TV Review: AMERICAN HORROR STORY: Season 11, Episode 3: Smoke Signals / Episode 4: Black Out [FX]

American Horror Story: NYC: Smoke Signals and Black Out

FX‘s American Horror Story: NYC: Season 11, Episode 3: Smoke Signals and Episode 4: Black Out TV Show Review.

The mysteries contained in Season 11 of American Horror Story are more in its visual style rather than its narrative, conveyed by mood rather than exposition, as if filmed in daguerrotype.

Smoke Signals

The smoke comes from a fire in a fashionable brownstone hosting a private club where important meet-ups are happening. The signals lead the search for the Mai-Tai Killer continuing on three fronts: Gino, Patrick, and Adam. Patrick investigates Sam in response to a complaint, but comes up empty-handed; Sam’s B&D is definitely of the sex-game variety. So it’s back to the drawing board for Patrick, uses himself as bait. He scores, but the would be killer turns out to be a trick, whom Patrick tops with startling savagery. Meanwhile, a private club in a fashionable brownstone finds a smitten Theo meeting up with Adam. Gino meets with Henry, who has the hots for the hard-nosed reporter. Everyone wants to find Big Daddy, whose Angel of Death persona seems to have a tighter fit than his leather gear. Dr. Wells hits a snag while pleading for official support to continue her research. Her health commissioner boss is no risk taker, so she resorts to illegal means. The episode delves further into the furtive miscues, misfires and tenuous connections in relationships under the umbrella of a mounting yet elusive crisis.

Black Out

The shadowy days plunge into the nighttime blackness of a city-wide power failure. Demands and confrontations distinguish this episode. Gino visits bathhouse owner and cabaret singer Kathy Pizzazz to appeal to her sense of civic responsibility with regard to the darker days fracturing the gay community. Sam takes umbrage to Theo’s desire for a commitment deeper than his lover’s hedonistic lifestyle. Sam retaliates by advising Adam to drop Theo before he inevitably gets dropped himself. Patrick defies his boss and comes out to him as a consequence. Barbara confronts Gino once again to warn him of Patrick’s darker side, which Gino dismisses with accusations of Barbara’s interference (again). Patrick suffers a ferocious attack from Big Daddy before vanishing in an instant.

Conclusion

A shadowy underpinning serves to chill the scenes in American Horror Story: NYC, even those shot in bright sunlight. A very effective strategy, though the tradeoff is something of a distraction from the excellent performances. The mantra uttered randomly now and again, “Something’s coming . . . it’s coming for you,” pretty well imparts the feeling of mounting uneasiness throughout the gay community. So far Season 11 seems saturated with resigned desperation that novel sexual freedom fails to mask or compensate for. The horror of Season 11 embodies both the real and the surreal. There is all the evidence of reality, made unreal without clear context: fear itself.

Leave your thoughts on this American Horror Story: Season 11, Episode 3: Smoke Signals, and Episode 4: Black Out review, below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more TV show reviews can visit our TV Show Review Page, our TV Show Review Twitter Page, and our TV Show Review Facebook Page.

Want up-to-the-minute notification? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, and Flipboard.