American Horror Story – Asylum – S02E01

Speaking of American Horror Story, it’s back and it’s every bit as strange and bizarre as you would expect. For this story, we’re at Briarcliff Manor, which like so many of the "institutions" we’ve seen on shows like Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures, has a checkered past and high body count. At one time it was a tuberculosis ward complete with body chute and a death toll of 46,000. Then it was converted by the Catholic Church into a Sanitarium for the criminally insane where it was hoped a pious life could rid them of their demons. It house "Bloody Face" a notorious serial killer who’s fate is unknown. Finally, it has been shut down and abandoned. In essence, everything we’ve heard about institutions for the mentally ill has been rolled up into one place. And what a place it is!

Jessica Lange returns as Sister Jude, the matron who runs the asylum with an iron fist and a closet full of caning rods.

Evan Peters also returns as the supposed "Bloody Face", notorious serial killer who skins his victims alive.

More of the old cast will be forthcoming as this story unravels.

The story moves quickly and we get a barrage of characters and twists right off the bat. Sister Jude will stop at nothing to heal the mentally ill of their sins even if that means holding a reporter against her will and threatening to expose her "partner" if she doesn’t have her committed to the sister’s care.

And we have the makings of a mad doctor, who plans to experiment on his patients to find out what makes them tick. Can he cure evil through science? Can he "tap" into that evil and make it go away? Several patients without families have already gone missing since the doctor showed up, their bodies cremated before Sister Jude can look into the matter. Are their bodies as broken as their minds and they simply passed on or did they not survive the experiments? He’s been approved by the Church, so what could possibly go wrong?

The battle of wills between Sister Jude and Dr. Arden has begun and I have a feeling it will be one hell of a showdown.

But let’s not forget the present, where Teresa and Leo have snuck into the abandoned asylum as an end to their "haunted honeymoon tour" for some sexual thrills. But things go horribly wrong and the mood is ruined when Leo becomes the victim of something unforeseen as they explore the asylum just before sunset.

We’re in for a dark and sinister ride. We’ve already got sadistic nuns, serial killers, mad scientists, the criminally insane, forbidden experiments, the evil that men do and it all takes place in an asylum! And that’s just in the first episode!

I can’t wait to see the rest of this series. I loved the first one and this promises to be even more intense. The location is dramatic, the atmosphere is dark and gloomy, Sister Jude makes me cringe and Dr. Arden looks to be one evil man. This has everything I like!

So what do you think? How do you think this will compare to the first season?

Other Articles of Interest:

• American Horror Story Asylum S02E05
• Exorcist III – Ranking 3 out of 5
• Kevin Bacon comes to the small screen in The Following
• American Horror Story Asylum – Season Finale
• Hannibal – Takiawase – S02E04
• Hannibal – Season 2 Premiere
• Bloodstains – Jeff Mudgett
• Hannibal Revealed
• Hannibal – S01E08
• Paranormal State – Do Bad Things – S05E10