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[(Tunnels)]

So American Horror Story is over once again, and we wrap another story of misery and woe.

I liked the finale. I'm not certain how much some of the story lines mattered in the end, but I think they did okay wrapping them up. Some of the ending felt more like telling instead of showing, but they were able to pack a ton of content into an hour. I'm happy with it all and all, but I'm ready to close a lid on the show for now and let it rest before we dig it back up and see what's in store for us next season.

[Dice]

The Office:

Say whaaa?  Spoiler tags?!

So for the first time in 9 years, the Office tries something crazy~!  They show one of the documentary guys!!  OMG killer spoilz.  After what was a really, really sad but touching moment between Pam and Jim, they reveal the boom-mike guy, Brian.  It's a pretty daring move, where after 9 years of what was essentially radio silence, so I'm kinda interested but weirded out that they chose this scene.  It felt kinda hokey given the comedy genre, and not as fulfilling as I thought it would be (maybe because there has been so many crazy events happening over the course of nine years at Dunfer Mifflin they never really bothered interacting with any of them ...but a damsel in distress became a different story). Despite all that, everything leading up to that moment was perfectly touching.  Nevertheless, it does feel somewhat appropriate for a show in its last season.  So congrats!  They finally [fully] broke through that fourth wall!

Eugh, Andy's coming back in an upcoming episode.  While I love Ed Helms enough, his character knows how to be irritating and plays it straight.  I'm not one of those "fan pairing" type of girls; if the show shoves Jim and Pam together as a couple, then I root for it!  But when the show was trying to get us to cheer for Erin and Andy, I couldn't care less.  I like her and that intern better; Andy's just good at being annoying, and having him as Manager early on just cast a dark cloud for me.

Yodes:  Yeah. I wasn't crazy for it when I first watched it, when it was Season 1 of Parks and Rec.  I'm glad to hear it gets better, I'll def give it a shot!!

[Lard]

Watching Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy.

It's funny but not as good as Mighty Boosh

[Yoda]

The Office:

Say whaaa?  Spoiler tags?!

So for the first time in 9 years, the Office tries something crazy~!  They show one of the documentary guys!!  OMG killer spoilz.  After what was a really, really sad but touching moment between Pam and Jim, they reveal the boom-mike guy, Brian.  It's a pretty daring move, where after 9 years of what was essentially radio silence, so I'm kinda interested but weirded out that they chose this scene.  It felt kinda hokey given the comedy genre, and not as fulfilling as I thought it would be (maybe because there has been so many crazy events happening over the course of nine years at Dunfer Mifflin they never really bothered interacting with any of them ...but a damsel in distress became a different story). Despite all that, everything leading up to that moment was perfectly touching.  Nevertheless, it does feel somewhat appropriate for a show in its last season.  So congrats!  They finally [fully] broke through that fourth wall!

Eugh, Andy's coming back in an upcoming episode.  While I love Ed Helms enough, his character knows how to be irritating and plays it straight.  I'm not one of those "fan pairing" type of girls; if the show shoves Jim and Pam together as a couple, then I root for it!  But when the show was trying to get us to cheer for Erin and Andy, I couldn't care less.  I like her and that intern better; Andy's just good at being annoying, and having him as Manager early on just cast a dark cloud for me.

Yodes:  Yeah. I wasn't crazy for it when I first watched it, when it was Season 1 of Parks and Rec.  I'm glad to hear it gets better, I'll def give it a shot!!

they broke the 4th wall in an ep at the beginning of this season. they show pam and halpert putting on their mics and saying some shit like "don't you have all the footage you need?"

I hate this plotline of Halpert the businessman who's "nailing it."

Also OMG the cracks in PAM AND JIM'S RELATIONSHIP

HAHAHAHAHA fuck you TV

[Dice]

Quite frankly, I like their relationship better than most of the other ones on TV.  Them having normal marital problems is better than what it is 90% of the time: some affair shit.  I'm not crazy about the Jim plot either, but I'm glad he's making a good exit with it -- it's something he's wanted to do, and staying at a paper company for over 9 years sounds miserable.

And like I said, they "fully" broke through the wall; the camera crew has interacted with them, but never showed someone on the other side--- thass what I meant. (and when they did, it's this Hunky Lumberjack Ken doll...named BRIAN hehehe).

[Yoda]

Brian + Pam + Erin + Pete swinger party webisode now on NBC.com

[Raze]

 I'm almost finished with the first season of New Girl. It's funny and I like the characters. But I don't want Jess and Nick to happen. And even if I did, god damn, stop laying it on so thick.

