Seasons

I’m going to keep this short and to the point. Each season goes into deep topics, but I’ll be explaining a broad synopsis of each season. Just enough to give you an idea of what’s going on.

Murder House

The first season of American Horror Story (aka Murder House) follows the Harmon family. Ben Harmon, Vivien Harmon, and their daughter Violet Harmon. They also have a dog named Hallie. In the first episode, the Harmons are in the process of moving from Boston to Los Angeles. Ben was caught cheating in Boston with one of his students, but Vivien decided to give him a second chance. The second chance involved moving across the country, away from what happened in Boston. The further away the better. You can’t get much further than California unless they moved out of the country. Little did the family know that the house they moved into is haunted by multiple ghosts. Many people died in the house over the years and we are introduced to all of them eventually. However, there’s a twist. If you die on the property, you are stuck there forever. So, these spirits are basically eternally doomed with no escape. The majority of the season involves the backstories of the ghosts who are trapped in the house, mixed in with the Harmons’ problems. This mix of negativity eventually leads to all of the Harmons dying. There is a clash between the spirit side of the house and the Harmons, causing issues to mix in with each other, ultamately making a huge mess.

This season is actually my favorite out of all eight seasons. I like that there are many characters with completely different backstories. By the end of the season, all of the spirits come together and it’s cool to see people from so many different backgrounds respecting each other. This season also dives heavily into the theme of mental illness. At least 80% of the people in the house (both humans and spirits) have some sort of mental health issue. It’s a big topic to tackle, especially in 2011 when this season was released.

Asylum

Season two also focuses on the theme of mental illness, as seen by the title. If you don’t know, asylums used to be places to “treat” the mentally ill. I say “treat” because they were really just places that tried to torture the mental illness out of people. That obviously wasn’t a good method. It is kind of ironic because Briarcliff is actually a Catholic asylum. You’d think that they’d be more kind, but that isn’t the case. This being said, the time period of this season is set in 1964 in Briarcliff Asylum. The season follows around multiple characters, each with their own unique backstory. I’ll be honest, it gets a little confusing at times because multiple stories are happening at once. But, it was still a very well put together season. Towards the middle of the season, the focus begins to shift on two characters specifically, Kit Walker and Lana Winters. It follows their lives at Briarcliff and depicts their struggles. Their profiles are in the character tab if you’re interested. Heavier topics get introduced around the midpoint of the season, especially with Lana. Things such as sexuality and rape. So, if I had to sum this season up, it involves the topics of aliens, murder, rape, mental illness, abuse, religion, possession, and sexuality. It was a lot to take in when watching, but I highly recommend this season. It definitely got a conversation going.

If you get upset easily, this season might not be for you. I honestly think this was the most emotional and darkest season to date. It tackles multiple dark topics at once and it’s a lot to take in. However, even with this being said, I still think it is a great season.

Coven

Coven is the season that starts to shift away from the theme of mental illness. The whole season is about a coven of witches (who are descendants from the witches who escaped Salem) and their battle for power. Although the coven is supposed to be seen as a whole, there is a constant fight for being the supreme. The supreme is essentially the leader of the coven, the one with the most power. By the most power, I mean that they were able to master all seven wonders, which include Telekinesis, Concilium, Pyrokinesis, Divination, Transmutation, Vitalum Vitalis, and Descensum. This season still focuses on topics such as rape, death, and betrayal but the majority is focused on the witches, their powers, and their struggles as a coven. One of the biggest things that this season is about is the shift in power, pertaining to the role of the supreme. The season is a fight for power.

I liked this season because the cast/characters were 90% female, which is something you rarely see. Not only that, but they are portrayed as strong female characters as well. I feel like the fight for power is an everyday struggle for women in general and it was cool to see it in a different sense. Instead of women fighting for power from men, they are fighting to take power from each other. They are already portrayed to have more power than men since they are witches.

Freak Show

Freak Show is season 4 of American Horror Story. This season takes place in Jupiter, Florida in 1952. The area is in the middle of the woods and away from civilization, which makes the setting a little creepy. One of the main characters, Elsa Mars, is the owner of a circus. She tries to recruit what she calls “freaks” or people who are different from the average person. Some examples are the bearded lady, conjoined twins, the strongest man in the world, etc. Most of these characters will be in the character tab for you to look at. Elsa tried to make it big in Hollywood when she was young, but something happened to her and she, unfortunately, lost her legs. Now, she has prosthetic legs, which Hollywood didn’t want, so she decided to recruit people like her for a circus. Mysterious darkness taunts this group of individuals when they join Elsa’s circus and disrupts everything. The season is essentially about the circus struggling in the dying carnival business and their journey of trying to stay alive with the dark entity that plagues their grounds.

