The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
4 — Wednesday, September 28, 2022
I cannot stand horror movies.
I flinch at every jump scare
and end up watching most of
it through my fingers. And
yet, over the past five years, I
have found myself shamelessly
entranced by “American Horror
Story” (AHS). From its debut
season “Murder House” to the
fan-favorite “Coven” to the most
recent “Double Feature,” I have
seen it all. “AHS” became famous
due to its commitment to each
season’s terrifying theme, the
range of its cast members and
some of the craziest plot twists
and endings known to man.
On September 8, creators
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk
wrapped up season two of
their spinoff “American Horror
Stories,” an anthology with
each episode featuring new
cast members and new stories.
Season one made its debut last
summer to an overall positive
reception, as fans were delighted
to see the introduction of fresh
talent, some of whom entered
the main cast of “AHS” in season
10.
Season two of “American
Horror Stories” had its highs and
lows, kicking off with episode
one, “Dollhouse,” bringing us
the story of Mr. Van Wirt (Denis
O’Hare, “True Blood”), a man
with an unhealthy obsession
with dolls, his victims and his
son, Otis (Houston Jax Towe,
“Animal
Kingdom”).
What
made “Dollhouse” the standout
of the season, however, was its
ending. Devoted “AHS” fans
will notice that the women
with whom Otis leaves at the
end of the episode are witches,
and as we find in an incredibly
satisfying moment, Otis is none
other than a young Spalding, the
mute butler in American Horror
Story’s “Coven,” who was also
played by Denis O’Hare. As a
sweeter touch, we see a young
girl with large glasses and
crimped red hair run out of
the famous Miss Robichaux’s
Academy for Exceptional Young
Ladies, introducing herself as
Myrtle Snow and claiming that
one day, she’ll run the academy.
“AHS” fans know how that one
turned out. “Coven” featured
some of the series’ most beloved
characters, and the little reveal
at the end served as a great way
to keep fans connected to the
main body of the story while also
ensuring that “Dollhouse” was a
great episode in its own right,
unmarred by fan service.
While
“American
Horror
Stories”
does
feature
fresh
talent, viewers do see some
familiar faces scattered across
the
episodes.
Episode
two,
“Aura,” stars Max Greenfield
(“New Girl”) as Bryce and
Gabourey Sidibe (“Precious”)
as his wife Jaslyn, the latter of
whom is well known for her role
as Queenie in American Horror
Story’s “Coven”, “Hotel” and
“Apocalypse.” The couple buys an
Aura device, akin to the modern-
day Ring home security system
and quickly begins experiencing
supernatural hauntings through
it. Episode three, “Drive,” stars
Disney icon Bella Thorne (“The
Babysitter”) playing a party
girl who’s just trying to have a
good time and “AHS” alum Nico
Greetham (“Love, Victor”), who
may or may not be a part of the
creepy nightlife that follows her
home. All four actors showcased
their range in their respective
episodes as the plots twisted and
turned and ultimately landed
on their heads. Both “Aura” and
“Drive” showcase the classic
“AHS”
formula
with
great
success:
Introduce
the
extremely
normal main characters
Oh no! Some disturbing stuff
is happening to our very normal
characters
Guess what! Our super normal
characters are, in fact, not so
normal!
Despite
the
potential
for
distraction with some popular
faces, these two episodes felt
like classic “AHS.” The second
‘American Horror Stories’ returns for a
second twisted anthology
SWARA RAMASWAMY
Daily Arts Writer
Content warning: mentions of
suicide.
When Rebecca recounts her
sister
Veronica’s
suicide,
she
notes that a young man tried
to intervene. He reached for
Veronica but was too late. He
caught her shoe as she fell from
the overpass. “The second shoe
was never recovered,” Rebecca
narrates, “but as her feet were two
sizes larger than mine, I could not
in any case have worn them.”
Such is the sardonic tone
that runs through “Case Study,”
Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Booker-
nominated, brilliant and often
disquieting work of psychological
fiction. The novel is composed
of two parts: a biography of the
fictional
1960s
psychologist
Collins
Braithwaite,
and
the
notebooks of one of his patients,
Rebecca.
Only her name isn’t Rebecca.
The writer of the notebooks is a
20-something girl from London.
She works as a secretary and lives
at home with her father and has
no desire to marry and move out
of the house. Her mother died
when she was 15, and her sister
died recently.
In
a
published
collection
of Braithwaite’s case studies,
“Rebecca” recognizes her sister
in a patient called “Dorothy.” In
the chapter, Braithwaite gives
Dorothy a thought exercise: If
you had one day to do whatever
you wanted without consequence,
what would you do?
“Eventually, the color rose
to her cheeks. I asked her what
she was thinking,” Braithwaite’s
notes read. Dorothy doesn’t share
her thoughts, but Braithwaite
asks
what
the
consequences
would be if she indulged in them.
“‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘There would
be no consequences.’ I told her
that she could do or be whatever
she wanted. She seemed greatly
unburdened. She did not, she
told me, want to be Dorothy any
longer.”
