It has been almost 15 years since the series premiere of “American Horror Story,” Ryan Murphy’s iconic horror anthology series that changed the landscape of horror television. Once an Emmys darling, the FX show has been through highs and lows, but fans of the franchise have remained steadfast in anticipating a new season nearly every fall.
The 13th season, simply titled “13,” is arriving as something special. Similarly to “Apocalypse” in 2018, we are seeing the return of fan favorite characters, including a handful of actors who haven’t been part of the series since that season like Jessica Lange, Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates, who each picked up Emmy nominations for their performances over the years. The buzz for this new all-stars season was palpable, though it’s been a long time since the series was at its critical peak.
If there’s anything clear from the first three episodes of “13,” it’s that this season was written with superfans of the series in mind — for better or worse. “13” is for the fans who spin out theories on how the anthology’s installments have been interconnected over the years and who have watched Sarah Paulson in all 12 of her “American Horror Story” characters. Newcomers and casual “American Horror Story” viewers will be left scratching their heads, though.
We are eased back into this universe from the perspective of Ben (Joey Pollari), a new character. While his girlfriend Kira (Madelaine Petsch) is obsessed with the number 13, he finally admits to her that he has triskaidekaphobia, or the fear of that specific number. He looks for it everywhere, in objects and in airport gate numbers, a wink to the viewer watching the 13th season (although the repetition of this number gets old pretty fast).
After a traumatic plane crash (seated in row 13, naturally), he tries to rebuild his life by taking on a new job as a hospice caregiver at a lavish NYC penthouse owned by Mr. Nas (Fedor Steer), an incapacitated 87-year-old who has the habit of getting up in the middle of the night and throwing up black bile. Ben isn’t the most interesting protagonist to watch, but it hardly matters by the time Jessica Lange shows up to reprise her role as Constance Langdon — her sassy and politically incorrect character from the very first season, who is now Nas’s daytime carer.
No surprise here but Lange is just as good as ever, scene-stealing through snippy lines and entertaining monologues, brightening up a slow start to the season — even after the actress swore she would never return to the franchise. She is just fantastic as she humorously instructs Ben through giving Mr. Nas a thorough sponge bath.
The more time Ben spends with Mr. Nas and Constance, the weirder things get, and we find out about a few ominous events simmering in the background — like Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) from “Freak Show” returning to our screen to massacre a Los Angeles clown school (Tig Notaro makes a guest appearance here), plus a suspicious news report on missing corpses of dead historical figures around the world.
Something is definitely amiss by the end of the second episode, in which we meet Constance’s family of misfits, raised from the dead of previous seasons: Her daughter Addie Langdon (Jamie Brewer) and son Tate/Rubber Man (Evan Peters), joined by “Cult” siblings Winter (Billie Lourd) and Kai Anderson (Evan Peters). We also see the return of Elizabeth Short (Mena Suvari), a minor but beloved ghost character from “Murder House.”
For the fans of “Coven,” arguably one of the strongest “AHS” seasons, the “Coven” witches are back too. We only get a small window into the New Orleans coven for now, but we get the return of Supreme Cordelia Goode (Sarah Paulson) and Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts), who offers us a satisfying “surprise, bitch,” referencing the GIFable scene that had Tumblr by a chokehold in 2013.
It’s hard to tell from the first batch of episodes if the season is set to come together between all of its disparate threads, especially when the episodes are so short (each under 30 minutes). “American Horror Story” has a history of its plot going off the rails in later episodes, and there are seemingly one too many elements to make sense of anything so far. By the end of the third episode, a clearer picture at least starts to emerge — but there is still a lot of ground to cover and characters to revisit as we charge ahead.
This is without a doubt a season for veterans of the franchise. Some moments may have viewers scrambling to Google and decode a possible Easter egg, or to figure out if a character was left alive or dead in their respective season.
This unearthing of a deep well of lore might be exciting to some, while others might be left very confused by the seasons they skipped, perhaps expecting more “Coven” than “Cult.” Paulson alone is set to reprise a whopping six characters. It’s hard to imagine how Tuberculosis Karen and Mamie Eisenhower will fit into this story, but at least “American Horror Story” is throwing it all at the wall and seeing what sticks. In the process, “13” is also making a case for revisiting its older seasons and filling in the gaps you might have missed.
For a show that carved a reputation by utilizing camp to tell stories that have been, at times, completely Kafkaesque — it feels apt to see the writers really go for it with this mishmash of stories. At least we know there will be solid performances and impressive production value along the way, even when we can’t make heads or tails from the storytelling. Here’s hoping we get another musical number along the way.
“American Horror Story” 13 releases new episodes Thursdays on FX and Hulu.
