Reviewing the American Horror Stories Premiere and its Octet of Villainesses

I am proud to say that I've watched American Horror Story since Day One in 2011, and I have the DVDs and Blu-Rays to prove it. It is, without question, FX's best show, and even though the pandemic slowed things down, the show that I and others truly love will be back on TV soon. This, however, is about the spinoff, American Horror Stories, which is a spinoff to the long running series co-created by the legendary duo of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The series' opening season consists of seven episodes, all of which will air exclusively on FX on Hulu, and the series kicked off with the two-part opener, "Rubber (Wo)Man."

Yes, you read that title right; the series kicked off with a complete callback to the Murder House season of AHS. The central protagonist was 16-year-old Scarlett, who (along with her fathers, Troy and Michael) was moving into the infamous Murder House, as part of her fathers' plan to open a "haunted" bed and breakfast. Within minutes, we see Scarlett get introduced to the notorious rubber suit, and even puts it on--gloves, mask, and all. She quickly takes it off after feeling strange with it on, and she chucks it in the trash outside the house. If only she knew.

Scarlett is established as having a crush on Maya, a popular girl in her school, though it's also revealed that she's into some violent erotica, with her fathers catching her watching said material online. After seeing that the sites have been blocked, Scarlett becomes angry and then sees that the rubber suit is back in her closet. She puts it on again, and this time, we see her start to become one with the suit, as her black eyes start to show. Scarlett later entered her fathers' room with a knife, though she takes off the mask and states that she was pranking them. However, after accidentally cutting Troy's arm, Scarlett is force to undergo family therapy, where it is revealed that Scarlett was abducted when she was three years old, and it's because of this that the fathers are overprotective of their daughter.

Scarlett's grounded, but she sneaks out to Maya's house for a slumber party, as it was her chance to get close to her crush. The scene shifts to Maya's room, where Scarlett reveals her secret fetish and changes clothes, only to find out from Shanti that she's being live-streamed. It turns out that Maya and her friends, Erin, Nicole, and Rowena, all recorded Scarlett as part of a cruel prank, and after returning home devastated, Scarlett called Maya and informed her that she would commit suicide and leave a note stating that their bullying was the reason why. In order to avoid becoming felons, the quartet agreed to Scarlett's ultimatum and went her house, only to end up killed one-by-one by Scarlett, now embracing herself as Rubberwoman.

Part Two introduced Ruby McDaniel, who was revealed as a ghost in the house, as well as Scarlett's girlfriend. Ruby provided a tragic backstory: her parents were killed in a car crash when Ruby was six, and she had been living with her uncle Tony, who often abused her. However, as Tony showed her one day, Ruby's parents were actually alive; they simply sold Ruby to Tony--who wasn't even her uncle--due to not wanting to raise her. Ruby later went to the Murder House and committed suicide, and she had been in the house ever since. Ruby suggested to Scarlett that she should kill herself to stay in the house with her forever, but Scarlett (obviously) was not eager to acquiesce.

Scarlett would have her own problems, as Maya and her mean girl clique are also ghosts in that house, and they wanted revenge. Ruby saved Scarlett from the quartet, but we would later see Troy and Michael fully experience what the house was about, which included the reveal that they were dead and were ghosts inside the house, having been killed by Ruby. Halloween's arrival saw Ruby and Scarlett head out to a theme park, as Ruby could leave due to the house's ghosts being allowed out of the house on Halloween only. That also applied to Maya's clique, as they attempted to kill not only Scarlett, but Shanti as well, though Ruby saved both girls and fought with them.

Scarlett ended up hiding out until the final moments prior to dawn, but once she and Ruby returned to the house, Maya and her gang made another attempt to kill Scarlett outside the house, but at that moment, Scarlett informed Ruby that she will leave the house and live her life. 10 months later, Scarlett called Ruby and informed her that she found Tony, and after bludgeoning him to death, she visited Ruby on Halloween, fulfilling her promise to Ruby before leaving.