[GrimReality]

So American Horror Story is over once again, and we wrap another story of misery and woe.

I liked the finale. I'm not certain how much some of the story lines mattered in the end, but I think they did okay wrapping them up. Some of the ending felt more like telling instead of showing, but they were able to pack a ton of content into an hour. I'm happy with it all and all, but I'm ready to close a lid on the show for now and let it rest before we dig it back up and see what's in store for us next season.

Overall, I far preferred season one over season 2. This one just had way too much going on. What the hell was up with the whole alien thing? And we never even get a resolution!
The last few episodes just kind of dragged. I didn't care anymore. I was very much ready for it to be over. Like you, I'm ok with it being gone for awhile. Of course, I'll welcome it with open arms when it comes back around for season 3(next Fall?).

[Starmongoose]

If you ask me I think your approaching it from the wrong angle. I think almost all of the plot threads reached their conclusion, it's just not what we are used to. Here is how I see it, I'm gonna put the whole thing in a spoiler box because I plan on going fairly in-depth.

To me, American Horror Story: Asylum isn't one story, it's many, they all just happen to come to a point in Briarcliff.

Here is a run down of the main plot threads.

Bloody Face: This is the story of Dr. Thredson, Lana Winters and their child John. While Kit is falsely accused of being Bloody Face, this isn't his story, his story is that of the Doctors aka the Aliens. This is the story that met the most traditional conclusion. The worlds most famous serial killers are American, and mental asylums are common fodder in the sort of locations that pop up in ghost stories told around a fire. Dr. Thredson seems to have a lot in common with Ed Gein. This story's central theme seems to be that of motherhood. Dr. Thredson was abandoned by his mother at a young age, something that is mirrored with his son John when Lana puts him up for adoption, as she couldn't bring herself to care for the child of the man who raped and tortured her (and also killed her lover). Both Dr. Thredson and John suffer greatly from their lack of a mother (or at least that's how they see it, it's probably a hereditary mental illness). Both have a strong desire to be breast fed by Lana. The Bloody Face story ends with both Bloody Faces dead (both shot in the head by Lana). This is the most satisfying as we have closure, there isn't anything left unaccounted for. The hero slays the villain.

The Doctors: This is the name Alma gives the aliens, so that's what I'll call them. Their motives aren't fully explained, but this is a clearly superior race to humanity. It makes sense that we wouldn't understand their motives. As the lower species, we are more akin to lab rats. Do lab rats understand why they are experimented on? No, and so it is with how Kit, Alma and Grace. All three are the subjects of their experiments, but as they cannot make sense of why they were chosen, they just have to live their lives around this. Alma has the hardest time dealing with the fact the aliens experimented on her without her consent, while Grace is content in the fact their actions don't seem to be malevolent, after all they saved her life and gave her a child. Dr. Arden as a scientist shows the most interest in getting in contact with the Doctors, but the Doctors make it clear that they are far more powerful than him and give their subjects a guardian, in the form of Pepper, to stop him from messing up their results. Now, what I can say fair certainty is thatAlma and Grace are not important past giving birth and nurturing the children through their early years. The Doctors could have easily stopped Alma, who was driven to the brink of insanity by her abduction, from killing Grace, but they don't. They also don't save Alma from dying in Briarcliff. Kit is left to raise the children to adulthood and make sure they achieve important positions in society, but after that is abducted once again by the Doctors after almost dying at a young age. Optimistically the Doctors extend Kit's life and allow him to live a happy life. However, if we continue to think of the Doctors as inter-steller scientists, it may be more likely that they wanted to do an autopsy on Kit's corpse, as it is clear he is something irregular among humans and interests them greatly. The end goal of the Doctors was to place the two children, Thomas and Julia on Earth. It's clear that they are of intelligence beyond that of normal humans, as evidenced by how they take Sister Jude into the woods to give to the Doctors, which then restores her sanity. As to why they did such a thing, Sister Jude imparts much needed life advice onto the children, she's lived quite the life herself, and it may be the talk she has with the kids on her deathbed that inspire them onto becoming the greats in their careers. I will also point out that everyone who came into contact with the Doctors are dead. Kit, Sister Jude and Pepper probably all died to kill-switch input inside them by the Doctors, all designed to go off when they fulfilled their purpose. If Alma, Grace and Dr. Arden all didn't die shortly after, I think they would have died in a similar manner. So, while Grace doesn't think the Doctors are evil, it's probably clear they aren't "good" either. They are more like scientists carrying out an experiment, the end result being the children (or perhaps they are just another piece of the experiment, the Doctors scope is far greater than that of humans.)

