 American Horror Story Delicate Part 1 has wrapped up and while we wait for the cast and crew to get back to working on Part 2, let's take a look back on all that has gone down in the season so far and let's just say I have conflicting thoughts. Let's start with the opening scene of the season which left me with an underwhelming feeling that I've not really been able to fully shake. It's the scene where Anna encounters an intruder in her bed and clumsily chases her out of her apartment. For me it just seemed like a really underwhelming sequence to start the season with and the end result seemed significantly more silly and less unsettling as the scene that played out in the book. I won't spend a lot of this review comparing the show to the book because I've already done an entire video comparing the book to the show which you should totally check out by the way once you're done with this video but nonetheless this scene felt like a very weak way to start. The title sequence this season though is really strong honestly. I'm not big on a couple of the CGI shots in the title sequence but the red color scheme, the metallic lettering and like 90% of the shots that are in the title sequence are really strong and I may not think it competes with some of the best title sequences of the series but I would say that there's definitely two or three that are worse than this one. Then as the episode goes on we get to spend more time with the characters of Anna and Dex and we start to get a sense of their relationship. I don't always see chemistry between these two to be completely honest and especially in this first episode it's really hard for me to believe that these two characters are a couple. The scene in this episode where they are discussing baby names is just so uncomfortable and even their body language just seems very off and weird at a point in the story where it shouldn't. Obviously as the season progresses Anna has reasons to be distant towards Dex but this weird conversation with forced laughter shouldn't have been their starting point. I hate to be negative really and I want to give this crew some benefit of the doubt considering how closely this production was to the onset of the writer strike. I would not be surprised if some of these scripts would have undergone significant revisions and rewrites if production did not start just a week or so before the writer strike started. And while of course I do have mixed feelings about the continuing of production during the writer strike and you know all my thoughts on that based on my news videos over the summer and I won't dwell on that here so with that said I do think that there are some issues with the first episode when it comes to writing. For one the character of Anna feels incredibly under defined to me. We never know Anna's true emotions and her wants seem to change at the flip of a coin. Her want for a successful pregnancy is presented as such a large part of her character but then time and time again she goes against doctors orders and the show doesn't do enough to explore why Anna may be shifting her priorities from a baby to an oscar. She is an unreliable narrator with constantly changing priorities and she is given almost all of the screen time in these first three episodes. Following an unreliable narrator can get exhausting and even annoying when you are never given relief from their perspective. In contrast American Horror Story Hotel balances the chaotic and ungrounded John Lowe storyline with other conflicts that have more concrete implications on the story like everything that goes on in that season regarding the Countess. And while around episode four of Delicate the season does begin to incorporate scenes centered on characters that aren't Anna episodes one through three do not have a single scene that is not focused on Anna and so much of what Anna is experiencing in these scenes could be seen as nothing more than a hallucination. And I think in large part due to Anna being underdeveloped in this season's scripts I have some problems with Emma Roberts performance. You've heard me praise Emma Roberts time and time again on this channel so believe me when I say that I know she can play a grounded realistic character unlike the mean girl stereotype that she is often pigeonholed into. Brooke Thompson in AHS 1984 to me was Emma's defining role in this series. So with my own confidence in her acting abilities I am a bit thrown off that I am struggling so much to connect with her as Anna. This is just my opinion and opinions are subjective but to me I think it comes down to a fumbled attempt of adapting the book character of Anna Alcott who in the book communicates all of her inner thoughts to the reader but in the show Anna rarely gets any chance to communicate in inner dialogue or to even state a clear priority on whether or not she wants to have a baby or an Oscar more. And in that same regard the show is fundamentally changing book Anna's clearly defined priority which was that she would definitely put her career on the line for a safe and successful pregnancy. Moving on though one element that is firing on all cylinders this season is the costuming the hair and the makeup as well as the production design. I consistently love Ivy's preachers and Siobhan's costumes hair and makeup and 99% of Anna's as well. The season definitely has a clear aesthetic that I think feels unlike anything American Horror Story has done before. While the aesthetic is clear I do think that the cinematography of the season tends to be a bit too understated for my tastes but don't get me wrong this season does have a lot of strong visuals but I definitely think that this is a season that could have really benefited from some more indulgence in visuals that are not grounded in reality especially since so much of the story is not grounded in reality. Think back to AHS hotel or AHS murder house and yes you may not like the constantly moving dreamlike cinematography of those seasons but I think AHS delicate could really benefit from committing to a similar visual strategy. Again that's completely subjective but to me it feels like a missed opportunity considering with how dreamlike and hallucinatory a lot of the season is but nonetheless delicate does make a lot of strong visual choices that I do love