TV.com

American Horror Story Season 2 Episode 1

Welcome To Briarcliff

Favorite

Watched It I've Watched This 70

Next
Episode Previous
Episode

AIRED: Oct 17, 2012

8.3

User Rating

161 votes

Your Rating: 10
Your Rating: 9.5
Your Rating: 9
Your Rating: 8.5
Your Rating: 8
Your Rating: 7.5
Your Rating: 7
Your Rating: 6.5
Your Rating: 6
Your Rating: 5.5
Your Rating: 5
Your Rating: 4.5
Your Rating: 4
Your Rating: 3.5
Your Rating: 3
Your Rating: 2.5
Your Rating: 2
Your Rating: 1.5
Your Rating: 1

Rate Now

EPISODE REVIEWS
By TV.com Users

Write A Review

Episode Summary

EDIT

An insane asylum plays host to a deranged serial killer who stalks the borders between insanity and reality.

FAN RECAP

TV.com Episode Review

100

American Horror Story: Asylum Premiere Review: Butt Seriously Folks (PHOTO RECAP)

The Season 2 premiere wasn't perfect, but it did provide an excellent appetizer to a meal we can't wait to eat. Also, butts.

By Price Peterson, Oct 19, 2012

Fan Episode Reviews (10)

Disappointing

2.0

By mobilehead, Jan 29, 2013

I was thrilled by the first season. I was expecting something extremely ridicilous but instead I received some really interesting story. I liked it and was looking forward to the second season. What I got made me totally disappointed. The first episode of the second season seems to be hectic, without a concept and using well-worn standards that are not scarry anymore. I hope I will see something better in the next episodes because I can't believe that something like this could get a green light for the third season.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
0 0

Flag
Share Hide
American Horror Story? Uh, Nope...

5.0

By dietcoke88, Oct 25, 2012

When I heard AHS season 2 was going to be a totally different story, location, characters etc, and using actors from the first season (all of my favourites none the less!) I was completely amped up for it. That all sounds amazing considering how neatly wrapped up season 1 ended... In reality this episode has just not pushed any of my buttons. Absolutely everything about this episode felt different. It felt like a completely new show, and that immediately rubbed me up the wrong way. Tim Minear (writer) is a real gem, and a personal favourite of mine in this kind of TV show realm, but the episode felt like it had far too much going on and thus moved far too fast to build any kind of suspense or atmosphere at all.

The "modern day couple" were hammy at best, and Adam Levine felt like nothing more than a ploy to attract teen girls into the audience. There are a million actual actors who would have provided a much better performance and likely not detracted credibility the way Levine seems to. Sex isn't really all that shocking, so the whole storyline of newlyweds travelling the country and getting it on in morbid and freaky locations really just felt so forced. Were there really no better ways of introducing the asylum? A group of kids messing about or wackos trying to commune with the dead would have been much more believable.

Essentially I'm just not feeling it yet. I do sincerely hope that the next episode pulls me in, but so far, I'm just not convinced that this show can work and survive without the supernatural elements of season 1.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
3 6

Flag
Share Hide
Better than the finale

9.0

By adzam22, Oct 24, 2012

The finale left me disappointed but the premiere is off to a great start. I enjoyed the story of the season 1 finale but it felt out of place with the rest of the season. This premiere amped it up a bit and has my curiosity. I'm not as creeped out by this season so far yet I am certainly hooked. Not perfect, but a great start to season 2. I really like the angle they are taking with the religion, science/medical, and yes...the aliens.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
2 1

Flag
Share Hide
The little engine that could but didn't because it got pulled over for DUI

4.5

By byronsdrom, Oct 20, 2012

I know I will probably receive so much hate for writing this down, but I am just surprised at the bad quality of the second season opener that I cannot help myself.

The greatest problem for me was the already noted frantic editing. It felt like they were trying to cover for actor's bad acting or for the show's mediocre script (when, in truth, most of the actors did a great/good job, especially the Tate kid, who saw a stunning transformation from season one). The show's incredibly fast pace ruined for me the general atmosphere, something that I hope to see go as the season progresses. There was nothing scary or intriguing about everybody rushing through their lines and emotions, just (a tad) irritating. (Yeah, the greatest interracial story and their sex was just unbearably bad, even though their kissing was kind of good.) In all, sex scenes were just badly done, there's no way of putting that mildly, and the nun's red underwear and (kinda) masturbation scenes were a laugh instead of being very subtly sinister and portending.

