#patrick read | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

callmebrycelee · 1 year

Text

AMERICAN HORROR STORY REACTION

This reaction is for season 11, third episode "Smoke Signals" which originally aired on October 26, 2022. The episode was written by Brad Falchuk and Manny Coto and directed by John J. Gray. Spoilers ahead!

SMOKE SIGNALS ...

Last week we got two killer episodes of American Horror Story: NYC and I'm still feeling pretty good about the direction of this season. Adam and Gino continue to be my favorite characters thus far, but Russell Tovey's Patrick is starting to grow on me as well. Before I launch into my reaction to episode number three, I must say, I was initially skeptical about most of this cast being newcomers to American Horror Stories. All those doubts are officially gone because Charlie Carver, Joe Mantello, and Russell Tovey are definitely holding their own acting alongside AHS vets like Leslie Grossman, Denis O'Hare, and Billie Lourd.

Okay, let's talk about the episode. We start off with Fran (Sandra Bernhard) and Dr. Hannah Wells (Billie Lourd) at a diner after the latter's run-in with Big Daddy in Central Park. At the end of last episode, Fran told Hannah the government is responsible for the virus she is currently studying. She further elaborates by mentioning something called Operation Paperclip. Apparently, back in the 1952, the United States used Nazi scientists to create new viruses made from both human and animal diseases to use against the Russians during the Red Scare. They did manage to come up with a good virus but it was too big to be airborne. However, it could be transmitted via mucous membranes.

Naturally, Hannah pushes back against this and asks Fran why the government would wait nearly thirty years later to release the virus. Fran tells her that the Cold War is heating up, so the United States is bringing back the virus that was created back in 1952 and testing it out on people who are considered undesirable, i.e., drug addicts, homeless people, and prisoners. They also used ticks to help transmit the virus but the virus broke free of the island and it's now starting to spread amongst the gay population in New York City. Hannah asks Fran what she's supposed to do with this information. Fran tells Hannah that she believes some of her patients are infected with the virus and she should go to the press about it. Hannah tells Fran that in order to do that she will need proof. Fran tells her she needs to think of something and think of something fast because the government is on to her.

Meanwhile, Stewart (Taylor Bloom) escapes the cage he is being imprisoned in and flees Sam's apartment. It should be noted that when Stewart heads out into the hallway, Big Daddy is standing sentry by Sam's apartment door. Stewart acknowledges Big Daddy's presence, and my theory is that we know Sam has the same virus that several of Dr. Hannah Wells' patients have and if he hooked up with Stewart, chances are he passed on the virus to Stewart. I believe Big Daddy is a manifestation of the virus that will become known as AIDS and those who have the disease are able to see Big Daddy while those who don't have the virus can't see him.

Stewart goes to the police station and Patrick takes his story. Stewart tells Patrick that he answered a payphone outside of a leather bar which is how he ended up at Sam's apartment. Patrick is a wee bit judgmental, but he does go to Sam's apartment to investigate. Sam (Zachary Quinto) is having a party and when confronted by Patrick, they head down to his basement where his sex dungeon is kept. Sam knows that he can't be arrested because according to him, what transpired between him and Stewart was consensual. Patrick insists that something unsavory did take place and he tells Sam that Stewart is worried about his reputation. Sam throws this back in Patrick's face and strongly insinuates that he is well aware of Patrick's own vices and how they could affect his reputation. Patrick backs off because he doesn't want to risk getting outed at work.

Patrick talks to Gino about his encounter with Sam and Gino speculates that perhaps Sam is the one who held him prisoner. Patrick assures Gino that Sam is not the guy. Gino shows Patrick a sketch of the man he believes abducted him but Patrick seems unconvinced. Gino justifiably gets frustrated because he believes this is Patrick yet again not wanting to lead the charge towards finding the person responsible for recent rash of murders. Gino also is having a difficult time trusting Patrick because Patrick lied about his leather fetish. Patrick admits to liking leather bars and tells Gino he used to go to leather bars before they got together. These two could benefit from some couple's counseling. Patrick needs to be more open about what he's thinking and feeling and as much as I love Gino, he needs to be a little less judgmental. It's the classic case of someone having to come to terms with their sexuality early on and not allowing others to have their own journey towards self-discovery. Gino tells Patrick that he should check out the payphone outside the leather bar but Patrick reminds him he's not a private detective and therefore he has to have cause for doing such things and he doesn't think he can rationalize to his coworkers why he needs to stake out a payphone. Gino, in order to motivate Patrick, appeals to his desire to be dangerous and reckless which surprisingly works because the next scene we get is Patrick standing next to the payphone.

