Every American Horror Story Season Ranked From Worst To Best

With Asylum, American Horror Story not only avoided the dreaded sophomore slump, it thrived, going so far as to surpass the brilliant Murder House. This was also the first opportunity to see the show's unique selling point, as Jessica Lange and Evan Peters' Constance and Tate Langdon from the first season, became the completely new characters, Sister Jude Martin and Kit Walker, respectively.

This season had something of a Shutter Island vibe, taking place in a mental institution with something sinister going on in the background away from the public eye. James Cromwell's Dr. Arden was the source of these experiments, creating some truly horrific results.

The best aspect of Asylum is Jessica Lange. Portraying Sister Jude, Lange shows off her acting chops beautifully, taking her character from being the truly hated boss of Briarcliff, to another of its victims you can't help but feel sorry for. Similarly to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's journey with Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, you have to respect the actor in this situation.

With such a compelling story to tell behind the walls of the titular institute, the alien abduction aspect seemed a little unnecessary and even a bit tacked on in an otherwise fairly grounded season.