Why I Won’t Be Tuning In for American Horror Story Season 7 *SPOILER WARNING*
American Horror Story (AHS) season 6 has just reached its end, and like every season that came before it, it was completely different. The beauty of AHS is that it can reinvent itself every season, with new themes, new characters and a whole new world of mystery ahead. At least, I thought that’s what the beauty of the show was, but as more time (and seasons) go by, I’m beginning to see it as more of a curse.
Before I proceed any further, I just want to post a big SPOILER WARNING for season 6, as well as elements of previous seasons as well.
For me, season 6: My Roanoke Nightmare, started strongly, the strongest in a few seasons. The fake documentary style of filming was something I found interesting and watching the story of the Butcher and her people was intriguing and mysterious. The show runners decided to announce that a big twist would be coming in episode 6, for what possible reason they would want to reveal such a thing is beyond me, as the twist would then have a dampened impact. To top it off, it was just an elaborate trolling, as there wasn’t much of a twist at all, and we went from a fake documentary to a fake reality in which both the cast and their ‘real life’ counterparts came together to return to the Roanoke house. From here, we got a stupid, cliche horror story, with lots of screaming and murder, but this time without the mystery of the Butcher and her people. To end the season, we got a bunch of court cases, a couple of TV shows within TV shows and more new characters going back to the Roanoke House, because that makes sense despite a whole pile of people being murdered there more than once. We came to realise that the one true survivor of Roanoke was actually Flora, Lee’s daughter, which was just a big pile of ‘so what?’. We hadn’t even seen Flora in five episodes, and so to end the show on her survival, seemed a bit dull and pointless. Season 6 built a solid background and entertaining subplots, only to abandon them all for Xrated torture and a poorly executed second half of a season.
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Anyway, I’m not here to review My Roanoke Nightmare in depth, just know that this latest season started strong and became increasingly bad. Starting from season one we’ve had Murder House, Asylum, Coven, Freak Show, Hotel and our latest season My Roanoke Nightmare. Every season is unique, with only some of the actors carrying over from season to season. As a result, everyone has their own favourite, for me it’s Asylum, closely followed by Murder House. I didn’t think much to Coven, primarily because it seemed to be more targeted at a young female audience, it just didn’t do much for me. Both Freak Show and Hotel I gave up watching around the halfway point as they were both so poor. As you may understand, not having had a season of AHS I really enjoyed in almost four years, I was really excited when the first few episodes of My Roanoke Nightmare aired, I thought the show was back to form, though it clearly didn’t stay that way.
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Image Website Link: http://moviepilot.com/p/american-horror-story-season-6-roanoke-nightmare-theory-connected/4096935
So why won’t I be back to watch AHS? Quite simply, I’m fed up. I’m fed up of waiting season to season, hoping the latest instalment will be better than the last, and hoping I will actually enjoy this one. I’ve only really enjoyed the first two seasons out of six, and although every season is completely new, I just can’t help but think the shows creative juices are running low. Even when a season came along that seemed promising, they couldn’t maintain the quality all the way through. It’s not simple creating an entirely original horror series every year, and I feel I’ve reached the point of being naive, constantly justifying watching every new season by saying: ‘yea but this one might be better!’.
But wait, we need to see how each season links together right? Another element of watching AHS is, despite the fact every season is a new story, each of them is linked in some way. Seeing Sarah Paulson’s character from Asylum make a surprise return in the finale of Roanoke was pretty cool, but ultimately, that’s all it is. People seem to get so bogged down with trying to figure out what the link is between each season that they’re willing to put up with all the trash that comes along with it. Yes, each season is linked in some way, but when you look at those links, they don’t really add anything to the story. If anything, it’s just a little easter egg and audiences can give themselves a pat on the back when they notice the link.
I now see American Horror Story as nothing more than a clever marketing tool, bringing people back season after season, selling it as something totally new, when in reality, it’s the same poorly executed disappointment. Like I said, due to the anthology nature of the show, everyone has their own opinion about which seasons are good and bad. Did any of you like My Roanoke Nightmare? Is Asylum actually your least favourite season? Will you be eagerly waiting for season 7? Or have you already given up? Let me know your thoughts on American Horror Story!
By Stuart Keating
@StooReviews