American Horror Stories S2 Ep 8: Lake spoiler free review
And just like that season 2 of American Horror Stories has ended. During the last eight Thursdays we have sit down and watched an extension of the American Horror Story universe and the mind of its creator; Ryan Murphy. Unfortunately, the season finale doesn’t come close to the high standard that the first episodes settled. Episode 8 lacked the shocking factor, even after having a plot twist at the end.
A mysterious drowning uncovers secrets at the bottom of the lake.
Synopsis
The cast includes Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) as Erin, Olivia Rouyre (Slotherhouse) as Finn, Bobby Hogan (Manifest Evil) as Jake, Teddy Sears (American Crime Story: Impeachment) as Jeffrey, and Aren Farrington (The Gray Man) as Chained Man. This episode was directed by Tessa Blake (American Horror Story, Riverdale) and written by Many Coto (American Horror Story, Dexter).
My opinion
A family vacation on the lake takes a dark turn after the youngest son drowned. While the father wants to move on the mother and daughter are determined to find the body and understand what happened that day. But they uncover a dark secret about their family. Sadly, this is not enough to save the episode that is the season finale.
The episode feels rushed and flat, even the plot twist reveal felt anticlimactic. Alicia Silverstone is not able to give an outstanding performance, she can only do as far as the script allows her. After last week episode, Necro, it was expected that this final episode would be equal or better. The episodes should have been switched with Necro being the season finale giving that shocking and twisted ending that this season needed after having a strong start with Dollhouse.
Not giving the appropriate ending is a consistent problem in the American Horror Story universe. It’s not easy to forget the disastrous finale of American Horror Story: Double Feature having two stories with two awful endings. It seems like is difficult to give the appropriate closure to this complex stories in 12 episodes. The ending of a series is as equally important as the beginning since it’s what remains with the viewer, taking Game of Thrones as example. I just hope that this issue will be resolved soon since a new season of American Horror Story is near.
All eight episodes of American Horror Stories Season 2 are available to stream on Hulu.