... the implications of which are unlikely to be understood for another 5 or 10 years.
Note that I am not saying I like it. However as a reviewer I feel obligated to review it.
In terms of traditional horror we have seen stories about clinical insanity and stories about people who seem normal but may in fact be clinically insane.
This series, now in its fifth season, is different. It is about normalcy presented by people who may already have clinical issues, to viewers who may possibly develop clinical issues merely by watching.
I am not knocking this show, just trying to be honest. I believe that TV historians of the future will consider this the second production ever (the first being MTV itself) to be deliberately and specifically aimed at the "younger viewer" -- ie the viewer who grew up in the digital age, with some exposure to pharmaceutical enhancements, and iTunes, who, because of the life they have led, have a massive and unexplored tolerance for ambiguity, paradox, violence, gore and (don't forget) commercials. But not necessarily in that order.
To put that more clearly, if this show is skewing any demographic over 50 years of age, I will eat my flat screen TV, and the cable box too.
Great production values, great use of stars, very pretty sets, everyone involved, producers and viewers alike, feels really cool about it, but at the end of the day one cannot escape the notion that -- with the possible exception of Season 1 where they actually TRIED to run an arc that made some sense -- this series of gorgeous images remains full of sound and fury but signifies absolutely nothing.
