Television: AHS: Asylum & The Office

No, the two shows aren't linked, except perhaps by a thread of horror. I just didn't want to do two separate posts.

AHS: Asylum wrapped up last week in a sort of Stephen King-ish epilogue kind of way. The whole Kit-and-the-aliens storyline was especially reminiscent of King, but that just may be in the way it was filmed: Kit in the wheelchair, the bright flash, and he's gone. It looked like any number of made-for-TV movies based on King's work. And while the whole alien thing was never truly explained, Kit's story (and Jude's, for that matter) wrapped up in a way meant to leave the audience feeling warm and happy about their endings.

All this was framed in Lana's being interviewed for a Kennedy honor. Her walls plastered with pictures of herself, she's as self-absorbed as ever, though she spills the secret that her baby did not die in childbirth. Meanwhile Johnny (Dylan McDermott) is hovering in the background, having killed a member of the camera crew to gain entry. After the interview finishes and the crew leaves, Johnny remains behind to confront his mother. She ends up shooting him in the head; like father, like son.

Thus the finale of AHS: Asylum gave the distinct impression of doing the best they could under the circumstances, as if a little more than halfway through the season someone said, "Holy shit, we need to figure out how to end all this!" But they only had about two or three episodes left to do it in, so . . . Yeah. It was all right. Very tame compared to the rest of the show.

And speaking of horror: I thought The Office was supposed to be a comedy. But besides the fact I haven't laughed in a while, the stuff with Jim and Pam is getting awfully heavy. (Nice touch with the camera crew, though. Apparently camera crews are IN as the telly gimmick of the week.) And the show's attempts to pair Dwight with, well, anyone other than Jim have fallen flat. He wasn't funny with Clark, and he wasn't funny with Darryl. Andy went from being funny to being an asshole, so it's been nice to have him gone, though I think the next episode is about him coming back . . . Nellie is the one person I enjoy consistently, along with the occasional remark by Creed . . . And I think the Erin-and-Pete story is sweet (but not funny). By the way, who else thinks Toby is the Scranton Strangler? I'm starting to fear for Nellie's safety on that score. In any case, the way things are going, it will be a relief of sorts to see The Office close for business at the end of the season.