Almost everyone turns on Ally in AHS’s ‘Neighbors from Hell’
Kimmel revives healthcare debate
Do not read on unless you’ve seen Season 7, episode 3 of “American Horror Story,” titled “Neighbors From Hell,” which aired on Sept. 19.
The isolation of Ally (Sarah Paulson) is in full swing. After she shot and killed her former employee Pedro at the end of the last episode, her neighbors and fellow liberals have turned against her, and by the end of “Neighbors From Hell,” she even loses the support of her wife, Ivy (Alison Pill). She still has one person on her side, though: Kai (Evan Peters), and it’s hard not to think that this is all part of his plan as he begins to earn her trust.
But before all of that happens, we meet a couple who’s seeing Dr Rudy Vincent (Cheyenne Jackson). The woman had a fear of coffins going back to a childhood trauma, but, thanks in part to Dr Rudy, she overcame her phobia... that is, until the murderous clowns break into her home and lock her and her husband into coffins, killing them under the smiley-face mark of the cult. At this point, I’d be shocked if Dr Rudy wasn’t working with the cult, relaying his patients’ fears, including Ally’s, to the perpetrators.
Back at the Mayfair-Richards residence, Ally is less racked with guilt over shooting Pedro and more worried about the trouble she’s in. But Detective Samuels (Colton Haynes) assures her that, legally, she should be fine, thanks to Michigan’s Stand Your Ground laws. He even goes so far as to demonize Pedro, almost trying to lay out Ally’s defense for her: she was trying to protect herself and her child. Ally, with her liberal beliefs, doesn’t argue, even when Samuels stoops down to seemingly play on racial fears.
Even if she’s okay in the eyes of the law, she still has to face her fellow liberals. As we learn from reporter Beverly Hope (“Roanoke” star Adina Porter), she’s being referred to as the “lesbian George Zimmerman,” which is at least a little hilarious. Protesters have taken over the couple’s restaurant, and as Ivy leaves Ally to go hold down the fort, Kai appears and surprises Ally by praising her “bravery.” Despite her previous unsettling interactions with Kai, he serves as a comforting presence in this scene, promising to take care of the mob of protesters for her. “Just keep living your truth,” he tells her.
But even at home, Ally can’t get away from the controversy. Harrison (Billy Eichner) and Meadow (Leslie Grossman) accost her, accusing her of racism while wearing sombreros, seemingly completely unaware of the irony. “I’m one-tenth Mexican,” Harrison yells at her, before throwing Taco Bell coupons at her feet. “Does that make you want to kill me?”
The harassment — if it is, indeed, that — only gets worse from there. Ally finds dead crows all over their yard, and Ivy brings Winter back in (seriously?) even after she abandoned Ally in the last episode. Winter, again proving she’s a horrible nanny (is this not obvious to them at this point?), had let a man in the house, who was stark naked and demanding that Ally and Ivy pleasure him, as promised in a Craigslist ad. After Ivy chases him out, they find that someone’s posted the ad asking “studs” to stop by their home for a... good time, so to speak.
Now, Ally thinks it’s time to take matters into her own hands. She calls Dr Rudy and tells him she’s on her way to confront the protesters, which, as he rightly tells her, is a Very Bad Idea. Ally’s comments in this scene, perhaps more than any other, demonstrate a humorous lack of self-awareness: “Do you understand the specific pain of something like me being accused” of racism? “These are my people!” Also worth noting: Dr Rudy, as he suggests Ally see in-patient treatment for her phobias, plays with clown pins. This guy is so part of the cult.
As Dr Rudy warned, the confrontation with the protesters does not go over well... at first. As she devolves into screaming and honking at them, Kai appears, and, with just a touch of his hand, they disperse. He’s helped her here, but if he can get rid of them so easily, it’s likely that he also put them there.
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LOS ANGELES: Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is mixing more and more serious stuff in with his comedy.
Kimmel took to the stage of his ABC latenight program and, for the second time in five months, urged viewers to push back against Republican lawmakers seeking to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And, in a rare instance of a late-night host singling out a regional politician, he urged his viewers to reach out to one of the bill’s sponsors, Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy, to make their feelings known about the new proposed legislation, known as the Graham-CassidybBill.
“Listen. Healthcare is complicated. It’s boring. I don’t want to talk about it, and the details can be exceptionally confusing. And that’s what these guys are relying on,” Kimmel said in a monologue taped for Tuesday’s night’s broadcast of his program, “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” “They’re counting on you to be so overwhelmed by all the information - you just trust them to take care of you. But they’re not taking care of you. They’re taking care of the people who give them money like insurance companies. And we’re all just looking at our phones and liking photos on Instagram - while they’re voting on whether people can afford to keep their children alive or not!”
He saved particular score for Senator Cassidy, who recently came on his show and vowed that all Americans should have access to regular checkups, maternity care and more regardless of income or need.
“Senator Cassidy, when you were on my show, you seemed like a decent guy. But here’s the thing — nobody outside of your buddies in Congress wants your bill,” said Kimmel. “Only twelve percent of Americans supported the last one, and this one is worse.” (RTRS)