Written by Ned Martel And Charlie Carver
Directed by Jennifer Lynch
Adam (to Kathy): "There's something new going around. Something deadly. I'm just trying to keep as many people as safe as I can."
I think this episode might have the record for being the shortest finale we've had in this show's eleven year history. It even ended on a rather abrupt note that made think perhaps another three minutes could've been added to give it a sense of completion.
It's also the third finale in a row (remember last season gave us two very unsatisfying finales) in which the ending wasn't pleasant. However for the story this whole season was telling, this finale felt very much in line. If we're sticking to horror tropes, then Adam was the Final Boy but unlike previous seasons, being the last one standing wasn't really a victory here.
Adam started this season with his roommate going missing. There was no definitive resolution to that, so it can safely assumed that Sully died after all and Patrick called it when he said to Adam. Then Adam only went and fell in love with Theo and then he died too. Yes, we all know what from. Again, this episode reinforced that suspicion.
Adam didn't even get time to grieve for Theo when he learned that both Hannah and his unborn child also died from the same thing as well. However Hannah left recordings of her research and Adam found himself taking a more direct approach in getting his community to take note of the AIDS crisis as did Gino, following Patrick's death.
With the first chunk of this episode focusing on Adam, most of the second half redirected things towards Gino. The latter became more militant in waking people up about the AIDS, even challenging the government to help while also coming to the end of his life as well. Let's just the use of a certain song really elevated Gino's last few moments in this episode.
There was a part of me that thought Gino might have survived but alas he didn't. The build up to his final moments were harrowing in a different way to how Patrick's had been done in the first part with some truly disturbing visuals. This season was a horror story, but one that might have been too real and possibly too soon for some viewers.
As for Adam, like I said he was the Final Boy and Charlie Carver really has proven to be a double threat this season. Along with showing great improvement as an actor, his writing for the series has been some of the best. The abrupt ending where we didn't get to hear Adam's eulogy for Gino might not have been the best note to end this season on but the guy clearly should be brought back next season or in another Ryan Murphy production.
- We didn't even get to see Hannah on screen but heard her on tape recordings for parts of the episode. Also her and Adam didn't sleep with each other to conceive a child.
- Fran, KK and Lita were nowhere to be seen in this episode at all while Kathy told Adam she was retiring before telling him to live.
- Mr Whitely appeared to Gino during one of the latter's hallucinations. The scene she Gino kept imagining all the men jumping into the graves was really effective if very on the nose.
- This episode was 32 minutes long, making it the shortest episode of the series full stop.
- Standout music: Kraftwerk's Radioactivity during Gino's last moments in this episode before saw Patrick waiting for him.
- Chronology: We opened back to 1981 for the first half of the episode while the second half took in 1987 to 1991.
Requiem 1981/1987 Part 2, abrupt ending to one side really did end this show on a strong note. Some fantastic performances from Charlie Carver, Joe Mantello and Patti LuPone for her brief scene to boot. I know some fans of the show didn't like this season being male dominated but I genuinely loved the change of pace, thought the story largely worked. I'd even got as far as to say that this season would easily be a Top 5 season for me.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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