Greetings and welcome back! I have been a bit behind in season 7 of American Horror Story due to travel, but I expect to be all caught up soon. Honestly, I wasn't excited for the season when I heard about the theme. Not sure how many viewers wanted to re-live election night (regardless of who they voted for) but I really wasn't interested in a season that may involve politics. Give me aliens, witches, vampires, zombies and all immortal forms of Lady Gaga...but don't give me politics. That being said, I got through Episode 1 of Cult and I don't think it's heading in a direction that will make me long for the days of Stevie Nicks singing in Coven or Jessica Lange dancing to "The Name Game" in Asylum. Let's give this a go and recap what went down in "Election Night."
Don't Wanna Be An American Idiot
The episode opens with a montage of the Clinton and Trump campaigns and the introduction of Cult characters occurs as they watch the election results come in on November 8, 2016. Evan Peters joins us a Kai Anderson, a man so excited about Trump's victory that he humps his TV and makes himself a Cheetos mask after throwing a bunch of orange curls into his blender. "The revolution has begun." He makes his way to his sister, Winter's room (played by Billie Lourd who I just love) and Winter is near tears. Seems she dropped out of college to campaign for Hillary and never thought she would lose the election. Winter is talking to a friend on the phone and wonders where she will get an abortion now if she needs one. She also has a history of self harm, which I assume will pop up again later.
Kai holds out his pinky finger and Winter links hers with his and they share an odd moment. Later in the episode we learn that this is a common occurrence - a truth game of sorts where she reveals her deepest, darkest feelings. The most important one comes from the question: "what's the thing that scares you the most?" Winter doesn't hesitate. "Honestly Kai, you."
While the Anderson siblings deal with their divided household, Sarah Paulson's character Ally watches the election results in her living room, surrounded by neighbors as well as her wife, Ivy and 10 year old son, Ozzie. Ally has a near breakdown when Trump takes the stage to make his victory speech and neighbors Tom and Marilyn Chang bicker almost immediately. See, these folks all live in Michigan and they thought Michigan was supposed to be a lock for Hillary Clinton. Marilyn never made it to the polls that day so Tom yells at her, telling her that their friends might not be able to stay married because she was too busy to vote. Damn. This escalated quickly. A very worried Ozzie wanders into the room at that moment, but his moms tell him everything will be okay.
Everything Isn't Meant To Be Okay
We see a young couple fooling around on a picnic blanket in the middle of nowhere. The girl pauses, telling her boyfriend that someone is watching them. He jokes that it may be Twisty. Wait...what? Could it be? Dude says that 60 years ago Twisty the Clown murdered a couple right there in that spot. As this discussion takes place we see Twisty approach with his bag of props and I am cheering from my couch. 1) We already have a link between this season and a previous season and 2) Things are just more fun with Twisty around. The two lovebirds see the clown and very understandably freak out. Dude whips out...a gun (we're beyond getting it on at this point) and shoots Twisty several times with no success. Twisty beats the guy over the head with a juggling pin and then stabs him repeatedly with a knife. I mean...this guy gets stabbed a lot of times. A lot. Seriously. The very unlucky girl runs toward the Twisty bus that Freak Show fans know and love and attempts to hide inside. Sweetheart, this is not going to end well for you. Twisty searches his humble abode and hears a 911 call from a corner. She's toast, but what the hell does this have to do with Cult?
Ah, seems Mr. Ozzie has a Twisty the Clown comic book...because killer clowns are all the rage these days...and Ally catches him reading under the covers when he is supposed to be sound asleep. Her reaction, much like the entirety of this episode, is over the top and almost annoying. Ally has a clown phobia and this little event is at the top of her list of things to talk about when she goes to her next therapy appointment.
Cheyenne Jackson returns to American Horror Story this season as Dr. Rudy Vincent and Ally has been seeing him for quite a while it seems. We join their session in a discussion about her former housekeeper/babysitter who flew the coop after Trump was elected. Ally assumes she went back to Guatamala because she was afraid of being deported. Ally just doesn't know how she'll make it through the next 4 years and her anxiety has triggered all of her old phobias. In addition to clowns, she is scared of confined spaces and she also sees blood in certain shapes and objects. For instance - Dr. Vincent's coral display is really stressing Ally out. It's just coral, but she sees blood oozing out of the openings. Ally likens her current emotional state to her fear after 9/11 when she would not leave her apartment. Oh dear. Meeting Ivy pulled her out of that dark place and when Obama was elected, she felt the universe had righted itself. You can jump in any time Dr. Vincent...
The good doctor explains that he has deleted all of his social media accounts and focused all of his election frustrations into working out (Ally herself notes that he's looking pretty good these days) and says this casually while sneaking in a comment about prescribing anti-anxiety medication. Ally isn't interested but he assures her that she needs these pills and everything is going to be okay. But is it?
The Sound Of Hysteria
Kai attends a city council meeting that coincidentally is headed up by Tom Chang. The motion on the table is whether to give more security support to the local Jewish Community Center by having the sheriff's deputies work overtime. Kai is the only member of the public to speak on this and he is totally against it. He believes that "above all, humans love fear." Kai gives examples of how he feels people's irrational fear impedes freedom, saying that fear releases people from their desires and ambitions. He doesn't think the Jewish Community Center needs additional protection...he'd rather have it blown up. Kai's speech is delivered as if he is campaigning for a position of power, not opposing a motion pending the city council's vote. Tom talks down to him and (he believes) puts Kai in his place. "I know it feels good to have your worst instincts validated but don't be fooled. Use this opportunity, now that you're out of your parents' basement, to meet people who aren't like you. You are afraid. We're not." The motion passes unanimously.
