If you would like to read my review of the last episode of American Horror Story, click here.
Synopsis: Michael grows desperate when his witch allies are slaughtered and enlists the help of unlikely allies in his quest to start the apocalypse. (IMDB)
Writer: Joshua Green
Director: Bradley Buecker
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 39mins
Airs: Tuesdays at 10pm on FX Canada (Canada)/FX (United States)
The time of regression is nigh.
With last night’s episode, AHS was able to confirm several things to its audience – that we are destined to spend the penultimate episode of this season yet again in a flashback, Michael Langdon seems to be playing the whole Antichrist bit by ear, the season finale seems doomed to be a rushed ending…oh, and Ryan Reynolds is staying busy.
“Sojourn” follows Michael Langdon immediately after his discovery of his followers- Miriam Mead, Ariel, and Baldwin Pennypacker’s (love that name) demise by fire at the hands of Cordelia. This, of course, causes him to vow vengeance upon Cordelia and her Coven for this decision and sets him off to wander into the wilderness eventually settling into a satanic church lead by an anti-charismatic leader, Hannah (Sandra Bernhard) whose only wish is to usher in a plethora of sinful acts amongst the congregation in hopes that it will usher in the end of the world.
Langdon befriends an adherent named Madeline (Harriet Sansom Harris) who recognizes his true being as the Antichrist leading her to call on Hannah and the church for guidance. They appear just as lost as Michael is in knowing what to do next, however, Madeline proceeds to place his destiny in the hands of two engineers, Jeff (Evan Peters) and Mutt (Billy Eichner), that have sold their souls to the devil in exchange for profound wealth and a successful robotics company.
If you’re able to look past their extremely awkward haircuts, Jeff and Mutt are making a serious run at being some of the most annoying characters of this season, however, their parody of a certain stereotype is understandable. The duo proceeds to help Langdon clone Miriam Mead as a robot after realizing that he is the true Antichrist. From there, we are unaware of what their intentions are but from the premiere, we are gifted with the knowledge of what is to come. We are able to surmise that the apocalypse we’ve seen is the fruition of the threat that Langdon has brought upon Cordelia.
The frustrating thing with Sojourn, outside of the fact that it didn’t really further this season’s narrative, is that the entire episode contained very little worthwhile story that warranted a full hour. Looking at the bigger picture, it provided just a small amount of pertinent insight with Langdon that to be honest seemed almost irrelevant based on what we already understand about his character and are aware of through his actions in the season premiere. The only real addition to his story is seeing just how Miriam Mead 2.0 is created while possibly setting up just how the nuclear bombs can actually go off through the genius of Jeff and Mutt.
APOCALYPTIC THOUGHTS:
- Jeff and Mutt’s hair….wow….just wow (bro)
- Langdon’s irredeemable so I wish the show would stop trying to show that he’s having a crisis in decision-making.
- Sandra Bernhard’s performance as Hannah was really bad.
- I wonder if the Volunteer All-Sinners Choir is available for Bar Mitzvahs?
- Ryan Reynolds and Brad Pitt being used as Satanic sex workers = priceless
- Meanwhile….Brock still lurks in the darkness…
Score: 4/10
Trying my best to get all thoughts about TV and Film out of my head and onto the interweb.
