AHS: Delicate can't escape Ryan Murphy

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https://decider.com/2023/10/19/ameri...s-ryan-murphy/

By Raven Brunner @raventbrunner
Published Oct. 19, 2023, 3:57 p.m. ET

Did American Horror Story: Delicate leave you underwhelmed? There are several likely reasons why: its weird release schedule to account for production getting shut down amid the SAG-AFTRA strike; or its reliance on lukewarm source material. But there’s a bigger, glaring cause: the departure of longtime showrunner and creator Ryan Murphy.

Ryan Murphy, I am on my knees begging you to please come back to American Horror Story.

Now, I’ll be transparent, I didn’t entirely hate the new season. Delicate was fine on its own, though it severely underdelivered as an installment of American Horror Story, an anthology series that typically oozes confidence in its big scares and deep sensuality.

Season 12 was not only sexless but perhaps even worse, boring. The season was about Anna Victoria Alcott (Emma Roberts), an actor, and her struggles with fertility amid her breakthrough movie role that has garnered major award show buzz. Much like the story it’s based on, Delicate Condition by Danielle Rollins, Anna is gaslit by those around her as she insists she’s being stalked by a supernatural cult, who are seemingly interested in taking her baby.

The season packed a whole lot of camp, which was enjoyable and extremely a la Murphy. He’s a man who has single-handedly revived the careers of many actors past their prime, and often intertwines musical numbers and random nonsense in his most basic storylines. Let us never forget Sarah Paulson’s two-headed twins crooning “Criminal” by Fiona Apple while thirsting over a lobster-handed charmer far out of her league, or Jessica Lange singing a rendition of Shirley Ellis’s “The Name Game” during her character’s psychotic break. While these scenes often felt out of place, it never mattered because of the strong foundation of their respective seasons.

Delicate never earned that benefit of the doubt. Where the season went wrong is that its greatest moments were its campiest scenes, turning the show from a horrific romp to a cheap laughfest. Viewers tuned in weekly to see what Kim K’s snappy publicist character was getting up to (or which real-life viral event she’s referenced) or the madness Anna says during her press tour – like when she said she’d **** Bravo’s Tom Sandoval. Viewers failed to express interest in the growing plot, which was stretched far too thin over the course of the five super-short episodes that nevertheless ran an hour each including commercials. Contrast that with previous seasons that often had episodes clocking in at 90 minutes. And yet Delicate felt bloated, and previous seasons have been packed with scares.

This brings me to my next concern. The release schedule. The season is divided into two parts, but the first part didn’t lay out enough plot to maintain interest. The only jaw-dropping moment was when a usually-glam Emma Roberts chomped down on a dead raccoon that she had adopted as her child.

Reflecting on the five episodes that aired before the anticipated six to 12-month wait, they feel like a Frankensteined season with spooks – if they can even be called that – dispersed unevenly and new perspectives introduced too late in the season. It’s almost as if the first five episodes were, in fact, constructed to be the first three episodes, but stretched ridiculously thin to meet whatever deadlines the network placed on them.

We have long given Murphy a hard time, but much like other powerful showrunners, such as Mike Flanagan and Shonda Rhimes, he has developed a niche (fast, gay, sexy, and topical) and built a reliable audience. When both factors are combined with his sharp writing — in part, thanks to his longtime collaborators Brad Falchuk, James Wong, and more — it’s a foolproof result. One that Feiffer, credited as the writer on all five episodes, has failed to live up to.

With Delicate clocking in as one of the lowest rated (per Rotten Tomatoes) seasons with a mere 12 reviews — a huge decrease from the first season’s 147 reviews — it’s clear that the show hasn’t only dipped in quality, but also in relevancy. Only Murphy can guarantee an epic return for Season 13 and a healthy continuation of the beloved show. Otherwise, the series has dug its own grave.