 Without even one trailer, AHS NYC premiered its first two episodes last Wednesday on FX, and today I'm going to tell you my thoughts, some easter eggs I caught, including some references to past seasons, and some theories about where these storylines may be heading. So stay tuned for all of that, and this year I'm going to be doing things a little bit differently. I'm going to start off with all of the easter eggs and references I found in both episodes 1 and 2, since I know that's why a lot of you are here. And then after that I will get into my reviews and thoughts for episode 1 and 2 separately, and we'll close off the video with some of my speculation for what is to come. And since it is now official that FX will be releasing two episodes of AHS NYC every week, I will also be reviewing two episodes of AHS NYC every week in one video, just like this video you're seeing right now for the next five weeks. So without further ado, let's get into the easter eggs and references in episode 1, Something's Coming. Episode 1 partakes in the dead deer trope that is common in horror films like Get Out, and could also be a reference to when the first episode of AHS Double Feature last year also partook in the very same trope. This trope of roadkill as ominous foreshadowing for what is to come traces as early back as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and is still going strong with modern instances with gems like Karen Kusama's The Invitation. So in episode 1, Gino references the Phil Donahue show, which aired from 1970 to 1996. And then at the start of episode 2, when Gino is being held captive in Mr. Whitley's apartment, we can see 4 VHS tapes next to the TV. The films in Mr. Whitley's library are Coma, the main event, Yanks, and Can't Stop the Music. Coma was released in 1978 and was directed by Michael Crichton, and is about sinister occurrences at a hospital where patients are inexplicably entering Coma's and being shipped to mysterious facilities. Now I haven't seen any of these films on Mr. Whitley's shelf, but I'd guess that the inclusion of this film in the episode is meant to point us towards a larger conspiracy being at hand with this virus that Dr. Hannah is monitoring, or even a wider conspiracy with the murders that are occurring in New York. The end of episode 2 points us directly in that direction with France meeting with Hannah, so having this clue at the very start of episode 2 does seem intentional to me. But the next tape on his shelf is the main event from 1979, which is a film where Barbara Streisand learns to box. Again, never seen this film, but I think this one is more of a clue to who Mr. Whitley is as a person, and I think it's safe to say he's a Streisand fan. Next on his shelf is a movie called Yanks, which is about a US soldier fighting in World War II who also falls in love for a married British woman. Just like the last one, this one seems more like a hint towards Mr. Whitley's character rather than a hint towards the season as a whole, and Mr. Whitley we know is a veteran of some sort, and I presume we will learn much more about his past in the armed forces in the season to come. Lastly, Mr. Whitley has a copy of Can't Stop the Music, which is a loose biopic about the village people starring the village people. The village people are a disco group with hits like Macho Man and YMCA. They had a largely gay fan base in the 70s and 80s, and their name is a reference to a place in New York City, Greenwich Village in Manhattan, which is known as a neighborhood with a largely queer population. So it's all tying in, it's all making sense to paint a picture of Mr. Whitley's upbringing and his, the culture that he interacts with. Later in the episode when Gino is flipping through potential photos for the cover story, he stops on a photo of Marsha P. Johnson. Marsha P. Johnson was an activist who fought for gay liberation and AIDS awareness in New York City across the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s until her untimely passing. She is most commonly known for being a notable figure at the forefront of the Stonewall riots. Very intriguing to see how NYC continues to interact with the gay history of New York at this time. Also in episode 2 when Gino recounts his abduction and release by Mr. Whitley, the women that come to his rescue are shown wearing angel wings. While it is likely a hallucination from the drugs lingering in Gino's system, angels have made some other notable appearances in American Horror Story. Michael Langdon similarly hallucinates an angel in Apocalypse, and of course Asylum's Angel of Death character played by Francis Conroy, who appeared to many characters throughout Asylum, serving almost as a grim reaper, providing them a final kiss of death. And finally, my last Easter egg that I have for you today comes at the end of the episode, when Fran meets Hannah in Central Park and claims that the US government is responsible for the virus that's been infecting the local deer population. If what Fran is saying turns out to be true, this opens the door for a possible connection to the second part of double feature, Death Valley. In Death Valley, many notorious conspiracy theories are brought to life like government UFO coverups, the Kennedy assassination, and the death of Marilyn Monroe. So if the government is actually behind any of the atrocities at play in NYC this season, including this virus, it would be very par for the course based on where AHS left us last season. But personally, I hope NYC strays as far away from Death Valley as