Jessica Lange sat out this season so introducing Lady Gaga to take her place. Oh yes the Ga can act. She plays The Countess a 115 year old "vampire" (she has a blood disorder that keeps her immortal and must drink blood to survive but doesn't turn into a bat or anything) and owner of the Hotel Cortez in Los Angeles present day. Kathy Bates plays Iris the Hotel Manager. Matthew Bomer is Donovan The Countess' boyfriend. Dennis O'Hare is transwoman & hotel employee Liz Taylor. Sarah Paulson as drug addict Sally. Wes Bentley is Det John Lowe, and Chloe Sevigny is John's doctor wife Alex. Their lives all intertwine when John investigates a murder that leads back to the hotel by a killer going by the moniker Ten Commandments Killer (the killer kills people that are committing sins from The Bible).
This is soooooooo good. I cannot even express how much I love it. It was very sexually explicit and violent the first couple episodes, but past that the story gels together. I do not want to give ANY story away because this is the first time in a very long time almost every episode has made me gasp. Not just storyline but acting skills of guest stars like Mare Winningham, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Max Greenfield, Cheyenne Jackson, Naomi Campbell, Lily Rabe, and mine & apparently Ryan Murphy's fave Finn Wittrock (Emmy nominated for his turn in "American Horror Story: Freak Show"). This season even links other seasons together very nicely and well thought out.
It's only 13 episodes long and we're at 8. I will update once I get to the season finale, but already they confirmed Lady Gaga will be back next season.
I'm thinking like Emma Roberts on Scream Queens, Gaga will be nominated for an Emmy but won't win along with Wes Bentley (who's giving the performance of his career). Dennis O'Hare BETTER win for Supporting Actor though. His character Liz Taylor is particularly heartbreaking along with Finn Wittrock (his 2nd Emmy nomination after this). Evan Peters will also be nominated as James March; and of course Kathy Bates as Iris (wait till you learn her backstory). Once again the costumes are insane (thank you Lou Eyrich)...if you google a picture of Lou she basically fashioned The Countess as her. It's pretty uncanny. Lou better win Emmys for both shows especially AHS: Hotel because Lady Gaga's Countess SLAYS it in the fashion dept.