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Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
American Horror Stories Season Two Episode Two, titled “Aura,” is once again written by series regular Manny Coto and directed by Max Winkler, son of icon Henry Winkler — which is pretty cool (you get it?).
While there was no expansion of current lore here, the story is grounded and satisfying in the best ways. As with the season premiere, some spoilers will be discussed here.
The episode was led by series regular Gabourey Sidibe and Max Greenfield, who makes a return to the series after guest starring in American Horror Story: Hotel. Joel Swetow, Vince Yap, Lily Rohren, and Nancy Linehan Charles round out the rest of the cast.
It’s great to see Sidibe take on another character in the AHS universe, after having played Queenie throughout three different seasons of American Horror Story. She and Greenfield show great chemistry as a married couple moving into their new home in a gated community. The other cast members show considerable chemistry with the episode’s leads as well.
Coto’s premise is extremely gripping and seemed more concerned with telling a story of modern-day, real-life horror rather than one of witches and creepy dolls.
Real-Life Horror
There is a fair amount of people who trust no one, rightfully so. There are some very scary people in the world and you don’t really know just how much someone is capable of. That’s exactly where this episode of American Horror Stories leads to. It was great to see the twist at the end of the episode.
Greenfield plays a terrific double-edged sword and you can’t really tell until the end. However, even though Sidibe’s Jaslyn Taylor lived through a horrible home invasion as a child, Greenfield’s Bryce really controls her as much as he can. There are a couple of jump scares throughout the episode, and they’re more for straight effect rather than sheer terror.
As Bryce and Jaslyn move into their home, the former comes back from the store with Aura Doorbell, the episode’s version of Ring Doorbell. While Bryce is skeptical, especially with them being in a gated community, he installs it anyway and they go about their day moving into their new home. Later on, while Bryce is called into work, Jaslyn gets an alert from Aura and it is a strange character at the door (Joel Swetow), pleading with Jaslyn to let him in.
It is later revealed that this figure, Dayle, was a janitor at Jaslyn’s high school years ago and he isn’t even real. She eventually lets him into the house. All he wishes to do is apologize for how things went at the school. After their brief encounter, he fades to dust.
After some YouTube snooping, Jaslyn discovers that the doorbells have a paranormal frequency and can bring back those who died, although only for a brief moment, it seems. The ghosts just want to settle old debts and finally have some peace. The sheer thought that an electric doorbell with a camera can communicate with the dead is extremely creepy nonetheless. However, the episode is effective and keeps a perfect pace, even with the last act moving along quicker than you think.
Cinematic Aspects in This Week’s Episode of American Horror Stories
Initially, Winkler’s direction in this week’s episode of American Horror Stories is a little shaky. Eventually, keeps the camera in control as “Aura” moves along. There is a small, yet simple shot of Bryce exiting his car when he arrives home during the first time Dayle is allegedly causing terror in the house. I thoroughly enjoy it when directors play around with small techniques like this. It keeps the viewer engaged, no matter how simple the shot is.
Coto continues to impress as one of the best writers of the series with a great grounded story and fairly normal characters, even though Bryce turns out to be some sort of maniac himself. Greenfield was a great pick for this week’s villain, and Sidibe continues to be a powerhouse leading woman in American Horror Stories.
Callbacks to Other Elements of Horror
“Aura” played on both the home-invasion sub-genre of films like The Purge and modern-day societal norms of Ring Doorbells and other electric camera doorbells. It was exceptional to see a series like American Horror Stories tackle this subject matter. Coto could have taken cues from a series like Black Mirror when he initially wrote this script.
There is also a supernatural element sprinkled throughout the episode as well. That is always entertaining for American Horror Story because they can usually figure out a way to mix up the sandbox again while keeping it fresh and engaging. Coto could have also taken another cue from home-invasion serial killers such as the Golden State Killer from the 1970s and ’80s, as Jaslyn suffered one during her childhood. Although, it isn’t ever revealed what actually happened to her parents.
While this episode didn’t expand the lore of AHS, it seemed to reinforce the element of ghosts and the usage of technology as well as how they communicate with the land of the living in this universe. Season One’s “Game Over” expanded on that element, too — where the end of that episode revealed that the whole narrative took place in a video game. “Aura” seemed to reinforce that fact and took it a step further with the episode’s subject material. All’s well it ends well, it seems.
Final Thoughts on This Week’s American Horror Stories
This week’s episode of American Horror Stories was another great story set within the universe. While it wasn’t really scary in many ways, it was still unsettling, much like the season premiere. It did a prominent job at setting people on edge with how technology that should protect you can sometimes be your demise or terror.
It was also nice that they kept the narrative key once again, and did their best to maintain the universe while also telling a new, grounded story for viewers. Should they keep up this pace, American Horror Stories Season Two should become one of the best seasons of horror television. I would also love to see leads top the previous week’s, as Sidibe and Greenfield did here. The direction and the writing also prove to be some of the best in the series as well.
American Horror Stories Season Two Episode Three will air next Thursday, as part of FX on Hulu, and all the rest of American Horror Story and American Horror Stories are streaming now on Hulu.
Are you following along with all the thrills and chills American Horror Stories has to offer? Let us know your thoughts! As always, keep it right here at TCS for the next episode’s review, and more horror-related reviews from the team!
Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
This article was edited by John Tangalin.