possible. Alright so those are the Easter eggs and references that I caught in episodes 1 and 2. Let me know any that I missed in the comments below, but now let's just get into my review. Let me just start by saying, this is one of the slower starts that we've gotten to a season. A lot of the first two episodes are exposition and there are very few developments to what is presented at the start of the first episode by the end of that first episode. And with that being said, I think the setting, characters, and plotlines introduced in both of the episodes have a ton of promise. And even though the episodes do have moments where I felt like they were potentially retreading ground that they covered in seasons like Hotel and Double Feature, for the most part it felt very fresh to AHS. I've seen a handful of people say that it just doesn't feel like AHS and I get that. It's hard to imagine a season with very few AHS alums, but I think AHS 1984 had a lot of these same critiques early on, but at the end of the day, I had a great time with 1984 and I know a lot of you guys did too. Even without our favorite cast members, so I'm keeping an open mind and who knows who will guest star in these 10 episodes. Episode 1 entitled Something's Coming was written by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, our series creators who have written every single AHS premiere episode except for Season 2's Asylum. The episode is directed by John J. Gray, a long time producer for AHS and recent director for some episodes in 1984 and Double Feature including fan favorite episode Gaslight from last season. In episode 1 we meet our characters almost one by one and firstly I want to talk about who I'm perceiving as the main character this season, Gino, played by Joe Mantello. I want to praise Joe Mantello for a moment, I think he had a great performance and I think his character of a gay reporter who is enraged by the silence surrounding these murders is incredibly compelling and a great driving force for this season's story. I just recently watched Ryan Murphy's The Watcher on Netflix and Joe has a small but memorable role in that miniseries, but I'm now seeing his full talent on display in a leading role and I think he's a very valuable addition to the cast this season. Also I'm getting over a cold so if you notice that in my voice, apologies. We meet Sandra Bernhardt's character Fran next and although her scenes are minimal, her character is already a great addition to the dynamics at play this season. I fell in love with Sandra for her role on Pose and I think her delivery sometimes can be a bit blunt but that is exactly the type of delivery that this character needs and I think it's pretty clear that this role was written for Sandra Bernhardt. Russell Tovey's character Patrick fits right in on this cast but I'll be honest and say I wasn't completely sold on his performance in parts of the episode. Frankly I'm not quite buying Geno and Patrick's relationship especially with the whiplash we got from their first scene together that almost ends in their breakup. Clearly they don't trust each other and they're not getting what they want out of their relationship but it's hard for me to see how they even ended up together in the first place. But nonetheless their relationship being on the rocks is believable at the very least. I mean they're trying to sell the contrast of an out-and-proud reporter dating a closeted cop. Obviously there will be conflict but my main issue is the lack of chemistry between the two. Something that doesn't help this is that the dialogue is at its worst in their shared scenes together in the first episode. In these first two episodes I didn't have huge issues with the dialogue especially compared to last season but there were definitely some rough spots and I felt like the scenes between Patrick and Geno accounted for most of my issues. As they're separate characters though as I said I love Joe Mantello's performance of Geno and I think his passion is palpable which makes him the perfect lens for us as an audience to get to the bottom of these murders alongside him. While I don't dig Patrick as a character just yet his character is a ripe for development and I hope that we see that this season. In this first episode the character of Big Daddy is painted to be a potential main antagonist in this season but across episodes one and two it's clear that there are much larger threats at play than this one man in a leather mask so I'm not gonna spend too much time dissecting Big Daddy. Charlie Carver's Adam doesn't really stand out too much to me just yet I just haven't really picked up on his character's personality or any unique traits when compared to the other white male characters of which there are a lot of this season. I loved the bath house setting as a concept especially with live performances by Patty Lappone's character Cappy. I hope this setting is used more I think it would be a great set piece for some horror sequences and I loved Patty's performance in these episodes even though they were scarce and limited only to musical performances but I wonder what else there is to Kathy as a character. Isaac Powell's Theo definitely feels like a step up from his character in double feature but just like Adam and Patrick I'm not incredibly attached to Theo just yet. The episode is only 42 minutes but it feels longer thanks to lengthy scenes with heavy dialogue as we tediously meet our cast of characters. This felt similar to how hotel started honestly but I loved hotel it turned out to be one of my favorite