God vs the Devil: Briarcliff ends up as the battleground for a battle between God and Satan, probably not even an important one, just one of many that occur between the two. Each picks their champion, for Satan that is Sister Mary Eunice and for God that is monsignor Timothy Howard. I am NOT saying this is a battle between Good vs Evil. Sister Mary Eunice has good trapped inside her, behind the evil face of the spirit that possess' her, while monsignor Howard hides a dark, ruthless side behind his face as a priest. This does reach a conclusion, it only seems muddled because of the involvement of other characters, but the battle is definitely between these two champions. Sister Mary Eunice takes delight in the chaos and strife she causes and continutes to do so until monsignor Howard is chosen by God (through a message given by the Angel of Death, Shachath) and he smites her, and Shachath then releases Sister Mary Eunice's soul. Timothy Howard you could say is "rewarded" for his act and is promoted higher in the Church, but his role as champion of God ends there.

Vs Self: This is Sister Judes story. Her entire story revolves around finding her place in the world. Before she became a nun she was an alcoholic bar singer, without a purpose. After running over a girl while drunk driving, she turns to God. The guilt over this act is something that eats at her daily, and is something that the possessed Sister Mary Eunice uses to drive her mad. She wears a habit, but underneath she wears red lingerie. This is symbolic of her past. While on the outside she is a holy woman, a pure being, underneath she struggles with her identity and human instincts. When she discovers that Dr. Arden is a Nazi, she sees an opportunity for redemption if she deposes him. She thinks about suicide in the bathroom of a cafe, but after talking with Shachath, she is filled with the purpose she has always longed for. She fails at achieving it herself however, though she inadvertantly causes his death by telling Timothy Howard to kill Sister Mary Eunice. Her love for Timothy Howard has been of great detriment to Sister Jude, as not only does he trap her in Briarcliff as a patient, he lets treatments be administered such as electroshock therapy, that eventually wear away her identity. A good example of this loss of identity is when she is asked by Lana "Do you remember your name?" and goes on to sing The Name Game. A name holds a part of ourselves, and Sister Judes was taken away from her. Bringing down Dr. Arden was supposed to redeem her, but now she is more lost than ever. She finally finds peace at the end of the story, not as a nun, not as a bar singer, but as a sort of mother for Thomas and Julia. In her last moments, all the hardships in her life aren't without meaning as she can use them to give life lessons to Julia and Thomas. She accepts Shachath's kiss only after this.

Woman vs Society: This isn't really a story thread so much as a general theme, but I don't think I should leave it out. I don't think it can go unnoticed that Asylum is heavily focused on a womans perspective. Through Lana and Sister Jude's eyes we get a look into womans role in society in the 60's. Lana is put down by her male peers as a reporter, but as she is a woman with great ambition she works through it. Even when reporting the crimes committed against her by Dr. Thredson she isn't taken seriously by the police. Sister Jude is also a woman of ambition, but while Lana shows her ambition openly, Sister Jude works as the shadow of the monsignor Timothy Howard. It's ultimately to her folly as her love for the monsignor blinds her and he takes advantage of her, eventually ruining her. Sister Mary Eunice (non-possessed) is sort of the counterpoint to Lana and Sister Jude. She is completely submissive to Dr. Arden, and her so perceived "innocence" is valued by how much she obeys men, this includes Dr. Arden and to a broader degree, God, who she has given herself over to totally. It's only when the evil spirit/Devil (I'm not sure if it's actually Satan) posseses does she rebel. She rebels against Dr. Arden by being overtly sexual (to his disgust) and rebels against God, the most clear depiction of this is when she rapes the monsignor.   

Now, this is all just my thoughts. I was satisfied with how it ended and have a deep admiration for it.

[Dice]

After a write up like that, I'm curious about the show now

[Starmongoose]

I couldn't rate it highly enough. :)

[Dice]

News not update:  RIP, Young Justice.

[pseudonym]

Yay!!  Downton Abbey is back!  Maggie Smith pulls some one-liners and we all win/
Love this show. :D  I'll spare the details given 90% of this forum is male.  But a good Brit-drama nonetheless.

My wife and I both like Downton Abbey. It's a good period piece with good acting.

As far as other series that my wife and I watch(ed): Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead (she gets a little freaked out by the zombies),  Lie to Me, The Office (stop watching after Steve left), early Family Guy, and Arrested Development. There are some that are popular that we haven't watched: Community, Sherlock, American Horror Story, Parks and Recreation, etc.

