For better or worse, there is no new season of American horror story this spooky season. But don't think for a moment that that's because Ryan Murphy has run out of ideas. You are welcome. Plus the second season of his true crime series. Monster on Netflix and the upcoming fourth season of the microanthology American horror storiesMurphy has a new FX show. Called grotesqueis about a troubled detective investigating a series of disturbing murders, where each crime scene is heavily staged with increasing religious symbolism; therefore, it is basically Ryan Murphy's version of David Fincher's. Seven.
Based on the first two episodes, it is mostly labor. Sure, there's some embarrassing dialogue and a lot of Hmm plot points that, in typical Ryan Murphy fashion, could be thrown at the wall for fun and not handled properly. But damn if the setting and characters aren't intriguing. If there's one thing Murphy can do really well, it's hook you in with just a few episodes.
[Ed. note: This post contains some spoilers for the first two episodes of Grotesquerie.]
Image: FX
grotesque begins with a tough detective named Lois (played by Niecy Nash) called to a crime scene. And honestly, it's not so promising when she and an officer have this gem of a dialogue:
“If this isn't a hate crime, I don't know what is,” the officer says, all steely.
“Hate against what?” Lois asks.
“All.”
It's over the top and overly dramatic, but you know what? When the crime in question involves feeding a dead man to his family and them literally dying of shock, maybe that makes sense. It roots us into the genre right away: this is an over-the-top, overly dramatic kind of show, and the murders can be completely unrealistic (in a tremendously funny way).
Lois has all the makings of a troubled detective: she's an alcoholic, her husband is in a coma (and their marriage was rocky even before), and there's clearly some tension between her and her daughter. It's a common archetype, but since she's not a middle-aged white man, it's already more compelling than seeing the same type of character juggling his raging alcoholism and sad dead wife over and over again. We don't see that kind of dysfunctional female character much! Still, one thing remains certain: He can't solve this murder or put the pieces together, so even though it hurts his ego, he seeks help from an unlikely partner.
Enter Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond), a nun who is also an investigative reporter with a morbid fascination with true crime. There's absolutely something else going on with her, from her flirtatious banter with the hot new priest (and possibly sadomasochism?), to her encyclopedic recollection of the most disturbing Bible passages. And Diamond simply plays the role of someone so wide-eyed and seemingly innocent, but much more in tune with the macabre, dark side of human nature than his outward behavior would suggest.
Image: FX
The first shocking murder scene is just the beginning. There are several more throughout the first two episodes, and each time, Sister Megan notices a nod to some kind of Christian symbolism. That, along with the copious references to the archetypal Seven Deadly Sins in Lois's life (her husband's extramarital affairs hint at lust, and her constant fixation on her daughter's eating habits and her own alcoholism hint at gluttony) basically they scream Sevenwith all the promise of this case coming much, much closer to home than Lois is prepared for.
The funny thing is that Ryan Murphy tried to do this. before in the fifth season of american horror story, subtitled Hotel. That season was full of extra nonsense: ghosts, vampires, demons, oh my god! – that it's incredibly easy to forget that the central plot was about a detective solving the case of the Ten Commandments Killer (who, as the name suggests, would brutally kill victims who went against the Ten Commandments). But AHS: Hotel was downright a disaster, and if there's one thing Ryan Murphy loves to do, it's take something he's done before and give it another chance (i.e. how the first few episodes of American horror stories it was basically Murder House: The Redux).
grotesque gives him a chance to redo that biblically inspired murder plot. And if he focused firmly on the crimes, he could possibly pull it off. After all, the mystery is intriguing; the crime scenes are so over-elaborate and disturbing that I can't look away; and as someone who left Dan Brown's mark angels and demons at a stupidly young age, the religious undertones are incredibly compelling.
If there is something that I have taken very seriously like American horror story fan, however, is that while the setup is almost always good, Murphy rarely manages to land. But man, considering myself totally committed to grotesque for now. Let's see where the hell this fishing line drags me.
new episodes of grotesque will premiere on FX on Wednesday at 10 pm EDT and arrive on Hulu the next day.