My Review of American Horror Stories: "Organ"

 

Written by Manny Coto

Directed by Petra Collins

Toby: "Real life really gets in the way."

For now we have come to the end of this Huluween four part event for American Horror Stories and it's going to be a while before we get the remaining episodes of this season. It's a shame this one's the worst so far.

Slightly misogynistic lawyer guy Toby (Raul Castillo) has issues with women and they're rather noticeable. He sleeps with plenty of them and ditches them the next and it's a pattern that hasn't gone unnoticed by three women in his life.

The women being his therapist (Maria Tucci), his boss (Laila Robins) and a co-worker named Sasha (Havana Rose Liu). All of them have noticed Toby's behaviour, called him out on it and were ignored by Toby who wanted to "Make America Fun Again". Oh brother.

However Toby gets something of a harsh wake up call when he's drugged by a hook up named Tessa (Laura Browning). Worse than that, he's had one organ removed and replaced with a brand new organ, which inevitably brought him down a darker path involving organ trafficking.

I'm actually surprised it's taken the show (and parent show) this long to do this type of story but here it is. Toby went undercover and got some answers from Tessa before inadvertently killing her, which was something he wanted to do anyways.

Like every other story, there's no happy ending for Toby. He's caught by Magnum Honors and it's revealed that both his boss and Sasha were in on it. The ending where his therapist ends up buying the miracle organ at the end was quite the sting too.

- Ryan Murphy's previous show Nip/Tuck also tackled a more straightforward version of this plot in its fourth season.

- Was this Manny Coto's final episode or will he have any in the second half of the season?

- Cameron Cowperthwaite popped up as a contact of Toby's in terms of getting escorts and leading him to the organisation doing the organ thefts.

- Chronology: A contemporary setting like every episode so far this season.

Organ was just a bit rubbish. Toby was without a doubt the least sympathetic of the protagonists we've had so far and some of the dialogue about masculinity was atrocious. Hopefully the latter half of the season will be better.

Rating: 5 out of 10