American Horror Story (2011)

[Wesley Godinez]

AmericanHorror Story (AHS) is an American horror anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the American Story media franchise, seasons of AHS are mostly conceived as self-contained miniseries, following a different set of characters in a new setting within the same fictional universe (which the show occasionally utilizes for crossovers between seasons, and shares with episodic spin-off American Horror Stories), and a storyline with its own "beginning, middle, and end." Some plot elements of each season are loosely inspired by true events.[1][2][3] Many actors appear in more than one season, usually playing a new character though sometimes as a returning character, and often playing multiple characters in a season. Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, and Lily Rabe have returned most frequently, with each having appeared in nine seasons, followed by Frances Conroy and Denis O'Hare who both appear in eight; Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, and Leslie Grossman appear in six, while other notable actors including Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Adina Porter, Finn Wittrock, and Jamie Brewer appear in five of the seasons.

Although reception to individual seasons has varied, American Horror Story has largely been well received by television critics, with the majority of the praise going towards the cast, particularly Jessica Lange, who won two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performances. James Cromwell and Kathy Bates each won an Emmy Award for their performances, while Lady Gaga won a Golden Globe Award. The series draws consistently high ratings for the FX network, with its first season being the most-viewed new cable series of 2011. .mw-parser-output .toclimit-2 .toclevel-1 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-3 .toclevel-2 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-4 .toclevel-3 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-5 .toclevel-4 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-6 .toclevel-5 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-7 .toclevel-6 uldisplay:none

Set in 2013, the season follows the dwindling descendants of the witches who survived the Salem witch trials and their struggle to hide their identity in the modern world. Those who share this genetic condition are being subjected to violent attacks from outside forces, such as voodoo practitioners. Zoe Benson (Taissa Farmiga), a young teenager completely unaware of the existence of witches, discovers her identity as a Salem descendant after an accident that causes the death of her boyfriend. She is sent to an all-girls boarding school in New Orleans which aims to protect and house young women who carry this unique bloodline, and keep them from the dangers of the outside world. There, she meets the other students, narcissistic movie star Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts), outspoken human voodoo doll Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe), and enigmatic mind-reading Nan (Jamie Brewer), and gets romantically entangled with Kyle Spencer (Evan Peters), a non-witch and good-natured college student. The school is run by headmistress Cordelia Foxx (Sarah Paulson), head of the Witches Council, eccentric fashionista Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy), and the mute butler Spalding (Denis O'Hare). Cordelia's mother, Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange), is the Supreme and most powerful witch of her generation, though she regularly avoids her responsibilities, much to the chagrin of Cordelia and her long-time rival Myrtle. After a mob of townspeople discover and burn a young witch living in the swamps named Misty Day (Lily Rabe), Fiona returns to lead the coven, creating conflict with Cordelia and the other young witches as they all conspire to become the next supreme.

Set in 1952, the season follows a struggling freak show led by Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) in the sleepy town of Jupiter, Florida. Decades have passed since the public has looked upon freak shows as a form of entertainment, but Elsa dreams of finding a home for her "monsters", as well as for her own fame and fortune. Other members of her troupe include "Lobster Boy" Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters), who dreams of living a normal life, and his mother Ethel (Kathy Bates), a bearded lady who acts as Elsa's second-in-command by maintaining law and order under the tent. A strongman from Ethel's past and Jimmy's biological father Dell Toledo (Michael Chiklis), and his three-breasted wife Desiree Dupree (Angela Bassett), arrive to join the freak show. To drum up business and save her troupe once and for all, Elsa also recruits conjoined twin sisters Bette and Dot Tattler (Sarah Paulson) to perform for her show. In a time when the era of television is beginning to reign high over sideshow acts, these individuals must overcome those who persecute them based on their looks. However, as the season unfolds, it is revealed that multiple dark entities have taken up residence in Jupiter, with all of their eyes being set on the freaks. A conman named Stanley (Denis O'Hare), posing as a Hollywood executive, arrives with his young protg Maggie Esmerelda (Emma Roberts), who becomes involved with Jimmy. The wealthy and spoiled Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock), enabled by his doting mother Gloria (Frances Conroy), develops an unhealthy obsession with the freaks, particularly Bette and Dot. Perhaps the most dangerous of them all is a mysterious, deformed killer clown, known only as Twisty (John Carroll Lynch), who wreaks havoc on Jupiter and appears to be targeting freaks and townspeople alike.

