Summary

• Season 5 of American Horror Story fumbled with characters, contradicting canon and missing opportunities for rich storylines.
• Queenie from Coven was disappointingly killed off in Hotel, showcasing the series' issue with valuing recurring characters.
• The Addiction Demon in Hotel was a terrifying but wasted villain, highlighting the show's lack of follow-through in storytelling.

Although every season of American Horror Story is connected, I have rarely felt like the series has a masterful grand plan undergirding its fictional universe. Often, I’m certain the series is simply linking characters to each other after the fact, resulting in a lot of connections that feel tenuous and half-baked. On occasion, American Horror Story outright contradicts its canon and ignores these links.

This doesn’t come as a major surprise to me as I’ve followed the show since its inception. Given the choice between a sensible but dull plot development and a nonsensical but fun one, American Horror Story always chooses the latter. This is why American Horror Story season 12’s finale was so divisive since the series took a season of slow-burn, comparatively subtle horror storytelling and ended it with a ludicrous, chaotic bang. I try to embrace the show’s tendency toward unbridled silliness, but even I hit my limit with season 5’s characters.

American Horror Story Hotel Wasted Queenie And The Addiction Demon

Coven’s Returning Heroine And Hotel’s Scariest Monster Were Barely Used

American Horror Story: Hotel was one of the show’s stranger seasons, a grim and gruesome trawl through a seedy hotel’s dark past. Hotel did introduce a few notable new faces to the show’s cast list, but its plotting was even messier than its predecessor, Freak Show. To make matters worse, I was shocked when Hotel brought back Coven’s Queenie only to kill her off. Gabourey Sidibe’s witch was one of Coven’s breakout stars, so her unceremonious death after arriving at the Hotel Cortez was a dispiriting end for a promising character.

Queenie was doomed as soon as she arrived.

Fortunately, Hotel’s inexplicable death was later retconned. While American Horror Story: Apocalypse was one of the show’s worst outings, season 8 did at least turn back time and allow Mallory to convince Queenie to never visit the hotel. While this undid some of the subplot’s damage, it also made Queenie’s temporary death even more pointless. The Coven heroine had some of the most intriguing powers in the season’s eponymous collection of witches, but these were useless against the ghostly inhabitants of Hotel Cortez. As such, Queenie was doomed as soon as she arrived.

Hotel’s Addiction Demon Was American Horror Story’s Most Underrated Villain

The Season Forgot This Horrifying Villain After Their Introduction

As if Queenie’s pointless storyline weren’t bad enough, American Horror Story: Hotel also wasted one of the show’s creepiest villains. The Addiction Demon was a faceless monstrosity that reminded me of Twin Peaks: The Return's Judy and proved almost as horrifying in its efficacy. In its first onscreen appearance, the Addiction Demon graphically murdered Max Greenfield’s drug addict Gabriel during one of Hotel’s most upsetting moments. However, the monster barely played any role in the rest of the season's story, and its existence, origins, powers, and weaknesses were never properly addressed after this introduction.

An unidentifiable monster like the Addiction Demon could have been the season’s primary antagonist.

The fact that American Horror Story ruled out Kim Kardashian’s return in season 13 proves the series has an issue with valuing its recurring characters, but the Addiction Demon might be the worst case of this phenomenon. For one thing, the monster is a faceless, unspeaking demon, so its return didn’t even require the presence of a potentially expensive guest star. It is understandable when characters played by Lady Gaga or Kathy Bates have limited screen time, but an unidentifiable monster like the Addiction Demon could have been the season’s primary antagonist.

Queenie’s Hotel Subplot Highlighted A Larger American Horror Story Problem

The Anthology Horror Show Reintroduces Characters Without Much Purpose

Foregrounding the Addiction Demon as the central villain of Hotel would have arguably been the smartest thing for the season’s story, since so many of the hotel’s haunted inhabitants suffered from troubling compulsions. Despite this, Hotel wasted the monster with one shocking scene and barely any further appearances. Queenie’s return and the Addiction Demon’s introduction highlight the same American Horror Story problem, namely the show’s persistent issues with prioritizing follow-through. American Horror Story has plenty of great characters, but no idea how to use them.

I can imagine a version of the Addiction Demon’s story that makes the villain more comprehensible.

I would have loved to see Queenie bring other of the coven to the Hotel Cortez to help her escape the place instead of getting killed off shortly after she arrived. Similarly, I can imagine a version of the Addiction Demon’s story that makes the villain more comprehensible but no less scary, like American Horror Story’s Twisty the Clown. However, I’m not surprised that the series didn’t have the focus to pull off either of these plots. As tends to be the case, American Horror Story season 5 had a lot of promise and no idea how to use it.