Everyone is welcome at the Hotel Cortez, unless you like your lettuce grilled or you identify as a vampire. Tonight’s AHS: Hotel eliminates one of the two.
Ryan Murphy was adamant about one thing when it comes to AHS franchise, he would never tackle vampires. We’re not saying that Ryan Murphy went back on his word here, but one look at tonight’s AHS: Hotel and one could argue that these characters sit pretty close to vampires on the horror trope spectrum.
AHS‘s ancient blood virus differs from vampires in a few ways, but ultimately runs parallel to the Twilight sparkle. It is contracted when the host chooses a victim and pours their blood into the victim’s system. The initial phase of the change is strikingly similar to other horror tropes– a period of lust for fresh blood, the ability to smell a person’s story in their blood, a change in appearance, and the rush of recognizing immortality. There are coffins, but no bats. There are blood banks being robbed and bodies piling up, but no one is hiding from garlic.
AHS: Hotel does not reinvent the wheel, it just gives it a new name.
While Detective Lowe fall further down his own rabbit hole, Alexis adapts to her new life with the virus. Seeing the silver lining in her situation, she cures a young boy dying from the measles. But her act of kindness comes at a cost. Without the same structure that the Countess has in place to contain her victims as they adapt, Alexis unleashes the boy into the world where his lust for blood leads to a mass murder and conversion at his school on Halloween.
Now that the neighborhood has rampant children virus sufferers running around town, will the town know to come up with a new name for people who break into their homes and drain their loved ones of their blood? Or are they going to call them vampires? No one person can be expected to change the preconceived notions of the world. That is the point of tonight’s AHS: Hotel episode– just because it is easier to call someone something familiar, does not mean it is right to keep doing so.
We may not understand why Ryan Murphy stands against using vampires, but we must accept that it is his choice to use an ancient blood virus over the easy alternative. Liz Taylor’s backstory highlights this theme as she tells her origin story. Once a traveling businessman, Liz made her way to the Hotel Cortez where she let herself wear dresses, a fur, and feel free behind the four walls of her room. The Countess could smell the blood of a woman trapped inside a man’s body. What she offered Liz was not only her name, but a chance at a life where she could scream and be heard.
Liz stepped out of the shadows and AHS kept another pawn free from the blood virus. But made it clear that there are two sides to every person. Something lurks deep down that sets them apart form what people expect. Liz Taylor may come off as a gay man who enjoys drag, but that is not the case. It was easy for her colleagues to throw slurs at her for being gay, but she is not a gay man. She identifies as a trans woman.
Iris, on the other hand, has no idea what her identity looks like to outsiders. For all she knows she is invisible. In death she is going to be more than the just the woman who gets your keys and fresh towels. In death, Iris is the woman who killed Darren Criss and Jessica Lu for requesting that their organic romaine be cooked. Beyond that, who she will become rests on her shoulders.
Watch AHS: Hotel episode 6, “Room 33,” Wednesday, November 11 at 10:00 p.m. ET on FX.
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