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Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
American Horror Story: NYC continues its two-episode run well, and leaves more to be said by the end of the eighth episode. Patrick Read (Russell Tovey), Gino Barelli (Joe Mantello), and Henry Grant (Denis O’Hare) make a killer team, and while Episode Seven feels like an ending, there is definitely more at play once matters wrap up.
These two episodes felt like an ending and a beginning for the characters. The cast remains standout, and Read decides to stand up for himself after the events of Episode Seven, while Dr. Hannah Wells (Billie Lourd) goes off on her own, and the group seems to splinter.
Minor spoilers to follow.
Episode Seven Discussion
Episode Seven, titled “The Sentinel,” brings Patrick to Gino and they seem to confront Mr. Whitely (Jeff Hiller) but are caught. Henry takes drastic measures, in the form of Saw (2004, James Wan). However, at the end of it all, the trio prevails. This episode is written by Our Lady J & Manny Coto, and directed by Paris Barclay.
This episode seems like the end of one part of the story while starting to begin another. After the trio deal with Whitely, Gino and Patrick go to Fire Island with Adam Carpenter (Charlie Carver) and Theo Graves (Isaac Powell). Hannah would have gone but she decided to go to her mom’s. Everyone who is sick has similar symptoms, so the disease subplot is interesting. Henry also confronted his forced disbelief about Whitely being the Mai Tai Killer, refreshing the character in this story.
After Patrick quits his job as a police detective, he begins to see visions of Barbara Read (Leslie Grossman), which really freak him out, even if that seems like a mainstay with American Horror Story. Regardless, more supernatural elements are welcoming.
Apart from the standard direction, the writing is great, and “The Sentinel” was another enjoyable episode of the season so far. Denis O’Hare and Joe Mantello are standouts here.
Minor spoilers for Episode Eight to follow.
Episode Eight Discussion
Episode Eight, titled “Fire Island,” sees the group at Fire Island as they begin to hang out and process the events they just witnessed. They want to just chill now, but that won’t happen for long. It seems that several people are also sick, as there is some disease going around. Big Daddy (Matthew William Bishop) continues his reign of terror as well. Honestly, he kind of gives Michael Myers vibes, they’re oddly similar. They don’t talk, they’re hulking figures and just kind of stand there and stare.
Russell, Gino, and Theo are sick with some sort of disease, that Hannah also seems to have. It will be interesting to see what the reveal of this disease is. While they’re all on vacation, Big Daddy interrupts everyone’s plan. Fran (Sandra Bernhard), KK (Clara McGregor) and Lita (Quei Tann) even have a run-in with Big Daddy. It was almost like one of them was going to get it, but he walked away, oddly enough.
Sam (Zachary Quinto) also continues his nefarious tactics of “love” and seemingly drugs Theo and prepares him for Henry and himself, but Big Daddy, once again, creeps around. Theo then seemingly dies and is embraced by the souls of the victims of the Mai Tai Killer. Or maybe he is knocked out and taken somewhere else? The final episodes of the season will hopefully be revealing and fulfilling.
As Big Daddy seems like a Michael Myers-type character, the dude literally takes gunshots point blank and gets back up. They’re both huge, killer guys, and they are silent all the time, they’re creeps in a way. Thankfully Patrick is a good shot and saves Adam, but damn. It will be interesting to see what happens to him. Henry is also an amusing character in this episode, even with one hand and a head full of pills.
In the end, this episode works well to continue the story of the group after “The Sentinel.” It’s enjoyable and “Fire Island” is one of the best episodes of the season. I’m excited to see where the season will end with the final two episodes.
Final Thoughts on American Horror Story Season 11 Episodes 7 & 8
It seems the group has gone through the wringer, and came out very different on the other side. The cast are standouts of the season and the mysteriousness of Big Daddy is kind of interesting to follow as the narrative progresses and hopefully, they wrap his story up as well.
This duo of episode’s direction is pretty standard, however, the writing is terrific. The writers snuck in references to things like Star Wars, and stars like Rock Hudson. The little things kept my attention as the characters interacted. The writing on the final two episodes are expected to be the best of the season.
What are your thoughts on this last half of the season? For the review of the penultimate and finale of season eleven of American Horror Story, stay right here with The Cinema Spot!
Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
This article was edited by John Tangalin.