There are really two ways to approach American Horror Story: Cult.

The first is really simple: ignore the first six episodes and jump in from episode seven.

The second is harder work, may not be more rewarding but will at least give you context.

American Horror Story fascinates me. It’s singlehandedly, perhaps with some grumpy British assists from Black Mirror, dragged the anthology show kicking and screaming back into viability. In its wake, Channel Zero, the upcoming Amazing Stories reboot, Lore and, for a while, Star Trek: Discovery all followed. The anthology show is back and it’s much, much more interesting than it’s been in decades.

Especially as AHS does two supremely clever things. The first is it re-uses the vast majority of its cast in various roles. Each season stands alone (mostly…) but actors will recur. Hotel, for example, saw Kathy Bates cast as the monstrous and tragic receptionist. My Roanoke Nightmare, the following season, saw her appear variously as a supernaturally powerful survivor of the Roanoke colony and the actress playing her. It’s a massively fun conceit and one at the heart of the show’s finest hours.

Then there’s the fact that it’s not that unconnected. Lily Rabe’s character from Asylum has shown up in other seasons, the demonic clown at the heart of Freakshow echoes up and down Cult, and so on. These stories definitely happen in the same universe and a full-bore crossover season is both on the cards and soon. But, for now, much like the MCU it’s fun to put the pieces together ourselves.

Which brings us to Cult, which is both massively ambitious and so far the least successful season the show’s run in years.

No, wait come back! There’s good news!

Cult stars AHS MVPs Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters as two dark sides of the same ideological coin. Paulson plays Ally, a hyper left-wing businesswoman raising her son along with wife Ivy (The Newsroom’s Allison Pill). Peters plays Kai Anderson, the human embodiment of every terrible reddit thread. On election night, Ally has a panic attack. Kai humps his TV.

As the series continues, Kai begins manipulating events to get elected onto the local zoning board. Ally begins to come apart at the seams, her multiple neuroses exploding as she hallucinates murderous clowns menacing her.

Then, it becomes apparent she is not hallucinating.

By episode six, Ally has proof the clowns are real and are part of a cult led by Kai who are using the election of Donald Trump to throw America deep into the darkest pits of existential terror. Kai wants power. His cult wants to make things right in their lives. They’ve chosen to believe the best way to do that is do what Kai says. And Kai says the first thing they have to do is break Ally…

On paper this works. Paulson and Peters are two of AHS’ all-time greats and the show’s willingness to confront the ideological chasm in America right now is brave and well intentioned. It’s not successful though. Where previous seasons have taken initially one-note characters and given them nuance and context, it’s taken six episodes for both Kai and Ally to get there. Those first six have been a thankless trudge for Paulson of endlessly screaming at things and keeping a character in a holding pattern. Ally has one mode; panicky left wing self righteousness. Loud panicky left wing self righteousness. By the end of three episodes she’s grating. By the end of the fourth you’re honestly starting to see Kai’s point.

Not that he’s much better. Peters’ relentless charisma papers over the character’s pound shop Tyler Durden beginnings but it takes a full five episodes before we understand him as anything more than an off the shelf, depressingly familiar and commonplace alt-right asshole. He’s not monstrous. He’s not alien. And commonplace. And dull. Like Ally he’s trapped in a holding pattern. But at least he isn’t constantly, endlessly, shouting and screaming.

The reason for all of this is clear; the show’s trying to simultaneously avoid ‘Both Sides’ doctrine and tell an honest story about what it’s like in America right now. It’s a laudable idea. Allison Pill is fantastic as Ivy and there’s some really fun stuff done with her. Peters is great throughout and Adina Porter’s character, an increasingly disgruntled reporter, massively lifts the show once she turns up, Plus the early clown appearances in particular are genuinely unsettling.

But for every step the show takes forward, it takes two back. Ally and Ivy’s new neighbours, played by Billy Eichner and Leslie Grossman are a loose formation of tropes trying to act like characters. Again they’re improved by context but their first appearance is almost unwatchable. Likewise, Colton Haynes is largely wasted as a homicide detective. Worst of all, the show’s tone is wildly inconsistent and frequently kicks suspension of disbelief into the Sun. This culminates in the worst hour not just of the season but of AHS’ last three years. Set largely on election night, the episode requires us to believe that characters within a hundred feet of each other wouldn’t

a) recognize each other when they met later

or

b) talk about the guy with the recently severed arm, still gushing blood, who insisted on voting while they were all there.

It’s spectacle instead of reason and yeah that’s absolutely on brand for the subject matter but it doesn’t excuse it. Or make it interesting.

So why is it worth bothering with? Because AHS never met a fight it didn’t pick, regardless of if it could win. The season is trying to talk about life in America, the role of terror in politics, the self-destructive tendencies of the left in politics and murderous clowns. It’s also, maybe, just maybe, starting to do this with characters that we care about. It’s still a massively uneven, unsuccessful season but it’s swinging for the bleachers and, for the first time in six miserable, trudging weeks, it’s looking like it might just hit one or two over there.

So go for those first six if you want, or jump in with seven and we’ll see where this goes…

Alasdair Stuart