This season is very gory and violent. So, heads up if you haven’t seen it! I liked this season, but many of the characters die off, so you can’t get attached.

Hotel

One of the big things about this season is that Lady Gaga was one of the main characters. Everyone flipped out when they found out she was going to be in American Horror Story. Her character matched her cool personality too, as she was this vampire countess. Hotel focuses on multiple stories at once. Some of the main themes were drug abuse, overdose, murder, and suicide. This was a very dark and heavy season. In addition to all this, vampires were a huge part of the storyline as well. As you can probably guess, this season takes place in a hotel. Hotel Cortez to be exact. The hotel is haunted by demons and the spirits of the people who died in the hotel, including its founder, James March. The season is mostly about the history of the hotel and how these spirits ended up dead. Many people that enter the hotel, never leave due to the darkness that surrounds it. When the supernatural and humans collide at the hotel it makes for a big, bloody mess.

This season is all over the place, so I’d recommend binge watching it. I watched it when it was on TV so I had to wait each week to watch it. I honestly forgot many of the things that happened each week and eventually started losing interest because I couldn’t keep up with all of the different stories.

Roanoke

Roanoke jumps time periods a few times, between the time the house was built and present day. In addition to that, it brings in some history of the United States. The main setting is a home that is located in North Carolina, originally Roanoke Island. Way back in the 1500s, there was a colony of English settlers made of about 115 people. One day the colony completely disappeared without a trace and it still remains a mystery today. Yes, this is real! Here’s some information about it. Click the underlined word. So, the rest of what I’ll say is made up, as it’s the rest of the plot that the writers created. A couple moves into this house and they start noticing strange things happening on the property. Little did they know that the lost colony disappeared right next to their home. Violent supernatural events at the house raise the idea that there are darker things that have happened on this beautifl North Carolina property.

I liked the idea of bringing in actual history for this season. It makes you think that it’s more real because there are actual true facts being introduced. Again though, you can’t get attached to characters in this one.

Cult

Everyone knows that the president is currently Donald Trump. Well, guess what: this whole entire season is focused on the 2016 election. In a fictional town called Brookfield Heights, Michigan the election basically divides the town. The plot follows a cult leader and his followers who continue to divide people by inducing fear. The leader is a hardcore Trump fan and bases his teachings off of him. The plot also involves the character, Ally Mayfair-Richards. She was devastated by the election and the stress from it brought up some old phobias that she forgot she had. She is basically terrorized and betrayed throughout the whole season. The cult terrorizes her by inducing fear with her known phobias, as they know she doesn’t support them.

Ryan Murphy (the creator of the show) picked a perfect time for this season to come out. It came out in late 2017, so about a year after the election. He basically took the fear of Donald Trump and heightened it x10. He introduces these absurd ideas and the season was very creative. Also, Even Peters (Kai Anderson, cult leader) did an outstanding job playing his character. It was insane to watch.

Apocalypse

Apocalypse ended in November of 2018. It brings in the ideas of the end of the world and the antichrist. A lot of people tuned into this season as it was also a crossover with Murder House and Coven. The season is essentially about the battle between the witches and the Antichrist. Ballistic missiles explode all over the world, ultimately leading to the end of the world. Before all of this, outposts were created for the people who can afford them so they could survive the blast and the radiation. While the rest of the world died and rotted, upper-class people were still living in luxury. The Antichrist (Michael Langdon) wanted to take over the world and in order to do that, he would have to end all life on Earth. Hence, the missiles and radiation that follows. The coven survives the blast and tries to keep Michael from coming into power throughout the season. They do succeed by the end by going back in time to kill Michael when he was a teenager before he found out he was the Antichrist.

I really liked this season, especially because it was a crossover with my favorite season. I thought it was a better take on an apocalypse rather than a zombie virus apocalypse. You may want to watch Murder House, Coven, and Hotel before watching this season. You’ll definitely need to know about the witches and the characters in Murder House. Hotel is used for one episode and you don’t need to know much from it. However, if you do watch Hotel, you’ll at least recognize the setting.