American Horror Story: Delicate Premiere Misses The Mark, But Kim Kardashian Steals The Show!
The premise for American Horror Story is all too familiar by now, with each season honing in on pop culture events with a psychological twist. The new season American Horror Story: Delicate is no exception, but its first episode felt uncharacteristically eerie and close to home for me. It's a phenomenon all women either succumb to or hear about: a woman with a crass husband who, despite her own personal success, fears her marriage will come undone if she fails to give him a child. I introduce to you Emma Roberts’ character Anna Victoria Alcott, an on-the-rise actress who has everything going for her.
The first episode starts with the archetypal AHS beginning of a little gore and shock factor to rope audiences in. Anna Victoria Alcott wakes up to a seemingly female character in a cloak touching her stomach. Anna tries to catch the figure, chasing it through her elaborate, yet cold, New York City apartment. The woman escapes, leaving a horrified Anna to find blood (I think?), and a picture of her embryo that’s now ripped in half. As the episode goes on, it’s revealed that she has been going through the IVF journey along with her husband, making the torn embryo picture all the more sorrowful. As part of the audience, I was searching for answers throughout the episode. While they left in clues throughout — *cue the broken, delicate egg that Anna finds as she’s walking to her IVF appointment — I couldn’t quite put my finger on the message AHS was trying to convey. For me, this episode dragged on and lacked the typical “wow factor” we’ve come to expect from our standard-fare AHS episodes.
While its main theme deserves prominence, the pilot didn’t deliver — and this isn’t the first time. AHS has seemed to miss the mark in their last few seasons, which is why casting Kim Kardashian was the ultimate strategic move. I won’t lie and say that wasn’t why I watched. What can I say? I’m a closested Kardashian fan and was eager to see Kim in a really serious acting gig — and I was thoroughly surprised. Her scenes were not only watchable, but they added a fun and dynamic aspect to a rather monotonous episode. She brought a refreshing nuance to a series that has leaned heavily on satirical horror character types. Kardashian plays Anna’s publicist Siobhan Corbyn and, while it’s cliche to say, I think she did so well in this role because she’s had her own Siobhan character in her life — Kris Jenner.
While the content and themes weren’t enough to pull me in, I will tune in again next week to see more of Kardashian’s performance. Episodes air Wednesdays on FX at 10/9c and stream the next day on Hulu.