Rebecca recognizes this patient
to be her sister from the way she
gingerly reclines on a settee and
uses the word “melodramatic.”
She notes that Braithwaite’s office
was “only a few minutes walk
from the overpass from which
Veronica had thrown herself.”
She makes an appointment with
Braithwaite. She means to learn
more about him — or find proof
that he led her sister to her end.
On the train to Braithwaite’s
office, the narrator decides she
can’t reveal who she is. He’d
recognize her name and the
details of her life from her sister’s
own sessions. We never learn
her real name, only the one she
tells Braithwaite: Rebecca Smyth
(with a Y).
What follows from this first
flirtation
with
the
Rebecca-
persona is a spiral into the
performative problem of identity
itself — as she plays the role of
Rebecca, a clever and worldly
woman in Braithwaite’s office,
she feels it carve out more and
more of her.
Personalities abound in Graeme
Macrae Burnet’s ‘Case Study’
JULIAN WRAY
Book Beat Editor
Design by Abby Schreck
Following in the footsteps of The
Michigan Daily Arts’ Music Talks,
The Michigan Daily Arts section
presents Arts Talks, a series where
Daily Arts Writers gather to discuss
their opinions on and reactions to the
latest and major releases in the Arts
world.
In this segment of Arts Talks, three
Daily Arts Writers well-versed in the
Taylor Jenkins Reid Universe review
TJR’s recent publication, “Carrie Soto
is Back,” discuss her authorship and
deliberate over her other mainstream
work.
This conversation has been edited
and condensed for clarity and brevity.
Lillian
Pearce,
Managing
Arts Editor: I, like many Taylor
Jenkins Reid (TJR) fans, came to
“Carrie Soto is Back” with high
expectations. She’s the bestselling
author of eight novels, and “Carrie
Soto is Back” follows the particularly
renowned “Malibu Rising”, “Daisy
Jones & The Six” and “The Seven
Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.” All of
these books became popular on
BookTok, and for good reason —
they’re entertaining, easy to read and
fun. Though all of her books engage
in the same fictional universe, there
are a lot of parallels to and influence
from reality; I think that’s partly why
they’re so easy to eat up.
Ava
Seaman,
Daily
Arts
Writer: Yeah! When I first read the
synopsis of “Carrie Soto is Back,”
I immediately thought of Serena
Williams. Like Williams, Carrie
Soto is a tennis player who’s been
playing since a very young age under
the direction of her father (and
ex-professional tennis player), Javier.
Carrie eventually becomes the
greatest player of all time, earning
the record for most Grand Slam titles
before she retires. It’s this record
that becomes her claim to fame and
functions as the primary source
of conflict in the book; the novel is
about Carrie’s comeback and how
she trains and relearns tennis in this
new age of the sport. Even though it’s
only been six years since she retired,
the game has changed, and the
players have improved.
This is a sports fiction novel,
which is incredibly different from
TJR’s previous works that have
focused on other distinct eras (’70s
music scene, ’50s Hollywood, etc). It
could be off-putting to some people,
but I think TJR explains tennis
really well. The thing about sports
fiction is that it’s also so fun to read;
it’s exciting and engaging because
you can’t help but wonder what’s
going to happen next. The story itself
is very fast-paced and keeps you on
the edge of your seat.
LP: The first 20% of the book
focuses on how Carrie started
playing tennis with her father, who
was a famous player in Argentina
known as “The Jaguar.” There’s a
brief description of his move to the
United States, where he works as a
trainer and meets Carrie’s mother,
who ends up dying when Carrie is
very young. Javier’s grief is evident
in how he pours himself and all that
he knows into his daughter. From
the moment Carrie first picks up a
racket, he claims that she’ll be the
greatest player of all time. “Carrie
Soto is Back” is a story about a father
and daughter as much as it is about
tennis.
AS: Her relationship with her
father is definitely as complicated as
it is interesting. I think the reason for
that is the lack of a relationship with
her mother — the lack of motherly
affection and warmth that fathers
typically aren’t expected to have
(though they can obviously still
provide it). Javier makes up for this
absence with his affection on and off
the tennis court; their relationship is
so compelling because it’s not what
we typically see in fictional father-
daughter duos.
LP: Another compelling aspect of
“Carrie Soto” is that we, as readers
of TJR’s previous works, came to it
with preconceived notions of who
Carrie Soto is.
AS:
Carrie
Soto
makes
an
appearance in “Malibu Rising” when
she cheats with the protagonist’s
husband, another tennis player. We
therefore already have this idea that
Carrie is a very cold, icy woman,
who knowingly had an affair with a
married man; the idea that she’s not a
likable person sets the tone for “Carrie
Soto is Back,” and for our perception
of Carrie herself in particular.
