The AHS: Death Valley Episode 1 Scene That Went Too Far
The first half of "American Horror Story: Double Feature" is over and we have officially moved onto the second story in the narrative, "Death Valley." Wasting no time at all, the story picks up in the 1950s, fully shot in black and white to establish the era. Within minutes, Maria Wycoff (Rebecca Dayan) and her son Timmy (Henry Joseph Samiri) are attacked — and subsequently controlled by — aliens.
Who can possibly save the day? Well, no one can save the day (at least not yet), but the man who tries is none other than President Dwight "We Like Ike" Eisenhower (Neal McDonough). In short order, Ike is taken to a spacecraft where he finds a pregnant Amelia Earhart (Lily Rabe) and an alien of the gray persuasion which seems to be dead.
This first episode, "Take Me to Your Leader," has no shortage of pretty frightening imagery set in the 1950s. In addition to a mother and son taken over, there are also knock-off face-huggers, exploding heads galore, and that's all just the stuff set in the past.
You could potentially make a case for several of those moments being "too far," but it's not until the story shifts to the present day where we get a moment fans are already calling out as being not in the best of taste.
Nothing like alien pregnancies to cause chaos among friends
In the scene, a group of friends comprised of Kendall (Kaia Gerber), Cal (Nico Greetham), Jamie (Rachel Hilson), and Troy (Isaac Powell) goes glamping in Death Valley. While getting lost looking for a lake, the gang comes upon a bevy of bifurcated bovine that, in addition to all being bloodlessly and perfectly split down their respective middles, also just so happen to somehow still be alive. In an effort to escape what they've just seen, the friends get in their car to drive away as fast as possible, but their car is shut down by another gray alien when tentacles invade the car and attack everyone inside. Moments later, they all wake up seemingly okay.
Of course, everything is not okay. Not only was everyone abducted, but, much like Amelia Earhart, they are all pregnant — yes, even the guys. Before it's discovered that Troy and Cal are also both with child, Kendall suggests that Troy and Cal dosed the two women and assaulted them — and not only does that not make any sense, it's also pretty messed up.
"Damn did she just casually suggest their gay best friends drugged and raped them," asked Redditor u/DellyCartwrong. "Girl, that's cold. Also, you wouldn't be pregnant, like, the next day."
That's a fair assessment. Pregnancy doesn't work like that, and, besides, Cal and Troy seem happily together with no indication that either of them had ever even verbally abused Kendall or Jamie. We don't know how the pregnancy plot will shake out, but it's weird to even suggest that these particular human men could've been responsible.
New episodes of "American Horror Story: Death Valley" air Wednesdays on FX before streaming to Hulu.