And while we're on the topic of fear, we join Ally at the grocery store that same evening. The cashier is wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat and she is immediately shaken. I'm not sure why, but Ally seems to be the only person in the store. She starts to see things...clowns...all over the store. They're riding scooters, having sex near the watermelons (you read that right), working the cash register, and blasting some serious head banging music over the loud speaker. Ally screams. Ally cries. Ally runs through the aisles and throws perfectly good bottles of wine at the scooting clown with three faces. Then she gets in her car, does the screaming/crying thing some more, sees a clown in the back seat, and promptly crashes her car into a pole in the parking lot.
Once she's home safe and sound, Ally is looking for some support from her wife. Ivy is a saint trying her best and she tells Ally that no one else saw any clowns or heard any music. There was nothing on the store's security camera. The police thinks she's cray cray.
Welcome To A New Kind Of Tension
Ally and Ivy run a restaurant called The Butchery (see what they did there?) and Ally has been neglecting all of her duties. Ivy pleads with Ally, asking for things to go back to the way they were before the election...she wants her wife back, and really she wants her life back. Ally promises to get her fears and anxiety under control and return to work, which means they need a new nanny for Ozzie. They discuss this on a walk outside of the restaurant and Ally asks Ivy if she forgives her. Didn't we just cover this? Oh. No we did not. Ally voted for Jill Stein and not Hillary and Ivy is still having some issues with that. The discussion is interrupted by Kai, who is walking by and "trips" and spills his drink all over them. They exchange curse words and Kai tells them to have a nice day.
The ladies place an ad for a nanny and Winter comes a knockin.' I wish she had given a head's up so we would have had a "winter is coming" opportunity. Oh well. Ally and Ivy don't really interview her beyond the "tell us about yourself" question, so we already know this will eventually be a shit show. Winter says she loves children, used to babysit in high school, dropped out of college to work on Hillary's campaign, and once got a retweet from Lena Dunham. You're hired!
One Nation Controlled By The Media
Ally and Ivy celebrate by having dinner at the restaurant alone and Ivy continues to keep Ally's wine glass full, hoping it will put her "in the mood." I guess it's been a while since Ivy got her rocks off. Too bad Ivy's wife is more concerned with Twitter than sharing romantic stares across the table. When she finally does put her phone down, Ally sees blood in the souffle Ivy has served her as well as a clown near the table. Cue the breathy/crying/whining/yelling thing again. Groan.
Meanwhile Winter is showing Ozzie all types of violence that can be found online. After quizzing him about who his "real mom" is and noting his interest in Twisty the Clown, she tells Ozzie that viewing the dark web is like a vaccination for his brain. Winter says the more he watches, the less scared he will be. "I'll get some cookies." Side note: One violent item that will soon make its way online is Kai's first short film. He is back to his fear mission and antagonizes a group of Latino men in a parking lot. He pees in a condom, ties it shut, then throws it on them. As he gets his ass beat, someone is nearby filming the incident on a phones.
When Winter goes in search of a snack for the violent video viewing, Ozzie hears an ice cream truck pull up across the street. He peeks out the window and sees the grocery store clowns enter the Chang's house. He calls for Winter, who is the worst nanny ever, and she walks him over there to see what's happening. She WALKS HIM OVER THERE TO SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING. Winter hoists him up to the window to see Tom slaughtered and hear Marilyn scream in terror. One of the clowns paints a smiley face on the inside door using Tom's blood.
By the time Ivy and Ally come home, there are police lights everywhere and Ozzie and Winter are outside. They find out the Changs are dead in "what appears to be a murder-suicide" but Ozzie tells his moms the clowns killed them. Ivy sends Ozzie to sit with a police officer and Winter shows the ladies the Twisty comic. She says nothing in Ozzie's story happened and the moms believe her because Ozzie has a history of night terrors...which is really something they should have told the nanny to begin with. I'm assuming their Guatemalan housekeeper was a mind reader.
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| Yup...probably the whole season. |
The episode ends with Ally lying in bed. She hears a noise and calls out to Ivy. No Ivy? Ally rolls over and a clown is staring her in the face. She screams because, you know, it's been more than 5 minutes since she has done so and I'm assuming at this point it's clearly detailed in her contract. With that annoyance aside, I'm definitely wondering a few things after this hour. What's the deal with Winter and her awesome hair and carefully applied eye makeup? Is she some sort of mini-Kai with women's empowerment aspirations? Is Kai part of the clown posse that appears to be real and not just an Ally hallucination? Is Ivy going to dropkick Ally's ass to the curb because she also can't stand the way she cries? And most importantly, is Ozzie going to tell his moms that maybe they should check some references for his next nanny and also ensure she's not a creepy bitch? I mean...Winter is totally fired, right? I suppose we will find out as the season progresses and Cheyenne Jackson gets ripped from all of his political angst workouts.
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