Patrick continues to wait by the payphone for what feels like hours until he gets a phone call from Whitley (Jeff Hiller). Whitley gives Patrick an address to go to and Patrick is led to an underground party. We see Hans (Casey Thomas Brown) giving a performance. Patrick wanders further into the venue and heads into a darkened passageway. He sees an unmasked patron (played by Zach Meiser) wearing the same kind of leather gear that Daddy wears. This is clearly not Big Daddy because even though this guy is quite muscular, he is not hulking like Big Daddy. Patrick aggressively confronts the bespectacled man and finds a switchblade on him. Rather than further interrogate him in regard to all recent murders, Patrick starts kissing him. He then turns the guy against a wall and uses a cat-o-nine tails to beat him. I believe this scene is here to show us just how deep Patrick's leather kink runs. It's important to point out that it does appear that his behavior is consensual.

We then see the performer Hans heading into a very empty subway. He sees an older, unkempt, heavyset woman standing on the other side of the platform and for some reason he decides to follow her.

Over at the Native, Adam asks Gino if he knows why his captor let him go instead of killing him. Gino tells Adam that the guy saw his United States Marine Corps tattoo on his chest and then thanked him for his service. He then shows Adam the drawing he had made of what the guy looks like. Adam speculates that there are two killers - the guy who abducted Gino and Big Daddy. Adam tells Gino he has a date at a bar and Gino tells him to be careful, especially if he's going around inquiring about the Mai Tai killer. Gino doesn't want Adam to become the next victim. He then asks Adam who he's seeing, and Adam tells him it's Theo. Gino tells him that he's heard some pretty dark stuff about Theo's partner, Sam.

Gino goes to The Ditch and talks with Alana (Rebecca Dayan) who is busy cleaning blood off the sidewalk outside the bar. He shows her the drawing of the man who abducted him, and she confirms that he's been at the bar. She mentions that when she encountered him, he had a dark aura about him. She suggests that maybe he was in Vietnam. Gino tells her that he needs to be captured and begs her to let him put some flyers up in the bar. Alana does acquiesce and she tells him that if he's going to hang up flyers, to be careful not to tear the paint off the walls.

Adam arrives at another local bar called Ascension and is greeted by the hostess, Dunaway (Sis). She tells him it's a member's only establishment, but Adam tells her that he's with Theo Graves (Isaac Powell) and she immediately ushers him inside. Adam asks if he can put up some flyers, and Dunaway tells him 'no'. He asks her if she's heard of Big Daddy, and she answers back that she hasn't but if he ever finds him to send him her way. I love Dunaway! I hope we get more of her this season!

Theo arrives at Ascension and Dunaway takes him to Adam. We do see Big Daddy standing behind Theo in the doorway but neither Dunaway nor Theo acknowledges his presence. There is some flirtatious banter between Adam and Theo. Adam is quite taken by Theo and the feeling seems mutual even though Theo is currently in a relationship with Sam. Adam shows Theo the drawing of the man who abducted Gino. Meanwhile, Gino is at the Brownstone talking to Henry (Denis O'Hare), showing him the same drawing.

Henry recognizes the man in Gino's drawing and tells Gino that he was at the Brownstone the night before. Gino asks him why he didn't call the police and Henry insinuates that the police wouldn't have been much of a help. I loved Henry's story about how he ran away from home at age 13 and ended up in New York City. He talks about how he was nearly murdered three times and how he's lost so many friends, acquaintances, and lovers over the years to violence. He tells Gino that if he had tried to figure out what happened to each of those men, he would've ended up dead himself. I find this story so important because people like Gino tend to see inaction as laziness. For men like Henry, inaction, not getting involved, is a matter of survival.

Gino tells Henry that the last night they spoke, he ended up being drugged, kidnapped, and tortured, but Henry remains unphased by his story. Gino gives up and leaves the bar. Meanwhile, back at their apartment, Patrick goes into his closet and puts on his leather gear. it should be noted in this scene, while Patrick is flexing in front of the mirror, he notices some sores on his shoulder.

