American Horror Story S10.04 — Eureka! You found the backstory
Spoilers below for American Horror Story S10.04 — Blood Buffet
Now, 2/3 of the way through the 6-episode Red Tide season, we learn the story behind the pill’s creation and how our favorite vampires got their fangs. Plus, we get a fun cameo by Eureka, one of my favorite drag queens.
The episode starts 5 years before the present time when the Chemist moves to P-Town after ending her contract with the government. She was working with the army to make soldiers less creative, but began to develop a pill to harness the creative neurons and make them fire at 10–20–50x the normal amount. It worked, but only for primates who were already talented (as we know). Now, she is ready to do some unlicensed human trials.
First, the Chemist tries to give the pill to Mickey, but he refuses. So, she offers him $50 for every person he sends her way. He starts with a singer from karaoke night, who turns out to be untalented. As he loses his hair, his skin color, and his body warmth, the Chemist documents the changes and unceremoniously tells him to never come back. She explains that 9/10 people who come to take the pill will end up Pale People as well, so the singer can just wait until he has more friends in the same state.
It turns out that the pill induces rage in all of its takers, but the untalented are angry at the world for letting them believe they could be talented and the talented are just angry because of their own arrogance. Extremely un-subtle, but ok.
Next, Mickey finds Belle, who, at that point, is a self-published romance writer who hasn’t touched her husband in 2 years. After getting into a fight with him, Belle does meth with Mickey and then takes her first little black pill. When she returns to her hotel, she writes a whole (actually good) book in one night and then kills her husband. When the Chemist asks if her bloodlust would deter her from taking the pills, she says no. Fame is everything.
But, if the Chemist is so good at her job, why can’t she just figure out a way to mimic human blood so that the talented (and untalented) who take the pill don’t need to actually murder people to get the nutrients that are depleted? If she really wants to make money off of these pills, that seems like the obvious next step. Also, why are the side effects temporary for the talented takers but not the untalented ones? Is it because once they have learned that they suck, they can’t unlearn it, so they must remain Pale People forever? It doesn’t really make sense, but it is classic Ryan Murphy to not fully flesh out (get it!) the details of the world he builds. Honestly, he is pretty lazy.
Jump forward 2 years and Belle is looking for a new wardrobe at the store/dentist office/tattoo parlor that Lark (Billie Lourde) owns. Lark lets Belle know that she, too, is taking the pill and offers to give her fangs. Later that night, Belle goes to a drag show and sees Austin perform poorly after he is made fun of by a group of queens, including Eureka. She knows that he has more talent than what was put on display on stage. After his act, she learns that he is a playwright and he was about to put on a show at the theatre in town when the owner disappeared (Belle killed him). Belle offers him a pill and he takes it.
Once it is confirmed that Austin is talented, they go to the queens’ house where Eureka is explaining that they would do very well on RuPaul’s Drag Race (LOL). Belle and Austin kill and drink most of the inhabitants but Eureka gets away. Unfortunately, Eureka doesn’t get far and they are killed by the original Pale Person in the cemetery. Tough break.
Honestly, I am surprised they spent an entire episode explaining the backstory when it seemed like they did a good job showing how the pill worked in canon, especially since this is only a 6-episode half-season. We only have 2 more episodes for them to close out the story.
General thoughts for next week:
- Based on the preview and on my thoughts from all of the weeks before, Doris is going to take the black pill and become a Pale Person. From the preview, it looks like Creepy Daughter is going to convince her to take it. Obviously, she knows her mom has no talent, so it seems like it will be malicious. Love that, honestly, because Doris sucks.
- The Chief was murdered by CD at the end of last episode and she was the only one who cared about the murders, so that conflict will likely be pretty resolved.
- Calling it now: Tuberculosis Karen will be the hero of the season. She is so vehemently against the pills, so I think she will do something to stop them.
Producer who loves TV, looking for my next opportunity to be creative & pet dogs. View all posts by lizziekreitman
Originally published at http://lizziekreitman.wordpress.com on September 9, 2021.