 American Horror Story Delicate is back after a 5 month break and I've got all of my thoughts on episode 6 and the season as a whole. As you may recall, part 1 of Delicate left me wanting a lot more. While I did enjoy a lot of the stylistic choices that have been made in the season, I felt like the pacing has been incredibly slow with few developments happening in each episode. And I also had issues with a handful of the performances, namely Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian. However, it seems as though for the most part, fans and critics are not in agreeance with me. As American Horror Story Delicate part 1 held a 77% approval rating from critics throughout those first 5 episodes and in the ratings Delicate pulled off the impossible feat that is building upon the audience of the last season that came before it, something that has not happened with AHS since Freak Show back in 2014. Admittedly though, as the show's ratings get smaller and smaller each year, this becomes a lot easier to do. For instance, Delicate's premiere episode was actually only viewed by about 100,000 more viewers than NYC's premiere episode was. Nonetheless, an increase is an increase and while the season definitely does have some haters, I have seen that a lot of fans are enjoying this season, at least for what it is. Now, one thing I said when part 1 ended was that part 2 would need to drastically pick up the pace and it would also need to double down on its camp and more absurd elements that are at play, i.e. the Ashleys, IO Preacher, the flashbacks, and whatever may be going on with that cat. Those are the things that part 2 will have to do to completely win me over, but again while I do have problems with the season, I just want a lot more from it honestly because I enjoyed the book so much. So let's dive right into episode 6 to see if Delicate is able to turn that ship in the right direction. Firstly, one small detail that I liked about this episode is that it opens with baby Anna who is introduced to us wearing a pink beanie, which is exactly how she is introduced to us in episode 1 of the season. Not only is it a great visual reference, but it also serves as a symbolic restart of the season since this is essentially its second premiere episode. I also like how much the show is changing from the book because not only does it keep me guessing, but it also allows room for the show to be its own thing. Distinct from both the book and the previous seasons of AHS. And while it does feel distinct from previous seasons of AHS, it still does have a charm to some of its humor, performances, and other stylistic choices that are quintessentially American Horror Story. So kudos to Hallie Pfeiffer for knowing when to stick to the book and when to do something more out of left field like the puking PSA or the relationship between Hamish and Siobhan. These types of things are especially at play in this episode, perhaps due to longtime AHS director and executive producer Bradley Becker, who has directed classic episodes from the series like the finale of Murder House, the premiere of Asylum, the dead episode from Coven, orphans from Freak Show, the Charles Manson Colt episode, and the first, and the worst episodes of Apocalypse, sorry to bring that up, but this episode is the first that he has directed of the franchise in 5 years, his last before this being the premiere for AHS 1984. In the first scene of this episode, after the opening titles, we are treated to a brief FaceTime cameo from the Ashleys. The Ashleys are exactly what I'm talking about when I say that this season still has elements to it that are quintessentially AHS. I could nitpick and say that, well Leslie is just playing her character Coco from Apocalypse and Billie is just playing a more confident Chanel No. 3 from Scream Queens, but in what world would I be complaining about having more Chanel No. 3 or Coco? They're both great comedic relief characters in their respective shows, and both characters play very well to their actors' natural comedic strengths, so it makes sense why they work so well in this show and together. Let's not act like this formula is not tried and tested, because once you add Chavon to the mix of the Ashleys, they essentially become the Chanel's with Chavon as Chanel and Ashley No. 1, as Chanel No. 3, and Ashley No. 2, as Chanel No. 5. And if that makes zero sense to you, just know that it's because I'm watching a lot of Scream Queens currently for Part 2 of my Scream Queens video, so some Scream Queens references may make their way into the rest of these delicate reviews quite a bit. But anyways, I will take Scream Queens living on in any way, shape, or form, even if it's just the Ashleys. Later on in the episode, we get more bullshit with the dolls, which Nicolette at one point says look like Anna. These dolls have never been a big thing in my mind, but I've never thought that they looked like Emma Roberts, and that's not a problem by any means, but imagine how shocked I was when I heard Emma Roberts describe the lengths that the AHS production team went to get these dolls to look like her. Anyways, these dolls lead to an incredibly dumb scene in this episode where Anna maps out on her phone every location where she's found one of these dolls, and it all culminates with her drawing a pentagram over the map. It made zero sense, but whether intentional or not, it was hilarious. Although not as many as previous episodes, this episode does have some really weird tonal moments like these, for example. And as absurd as the affair between Hamish and Siobhan seemed at first, in this episode it actually gave us one of the strongest scenes of the episode, with arguably Kim K's best performance of the season so far. Dominic Burgess is great in this scene as well, playing an over-the-top and emotionally charged Hamish in what is unfortunately his final scene before his character got killed off in this episode. He's not the only one who was mercilessly written out of the conflicts this episode, as Virginia II was seemingly murdered despite her death seeming self-inflicted at face value. First Babette, then Hamish, and now Virginia. These quirky yet compelling side characters are really starting to drop like flies. Towards the end of the episode, Anna's overzealous superfan from the Golden Globes returns to mostly re-enact that exact scene from episode 2, but this time it's much more realistic, demented, and violent. I don't know if it's the different directors or if they intentionally wanted the first one to feel more like a dream and this one to be more grounded in reality, or perhaps they saw people make fun of how gently the superfan character falls in that first rendition of this scene. And so for this scene they really wanted to stick it to those haters and let them know that they know how to make someone fall really hard. No matter what it is, this scene worked for me and in comparison to the first rendition, this sequel scene was much more effective. Plus, the scene goes on much longer and guest star Ashley Atkinson absolutely kills it. One last note before I bring it to a conclusion is that this episode featured absolutely no screen time for Dennis O'Hare, which again just goes along with my previous critique that this character doesn't give him much if any to really do for most of the season. While I am happy to see him in this season, I just wish there was more of him. Overall, this episode had a good mix of the things that I am liking about the season and a sprinkle of the things that I'm not the biggest fan of. But overall to me, it accomplished the two things that I stated at the start of this video that this second half of the season would need to do. For one, it picked up the pace. Things are finally falling into place and I can see a resolution in sight. And for two, it had those campy moments that added a lot of the AHS flair to the source material. This episode gave us small doses of the ash leaves of IO Preacher and overall a solid array of performances from everybody. Part one had a lot of negativity surrounding it. The production ignored the writer strike and continued filming during it, which is not only a moral issue, but it seemed to have played a hand in the quality of those episodes in my opinion. And also with Emma Roberts' own on set unprofessionalism coming to light at that exact time. The vibes were definitely not ideal going into part one. Not to say that those issues are no longer issues, they are. But having some distance from all of that allows me to see what there is to like about the season and what it is trying to deliver. It's not perfect and I'm definitely having to do a lot of separating the art from the artist, but this episode at the very least was a lot of fun. I love American Horror Story season and it's unprecedented to have AHS season in April of all months and I am enjoying the season more and more as it goes on. It definitely has some unique quirks about it like that damn photograph or this episode's pentagram scene, but I'm just gonna let myself have fun with these remaining three episodes after this because this season is proving to be a new evolution for the series. It's not what it once was, who knows if it ever will be again, but what it is still has a lot to enjoy about it and I'd be lying if I said this episode wasn't incredibly entertaining as was the trailer for the season to come. So make sure you are subscribed for the rest of my delicate coverage, leave this video like if you've made it this far and if you want to watch my book to show comparison for this episode, consider becoming one of my channel members for just $1.99 a month. That's where you can see all of Delicate Part 2's book to show comparisons as well as some other member exclusive uploads like these ones on your screen right here. And with that, thank you so much for watching and I will see you next week with another review.