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5 Reasons Why ‘Asylum’ is the Best Season of “American Horror Story” (and 5 Reasons Why ‘Coven’ is the Worst)

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Asylum

American Horror Story: Hotel premiered earlier this week, and it came with a rather hefty amount of skepticism (from me, anyway). Ryan Murphy is known for starting his seasons off strongly, only for them to go into a tailspin around the midway point of the season. In the case of American Horror Story, he started off the series strongly with Murder House, achieved some of his best work with Asylum, hit rock bottom with Coven and slowly began to dig himself out of the hole he made with Freakshow, which was an improvement over Coven, but only slightly. Not many people seem to share this viewpoint. In fact, Coven seems to be many people’s favorite season of American Horror Story, whereas Asylum (and occasionally Freakshow) is thought to be the worst season. I’m not one to use profanity in my posts, but there’s only one way for me to say this: I fucking hate CovenAsylum is the best season and Coven is the worst, and I’m here to tell you why.

Asylum

Strong Villains

Bloody Face, Dr. Arden and the possessed Sister Mary Eunice are all more than just your standard two-dimensional villains. They all get enough screen time to make you care about them (even if that caring means wanting to see them die horrible deaths). They each had unique M.O.s and made strong, lasting impressions. A horror movie (or show) is only as good as its villain, and Asylum delivered.

Developed Characters

This is sort of an extension of my first point, but the characters in Asylum were not caricatures. These were real people with developed plot lines (well, except for Chloë Sevigny’s character, who got shafted). Lange may get all the accolades (and Sister Jude has a great arc in the season as well), but Paulson’s Lana Winters was the centerpiece of the season, and she nailed the performance in every scene. From her incarceration to her aversion therapy to her cathartic murder of her son, Lana is the best character to come out of any season of AHS.

Strong, Cohesive Narrative

Asylum had the most cohesive narrative throughout the entirety of its 13 episodes. For juggling so many things (possession, aliens, a serial killer, Nazi mutation experiments, asylum inmates, among other things), Asylum holds itself together remarkably well. The Anne Frank Halloween episodes are two of the strongest episodes the series has ever done, and they fit into the plot of the story. Nearly every plot line seemed relevant to the season as a whole, which cannot be said of any of the other seasons.

The Conclusion is (Mostly) Satisfying

American Horror Story has had a problem sticking the landing each and every season. This is no exception for Asylum, but it is undoubtedly the strongest finale of the bunch. Many weren’t fans of the flash-forward storytelling device used for the final episode, but Asylum was always about Lana and her journey toward peace. The show needed to jump forward to give her that peace. Kit ends up taking in Sister Jude and taking care of her until she dies, and he is abducted by aliens after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Lana kills Dr. Thredson (aka Bloody Face), Alma is admitted to Briarcliff. It all sounds sloppy, but the execution is nearly flawless.

Its Actually Horrific

A show called American Horror Story needs to have some actual horror, and Asyludelivers it in spades. From the human experimentations done by James Cromwell’s Dr. Arden, to the possession of Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe), Asylum pulled no punches. The only real moment of levity was the musical number in episode 10, but even that had a dark background to it. Asylum was a bleak, unforgiving season, that turned off many viewers (and is the main reason why Murphy turned to camp in Coven). This always confused me, because it seems as if people who are watching American Horror Story don’t want to see any actual horror.

Coven

As for Coven, aka the season that pandered to the gays, there have been plenty of articles written about the mess of a season it was. These are just some of my biggest issues with it:

UPDATE: After reading some of the comments I feel the need to explain the above statement. When I say “pandering to the gays,” that is not an insult to gay people (of which I am one), but rather an insult to Coven and the team behind it. As I watched Coven, it seemed like Murphy’s thought process was “let’s fill the show with bitchy queens and sassy one-liners” in lieu of a coherent plot, as if that is going to make the show for us and forgive it its shortcomings. I felt insulted by the fact that the creative team behind the show thought that that is all I wanted to see. I felt pandered to, and to be pandered to is insulting. That was my reasoning behind that statement. 

No Direction

If you go back and watch all 13 episodes of Coven, there doesn’t seem to be any consistency with the narrative. It really feels like the writers made it up as they went along. A simple outline of the season would have gone a long way in ensuring Coven’s cohesiveness. Alas, it’s clear no outline was made.

Inconsistent Characters

This is probably my biggest issue with Coven. None of the characters in the season felt like real characters because they  did things their character would never do. Kathy Bates’ Madame LaLaurie began a redemptive arc with Gabourey Sidibe’s Queenie and just….stopped. Don’t forget about the fact that Jessica Lange’s Fiona was a murderer and no one seemed to care. Cordelia’s forgiveness of Fiona in the finale didn’t feel like something Cordelia would actually do. Queenie leaving the girls at Miss Robichaux’s for Marie Laveau’s voodoo team also didn’t make much sense. The show seemed to imply that it was just a race thing, but there was not enough screen time devoted to Queenie’s scenes with Laveau to make her betrayal convincing. Emma Roberts’ Madison Montgomery and Sarah Paulson’s Cordelia were probably the only consistently written character throughout the entire season.

It Was Overstuffed Yet Storylines Were Left Hanging

What were the repercussions of Queenie having sex with a minotour? What happened to Madame LaLaurie’s redemption arc (as mentioned above)? People always complain about Asylum having one too many plot lines (though I’ll admit that the aliens were superfluous), but Coven is the real culprit here. What was the point of bringing in Patti Lupone’s character and her son? Why was Stevie Nicks even there (other than fan service)? The witch hunters were brought in and dispatched rather quickly. Cordelia didn’t seem to care much about the fact that her husband was a witch hunter. And remember when Zoe and Kyle skipped town, only to just come back in the beginning of the next episode for no particular reason? It’s all pretty sloppy screenwriting.

No Stakes

Just when you thought Coven was pulling the rug out from under you by killing a main character off early in the season (Evan Peters, Emma Roberts), they were resurrected. Death was never a permanent fixture in Coven, which made it really hard to care or worry about any of the characters. If you can’t care about the characters (praising their bitchiness and wittiness doesn’t count as caring about them), then there is nothing but a hollow shell of a show. Also, the endgame being the reveal of the new Supreme was not compelling at all. If that was the whole purpose of the season, it’s boring

Unearned Endings

The biggest offender of this is arguably Lily Rabe’s Misty Day. Her fate in the finale “The Seven Wonders,” where she is trapped in Hell for all eternity to dissect frogs, doesn’t hold much weight for us as viewers. Sure, she was one of the most likable characters of the season, but we really didn’t know anything about her other than that she really liked Stevie Nicks. Having her own personal Hell be dissecting frogs felt too predictable and like an easy narrative out. The endgame for the season was always going to be to have Cordelia be the new Supreme, so they just needed a way to dispatch Misty. Her fate would have been better suited to Roberts’ Madison Montgomery, who gets an “easy” death via strangulation by Peters’ character. No character had more of an unearned ending than Fiona though. She was a despicable, selfish human being and a murderer, but the show gave her a redemptive arc (in the last episode). We shouldn’t want to see this woman gain her daughter’s sympathy. Coven was trying to subvert expectations, and I get that, but it came off as cheap and unearned.

What do you think? Am I being too hard on Coven (or too forgiving of Asylum)? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or Tweet me.

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Austin, TX with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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