American Horror Stories Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Lake

American Horror Stories Season 2 Episode 8, “Lake,” brings the season to an end, and it does so… quietly.

While “Lake” isn’t a bad episode, there’s nothing about it that’s special, and the things that stand out are unfortunately more negative than positive.

American Horror Stories does, however, get points for beginning the episode with “Kiss Me More” by Doja Cat ft. SZA, and having it feature Alicia Silverstone. 

If You’re Gonna Talk the Talk…

“Lake” suffers something that unfortunately has been a theme in almost every episode of American Horror Stories Season 2: an unbearable amount of talking. 

The show spends half of the episode explaining to us what’s happening, and what happened, instead of letting it happen. 

On “Lake” it was more noticeable than ever. Every moment that isn’t spent on B-roll of the lake is speaking things that don’t need to be said.

Finding out that Jeffrey is a Prescott is supposed to be the shocking turning point of the episode. The drama is ticked up a notch when Jeffrey himself is dragged into the lake to drown. Speaks for itself, no? 

Then the characters state that this is what the lake wanted all along as if we didn’t just have that shown to us through storytelling. 

You’d Better Walk the Walk

“Lake” overall, while a horrible name for an episode of television, is not a bad story. 

If American Horror Stories took after their namesake and pushed episodes to be more than the standard 42 minutes, they wouldn’t feel so rushed and disjointed. 

“Lake” specifically asks the audience to care for these characters we don’t know in less than an hour, as is with all anthology series, but American Horror Stories specifically doesn’t do it very well. 

What’s missing in the story isn’t made up for in acting, or camera work, so it’s blatantly obvious when it’s there. 

Feminist Zombies

It’s absolutely iconic of the zombies from below the lake to only go after the male Prescott’s in the family. 

And thank goodness, because Alicia Silverstone and Olivia Rouyre holdthis episode together with Elmer’s glue and thumbtacks. 

This, unfortunately, can’t be said about the rest of the season. While American Horror Stories is new every week, and it’s usually a good time, season two hasn’t been anything special. 

If the show is renewed, Season 3 would be a great time to bring the horror back to American Horror Stories. At this point, it’s fallen to American Thriller Stories. 

Stray Thoughts

• Kids are kind of dumb. I know I was. But for your son to drown in a lake, you’d think some safety gear other than a rope would come in handy when you’re diving headfirst into said lake. 
• The time jumps are necessary for the most part, but it’s almost like revealing the killer early in a police procedural: I don’t want to know what happens, I want to find out like the rest of the detectives. 
• Underwater towns are a very real thing. There’s even a Wikipedia page on them. It is horrifying.

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American Horror Stories releases new episodes Thursdays on Hulu. 

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