Arts Talks: Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new
release ‘Carrie Soto is Back’
DAILY ARTS WRITERS
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Design by Grace Filbin
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
By Brooke Husic
©2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/28/22
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis
09/28/22
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2022
ACROSS
1 Enthusiast
5 Embarrass
10 Member of an
ancient religion
that values
nonviolence
14 Like some exams
15 “__ Man”: Village
People hit
16 High ponytail, e.g.
17 WNBA alum
Barnes who
coaches the
Arizona Wildcats
18 Skateboard stunt
19 Baby bird’s home
20 Fudge-and-
caramel ice
cream dish
23 Bubble tea pearls
24 Abu Dhabi’s
country: Abbr.
26 Regulations for a
big contest
34 “Tomorrow”
musical
35 Branch of Islam
36 Body spray brand
37 500 sheets of
paper
38 Plenty of
40 Organ component
41 Note-taking aid
42 Auth. unknown
43 Ready to play, in
a way
44 Gradually and
reliably
48 Agree silently
49 Units of
resistance
50 Ambiguous
outcome, and
what the circled
letters literally
contain
57 Dreary and dull
60 Beyond mad
61 Ames’s state
62 Coffee, in slang
63 Golf course
halves
64 Pre-calc math
course
65 Petty quarrel
66 Grind, as molars
67 Creator of a
Sonic boom?
DOWN
1 V-shaped sitting
pose in yoga
2 Language spoken
by Kamala Khan’s
family on
“Ms. Marvel”
3 Carnival
4 Feature of some
ball caps
5 Slide show?
6 Fragrant sap
7 Org. with a
Reproductive
Freedom Project
8 Knee-to-ankle
area
9 Cleared weeds,
say
10 Capital of Alaska
11 Gorilla, e.g.
12 Cards with pics
13 “__ all heroes
wear capes”
21 Sole
22 General vibe
25 Olympic sprinter
Thompson-
Herah
26 Waterproof
covers
27 Oscar winner
Tatum
28 Eel-and-rice
dish
29 College sports
channel
30 Org. with the
Blues and the
Blue Jackets
31 Dead heat
32 Toss out
33 Run-down
38 “Press __ key to
continue”
39 Crowd around
40 Occupations
42 Grocery chain
based in
Germany
43 Antacid brand
45 Tasmanian
marsupial
46 Rich cakes
47 “Yikes!”
51 Abbr. seen under
a deer silhouette
52 “__ Brockovich”
53 “The X-Files”
agent Scully
54 Shared stories
55 Item needed to
play Poohsticks
56 Story that might
take hours to tell
57 Playlist
overseers, for
short
58 Knock sharply
59 Director
DuVernay
SUDOKU
By Bonnie Eisenman
©2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/21/22
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis
09/21/22
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2022
ACROSS
1 Thwack
5 Informed (of)
10 Compensation
14 Tuck out of view
15 Wrinkled
16 Many a univ.
donor
17 365 days
18 Rub ingredient
19 HBO political
satire starring
Julia Louis-
Dreyfus
20 Impractical way
to get dressed?
23 Barack and
Michelle’s eldest
daughter
26 Family room
27 Impatient
28 Lives
30 Cookie fruit
31 Planning meeting
for the costume
department?
35 “Stop filming!”
38 Broody sorts?
39 Sir or sri
40 More than dislike
41 Donkey
42 Disappointing
sign on a
store selling
warm-weather
garments?
44 GPS display
45 Small village
46 Food cart snacks
in South Asia
49 Texting letters
52 Swerves
53 Really pulls off a
jacket?
56 Initial poker bet
57 Japanese noodle
dish
58 Carried debt
62 Appear to be
63 “You __ kidding!”
64 Grow tiresome
65 Jekyll’s
counterpart
66 Basil-based
sauce
67 Yields, as a profit
DOWN
1 Bashful
2 Blip on a
polygraph, maybe
3 Hugo-nominated
novelist Palmer
4 Continues
5 “One more
thing ... ”
6 Totally beat
7 Ouzo flavoring
8 Scouting mission,
briefly
9 Garden with
forbidden fruit
10 Fluttering in the
wind
11 Warning signal
12 Ballpark figure
13 Like cans in a
recycling bin,
hopefully
21 Doth own
22 Fall flat
23 Anime genre
featuring giant
robots
24 Wheel-
connecting rods
25 NFL team whose
mascot is named
Roary
29 Punchline lead-in
30 __ and blood
32 “Pull up a chair”
33 Corp. computer
exec
34 Fuzzy sitcom star
of the 1980s
35 “The Grouchy
Ladybug” writer/
illustrator
36 Out-and-out
37 Tries, as one’s
patience
40 Place of origin
42 Cheerios grains
43 “__ Nagila”:
Israeli folk song
44 Defiant retort
46 Cymbal sound
47 Bee product
48 Performed
49 Open up, in a
way
50 Fast-spreading
social media
posts
51 Fragrance
54 Hip hop genre
55 “I’m __ your
tricks!”
59 Pint-size
60 “Mangia!”
61 Many profs
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Parking Space
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