Madison Meeks – Media Director

mvm7037@psu.edu

Photo Credit: FX

(Spoiler Warning)

“American Horror Story” is an anthology series that was released on October 5, 2022. The anthology was created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck, who also created “Glee” in 2009.  The series has returned with its eleventh season called “NYC”.  The season started on October 19 and is being released weekly on the television network FX in groups of two episodes.

“American Horror Story: NYC” stars Russell Tovey, Joe Mantello, Billie Lourd, Denis O’Hare, Charlie Carver, Leslie Grossman, Sandra Bernhard, Isaac Powell, Zachary Quinto, and Patti LuPone. Season eleven of “American Horror Story” takes place in 1981 in the city of New York but also on an island called Fire Island, which is off the south shore of Staten Island. This season starts with the first episode as one of the main characters Patrick, played by Russell Tovey, a police officer, finds a beheaded body. This body is not just a one-time crime that happened. Patrick knows that this crime is connected to the other murders of gay men in the New York community that has happened lately. None of the other police officers seem to care that gay men are being murdered. This brings up the conversation of injustice in the LGBTQ+ community. 

Throughout the first episode, an incident of a mysterious illness that is killing deer, which is mirroring the murders in NYC. Hannah, played by Billie Lourd, is helping investigate this mysterious illness that is also somehow showing up in the LGBTQ+ community in NYC. Hopefully, it explained the connection between the illness that is shown up in the deers and how it has shown up in people in NYC. In NYC, Adam, played by Charlie Carver, is searching for his roommate who has gone missing. Adam goes to the bathhouse where he meets Gino, played by Joe Mantello, a writer for a newspaper who wants to help him let people know about the murders. At least someone is going to help Adam find his roommate since the police are not going to do anything. Adam also meets Theo Graves, played by Isaac Powell, a photographer who Adam asks about a picture he took that resembles the serial killer. Theo Graves knew someone that looked like the serial killer? Interesting! Also, Gino is captured by a mysterious unknown person.

In episode two, Gino is released by his capture who is revealed to be Mr. Whitley, after Whitley sees his tattoo from the Marines. Adam is harassed by the police as he ridicules the police in an interview with Gino. Gino hires a woman named Fran to get a women’s perspective for his newspaper. Fran meets with Hannah Wells and tells her that she thinks that the U.S. government started the virus. How did she get to that conclusion? How would the government release a virus? Hopefully, this is explained in future episodes. 

The first two episodes of “American Horror Story: NYC” leaves so many questions for the viewers to be answered. The horror aspect of “American Horror Story” has not exactly shown up yet in this season. Maybe there will be more horror later in the season or maybe this season will be more subtle. Hopefully, this season will be better than last season’s “American Horror Story: Double Feature” as viewers did not enjoy the dual storyline premise. It will be interesting to see where this “American Horror Story” season will go. 

“American Horror Story: NYC” airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. and is available on Hulu on Thursdays.