8. Murphy Kills A Character And Always Brings Them Back To Life
We're used to ghosts, ghosts are fine, ghosts were a huge part of Murder House. We're even fine with angels that featured in Asylum. Now, with Coven, we're used to people coming back from the dead. It was an interesting idea - in the first couple of episodes we worried that Madison was dead but the sassy girl we loved to hate was back and sassier than ever. But then more people died and more people came back and not just as ghosts but as real, alive people and this is when the idea was drained and done to death. Let's have another connective explanation: Misty Day died and brought herself back to life, Kyle died and Misty Day brought him back to life, Myrtle died and Misty Day brought her back to life, Joan died - good old Misty, Madison - Misty again, you get the picture. It was fun in the beginning, it was interesting and intense, new even, but now it's become the norm. Now, we don't care if someone dies because we think - no, we know - that they'll come back again. There's no fear that we'll lose our favourite characters. Perhaps the only one to die and stay dead - so far - is Nan but her story-line was up anyway. The question of horror extends to how to horrify us as an audience. In horror, to really scare us is to make us care about the people walking around. What if this character died? Are we scared? We should be. Because we care. But when we're told that they're going to come back anyway, why should we be scared? As well as this, it stops the show from developing. We thought Queenie was dead for an episode and then she's back and her story-line now? Well, it doesn't exist. Madison died and we were glad to have her back but could her return have been the only return? What did Myrtle's resurrection, for example, actually accomplish? As a reward to this addictive audience it's a good thing to bring the characters back but to live up to its title - to be "horror" as it says - it takes away that punch.
Thomas Stewart is a graduate from the University of Glamorgan and currently a student on the MA in Writing course at the University of Warwick. He is a Freelance Writer for Mens Fashion Magazine, Make and Believe, Smashpipe and more. As well as writing, he loves horror films, folk music, Raymond Carver, patterned jumpers, Richard Yates, curry, Scarlett Thomas, editing, chick-flicks, watches and biscuits.
