PALE wastes no time in jumping right into it's pseudo-vampire story with the Gardner trio quickly morphing into the Torrances a la The Shining. Harry has become addicted to the black pills and is obsessed with finishing his Pilot to the point of lashing out at his wife and daughter, while Alma herself secretly takes a pill in order to perfect her violin piece and Doris plays mediator in trying to talk Harry down while disciplining Alma. Meanwhile, Harry goes to even deeper lengths in feeding his newfound ideas by going on a killing spree with Austin and Belle to replace his body's nutrients that are being drained by taking the pills. To make the feeding of human flesh go easier, Harry gets special dentures from the Dentist Lark (a cheeky Billie Lourd in her first appearance of the season). Also, Karen and Mickey bond in a really funny and oddly heartwarming scene as they each contemplate taking the pills to set themselves on a path to success.
The performances in this episode are superb. Finn Whitrock nails Harry's descent into addiction and madness. Lily Rabe is rock solid as Doris, the loving wife and mother losing control of her family. Ryan Kiera Armstrong is a revelation as the wise-beyond-her-years Alma and in particular, the scene where she burns Doris as an "ordinary" person was hard to pull off for a 9-year old and the young actress really hit it out of the park. Evan Peters chews scenery in the best way as Austin. Frances Conroy is witty as the lethal, bloodthirsty Belle. MacCauley Culkin is perfectly cast as the struggling Mickey and his rant on TV and film was hilarious in a way that only Culkin could deliver those lines. Leslie Grossman as Harry's agent does a good job playing her typical fast-talking eternally sarcastic character. But the best performance of the episode probably goes to Sarah Paulson as the tragic yet strangely lovable Tuberculosis Karen, ironically the most self-aware character of the series so far. The actors are helped by dialogue that straddles the line between horror, camp, comedy, and tragedy. Brilliant episode.
The performances in this episode are superb. Finn Whitrock nails Harry's descent into addiction and madness. Lily Rabe is rock solid as Doris, the loving wife and mother losing control of her family. Ryan Kiera Armstrong is a revelation as the wise-beyond-her-years Alma and in particular, the scene where she burns Doris as an "ordinary" person was hard to pull off for a 9-year old and the young actress really hit it out of the park. Evan Peters chews scenery in the best way as Austin. Frances Conroy is witty as the lethal, bloodthirsty Belle. MacCauley Culkin is perfectly cast as the struggling Mickey and his rant on TV and film was hilarious in a way that only Culkin could deliver those lines. Leslie Grossman as Harry's agent does a good job playing her typical fast-talking eternally sarcastic character. But the best performance of the episode probably goes to Sarah Paulson as the tragic yet strangely lovable Tuberculosis Karen, ironically the most self-aware character of the series so far. The actors are helped by dialogue that straddles the line between horror, camp, comedy, and tragedy. Brilliant episode.