TV Talk Tuesday!

Viewer Discretion is Advised!

Hello everybody, and welcome back to The CW Torch. Today is TV talk Tuesday, and I will be talking about the season premiere of American Horror Story: Cult. Which premiered last Tuesday, September 5th, 2017 at 10pm. This is the seventh season of the horror anthology series, created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk on FX. Each season captures a different theme, with new plotlines and characters. I mentioned AHS: Cult as one of my most anticipated television series for the 2017/2018 Fall season. While there have been many up and down seasons, being a fan of American Horror Story for the last seven years, (with more downs than ups in the last couple of seasons). American Horror Story: Cult, kicked us off with a bang, and looks somewhat promising!

Recap:

We first start off the series premiere in the eyes of Ally Mayfair-Richards (Sarah Paulson), who watches the 2016 Presidential election. As Donald Trump has just been elected into office, along with her wife Ivy (Alison Pill) and neighbors. The election has triggered a number of fears and heightened anxiety for Ally, including; clowns, confined spaces, holes and even blood particles. We don't know why these fears have been triggered for Ally, in such a heightened state, but we know that this wasn't the first time. As Ally discusses the fears with her psychiatrist, Dr. Rudy Vincent (Cheyenne Jackson). We have first accounts of these fears at full force, when Ally goes to the grocery store. At the scene she encounters the cashier who is wearing a Make America Great Again cap, which trigger visions of these haunting clowns. Two clowns appear by the produce section (doing some dirty things), and another chases her around with a knife. She tries her damndest to get away from them, by throwing bottles of Rose to any that attack her. Another trigger she experiences, is when Ally is being treated to a well cooked meal from her wife Ivy, at their co-owned butcher shop. When a clown appears to be masturbating by the kitchen, but shortly disappears, as Ivy returns hearing her wife's screaming.

On the other side of town, we're introduced to deranged, blue-haired, Kai Anderson (Evan Peters). Whose reaction to Trump's Victory is the complete opposite to Ally's, as he exclaims that "The Revolution has begun!" Then proceeds to cover himself in Cheeto powder, and humps the television screen with excitement. He gloats in his enthusiasm to his "sister," although we don't really know if Winter (Billie Lourd) is his sister, they don’t actually mention it in the episode. Mid-way through the episode, Kai encounters Ally and Ivy for the first time, splashing a coffee at the two in the middle of the street. He is humiliated by the city council, as he tries to speak out against beefing up the security at the Jewish Community Center. Using some of Trump's tactics and beliefs, as to why they shouldn't add more security, his notion is obviously declined. Enraged and humiliated; he wastes no time showing how dangerous he can be, first by helping Winter finding a new job as a nanny for Ally and Ivy's child. On her first day as Ozzy's nanny, she asks him questions such as; where is his father, aren't you at all curious to know who he is? And shows Ozzy some graphic images of people being murdered on the internet, basically trying to corrupt the young child.

The episode concludes with a group of clowns (the same who continue to haunt Ally), murdering Ally and Ivy's neighbors at their own house. The male of the household, who was murdered, just so happened to be the head of the council at Kai's meeting earlier in the day. Winter takes Ozzy to the neighbor's house to witness the murder, and Kai deals with a racial altercation with Latino Labor workers. Which was honestly, really difficult to watch (on behalf of the Latino community), so I won't go into any detail about it in this blog post.

Conclusion:

After watching the series premiere, I have mixed feelings about what to expect during this season. With the general premise being fear, it seems like a very interesting topic of discussion. Especially, since we are basically living in fear of our own President of the United States, and of people like Kai Anderson. There was one scene in the season premiere that I found extremely difficult to watch, and don't think it was really necessary. Even though, the reality of the matter is that, stuff like that is actually happening in our world today, which is truly disgusting. I am very excited to be getting more Sarah Paulson, who never seizes to disappoint in her American Horror Story Roles, and Evan Peters (even though I can already tell you, that I absolutely hate is character). I also don't know how I feel about the clowns, because I actually do have a fear of clowns, but definitely not on an Ally level. An interesting character who should be one to watch is, Winter, I have no idea what her end game is with Ozzy. So, with all that being said, we shall see how this season goes, and if it'll be a hit or a miss. I will be doing a mid-season recap and a concluding season recap throughout the show, so definitely watch out for those later in the year! In the mean time, here is the season preview trailer for season seven of American Horror Story: Cult.

TTFN,

Chynna Williams @ The CW Torch