Television: American Horror Story: Asylum (revisited)

I'm only just catching up with this show (only just watched "The Origins of Monstrosity"), so bear with me. And be warned there are spoilers in the following text.

While it came as no surprise to discover Zachary Quinto's Dr. Thredson is at least one of the major villains of this season's AHS, I'm still disappointed. Quinto does evil quite well, it's true, but that's exactly why I wanted to see him do something different. I really wanted things to go in a more unexpected direction.

I do also find it a bit of a cheat on the part of the writers or directors or creators (whose fault it might be is unclear) since early images of Bloody Face showed someone with blue eyes and Quinto's are brown. Now maybe this will be accounted for later in some plot twist—they may yet surprise me, which would be delightful—but if not, then that's a foul on the creative team for leading viewers astray. (ETA: While my first thought had been Quinto, someone pointed out to me that the voice on the phone in the modern-day frame story may be Dylan McDermott's.)

Meanwhile, along with Thredson's evil turn, still more of the plot has become predictable as it relies heavily on the most oft-used tropes of horror. The devil (or at least a devil) possessing a nun. A creepy, murderous child that speaks in monotone. An ex-Nazi performing experiments on people. Aliens. ::shrug:: None of this is terribly inspired, and it's becoming increasingly pedantic as things drag on.

Particularly atrocious in "The Origins of Monstrosity" was the flashback to when Monsignor Timothy (Joseph Fiennes) encounters and more or less hires said ex-Nazi (James Cromwell). The dialogue in all this was especially clunky, the whole thing handled in a ham-fisted expository way. That more than any of the "horror" in this show made me gag and want to be violently ill.

Still, I will admit I want to see how things end and where everyone ends up. I wouldn't call AHS: Asylum "compelling," and yet it must be, since by definition it drives me (and ostensibly others, since its ratings are good) to continue to watch. I'm still hoping for some big, amazing twist. We'll see what they serve up.