My favorite serious series is Breaking Bad. The early seasons of Family Guy cracked me up but I think my favorite comedic series has to be Arrested Development. Both are subject to change, however.

[GrimReality]

If you ask me I think your approaching it from the wrong angle. I think almost all of the plot threads reached their conclusion, it's just not what we are used to. Here is how I see it, I'm gonna put the whole thing in a spoiler box because I plan on going fairly in-depth.

To me, American Horror Story: Asylum isn't one story, it's many, they all just happen to come to a point in Briarcliff.

Here is a run down of the main plot threads.

Bloody Face: This is the story of Dr. Thredson, Lana Winters and their child John. While Kit is falsely accused of being Bloody Face, this isn't his story, his story is that of the Doctors aka the Aliens. This is the story that met the most traditional conclusion. The worlds most famous serial killers are American, and mental asylums are common fodder in the sort of locations that pop up in ghost stories told around a fire. Dr. Thredson seems to have a lot in common with Ed Gein. This story's central theme seems to be that of motherhood. Dr. Thredson was abandoned by his mother at a young age, something that is mirrored with his son John when Lana puts him up for adoption, as she couldn't bring herself to care for the child of the man who raped and tortured her (and also killed her lover). Both Dr. Thredson and John suffer greatly from their lack of a mother (or at least that's how they see it, it's probably a hereditary mental illness). Both have a strong desire to be breast fed by Lana. The Bloody Face story ends with both Bloody Faces dead (both shot in the head by Lana). This is the most satisfying as we have closure, there isn't anything left unaccounted for. The hero slays the villain.

The Doctors: This is the name Alma gives the aliens, so that's what I'll call them. Their motives aren't fully explained, but this is a clearly superior race to humanity. It makes sense that we wouldn't understand their motives. As the lower species, we are more akin to lab rats. Do lab rats understand why they are experimented on? No, and so it is with how Kit, Alma and Grace. All three are the subjects of their experiments, but as they cannot make sense of why they were chosen, they just have to live their lives around this. Alma has the hardest time dealing with the fact the aliens experimented on her without her consent, while Grace is content in the fact their actions don't seem to be malevolent, after all they saved her life and gave her a child. Dr. Arden as a scientist shows the most interest in getting in contact with the Doctors, but the Doctors make it clear that they are far more powerful than him and give their subjects a guardian, in the form of Pepper, to stop him from messing up their results. Now, what I can say fair certainty is thatAlma and Grace are not important past giving birth and nurturing the children through their early years. The Doctors could have easily stopped Alma, who was driven to the brink of insanity by her abduction, from killing Grace, but they don't. They also don't save Alma from dying in Briarcliff. Kit is left to raise the children to adulthood and make sure they achieve important positions in society, but after that is abducted once again by the Doctors after almost dying at a young age. Optimistically the Doctors extend Kit's life and allow him to live a happy life. However, if we continue to think of the Doctors as inter-steller scientists, it may be more likely that they wanted to do an autopsy on Kit's corpse, as it is clear he is something irregular among humans and interests them greatly. The end goal of the Doctors was to place the two children, Thomas and Julia on Earth. It's clear that they are of intelligence beyond that of normal humans, as evidenced by how they take Sister Jude into the woods to give to the Doctors, which then restores her sanity. As to why they did such a thing, Sister Jude imparts much needed life advice onto the children, she's lived quite the life herself, and it may be the talk she has with the kids on her deathbed that inspire them onto becoming the greats in their careers. I will also point out that everyone who came into contact with the Doctors are dead. Kit, Sister Jude and Pepper probably all died to kill-switch input inside them by the Doctors, all designed to go off when they fulfilled their purpose. If Alma, Grace and Dr. Arden all didn't die shortly after, I think they would have died in a similar manner. So, while Grace doesn't think the Doctors are evil, it's probably clear they aren't "good" either. They are more like scientists carrying out an experiment, the end result being the children (or perhaps they are just another piece of the experiment, the Doctors scope is far greater than that of humans.)

God vs the Devil: Briarcliff ends up as the battleground for a battle between God and Satan, probably not even an important one, just one of many that occur between the two. Each picks their champion, for Satan that is Sister Mary Eunice and for God that is monsignor Timothy Howard. I am NOT saying this is a battle between Good vs Evil. Sister Mary Eunice has good trapped inside her, behind the evil face of the spirit that possess' her, while monsignor Howard hides a dark, ruthless side behind his face as a priest. This does reach a conclusion, it only seems muddled because of the involvement of other characters, but the battle is definitely between these two champions. Sister Mary Eunice takes delight in the chaos and strife she causes and continutes to do so until monsignor Howard is chosen by God (through a message given by the Angel of Death, Shachath) and he smites her, and Shachath then releases Sister Mary Eunice's soul. Timothy Howard you could say is "rewarded" for his act and is promoted higher in the Church, but his role as champion of God ends there.

