Wait, Lady Gaga Acts?
A comprehensive review of American Horror Story: Hotel
[major spoiler alert for American Horror Story: Hotel]
I never got around to seeing A Star is Born so my first thought when I sat down to watch Hotel was “wait… is that Lady Gaga?”
And it was!
I was thrilled to keep watching AHS after enjoying Asylum so much but nervous that season five, Hotel, wouldn’t live up. In exploring what other fans have to say about the seasons, the general consensus is that the first three seasons are the best. I can attest to that, having completed the first three as I write this, but Hotel has inched close to the top of my list.
Something I will consistently commend American Horror Story on throughout these reviews is the strong sense of style it has developed. Each season usually centers around a specific building or location and builds the cinematography around that. In Hotel, there were a lot of wide, symmetrical shots, presenting the illusion that the building is threateningly endless. The art-deco style and stunning costuming by Lou Eyrich enhanced the grandeur of the setting, making it equal parts beguiling and chilling.
My standing ovation was indeed the sophistication with which Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk differentiate their seasons. Strengthened by the flexible reoccurring cast, no season is completely like another — except when characters cross over, which tends to happen because all nine seasons occur in the same universe. It’s a fun surprise for a character from last season to make a guest appearance. In Hotel, the unique framework makes you forget it is just another season. It feels like a show that could exist outside of Murphy and Falchuk’s genius creation.
The performances, as expected, were great. Evan Peters made a very charismatic murderer. Sarah Paulson… I won’t lie, I didn’t understand why her character was important, but she nailed it (whatever “it” is). Kathy Bates and Denis O’Hare were the crown jewels of the season in my opinion — I loved that Bates was able to show off her incredible comedic timing and O’Hare consistently nails each role he plays. Finn Wittrock had a great range in the season as well.
Of course, the most memorable character belonged to Stefani Germanotta, though she’s better known as Lady Gaga. Though I commend her performance as “The Countess,” her character’s costumes were the showstoppers. She wore dazzling floor-length gowns, classy suits, and flashbacks to a younger self show her in gorgeous 1920s ensembles.
Hotel did a nice job fusing supernatural elements with the murder-mystery component that most seasons entertain. There was a fun mix of vampires and ghosts alongside the main character, played by Wes Bentley, who is a homicide detective trying to solve a string of murders targeting people who dishonored the ten commandments.
The murder-mystery was where things went astray — American Horror Story has a bad habit of ending the good stuff too fast instead of allowing the audience’s anticipation to rise to its peak. I understand that Ryan Murphy likes to have a lot of dramatic layers in his shows, but, sorry, I just wasn’t ready to hear “the detective was the killer the whole time” when there were still enough episodes left in the season to count on two hands. Don’t quote me on that — but it feels true.
Some of the layers felt really unnecessary; or, perhaps they were engaging, but the story moved along too fast to get attached to plotlines. A lot of the season was spent in flashbacks: you would spend time developing opinions on each character, and then a flashback happens to reveal either a tragic backstory or that they are a terrible person. It felt like the writers used an online generator to plop a sad backstory in for each character.
Despite these negative elements, I enjoyed that there was no true villain in the season because there was also no hero. Each character did bad things, and there was really no one who was consistently a good person. It made watching the show fun.
I also like happy endings, and even though most characters ended up dead, they all lived happily ever after (literally) as ghosts in the hotel for all eternity.
The end of Hotel crept up on me: the entire season was stylish, appropriately messy (for a Ryan Murphy show), and well-acted. It was a nice balance of creepy and funny. I know in a few months I’ll enjoy rewatching it.
