Some Scary Horror Stuff for You!

AHS: NYC delivers its best episodes of the season through clever plotting and supernatural turns that set up the ensuing bloodshed.

“This is entertainment, honey.”

There’s some natural level of understanding and showmanship when it comes to psychics and tarot readers. By and large, customers understand that these practices aren’t genuinely supernatural, but they continue to engage with them because of the implicit relationship of entertainment. This whole routine isn’t dissimilar to the song and dance that’s perpetually put on by American Horror Story and Ryan Murphy productions for their audiences. They’re meant to be frivolous larks and playful entertainment, but anyone who expects to witness true magic is destined to be disappointed. And yet, very carefully, AHS: NYC has pulled off an impossible magic trick that’s once again turned skeptics into believers. “Bad Fortune” and “The Body” are two excellent installments that paint an even better picture of what this season hopes to say and do.

It’s truly remarkable that American Horror Story: NYC remains engaging television after six episodes. No season since Asylum has been this consistent past the half-way mark. It honestly feels like Ryan Murphy and the American Horror Story writers’ room must have collectively binged on the potential-unlocking black pills from AHS: Red Tide. Not only is AHS: NYC legitimately good, but it’s on track to end this year as one of the series’ best seasons yet.

Psychic readings are a crucial component to this pair of episodes and AHS: NYC presents the value of this practice as a way to receive answers, but also closure. All of the tarot cards turning into Death cards is a simple touch, but one that’s highly effective and begins to tease more supernatural elements into what’s otherwise been a fairly grounded season. “Bad Fortune” also finds a great opportunity for Frances Conroy’s Angel of Death to make a quick cameo, but alas, it’s not in the cards. However, on the topic of supernatural disturbances, the origins of Big Daddy take a paranormal turn after Gino engages in a dark psychic night of the soul.

American Horror Story’s ongoing “Gino Death Watch” is still in overdrive and even the mystical tarot cards can’t sugarcoat his impending doom. Gino manages to narrowly survive again from another serial killer skirmish, but not everyone else in these episodes is as fortunate. It’s slightly troubling that all of the work that Patrick and Gino have done on their Mai Tai Killer investigation has been completely off the books. They’re liable to implicate themselves and have all of this blow up in their faces if something goes wrong or either of their luck runs out. There’s already tension brewing over how their important crusade might become their own undoing. Gino’s jealous lover routine gets a little repetitive in “The Body,” even if it’s not exactly unwarranted considering all of Patrick’s secrets. This is thankfully not too overbearing of a presence in these episodes, especially after Gino reaches Fire Island and accepts his fate.

“The Body,” which is the strongest episode of AHS: NYC, reaches an electric head that simultaneously ties together multiple characters. Gino, Patrick, Sam, and Henry all congregate over a corpse that becomes a catalyst to the season’s final episodes and pushes AHS: NYC into I Know What You Did Last Summer territory. These developments play out very naturally and come across as a plausible explanation for the anxiety and mystery that’s surrounded so many of this season’s relationships. Whitely’s role in all of this is the most heartbreaking and fascinating, yet American Horror Story never goes too far into his history so that it functions like egregious exposition. It’s some of the series’ most effortless plotting. What’s just as interesting are the circumstances that surround Big Daddy’s supposed origins. At this point it’s fair to wonder if he actually exists, if he’s a figment of his victim’s erratic imaginations, or a vengeful spirit who died on Fire Island and has returned to balance the karmic scales. He too may just want to be a part of something bigger and receive closure.

American Horror Story has featured plenty of entertaining villains, but “Bad Fortune” and “The Body” properly elevate Jeff Hiller’s Mr. Whitely into a top tier antagonist. Whitely is deeply creepy in every context and he doesn’t even wear a mask. There’s a simple matter-of-factly nature to Whitely’s mania. It’s the perfect affectation that never turns this villain into a caricature and, if anything, it makes him feel more ripped out of reality. He’s a disenfranchised, lonely outcast who’s just as desperate to be seen, appreciated, and have a sense of community as everyone else from this season.

Every second that’s spent with Whitely during “Bad Fortune” and “The Body” are eerily uncomfortable. The audience will want to scrub their skin as much as any of New York City’s infected residents. Whitely’s master plan that’s set to culminate at NYC’s Pride Parade, and seems to involve a human jigsaw puzzle piñata of persecution (think Pieces, but yassified), is pure Ryan Murphy. It’s exactly the campy, ultra-extreme ingredient that’s been missing from this season. It should be fascinating to watch the final stages of Whitely’s plan either come together or horribly fall apart. After all, New Yorkers can seemingly wash away the bacteria, but not the shame that’s behind it all.

“Bad Fortune” and “The Body” maintain American Horror Story: NYC’s momentum with episodes that provide genuine answers rather than needlessly toy with the audience. Most seasons of American Horror Story have fatigue set in at this point, but there’s such exciting energy present as AHS: NYC heads into its final four episodes. Patient plotting and relationship reveals continue to bear fruit as more of the series’ standard supernatural stereotypes begin to invade the procedural crime framework. Big Daddy, the Mai Tai Killer, and the rogue virus are all compelling storylines that only continue to gain depth. It might be a little premature to celebrate the successes of American Horror Story: NYC. Then again, it’s perhaps not the worst idea to adopt the “no bad news” mentality of psychic mediums rather than further add to the world’s growing nihilism. American Horror Story: NYC is absolutely nailing this season and why try to fight that?