Set in 2016 and 2017, the fictional town of Brookfield Heights, Michigan, is left divided in the wake of Donald Trump's election as president. Local restaurant owner Ally Mayfair-Richards (Sarah Paulson) is left utterly distraught, along with her wife Ivy (Alison Pill). Despite the help of her psychiatrist, Dr. Rudy Vincent (Cheyenne Jackson), Ally becomes increasingly unstable in the following weeks, as her long-repressed phobias begin to re-emerge, and they begin to affect her relationships with her wife and their son, Oz (Cooper Dodson). Across town, misogynistic alt-righter Kai Anderson (Evan Peters) rejoices at the election results, enticing him to pursue political power by running for city council, led by radical feminist Bebe Babbitt (Frances Conroy) and with the help of his reluctant, liberal sister Winter (Billie Lourd), who the Mayfair-Richards household hire as their nanny. As Ally attempts to re-adjust to regular life despite her growing anxiety and paranoia, she becomes terrorized by a group of masked assailants, donned in clown attire, who are only present when she is alone, leaving those around her to wonder if she was truly attacked, or if they were merely hallucinations. Ally's new eccentric neighbors Harrison (Billy Eichner) and Meadow Wilton (Leslie Grossman) move in next door, while news reporter Beverly Hope (Adina Porter) descends upon every crime scene to report the murders. Also in the midst of the chaos is Jack Samuels (Colton Haynes), a detective who investigates the crimes and is initially doubtful about Ally's claims, and Gary K. Longstreet (Chaz Bono), a supermarket owner who has an amputated arm and is a passionate Trump supporter. With Kai's rise to power revealing sinister motives, Ally starts to draw connections between her alleged clown attackers and the many strange incidents occurring in Brookfield Heights. She begins to fear that everyone in town is out to get her, amplifying her growing distrust of those around her.

Set in the near future, the Antichrist, Michael Langdon (Cody Fern), brings about the apocalypse by instigating nuclear warfare. The chosen survivors of the aftermath, heiress Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt (Leslie Grossman), her personal assistant Mallory (Billie Lourd), hairstylist Mr. Gallant (Evan Peters), his grandmother Evie (Joan Collins), talk-show host Dinah Stevens (Adina Porter), Stevens' son Andre (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman), young adults Timothy Campbell (Kyle Allen) and Emily (Ash Santos), among others, take refuge in a fallout shelter named "Outpost 3", run with an iron fist by Wilhemina Venable (Sarah Paulson) and Miriam Mead (Kathy Bates) along with The Fist (Erika Ervin), a brutish and tall female guard. Flashbacks to three years prior reveal that "Outpost 3" was an all-boys warlock school led by John Henry Moore (Cheyenne Jackson) that unknowingly harbored the Antichrist, in hopes that he would rise as the first ever male Supreme. The witches's council of Cordelia Goode (Sarah Paulson), Zoe Benson (Taissa Farmiga), and the resurrected Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy) are summoned and quickly discover how dangerous Michael is to their coven when faced with his evident powers, as he resurrects deceased witches Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe), Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts), and Misty Day (Lily Rabe). The coven, with the aid of the warlocks, attempt to save humanity by discovering new witch Mallory's intense powers, learning more about Michael's mysterious origins, in particular from Michael's birth-mother Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) and grandmother Constance Langdon (Jessica Lange), and how to defeat him to prevent the apocalypse.

Set in the titular year of 1984, the season follows Brooke Thompson (Emma Roberts) as she travels to a remote, newly reopened summer camp, known as Camp Redwood, to work as a counselor following a terrifying encounter with serial killer Richard Ramirez, "The Night Stalker" (Zach Villa). Those traveling with Brooke include preppy Xavier Plympton (Cody Fern), athletic Chet Clancy (Gus Kenworthy), easy-going Ray Powell (DeRon Horton), and spunky Montana Duke (Billie Lourd). Upon arriving at the camp, they encounter its owner, the deeply religious Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman), who was once a camper there, and who has her own experience surviving a killer. Other residents of Camp Redwood include its nurse Rita (Angelica Ross), activities director Trevor Kirchner (Matthew Morrison), and camp chef Bertie (Tara Karsian). Not long after the counselors settle into their first week, news breaks that deranged murderer Benjamin Richter (John Carroll Lynch), also known as Mr. Jingles, has escaped a local insane asylum and is presumed to be heading for the camp, where he has a violent history. However, as the season progresses, more secrets unveil about the counselors, as well as flashbacks detailing the history of the camp, including Richter's abusive mother Lavinia (Lily Rabe).

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