and the season looks especially incredible when it incorporates elements of the city like during exterior scenes or in Siobhan's office with the ginormous windows. In this first episode we really only get to know Anna, Dex, Dr. Hill and Siobhan. Dennis O'Hare as Dr. Hill is good but I'm getting a little tired of how this show keeps under utilizing Dennis O'Hare. It feels like after they gave him his strongest role in hotel they've since only given him minor roles without any big character moments and I think he deserves to be given a role that he can sink his teeth into as much as he was able to for Liz Taylor especially considering he's one of the only original American Horror Story cast members that is still making regular appearances in the show and he's the actor in this season at least with the longest history with the show so I do think he is good in the season but I wish his role could be heightened to the levels that I know he could deliver at. Kim Kardashian as Siobhan Walsh is not as bad as you think she's going to be in this season and sure she does have a few moments of awkward line delivery but she's honestly a scene stealer and provides a similar comedic relief that is usually only reserved for characters played by Leslie Grossman. Episode one also introduces Talia and Theo and then Talia shows up one more time before the two of them completely disappear from this half of the season entirely and in this episode there's the scene where Anna is the sole guest on Andy Cohen and the scene is just honestly so bad to me that it makes me laugh it feels like both Andy Cohen and Emma Roberts are performing this scene like there's a gun to their head and yes it does intentionally venture into the unsettling territory towards the end all of it just completely reads as comedy to me. While episode one impressed me visually I was left pretty underwhelmed with the story and some of the performances in the episode so unfortunately I would give this episode five preachers out of 10 but let's move on to episode two Rockabye. These first couple of episodes have elements of understated camp that I love like this moment where Anna sees Ivy across the street but when she looks again she sees a toddler wearing a toddler version of Ivy's costume that was a small but great moment that makes me wish these episodes indulged a bit more in that camp because later on in the season the camp truly takes center stage and I think it improves the season for the better and in another instance of Anna and Dex's weird chemistry this season the scene in episode two when they take the pregnancy test Dex is giving off a shady vibe from the start so once he eventually gets distracted by a phone call from Sonia it's not that dramatic of a shift. Emma on the other hand is really good in this scene and it's a rare moment in the season where I can actually feel the character of Anna's want to be a mother but I think Dex's shift of focus from Anna to Sonia would have had a bigger impact if Dex ever put on a bigger show of affection and excitement for Anna that then could be quickly pushed aside for a call from Sonia. The character of Babette is introduced in this episode and she proposes a really interesting angle to Anna's character how does she feel about growing older in Hollywood and competing against someone so young for the same Oscar. The show however never lets Anna divulge these feelings. I wish we got more best friend scenes between Siobhan and Anna where Anna could actually express these types of things but even those scenes that we do get where Anna expresses doubts about Dex or worries about her image to Siobhan. Siobhan is always quick to shut Anna up and she never validates any of the things that Anna brings up so the majority of Anna's thoughts about Dex, Babette, and everything going on is communicated only with Anna's facial expression. Then in the episode there is a sequence of memorable scenes that take place at the Gotham Awards where again the hair, makeup, and costuming are firing on all cylinders. The scene where Anna encounters slash hallucinates an overzealous fan is both unsettling and unintentionally funny. Then Anna's acceptance speech is just so peculiar and gross that it will probably be ingrained in my brain forever. I do wish that especially during these scenes when Anna is hallucinating that we had those moments of fluid or disorienting camera work. This vomit gate scene specifically could have been really amped up if the visuals were less grounded and more heightened. When the show starts to deviate from the book to me it starts to come into its own for the better. With a dramatic yet silly set piece of the Gotham Awards episode 2 gains some footing but Hallie Pfeiffer and Emma Roberts are still struggling to give Anna an identity. So I would give episode 2 6 preachers out of 10. Like I said the first three episodes feature zero scenes without the character of Anna and episode 3 in particular features almost no scenes that are grounded in any reliable sense of reality. This episode is kind of just a series of hallucinations separated by incomprehensible time jumps. Anna sees preacher in a tree, she finds satanic tunnels under the basement, she experiences a creepy encounter at the pharmacy and all of these events happen when Anna is alone with no witnesses. Only at the end of this episode does Kamal appear to have seen Miss Preacher but that is the only event in this episode that the audience can truly trust actually happened. And I don't love these lapses in time that are introduced in this episode, I think it further alienates the audience who already has had to follow this unreliable narrator for two episodes prior. Episode 3 is where we also finally get to meet Nicolette, the character that MJ Rodriguez is playing this season. And while it is great to finally see MJ in AHS, I think the season is criminally underutilizing her character. To me it seems obvious that they are setting up a twist on the character of Nicolette but instead of presenting us with one defined character only to later flip our understanding of her, the show is instead just teasing the full scope of her character which hasn't been revealed to us yet. And the result is unfortunately that MJ isn't being given full reigns to tear up the scenery. Characters like