REVIEW: American Horror Story, Episode 707
American Horror Story is once again back with the seventh episode of the seventh season entitled “Valorie Solanas Died for Your Sins, Scumbag”, and even though this was an episode a little bit stuck in the past, it was still a great and surprising one.
To be honest, I had never heard of Valerie Solanas nor Andy Warhol before I knew they were coming to the show, but I have to say that they, especially Valerie, really are very complicated people. I don’t think I have to say that Valerie’s manifesto is beyond crazy, since it doesn’t take a genius to understand that, but American Horror Story definitely took her craziness into a whole new level. I am all up for women’s rights, but definitely not that much. The Zodiac killer, in the other hand, I had heard about. It seems kind of crazy and not crazy at all at the same time, that they really decided to link these two, but why not? Maybe no one had thought about this, but it is definitely not impossible.
From what was displayed in the episode, Andy was definitely a jerk. Maybe he didn’t deserve to die, but he did deserve at least a lesson. From what we saw, Andy’s death was probably one of the only things Valerie regretted, not because it was wrong or anything, but because, even though she had some “great” ideas and performed “great” deeds, his death was everything she was going to be remembered for. Especially this Valerie, who killed plenty of other people, but, in the end, no one believed she did.
“How does this connect to the story of season 7?” was definitely a question I asked for a few moments during the episode. Until, of course, Frances Conroy arrived back to the screen as one of Valerie’s followers, therefore a member of the Zodiac cult.
After Kai got shot and was pretty much proclaimed a hero of the nation (it seems now that anyone can be a hero for doing the most stupid things), Kai obviously won the election for the empty sit in the city council. And that was when things started changing: he surrounded himself with more men and started sidelining the women. Who didn’t like this? Beverly obviously. The women of the cult got a few advice from Bebe, who told them her history with Valerie. They also found out that Meadow’s death was Kai’s idea, and they decided they weren’t going to be pushed around like she was. They were going to take action.
Thinking they were rebelling against Kai, the women killed , dismembered and dumped Harrison’s body. That last scene in which Beverly was delivering the news was very well made, because we all knew that she was talking directly at Kai, and every single word she said was one more proof of that. Saying the murder was a retaliation of Meadow’s death and that she prayed there wasn’t more murders coming was a struck of genius. But the finale really beat everything. “Back to you”, she said, as if she was speaking ato Kai and saying “You’re move”.
But as I said, the women of the cult only thought they were rebelling against Kai, because in the final shot of the episode we realized that Bebe was with him, which means this is probably just another way for Kai to have someone do his dirty work. Maybe he wanted Harrison gone and he knew simply asking nicely wouldn’t be enough anymore. And now, without them realizing it, he has the women right where he wants them.
It was at the same time great and disappointing not seeing Ally in this episode. The episode focused a lot on the past, and having 2 storylines in the present would probably just rush things. But if you are a fan of Ally’s (I can’t say that I am a big fan, but I definitely do love Sarah Paulson), don’t worry, because she will be back in the next episode.
Overall, as I said in the beginning, this was another great episode which continued to focus on important issues of today’s world: feminism. This theme pills up with plenty of others which were mentioned already, and that is definitely one of the reasons why this season as been so great. I am giving this episode an 8.7/10.
Next episode is entitled “Winter of our Discontent” and, as I said, Ally will be back, stronger than ever. At least that is what the promo made it look like. Don’t miss it because I am sure it will be another great one.