‘American Horror Story: Hotel’ episode 8 review: The Ten Commandments Killer revealed
Usually “American Horror Story” is a purveyor of many great twists and terrible surprises. Was that the case on Wednesday night’s new episode? Well … not so much.
You see, the truth here is that for many weeks now, John Lowe has been near the top of the list for possible Ten Commandments Killer candidates. The evidence was there from start to finish, from his presence around the crime scenes to him being invited to that dinner earlier this season hosted by Mr. March.
Here is probably the question that has us the most concerned for the story: If we were speaking in a conversation with John and he started to make all of these admissions, the very thing we would do is put him in handcuffs. Instead, he just let him sit there and talk things out, forgetting that he was guilty of violating one of the Commandments himself: Coveting thy neighbor’s life. Andy the partner is gone, John now gets to live his double life, and now he can communicate with his mentor in the way that he never did before.
Here’s the problem: We were utterly bored through most of the hour. Where was the real terror in here? The answer is that it wasn’t there at all. Mr. March is basically the symbol of exposition this season. Any episode that he has a large role is an episode where almost nothing happens, and it feels like much of the past few have been very exposition based with flashbacks and dream sequences and the like.
There are great performers on the show, with Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters being among them. So what’s the problem? It really has to deal with a lack of action and a common storytelling rule: We want to be shown, not told. So much of this season is now full of telling. Grade: C-.
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