Vs Self: This is Sister Judes story. Her entire story revolves around finding her place in the world. Before she became a nun she was an alcoholic bar singer, without a purpose. After running over a girl while drunk driving, she turns to God. The guilt over this act is something that eats at her daily, and is something that the possessed Sister Mary Eunice uses to drive her mad. She wears a habit, but underneath she wears red lingerie. This is symbolic of her past. While on the outside she is a holy woman, a pure being, underneath she struggles with her identity and human instincts. When she discovers that Dr. Arden is a Nazi, she sees an opportunity for redemption if she deposes him. She thinks about suicide in the bathroom of a cafe, but after talking with Shachath, she is filled with the purpose she has always longed for. She fails at achieving it herself however, though she inadvertantly causes his death by telling Timothy Howard to kill Sister Mary Eunice. Her love for Timothy Howard has been of great detriment to Sister Jude, as not only does he trap her in Briarcliff as a patient, he lets treatments be administered such as electroshock therapy, that eventually wear away her identity. A good example of this loss of identity is when she is asked by Lana "Do you remember your name?" and goes on to sing The Name Game. A name holds a part of ourselves, and Sister Judes was taken away from her. Bringing down Dr. Arden was supposed to redeem her, but now she is more lost than ever. She finally finds peace at the end of the story, not as a nun, not as a bar singer, but as a sort of mother for Thomas and Julia. In her last moments, all the hardships in her life aren't without meaning as she can use them to give life lessons to Julia and Thomas. She accepts Shachath's kiss only after this.

Woman vs Society: This isn't really a story thread so much as a general theme, but I don't think I should leave it out. I don't think it can go unnoticed that Asylum is heavily focused on a womans perspective. Through Lana and Sister Jude's eyes we get a look into womans role in society in the 60's. Lana is put down by her male peers as a reporter, but as she is a woman with great ambition she works through it. Even when reporting the crimes committed against her by Dr. Thredson she isn't taken seriously by the police. Sister Jude is also a woman of ambition, but while Lana shows her ambition openly, Sister Jude works as the shadow of the monsignor Timothy Howard. It's ultimately to her folly as her love for the monsignor blinds her and he takes advantage of her, eventually ruining her. Sister Mary Eunice (non-possessed) is sort of the counterpoint to Lana and Sister Jude. She is completely submissive to Dr. Arden, and her so perceived "innocence" is valued by how much she obeys men, this includes Dr. Arden and to a broader degree, God, who she has given herself over to totally. It's only when the evil spirit/Devil (I'm not sure if it's actually Satan) posseses does she rebel. She rebels against Dr. Arden by being overtly sexual (to his disgust) and rebels against God, the most clear depiction of this is when she rapes the monsignor.   

Now, this is all just my thoughts. I was satisfied with how it ended and have a deep admiration for it.

Wow. That WAS a hell of a write up!

Code:

I'm right there with you on all of it except the "doctors" bit. Most of what you wrote was pure guessing and speculation. I'm amazed that you got all of that out of what we saw. Now, I readily admit that when it comes to TV shows I'm not known for catching the details, so I very well could have missed some key comments/clues/whatever that gave you this information. It was obvious that the "aliens" were not the point. It was the people that they were' interacting with that we are supposed to care about. But I can't help but want to know exactly who or what they are, and why they we're so darn interested in these people. Where did they come from? What do they look like? Why Why Why???
I DO like your conclusions, but they just involve the people. The "aliens" are so out of left field that I feel we are owed a better explanation for their existence.

Dice, it really IS a great show. Very thought provoking, and unlike any other TV show I've ever seen. Give it a shot.

[Starmongoose]

Yeah, the Doctors bit is just extrapolation from the few details we are given about them, but at the same time I can't think of any other explanation for their actions. I won't however believe they were just added for the sake of having aliens in the show. Asylum's themes, imagery and symbolism are all so well thought out, better than Murder House's was, it is unlikely that is the case.

It's not like this sort of thing is without precedent in the series though. The whole of Murder House basically revolved around the baby and how it was some sort of apocalyptic messiah, but the most we see come out of that is three years later when he kills his nanny.  

In other news: The return of the the Great British Menu!

I've got it loaded up on Iplayer, but I need to make some food while I watch it, or all that good looking food will drive me insane with hunger.