Thursday, September 08, 2022

My Review of American Horror Stories: "Lake"

 


Written by Manny Coto
Directed by Tessa Blake

Erin (to Jeffrey): "We keep trying to tell you. This is real."

Last season had a very simple trajectory with the opening two parter and finale all being tied into Murder House. This season started with a Coven link (a very well handled one), so it's surprising that this fine didn't either have a link to that or another season of the main show. In fact, it's amazing one episode alone even linked to the main show.

The episode opened with brother and sister duo, Jake (Bobby Hogan) and Finn (Olivia Rouyre) relaxing at Lake Prescott with their respective crushes before the two of them went for a swim. The swim then took a turn when Jake ended up drowning and Finn was unable to save him. This was even before the opening credits of the episode.

Months later, and we cut to Finn coming out of therapy and going home to her parents, Erin (Alicia Silverstone) and Jeffrey (Teddy Sears), neither of whom have handled Jake's particularly well and have drifted apart. While Jeffrey seems to move past his son's death, both Erin and Finn are haunted by and in Erin's case, that turned out to be more on the literal side of things.

After seeing Jake while awake, both Erin and Finn went back to the lake to retrieve his body and while they were successful in doing that, Erin also managed to uncover the bodies of three other men who chained to their death by a certain Reid Prescott. 

When the rather Mrs Boone started giving both Erin and Finn the info sump on the lake/dam's history, I knew thee was going to wind up being a connection to Jeffrey and this episode definitely didn't do anything shocking in that regard. If anything, it would've been more shocking if there hasn't been a connection at all.

Jeffrey being a Prescott and Jake's death being a long game for those vengeful spirits to lure him back to the lake and get revenge. Yup, totally telegraphed. I mean it's not a bad resolution to the episode but it was easy to guess how the whole thing was gonna play out and it really didn't that Jeffrey was written as a pretty one dimensional and unsympathetic character either. A bug bear with this season has been it's poor depiction of male characters and it's something the show needs to work on should it get a third season.

- This is the first time we've had Teddy Sears in the franchise in over a decade. He had a recurring role in Murder House. 
- The title sequence did a great job with the watery theme of this episode.
- Standout music: Doja Cat and Sza's Kiss Me More at the start of the episode.
- Chronology: A four month time jump took place after the opening credits.

Lake marked a decent but not spectacular ending for a season that while has improved a bit on it's first could definitely do better if it gets another season. Good performances from the main cast but a bit too predictable for it's own good.

Rating: 6 out of 10

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