American Horror Story: Terrifying, Intriguing and Insanely Well Thought Out

American Horror Story entered its fifth season last night, premiering with the help of Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer. Now if you are a squeamish person, the opening episode of the season may have made it hard to fall asleep afterwards. The premiere of Hotel did not disappoint when it came to bloodshed, nudity, and overall blood-pumping-edge-of-your-seat moments. But not only did this brilliantly executed season opener satisfy the viewers, it also coincides with the theory behind the show as a whole. Last year, during the Freak Show season, the creator of AHS, Ryan Murphy, admitted that all seasons are connected. Because each season takes place in a different decade, viewers have now been trying to connect the dots in order to uncover the overlapping characters. This requires a lot of thinking ahead on the part of the writers. These eery overlaps do not happen by coincidence, and it is not an accident that some of the same names and places have popped up.

 


The beauty of this show is that if you miss a season, you can pick up watching the next one without missing major plot points. Each season can stand on its own if you choose to watch off and on. But the better part of AHS is all the easter eggs the writers use to tie all the seasons together. Only true fans would be able to pick out the ways all the seasons connect. In case you haven't figured them out, here's a few to note:
1. Dr. Charles Montgomery from season 1 moves to LA with his wife at the end of "Murder House". We meet Madison Montgomery in 2013 during "Coven" who came from LA. Relatives?
2. In season 4, "Freak Show" we learn Pepper's backstory who we originally met in season 2 "Asylum". "Freak Show" took place in the 1950's, where Pepper was set up for the murder of a baby and is put away for it. In 1962, we see Pepper at Briarcliff, the asylum from season 2.
3. Hans Gruper was the sadistic German doctor from "Asylum" who would do experiments on his patients in the 1960's. During "Freak Show", we discover he is the same German doctor who cut off Elsa's legs in 1932.

These three are a bit more obvious, but many other theories have risen from Murphy's admission. If you're interested about the other possible connections, click here to read more.

The Background of White Collar

One of my favorite shows, White Collar had its season finale just over a month ago. Throughout the six incredible seasons, we watched the characters grow and the story unfold. An aspect of this show that I thought was amazing was the beautiful background of New York City. They creatively use the city as a source of visual language. Having a constant city background can get monotonous at times, but this show executes it flawlessly.

There are so many lovely shots within each episode that sometimes you feel like the characters are inside a work of art. I find this ironic since the main character, Neal Caffrey, was originally in jail for art theft and forgery. Many of the shots used throughout the episodes are wide shots that show the beautiful architecture of New York City and it gives off such a powerful dynamic.

White Collar Director of Photography, Russell Lee Fine, explains that "The way I've built White Collar is to be super fast…We match our A and B cameras on set. I know I can set the cameras here and there, and rehearse it once, and know I can correct on the fly. Sometimes we don't rehearse at all." The way that this show is set up makes the setting stand out even more. Since it as set up to be super fast, the dynamic of New York City adds to the chaos of the show. Fine also stated that, "we do absolutely no lighting on exterior streets." This means that they rely on the sunlight and the cameras to film in natural light in the daytime. The cameramen for this show are also always on dollies and move quickly with the pace of the show. Overall, the setting of New York City contributes greatly to the show White Collar and the decisions that Russell Lee Fine decided on really enhance the outcome of the episodes.