TV Review: American Horror Story – delicate

Based on the novel 'Delicate Condition' by Danielle Valentine, season 12 of American Horror Story, subtitled Delicate, follows actress Anna as she undergoes IVF treatment while experiencing increasingly sinister events. The plot draws heavily from Rosemary's Baby, but fails to put a new spin on it.

Despite my love for the gothic, I have steered clear of American Horror Story to date despite the favourable reviews some of the seasons have received. American Horror Story: Delicate lacks subtlety and fails to deliver a sinister atmosphere, perhaps because of the heavy-handed approach the showrunners have chosen.

In the first episode, we follow Anna (Emma Roberts) and her husband Dex (Matt Czuchry) to a fertility clinic for an oocyte retrieval appointment. Anna nearly misses the appointment, after it was unexpectedly rescheduled, or as it is implied by her husband, she had forgotten the change in appointment. Loss of memory or time, and hallucinations are a frequent theme in the three episodes I watched, however, one never finds oneself questioning whether Anna is just imagining everything. That is of course not necessarily a negative, but I found it made it less creepy. The dismissal of these 'side effects' that Anna is experiencing from the medication is a believable scenario. The way other characters interact with Anna made me wonder if anyone truly cares for her and I did feel sorry for her. But, this also makes it very easy to distrust everyone and it does not build an atmosphere where you're questioning who is manipulating her, because everyone is awful in their own way. 

Watching the first episode, I felt like someone had told the writers that they needed to address some of the difficulties women deal with undergoing IVF and they decided to squeeze them all within the first 20 minutes to get it over and done with; a tick box exercise. I guess credit where credit is due, at least Anna's husband mentions that 30 percent of couples struggle with unexplained infertility, however this felt like a very forced conversation, perhaps on purpose to create some tension in the relationship. Predictably, Anna blames herself, as women in couples experiencing fertility issues often do. This would have been a great talking point for her husband to emphasise his own feelings of self-blame, sadness and frustration, but instead, the emotional struggle is all on Anna's end.

You might say that I'm expecting too much from a horror series, but I feel a lot more could have been done to make Anna a more relatable and sympathetic character. Whether it's the writing, the direction or the acting, none of the characters are particularly likeable or manage to convey their emotional struggle in a meaningful way, least of all Kim Kardashian who plays Anna's best friend Siobhan whom she met in an IVF support group. Siobhan promptly trashes the usefulness of the support group – given how isolating an IVF experience and infertility issues can be for couples, support groups can be extremely helpful. Yet somehow, they make it sound like it was a court-ordered probation activity.

I never truly believed their friendship, and Siobhan has some of the most atrocious lines in the show. Maybe her character is meant to be edgy and callous, but the 'jokes' fall flat, especially the throwaway line about people giving sexual favours so Anna would get an award nomination. After Anna miscarries, Siobhan comes to visit to support her and reassure her that it is perfectly normal to feel 'crazy' after such trauma. The writers immediately ruin what could have been a meaningful interaction by having Siobhan say that Anna needs to stop moping and pull herself together. With friends like that, who needs a satanic cult to ruin your life?

The show attempts to give a sinister atmosphere to the fertility clinic, and almost succeeds. It's clean and sterile, lacking any comfort and reassurance. Dr Hill, Anna's doctor, is patronising, unpleasant and a bit weird, but the show never realises the full potential of the trope and instead focuses on making the medical instruments look as phallic as possible. I’m sure many women can identify with even basic gynaecology appointments being a dehumanising experience at times – obviously depending on the medical staff. This could have been played to a much greater effect. There is a scene where Anna is miscarrying and given an ultrasound by a nurse that is horrific. The nurse (who later turns out does not work at the hospital) disregards Anna's discomfort and is outright brutal, the whole procedure is incredibly invasive and violating. Some of the effectiveness of the scene is lost because of the unconvincing acting.

To me, the idea of the story has great potential. I love body horror, especially viewed from a female perspective, and it can be a great way to subvert existing conventions. However, American Horror Story attempts to create a sinister atmosphere and fails. In fact, the imagery is so much like a caricature that it is almost laughable. There are many ways to elicit a sinister atmosphere on film – music, camera angles, lighting – yet American Horror Story season 12 is shot like a cheap soap opera.

I'm sure by now it is obvious that I did not enjoy it. To me the show failed on all fronts, including portraying the difficulties of IVF treatment faced by couples. There is very little nuanced portrayal or discussion, even for a horror series, and I cannot recommend it.