American Horror Story S10.07 — Luddites
Spoilers below for American Horror Story S10.07 — Take Me To Your Leader
The first episode of the 4-episode second half of Double Feature entitled Death Valley starts in black & white in New Mexico in 1954. Aliens take over the body of a woman who makes her husband’s head explode while floating about a foot above the ground with eyes rolled to the back of her head. Great start.
At the same time, President Eisenhower is playing golf in Palm Springs, CA when an alien ship crashes nearby. He goes to check it out with his team and they find one dead alien, who Ike says “looks like a child” (it does not) and a naked woman who has symbols carved in her back. In the hospital, Ike speaks with the woman and it turns out she is Amelia Earhart. She had been abducted on her last flight and did not age even though that was 20+ years before. Oh and she’s 2 months pregnant.
After speaking with, and sedating, Amelia Earhart, Ike moves onto the autopsy of the dead alien. When they open it up, at first it seems like there is nothing inside. But then, as the doctors look deeper, they are attacked by a face-sucking alien (like in the movie Alien). Both doctors die quickly and then heads start exploding. Ike and his remaining team go out into the hallway to find a nurse floating like the woman at the beginning of the ep. He tries to tell her that he’s in charge but she quickly informs him it is the other way around. “It is you who will listen to us,” she says.
The next half of the episode takes place in modern times. 4 best friends from high school reunite for dinner and a camping trip in Joshua Tree. At dinner, they catch each other up on how they’ve been at school: the 2 boys are now dating, 1 of the girls is allergic to cum, and the last girl is a proud member of the Harvard Luddite Club. And she’s hooking up with the professor who runs the club, of course. She convinces the friends to leave their phones behind on their trip and they agree.
The group arrives at their bougie campsite, which comes already set up and includes a bed in the tent. They have fun, talk, explore, and eat s’mores. But then, as they are trying to find a pond, it seems to have moved overnight. Before they can go in a different direction, they are hit with a terrible smell. Kendall, the Luddite pre-med, runs over to find a whole herd of dead cows who are cut in half perfectly. But, there’s no blood. She gets closer and sees that their eyes are rolled to the back of their head. When she touches one, its eyes return and it moos. The group freaks out and runs back to the tent.
They immediately start driving but it’s super dark because they’re in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, the car stops working and a bright white light engulfs them. We all know where this is going. The friends are all pulled by tentacles or tethers, but then they black out. We don’t know how much time has passed but the boys have switched seats and Jamie (the other girl friend) is not in the car. They start driving and then she appears in front of the car. Stopping short, they manage to avoid hitting her and get her into the car.
The next day, Kendall calls her Luddite professor/lover to tell him what happened and ask permission to Google alien abductions. He says the usual asshole response of, “Sure as long as you’re ok with only standing up for something you believe in when it’s convenient”. So, that’s a no then? Kendall immediately begins throwing up and she calls Jamie to hear she has been, too. Jamie comes over with pregnancy tests and both of them are positive. Meanwhile, the boys are getting sick, too. Even though they thought it was giardia (yes, humans get giardia just like my dog Tommy), they meet up with the girls and their tests come back positive, too.
General thoughts:
- Seems like the obvious theme for Death Valley is technology (and aliens, of course) with a healthy side of babies because that’s an AHS give-in.
- I’m not sure if they are planning to connect this to the first half of the season, but if so, I’m hoping it is more than just Angelica Ross and the baby showing up at the end.
- There are only 4 episodes in this little season, so we’re already 1/4 of the way there. It will be interesting to see if he can tell a complete story in 4 episodes, especially since he is doing 2 timelines.
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 30, 2021.