I once saw this documentary where a man survived in the Australian Outback by drinking his own urine; when asked what was it like drinking your own urine? The man replied just about bearable in very small doses. Well that is my convoluted way of letting you know how I feel about American Horror Story Asylum.
Gone is the cosy family, and haunted house of the first season and in comes the crazed, dark, madness of the titular asylum. We are sort of buzzing back and forth in time, from the present day where the asylum is a wreck, and haunted, with extreme prejudice, by serial killer Bloody Face, a man (or could it be a woman?) who certainly lives up to his/her moniker and back to 1964 where the asylum is in full swing and religion is clashing with science almost constantly.
The trouble is the this time out American Horror Story is relentless, so much so that it makes the first season look like Countdown. Try watching more than one episode in a single sitting; and doing the box set would probably put you in an asylum. Another problem is the characters are finding it hard to find breathing space amidst the gloom, gore, exorcisms and endless playing of Dominique by The Singing Nun.
That is not to say the acting isn't first rate and the cast is, if anything, stronger than the first season, what with the introduction of James Cromwell and Joseph Fiennes along side regulars Jessica Lange and Zachery Quinto. The problem is in their quest for relentless horror, the makers have lost the human touch that made us care about the fates of the characters in the first season. That's not to say, with the lights out, the show doesn't have more than it's fair share of jumps, jolts and scares. All it needs now is a lighter touch and someone to break that Singing Nun record.
Over
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