I think the show has great potential, don't get me wrong, what with the setting and good actors (especially the patients in the asylum), but this just doesn't satisfy me, especially not after season one, where all of them storylines had time to develop and get intertwined, ever so subtle and complex.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
5 11

Flag
Share Hide
Meh...

6.0

By meemee2000, Oct 19, 2012

I loved Season 1. This one seems dull. Dull horror, who would have thunk it? Jessica's character is of course interesting, but, unfortunately, none of the rest of the characters are. I don't care about the mystery patient that is eating flesh, don't care about the aliens, don't care about the illegal experiments on mental patients (a plot we've seen in a hundred other movies), don't care about the microchip that turned into a bug. Yawn. The unique characters is what made Season 1 so awesome. You rooted for Violet and her parents, and Jessica kept us entertained. There's no one to root for so far in this season. The humor from the past season is missing here. Even the attempts at sexiness in this S2 episode was boring. I'm just sad to say I'm really disappointed. Not sure if I'll watch episode 2. I'll check the msg boards 1st to see if the season improves.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
6 8

Flag
Share Hide

See All Fan Reviews

Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

Joseph Fiennes	Monsignor Timothy Howard
Sarah Paulson	Lana Winters
Evan Peters	Kit Walker
Lily Rabe	Sister Mary Eunice
Lizzie Brochere	Grace
James Cromwell	Dr. Arthur Arden

See All Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

EDIT

Adam Levine	Leo Morrison	Guest Star
Jenna Dewan	Teresa Morrison	Guest Star
Clea DuVall	Wendy Peyser	Guest Star
Chloe Sevigny	Shelley	Recurring Role

See All Cast & Crew

Watch Online

Episode Photos

Jenna Dewan-Tatum in American Horror Sto...

© 2012 Fox Broadcasting
Evan Peters in American Horror Story fro...

© 2012 Fox Broadcasting
Sarah Paulson in American Horror Story f...

© 2012 Fox Broadcasting
Adam Levine in American Horror Story fro...

© 2012 Fox Broadcasting

See All Photos

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

FILTER BY TYPE

TRIVIA (0)
ADD TRIVIA
- ADD TRIVIA from this episode.
QUOTES (5)
ADD QUOTES
- Shelley: Do you think I'm full of shame and regret for what I've done now, Sister? You could shave me bald as a cue ball and I'd still be the hottest tamale in this joint.
  EDIT SHARE
- Sister Jude: Shelley was brought to us having been given the preposterous diagnosis by a psychiatrist comparing her to a wood nymph.
  Lana: You mean a nymphomaniac?
  EDIT SHARE
- Sister Jude: Mental illness is the fashionable explanation for sin.
  EDIT SHARE
- Sister Jude: This is not a meat locker. Here, you will repent for your crimes to the only judge that matters: the Almighty God.
  Kit: There is no God. Not a God who would create the things I saw.
  Sister Jude: Your story about little green men? That won't do here.
  Kit: They weren't human. They were monsters.
  Sister Jude: All monsters are human. You're a monster.
  EDIT SHARE
- Arden: When the monsignor brought me out of retirement to run Briarcliff's medical unit, we made a gentleman's agreement.
  Sister Jude: Curious, since only one of you is a gentleman.
  EDIT SHARE
NOTES (3)
ADD NOTES
- Zachary Quinto is credited but doesn't appear.
  EDIT SHARE
- Music: There Goes My Baby (The Drifters), A Summer Song (Chad & Jeremy)
  EDIT SHARE
- International Airdates:
  UK: October 30, 2012 on FX
  EDIT SHARE
ALLUSIONS (1)
ADD ALLUSIONS
- Sister Jude: You've seen Song of Bernadette?
  Referencing the 1943 movie based on the life of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, and based on a 1941 novel by Franz Werfel. Bernadette who saw visions of a holy lady while a young girl at Lourdes.
  EDIT SHARE