Grotesquerie Season 1 Episodes 3 and 4 Review

Travis Kelce makes his much-anticipated appearance in Grotesquerie, which continues to offer Ryan Murphy fans some disturbing gore and over-the-top characters. Fortunately, Grotesquerie Season 1 Episodes 3 and 4 are an improvement over the premiere episodes.

Niecy Nash-Betts delivers a better performance in Grotesquerie Season 1 Episode 3, while Grotesquerie Season 1 Episode 4 gives viewers a surreal, dreamlike adventure in the burning deserts of America.

The series’s biggest issue is its many long scenes unconnected to the case. Episode 3 features a lengthy conversation between Nach-Betts’ Lois Tryon and her daughter, detailing how she met her husband.

While the conversation is important for the character’s backstory, it always feels too long and doesn’t seem to have much relevance to the murders.

The show doesn’t feel like it gives audiences enough about the case. The series simply gives us a new murder scene to gawk at, yet with very few clues to piece together what is going on.

Instead, the show spends more time on Tryon’s domestic struggles and Sister Megan lusting after her superior for the newspaper she runs Father Charlie.

Megan’s and Charlie’s scenes are the most steaming interactions in the show thus far. How often Charlie has his shirt off around Megan is almost comical. 

Nonetheless, there’s plenty of dark atmosphere between Megan’s and Charlie’s scenes that point to something deeper. Charlie’s plain house and white curtains make an excellent juxtaposition, with the heavy shadows contrasting against the bright lights.

It’s one of the series’ more interesting aspects and the most fun side plot to watch develop.

Episode 3 also features Travis Kelce’s first appearance as Ed Lachlan, an orderly Tryon meets. Lachlan’s first appearance makes him look like an angel, showing up out of nowhere to light Tryon’s cigarette in a beautiful garden.

Right away Lachlan feels ethereal, making him seem instantly trustworthy. When applied to TV logic, his trusting nature makes him seem especially guilty, particularly with how fast he gets invested in Tryon’s life.

It’s somewhat distracting to see Kelce onscreen after he spent the early part of the year being one of the most recognizable faces in America.

Kelce’s performance is pretty flat and stiff in certain moments, but there’s an undeniable charm to his persona that makes him a good fit on screen. His wagging his finger at Tryon after she has her car accident adds so much personality to the character.

Niecy Nash-Betts delivers a powerful performance in the third episode. She sells much of Tryon’s personality in her face, showing her clearly detached from reality due to her drunkness, yet lucid enough to berate everyone.

Her acting when the police discover a new crime scene is particularly powerful. She is drunk yet speaks with clarity and righteousness. You are very much on her side despite how her alcoholism is destroying her life.

Grotesquerie Season 1 Episode 4 is more surreal than the previous episodes. It has Tryon and Sister Megan traveling the desert during fire season. The red tint adds to the episode’s dreamlike mood.

However, not much new was discovered about the case in the episode, making it feel like filler. It does offer a lot of bonding time between Tryon and Megan, with both girls singing Jesus Christ Superstar in the car.

A big problem on Grotesquerie Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2 was that Tryon and Megan’s relationship wasn’t earned. Episode 4 does a lot to make the women bond and develop them as friends, even though it is still puzzling that Tryon would bring a nun onto crime scenes.

Kelce’s Lachlan and Father Charlie are currently painted as the most likely suspects. But because they are so suspicious already, it almost feels like a red herring. Nurse Redd also has some red flags on her, yet there still isn’t enough information to judge.

Grotesquerie Episodes 3 and 4 are much stronger than the first two. The characters are finally coming into view, even though we still don’t get enough on the case itself.

Hopefully, every scene on Grotesquerie will come together better as it approaches the endgame. Maybe there’s a point to all those drawn-out scenes in the end.

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What did you think of the first two episodes of Grotesquerie? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Grotesquerie airs weekly every Wednesday night on FX at ten and Hulu at midnight.

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