Margaret Booth, Donna Chambers, or Mr. Jingles come to mind. These are all characters that were clearly defined one way at the start of the season but by the end of the season we discovered that what we thought we knew about them was actually a complete fabrication. Nicolette on the other hand hasn't really been clearly defined. She's this house manager with very unclear and suspicious motives so I can't imagine it'll be very dramatic once the twist on her character is eventually revealed since we don't have a clear understanding of her character to begin with. While Anna's hallucinations in episode three provide for more eye-catching visuals and food for fan theories, it feels like the story comes to a halt in this episode in favor of an indulgence in fantasy with little to no plot progression. So I would give this episode five preachers out of ten. Moving on to episode four which I think is potentially a turning point for this season. While Delicate has had elements of camp in previous episodes like I've said, with some of its costumes and performances, episode four for me was when the season really indulged in the camp factor that is so ingrained in AHS. And it really helped breathe light into a season that was starting to get lost in a melodramatic pool of ambiguity. I love the Queen Mary flashback in this episode even with how silly it becomes with the Ashleys and I think the season was long overdue for some classic AHS comedic relief and the Ashleys and their reel definitely delivered that in this episode. The season was also overdue for some flashbacks, something that is integral to any AHS season and something that was also integral to the book. It's actually crazy to me that it took four episodes for the show to start utilizing these flashbacks that happen so frequently in the book. At this point in the season though, I've given up trying to understand this TV show version of Anna Alcott so I just have to laugh when she is uncharacteristically rude to Nicolette as she sneaks a dead raccoon into the basement to tuck it into a crib. But in reality I'm just as unconvinced on who this character is as ever. With the Queen Mary flashback and the introduction of Virginia, we finally have some scenes that aren't centered on Anna and thus are grounded in a more concrete form of reality. That aside, the Virginia scenes are really engaging because Debra Monk is giving a great performance and the writing is only giving us just enough to form our own theories in our minds. And then in another non-Anna scene and completely out of left field, Siobhan and Hamish's affair is revealed to us. This scene threw me off, made me laugh and is another example of this episode going all in on the campiness that is ingrained in the DNA of AHS. This is immediately followed by Anna's reel which is geniusly shot, cleverly written, and perhaps the defining moment of part one of this season. Emma's great in the reel too, but it may be because it's the first time this season has allowed her to venture into the Madison Montgomery or Chanel territories. This episode would definitely be my pick of the litter of this half season with a flashback to the 16th century, a satirical reel, the introduction of Billy Lord and Leslie Grossman's characters, but the unsteady foundation of this season is still leaving me wanting more out of these main characters. So I give episode four seven preachers out of ten. Now let's talk the mid-season finale preach. Firstly, I like how the preacher flashback scene leaves a lot up to interpretation. I've now watched this scene three times and I think I've interpreted it three different ways each time. So I really hope that the show eventually revisits this flashback to fully color in all of its missing context. I'm also glad that in episodes four and five at least the show gives enough screen time to flesh out Dex and Virginia's relationship as Virginia seems like a complex and layered character and these scenes with her and Dex give much needed depth to Dex, who in the first three episodes was a pretty shallow guy with few levels. Babette was a fun character who was brought back into the fold in this episode, but I have to say she feels completely underutilized. Not only does the ageism in Hollywood angle remain understated, but the character of Babette gets killed off at the end of this episode with just only those couple of scenes where she briefly interacts with Anna. Then there are the scenes with Virginia and IO preacher and it's really the first time we get to see preachers speak aside from a brief sentence or two and now seeing this performance in its full capacity. I love Julie White and the show's portrayal of IO preacher and I really hope she continues to get explored in more depth and with more dialogue in part two. Episode five is a bit front-loaded with preachers backstory at the top of the episode providing more intrigue than anything that followed, but with Anna and Dex's relationship at odds and a mysterious death at the end, episode five provides enough of a cliffhanger to keep me thinking over this potentially long mid-season break. So I give episode five preach six preachers out of ten. Although this season's slow and ungrounded start left me wanting more concrete conflict and horror, these early episodes displayed a strong visual style that stands on its own in terms of cinematography, costuming, hair and makeup. Episode four presented a potential turning point in the season with an increased indulgence in camp and satire that, if continued with in part two, could save the season from its unfortunately weak performances and inconsistent writing. I know this review skewed negative, but I am still having a lot of fun with this season and I'm really into a lot of the things that the season has on the table. The eternal Ashleys, demon babies, characters with ulterior motives, satanism, and who knows what else part two has in store for us. It's been so fun covering part one of this season. Be sure to check out my two other videos I just did on the season. One is a book to show comparison laying out every difference between the show and its source material. And the second is every easter egg and reference that I found in this half of the season. And with that, subscribe for more content and I will see you guys next time.