two women, Marci and Piper, partying. The episode follows Marci, who is in an open relationship with her husband Chaz, as she hooks up with other people. There’s a serial killer on the loose, and Marci’s actually being followed on her way back home. This later brings up a mention of the urban legend that haunts me the most, where a woman was getting followed on her way home all because someone was trying to warn her that there was somebody in her backseat. Piper and Chaz are concerned for Marci’s safety and want to keep her safe, but Marci’s not interested. It seems it’s going in the urban legend direction at first, and then it seems like it’s going in a classic horror direction, but the end result is definitely neither of those things.
The episode was honestly slow-moving, and by the time the twist at the end was revealed, I was a bit tired of watching. This is definitely an episode where the anthology styles failed the series. It’s harder to get into an episode like this when there is no time for character development. However, that’s not to say that the twist wasn’t good. It was, but different choices could have definitely been made regarding the style and timeline of the episode. Overall, it wasn’t the worst episode of American Horror Stories, but I would consider it the worst of season 2 so far. I am still excited to see what the rest of the season holds, though.
This episode stars many familiar faces, including some who are returning to the AHS universe. Marci is played by Bella Thorne, who has previously starred in Shake It Up, Frenemies, The DUFF, The Babysitter, and more. Nico Greetham returns from the first season of American Horror Stories, where he played a role that seemed to be strongly modeled after Logan Paul and other influencers. He can also be seen in Love, Victor. Anthony de la Torre plays Chaz. Piper is played by Billie Bodega/Stevanna Jackson. Austin Woods plays Wyatt.
American Horror Stories streams on Hulu, with new episodes streaming every Thursday.
