American Horror Story: 10 Reasons Asylum Is The Best Season
7. It Was Darker
Sure, Murder House was dark with its demon babies and death in childbirth, but Asylum literally took a sip of gin and stuffed a coat hanger up there. Lana Winters' rape and moral dilemma of keeping a psycho baby was enough to make anyone sick, so what could top that? Oh yeah, the frozen corpse in the basement and nipple lamps in your living room. Dr. Oliver Thredson was one f'ed up villain if ever you met one, and is probably one of the show's ultimate big bads.
Let's also not forget James Cromwell's sadistic nazi doctor. The return of Dr. Arden's story as Hans Gruber in Freak Show fleshed out his story, but the inclusion of the nazi sadist in Asylum was genuinely petrifying, especially his dispatch of poor Shelley. The nazi undercurrent was handled well and Cromwell stood out among the other villains of the year - we just wish we got to the bottom of his cannibalistic woodland creatures.
Frances Conroy literally played an angel of death and Murphy even managed to turn everyone's festive favorite, Santa, into a bearded maniac, perfectly played by Ian McShane. If Santa isn't haunting your nightmares yet, he then went and nailed Joseph Fiennes' Monsignor Timothy to a cross - how very apt. However, for the darkest elements of Asylum, it was again rooted in religion. Few shows could see an innocent young nun being possessed by the Devil himself and pull it off without being cheesy, but there you go again Ryan Murphy.