Why American Horror Stories' First Two Episodes Have AHS Fans Split
As we've said before, "American Horror Story" fans are nothing if not a contentious bunch. Ask a group of fans who love the show what their favorite season or episode is, and you'll not only get a wide variety of responses but a wide variety of fans who will disagree with any pick in a firm, reasoned manner. It's that kind of fandom, filled with all sorts of horror fans with all sorts of opinions.
It's not surprising that "American Horror Stories," the Hulu-exclusive horror anthology spin-off series which debuts today on the streaming giant, has drawn mixed reviews from the franchise fans who hang out at the Reddit community for "AHS." Some folks love it, some folks hate it, and some of them fall in the middle of the pack. How you feel about the end result might depend on the kind of expectations you have going in. Here's what they think about the show's two-part debut, "Rubber (Wo)man."
The ups and downs of a return to the Murder House
The rest of this article contains spoilers for American Horror Stories Episodes 1 and 2, "Rubber (Wo)man."
Let's call fans' views on the episodes mixed so far. Many people replying to live watch threads for the episodes reported having a hard time bonding with Scarlett, the episodes' main protagonist, among other problems they had with the show.
Redditor /u/sleepynatural said that "Rubber (Wo)man" felt like a "rehash" of the show's "Murder House" season: "angsty girl gets bullied at school, has a somewhat fractured relationship with her parents, gets the help of the house to take revenge upon her bullies, finds another angsty teen to date..." User /u/LokiTheeTricksterGod agreed, stating, "I feel like this episode was supposed to be fan service and left to the end of the season but then they realized how bad it was and put it first. The end monologue also sounded like a porn monologue." Many users thought that the show felt like a "parody" of Murder House, noting a lack of weight and gravitas to the murders committed, and some called out the episode for centering itself on a teenage character with a BDSM fetish and porn addiction.
On the positive side, many fans enjoyed Scarlett's therapist. Also, /u/hashtagtylerh provided a further opposing opinion, declaring, "I went in expecting 45 minutes (1.5 hours in this case bc double premiere) of horror anthology fun and I was pleasantly surprised." In agreement was /u/JmartelliNYC, who commented, "FOR ME, this felt like more of a return to why I loved AHS than many recent core seasons. The quality of the filming, the score, the subtle (and not-so-subtle) nods to the OG series, and yeah — the ridiculousness."
"Rubber (Wo)man" is currently streaming via FX on Hulu.