Last night’s American Horror Story was the show’s Christmas episode. It was the scariest episode of the show yet. It was grotesque, mean-spirited and had an honest-to-God unsettling villain. What made this episode so effective was the minor theme of powerlessness that ran through all of the characters, bad or good.
American Horror Story just introduced the Angel of Death, played by AHS season vet Frances Conroy. The literal Angel of Death, with black wings and life-ending kisses, showed up at Briarcliff this week and interacted with a number of our favorite characters. This fact makes a lot of the rest of the action this week seem irrelevant, including Lana’s near escape, Jude’s crisis of faith and Grace’s shooting. I guess there’s now going to be a fight between the Angel of Death and the Devil in Sister Eunice. Interestingly, the Angel of Death’s appearance gave us a sympathetic and almost realistic discussion of suicide.
In this week’s American Horror Story, we spent time with Bloody Face. Bloody Face, the poorly named serial killer stalking Massachusetts, was revealed last week to be Dr. Oliver Thredson, the psychiatrist appointed by the court to determine whether Kit Walker, the man arrested for the Bloody Face murders, was competent to stand trial. With this reveal, Dr. Thredson joined the ranks of famous serial killers in pop culture.
By Taylor Rhodes
American Horror Story Asylum’s second episode expanded on the two major topics identified in the first episode: sexuality and religion vs. science. Two more were added: the role of women in religion and psychiatry and the use of mental health treatment as punishment. There was an exorcism, a murder and lots of abuse heaped on both patients and doctors. These big topics are going to reappear throughout the show, so I’m going to focus on one-sexuality. In particular, the characters of Lana and Dr. Arden.
Hello! Since this is the first Mind Over Pop Culture blog entry, I’d like to start by introducing myself. My name is Taylor Rhodes, and I’ve been a staff member here at Mental Health America for almost four years. I have a degree in psychology from The George Washington University, with a minor in English literature. I’m also a pop culture junkie who watches way too much TV and way too many movies. All of this makes me uniquely qualified to discuss the intersection of mental health and pop culture, both good and bad. This column is the first of an ongoing series, and we’re going to start with the new season of American Horror Story, subtitled Asylum.
Coping with plenty of leisure activities and sense of purpose in life
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