What an opener, and in all, seven villainesses were featured, plus the mention of an eighth. Let's take a look at all of them:

Scarlett/Rubberwoman: Scarlett was an amazing character, and Sierra McCormick did a wonderful job portraying every facet of her emotions. From what we've seen, Scarlett knows who she is, but we see an insecurity from her that is suddenly kiboshed bit-by-bit once she puts on the Rubberwoman outfit. Scarlett's heel turn in Part 1 was played very well, with her black eyes showing that she was starting to embrace the dark side, which later came out in full form with her vengeful and murderous vendetta towards Maya and her clique. Part 2 begins with Scarlett being all in tune with her villainous Rubberwoman alter-ego, though we still see her happy to be in a relationship with Ruby; though it's due to their shared sadistic pleasures that they are together.

McCormick's performance as Scarlett was stellar, and her portrayal of Scarlett as Rubberwoman was nothing short of amazing. She played out Scarlett's strengths in the outfit, as well as her feeling of total security as Rubberwoman. Sierra McCormick is known for being part of the cast of the Disney series, A.N.T. Farm, and has done a number of Lifetime films as well, usually as the teenage daughter of a protagonist.

For Scarlett's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

Ruby McDaniel: When I first saw Ruby McDaniel, my first thought: "She looks like a young Cindy Crawford." I didn't get a name that instantly, but when I went to read the recap, I got a name: Kaia Gerber. I put two and two together quickly: Kaia Gerber is the daughter of Rande Gerber and famed supermodel Cindy Crawford. I had never seen Kaia Gerber in anything before, but after seeing her in this, I loved what I saw.

It's clear that Ruby was troubled, and her backstory was complete evidence of that. Ruby's story of abuse, abandonment, and suicide was absolutely heartbreaking, and it would see her find love after death with Scarlett. Though we have also seen what appears to be a co-dependency from Ruby, with her suggestion that Scarlett should kill herself to be with her forever, to even resorting to killing Scarlett's fathers in an attempt to keep Scarlett with her. In spite of this, Ruby ultimately learns to let go when Scarlett announced her plans to leave the house permanently, and as we see in the final moment when Scarlett visits Ruby, it has strengthened their relationship.

Gerber shined in this role; she truly acted out Ruby's tough demeanor to perfection, and did the same regarding her vulnerabilities. For Ruby McDaniel's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here. Oh, and even though she doesn't appear, I did include Ruby's mother on the site, because she (as well as her husband) had to be truly cruel to do what she did to her daughter. For Mrs. McDaniel's profile, click here.

Maya's Clique: I do love a good heel faction, and Maya's clique was perfect. We see Maya introduced as the popular girl and the object of Scarlett's affections, but that slumber party revealed the true colors of Maya and her group of mean girls in Erin, Nicole, and Rowena. We see them show concern for saving their backsides with their agreement with Scarlett's ultimatum, and they would pay the ultimate price for it. Even in death, the quartet becomes more evil and twisted, and actually plan to kill Scarlett out of revenge. That, to me, shows that even though they drove Scarlett to act out in such a murderous fashion, they still saw themselves as innocent victims who were wronged.

However, they did finally (and I do mean finally) realize that they were cruel to Scarlett, and Ruby's narration reveal that the former mean girls were living in harmony with the other ghosts, so there's redemption right there. Leading the quartet is Paris Jackson as Maya; yes, the daughter of the iconic King of Pop shined in this heel role. Erin was played by Selena Sloan, Rowena was played by Ashley Martin Carter, and Nicole was played by Valerie Loo. For Carter, Loo, and Sloan, it was their first major roles, though Paris Jackson has appeared on Star and the Scream TV series.

For a profile of Maya's Clique on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

Scarlett's Kidnapper: The revelation of Scarlett's abduction as an infant gave us a flashback featuring this unnamed villainess attacking Troy before stealing Troy's SUV with Scarlett inside. As the episode revealed, the blonde woman had a very tragic backstory; she actually did have a daughter, but she was murdered by her ex-husband. The blonde became immensely grief-stricken afterwards; grief that triggered the blonde's heel turn and abduction of Scarlett, who went missing for 10 days. Unfortunately, this villainess' portrayer isn't named in the credits, but her story is a tragic one, without question. Click here for the Blonde Kidnapper's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki.

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