Carrying on the hugely successful series, American Horror Story is back with Hotel. This season has had big hype surrounding the sad departure of the amazingly talented Jessica Lange. With the inclusion of Lady Gaga, there has been a lot of talk about what we can expect.
Set in the Hotel Cortez, in downtown Los Angeles, in the current year (2015) this story is all about addiction and the corruption of innocence, with some religious undertones thrown in for good measure.
Personally, I feel quite mixed about this first episode.
On one hand, it was a very good setup for the story. You get to know a lot about the main characters within a very short space of time. There is a lot of back story, especially for Iris (Kathy Bates) and Sally (Sarah Paulson).
On the other hand, I felt that it was trying a little too hard with the shock factor.
The first episode is jam packed with tropes, including creepy children, vampires, ghosts, unsuspecting tourists, a troubled detective and a dour receptionist. Not to mention sodomy and orgies. I felt that although the back stories were very fleshy, it also gave away a little too much, not leaving much to the imagination.
I’m hoping that this means that the rest of the season is so full of goings on that they had to jam it all in one episode, and not that they were trying to make up for the lack of Jessica Lange, who, let’s admit it, pretty much IS American Horror Story.
I’ll check back in mid-season when we’ve got a better feel for what’s going on.
