Tate Langdon and the First Season of American Horror Story
I'm sure this won't be the last time I talk about this; hell, I've been rambling on Twitter since I started my rewatch that I find it incredibly strange that nobody realized who Tate was, or even mentioned, "huh, that's weird, that name is... hm...", especially given how high the body count was. True, there were five library kids, but the plaque in the library lists a whole lot more.
But that's not really what I wanted to talk about today. I've beat that horse to death on Twitter, first mentioning that it was kind of weird that Violet didn't realize (especially given her interests of the macabre), and then realizing, oh wait, holy shit, it's weird that her father didn't realize anything was up. I go into that all on Twitter, but what I really wanted to talk about today was how pissed I am that I still really, really like Tate.
This is also something I've mentioned on Twitter. How much I hate that, every time I rewatch the first season, I'm reminded of how much I love Tate. And every time, I start out the season knowing that I really should not be liking Tate this much, and then I keep watching and, shit, there it is.
I can't really explain why. Okay, part of it is definitely that Evan Peters as Tate is kind of extremely adorable. And he comes off, at least in parts, as a pretty sweet guy, if a little dark. Sure, he rapes Violet's mom, fathers the Antichrist, and slaughtered a bunch of kids at a Columbine-esque school shooting (complete with the main action taking place in the library with a pump-action shotgun, and also a ton of other notes from the AHS wiki that I did not catch). This is terrible. I know that Tate is terrible.
But every time I get caught in the same trap. Every time I go in not wanting to love Tate, and every time it happens all over again. I'm kind of at the point of acceptance; I've got a coffee mug from Hot Topic with Tate on it, and I'm pretty sure freshman year I had a poster (Don't know what happened to the poster, but I kind of wish I'd kept a better eye on it). Because the thing is, no matter how the rest of the series went, the first season of American Horror Story is really fucking good. It's got the constant theme (motherhood, by the way; not really what one would expect, but that's what's going on) running underneath everything, it's got fascinating characters, everything ties in perfectly. There might be a few inconsistencies here or there, but it's a fantastic season, and it's a good thing that they started off with this one. Because I do love Asylum and Coven (Freak Show I've got to rewatch, Hotel I never finished, but I am planning on it), but they pale in comparison to Murder House.
But that's not really what I wanted to talk about today. I've beat that horse to death on Twitter, first mentioning that it was kind of weird that Violet didn't realize (especially given her interests of the macabre), and then realizing, oh wait, holy shit, it's weird that her father didn't realize anything was up. I go into that all on Twitter, but what I really wanted to talk about today was how pissed I am that I still really, really like Tate.
This is also something I've mentioned on Twitter. How much I hate that, every time I rewatch the first season, I'm reminded of how much I love Tate. And every time, I start out the season knowing that I really should not be liking Tate this much, and then I keep watching and, shit, there it is.
I can't really explain why. Okay, part of it is definitely that Evan Peters as Tate is kind of extremely adorable. And he comes off, at least in parts, as a pretty sweet guy, if a little dark. Sure, he rapes Violet's mom, fathers the Antichrist, and slaughtered a bunch of kids at a Columbine-esque school shooting (complete with the main action taking place in the library with a pump-action shotgun, and also a ton of other notes from the AHS wiki that I did not catch). This is terrible. I know that Tate is terrible.
But every time I get caught in the same trap. Every time I go in not wanting to love Tate, and every time it happens all over again. I'm kind of at the point of acceptance; I've got a coffee mug from Hot Topic with Tate on it, and I'm pretty sure freshman year I had a poster (Don't know what happened to the poster, but I kind of wish I'd kept a better eye on it). Because the thing is, no matter how the rest of the series went, the first season of American Horror Story is really fucking good. It's got the constant theme (motherhood, by the way; not really what one would expect, but that's what's going on) running underneath everything, it's got fascinating characters, everything ties in perfectly. There might be a few inconsistencies here or there, but it's a fantastic season, and it's a good thing that they started off with this one. Because I do love Asylum and Coven (Freak Show I've got to rewatch, Hotel I never finished, but I am planning on it), but they pale in comparison to Murder House.
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