Wow, what a great cast! Aside from the regulars, I mean, Clea Duvall? (She was just in Argo, but she's been in a bunch of stuff.) And Chloe Sevigny and James Cromwell?
Nice twist for Evan Peters this season. Season 1, he plays a murderer who doesn't know he is one; now apparently he plays someone who isn't a murderer but who everyone else thinks is... or is he?
Jessica Lange is making this series a practice of extremism. Last season she tore up the show as a severe and excessive southern belle, this season she is still practicing severity in her starkness. (and she's not impervious to desire, as the hilarious sequence of her daydream of seducing the priest she adores, in her red nightie, revealed). Either way, she dominates whoever else happens to be on the screen. It's nice to see her going for broke, I bet she's having the time of her life.
Interesting sparring between science and religion (between the matriarch and the doctor).
The theme is supposed to be Sanity this season, so while the UFO connection seems a bit odd, it's hard to tell whether that is real or false at the moment. I suppose that's the point.
Lots of poignancy in the two sets of relationships that are condemned by society -- the lesbian couple and the interracial couple. It's only 1964. That's barely 50 years ago. Interracial marriages nowadays are typically not a big deal aside from particular families, and lesbians in general can live together without fearing most reprisal, although depending on where you live you can still lose privileges in certain occupations (clergy, teaching, etc.) and only a few states provide equal partner rights the same as hetero couples. I just thought it was very sad that the interracial couple couldn't even wear their rings, and people thought she was the maid (although I think they were able to read past the pretense), and he actually had a shotgun ready in case a lynch mod showed up. What type of world was this 50 years ago?
I don't find it quite as compelling as Season 1 so far, but I still think it's very good... and it's interesting.