Back at Ascension, Adam interrogates Theo about Sam and Big Daddy. Theo assures Adam that Big Daddy is dead. While the two of them continue to talk, a man in leather gear, who looks a lot like Big Daddy, locks the main doors preventing anyone inside from getting out. What follows is an exciting sequence where Adam is given a Mai Tai by an unknown patron at the bar. He looks up and sees that the guy at the bar is the same man in Gino's drawing. At the same time, Dunaway discovers they are locked in and while Adam tries to go after Whitley, Theo manages to kick open the front door. At that moment, the man in leather gear tosses a Molotov cocktail inside the bar setting the whole place ablaze. The man then adjusts the chains and locks on the door and walks off leaving those inside to burn to death.

Hannah meets with an official at the local hospital and her request to draw blood from patients exhibiting signs of the virus she's been studying are denied. As she is leaving the hospital, she sees several patients arrive from Ascension. Hearing that the patients are coming from a gay bar, Hannah springs into action.

Adam and Theo manage to escape from the inferno with minimal injury. Adam suffers from smoke inhalation while Theo has some burns on his extremities. Other patrons like Dunaway, aren't so fortunate. I felt so bad for Dunaway who appeared to have third degree burns all over her body. When a nurse tries to check out Adam who is suffering from respiratory distress, he starts to freak out. After he is restrained, he begs Theo to call Gino.

Theo calls Gino, and Gino shows up with Patrick in tow. Adam tells Gino that the Mai Tai Killer was at the same bar he and Theo were at before the fire and tells him that he needs to find him. Gino shows a nurse the drawing of Whitley and she tells him that she saw him in one of the triage rooms. When Gino and Patrick arrive at the room, they discover that Whitley is gone. Gino suggests that he and Patrick split up so they can find him.

Hannah talks with Dunaway who tells her that she saw the man who started the fire and that he is not only coming for the gay men, but he’s also coming for everyone. This piece of dialogue stood out to me because it further confirmed my theory about Big Daddy being a manifestation of the AIDS virus which has yet to be named.

The biggest twist of the episode came when Hannah went to see Adam and we learn that they already know each other. We don't get much insight into their relationship, but Adam tells her that he feels good about what he and Hannah did. Now that I know that these two characters have a history, it sort of changes how I feel about Adam. He knows more than he's letting on but a part of me still believes that he is the good guy and whatever he and Hannah are working on is something good.

Hannah goes to Whitley's room and draws a sample of his blood. Whitely is paranoid and immediately leaves. He heads out the front door and is confronted by Gino. Whitely pushes Gino down and runs back into the hospital. Without waiting for Patrick, Gino pursues him and is led to the morgue. Gino is subdued by Whitley and locked inside one of the freezer drawers. What is it with American Horror Story and burying people alive? We saw it with Madame LaLaurie and Misty Day in "Coven" and then we saw that poor couple in "Cult" get locked inside twin coffins. The episode ends with Gino screaming and begging to be let out while Whitley gets away.

At this point, I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens next. Thankfully, I don't have to wait long because while I find it odd that FX is releasing episodes of American Horror Story two at a time, I'm also grateful because there's no way I could have waited an entire week to see if whether or not Gino would be okay.

This episode, like our first two episodes, was pretty amazing. I love the dark tone of this season and I can't say this enough - I'm so happy they chose to go super grounded this season rather than venture into the over-the-top campiness that has been prevalent in the last several seasons of the show. Adam and Gino continue to be my favorite characters, but Hannah and Theo are not too far behind them. The verdict is still out on Patrick and as far as I'm concerned, Sam can go. He's nasty and vile and I don't think he's going to make it out of this season alive. Our OGs - Leslie Grossman, Denis O'Hare, Patti LuPone - aren't given much to do thus far and perhaps that's by design. For the longest time Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, and Evan Peters were the faces of this series and they've gone on to do other projects for Ryan Murphy. New blood (no pun intended) is exactly what this series needed, and we are getting it in spades with top notch performances from Charlie Carver, Joe Mantello, Russell Tovey, and Isaac Powell. After episode four we will officially be halfway through this season. I am still feeling pretty confident about where this season is headed. Stay tuned for my reaction to episode four. Until next time ...

#tv reaction #blw reactions #ahs nyc #ahs reaction #joe mantello #charlie carver #adam carpenter #gino barelli #patrick read #russell tovey #american horror story nyc #hannah wells #billie lourd #ahs season 11 #american horror story

17 notes · View notes