The Surprising Backstory Fans Are Loving In AHS: Double Feature Episode 4
"Red Tide," the first half of the currently ongoing "American Horror Story: Double Feature," takes place in a supernatural version of the real-life Provincetown, Massachusetts. In the season's pilot episode, Harry Gardener (Finn Wittrock) moves with his wife Doris (Lily Rabe) and daughter Alma (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) to Provincetown where he intends to work as a screenwriter.
Like most people working in an artistic field, Harry struggles creatively from time to time. Unlike most people working in an artistic field, Harry starts habitually taking black pills provided by playwright and fellow Provincetown dweller Austin Sommers ("AHS" mainstay Evan Peters). Viewers soon learn that the black pills affect people in one of two ways: for creatives, they amplify their user's talents, though sustaining that boost of inspiration requires consuming raw blood. Non-creatives who take the pill, meanwhile, become brainless and zombielike.
"Blood Buffet," the fourth episode of "Red Tide," reveals that a character named The Chemist (Angelica Ross) created the pills while researching how the US army might compel its soldiers to become more susceptible to mental influence. While the history of the black pills sheds light on one of the season's primary supernatural elements thus far, "Blood Buffet" also includes a significantly less impactful bit of exposition that is delighting fans nevertheless.
Now we know where the coats come from
An extended flashback in "Blood Buffet" to The Chemist's early Provincetown days includes a look at the first non-creative to take the black pills and succumb to their resultant physical and mental deterioration. The person wants to be a singer but lacks talent, so he becomes the first of Provincetown's wandering, bloodthirsty, zombie-like inhabitants. Early on in his transformation, he visits a vintage clothing store owned by local multi-hyphenate business owner Lark (Billie Lourd) and buys a long, pointy, black jacket. In the series' present, virtually all of the town's quasi-zombies are wearing identical jackets, so this moment serves to explains where those jackets are sold.
In a discussion thread on Reddit about "Blood Buffet," user KnockNocturne wrote "Jesus christ their coats are getting backstories" and received more than 550 upvotes, suggesting plenty of their fellow fans were similarly surprised by this particular bit of exposition. "We deserved that though, let's be real. Hahaha," replied user celestialwanderings, in a comment itself upvoted more than 100 times.
User NJDvl suggested that the moment speaks to a larger tendency of showrunner Ryan Murphy's to sometimes focus on smaller details at the expense of the bigger picture. "That's Ryan Murphy for you. He'll leave a Grand Canyon sized plot hole in a storyline but will be meticulous about other details, LOL," they wrote.
The next episode of "American Horror Story: Double Feature," titled Gaslight, premieres on September 15.