seasons despite its slower pace. A slow pace isn't necessarily a bad thing to me I do feel like I'm getting to know these characters in NYC a bit deeper than say in 1984 where we learned about our characters through flashbacks amidst their chaotic night of bloodshed at Camp Redwood. That being said I would have liked a little more thrilling scenes in episode 1 but it checked all the boxes for me in terms of psychological horror. Zachary Quinto plays Sam another villain this season. We know Zachary plays a villain well and his character this season is almost as creepy and unnerving as Dr. Oliver Threadson was. I also enjoyed how they ended this episode with a silly sequence with transitions from the steamy bath house to the killing of the deer population. Overall I would give episode 1 something's coming 7 kathies out of 10. Now let's talk episode 2 thank you for your service. In both episodes we don't really see much of Leslie Grossman's character Barbara. We learn she's Patrick's ex-wife and she's now bringing secrets of Patrick's past into his current relationship with Gino but I am intrigued on how she will continue to become more central in the season's conflicts. Her role definitely seems more serious than her previous roles in AHS and I'm excited to see Leslie continue to flex some of her dramatic acting skills that we saw a peek of in 1984 and Colt. In this episode the horror is a bit more apparent than in the first specifically with Gino's torture scene at the hands of Mr. Whiteley which I almost couldn't bear to watch but again I think the season will lean into psychological horror a bit more similar to Hotel but the line that Mr. Whiteley says to Gino that Gino later repeats to Patrick you can tell the police about me they'll do nothing they don't want to that's the real horror that Gino faces immediately after being released from his captor and for me that theme is very effective. The visuals in both episodes are great I thought last season double feature had some of the strongest visuals the series has seen since the first five seasons but I am happy to say that NYC is delivering some rich and dynamic cinematography as well. The neon lighting of the city the visual motifs with the angels and hallucinations the swooping crane shots the long takes they're all giving me the visual substance that I'm craving where the plot is somewhat lacking the visuals inject some palpable AHS magic into these episodes no complaints with the visuals so far. They saved the title sequence this year for episode two and there's some interesting images but all in all it doesn't really feel particularly remarkable to me when compared to the title sequences of the past. Episode two continues with Joe Mantello being our main character and we explore his rage against Patrick in the NYPD following his abduction. That rage is portrayed very well and once again MVP is Joe Mantello so far this season for me. I also enjoyed the scene with Adam and Morris in the subway car and I would love some more horror sequences in the subway. Like the bath house in episode one episode two also introduced a strong new setting and that was the candlelit party that Adam and Morris attend with cats everywhere and live performers and party goers dressed in 17th century wardrobe. The vibes there were immaculate speaking of Morris played by Kyle Beltran although he doesn't have much to do just yet I do hope he becomes more integral to the plot. By the end of the episode it is revealed that the leather figure known as Big Daddy is working for Sam and Sam is in fact a sadistic criminal kidnapping gay man in the city as well. There is no current indication that Sam and Dr. Whiteley are even aware of each other's presence so I imagine having two potential serial killers targeting gay men in the streets might throw Geno's investigation off the rails. I'm intrigued to see where this goes and to what extent Sam is responsible for these murders and likewise Dr. Whiteley and Big Daddy like I'm intrigued by the mystery of it all. Overall the episode raises the stakes for our characters and I honestly like where the season is going. I'm definitely giving it the benefit of the doubt after last season but I am here for AHS NYC thus far. So I give episode two thank you for your service seven kathies out of ten as well. Alright before I leave you let's talk some of my additional speculation and things to think about over these next five weeks. For me there are three big questions that AHS NYC has posed thus far. What is this mysterious virus? Who is Mr. Whiteley? And what is Patrick hiding? It's clear that this season has put a few threats on the map. We have Sam, we have Mr. Whiteley and we have this mysterious virus that Dr. Hannah is currently monitoring. Also it's 1981 which means historically the AIDS epidemic is on the horizon and it's not clear whether or not the season will deal with that real life epidemic or simply draw parallels to the history with a serial killer or serial killers targeting queer people in New York. There's also a clear setup for Dr. Hannah's virus becoming transmissible to humans and based on some set leaks which show mutated monstrous figures in the streets of New York I think this virus may turn out to be a larger threat to our main characters than Sam and Mr. Whiteley soon enough. Well there you have it that is my review and breakdown of American Horror Story NYC's first two episodes. Be sure to let me know all of your thoughts and theories in the comments below. Thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you next time.