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The Opening Scene To 'AHS: Cult' Was A Terrifyingly Real Look At Election Night
Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story: Cult premiered on Tuesday night with a terrifyingly real look back at Election Night 2016. Too soon, Ryan Murphy, too soon.
The episode begins with a look into two different homes during the moment Hillary Clinton concedes—"It is now official, Donald Trump is the next President of the Unites States," a newscaster announces.
Sarah Paulson takes on the liberal role of Ally, and Evan Peters embodies the alt-right Trump-supporting Kai. The former screams in horror upon hearing the results, going on to shout: “Oh go to hell, Huffington Post! Fuck you, Nate Silver! What’s wrong with CNN for not giving us a trigger warning before giving us the results?” Meanwhile, Kai dry humps the television set before covering his face in Cheetos dust. The scene was perfectly Murphy—a little ridiculous, a little too real, and altogether terrifying. And we haven't even mentioned the homicidal clowns.
FX hasn't made the clip available online, but you'll catch some of it in this trailer:
While the season won't center around a Trump character, it will take place in the current political atmosphere, and Murphy used real clips from the campaign trail to set the show up—“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters," Trump declares in the opening moments.
Kevin Fallon at the Daily Beast applauded the episode, noting: "It turns out that there’s a genius that hadn’t yet been tapped in turning election night and our conversations after it into a C-level pulp horror film. The results-watching party builds with the suspense of a slasher film... it’s smart to open with the cheeky tone of the genre homage to introduce the more intense and headier conversations the show will have."
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Alison Pill, Billy Eichner, Billie Lourd, and whoever those damn clowns are also take on roles in Murphy's version of Trump's America.
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