★★★★☆ 3.5/5

The FX series “American Horror Story” has gained quite a following during its five-year run. Its content that pushes boundaries of cable censors, shifting storylines between seasons, and revolving cast of cult favorites and A-listers has drawn in mainstream teen and college-aged audiences and die-hard horror fans alike. However, I’ve personally felt the show has been on a downwards slope since season one. “Hotel” has been garnering mixed reviews in comparison to previous seasons, but while it is technically the worst season, it is my favorite since season one.

   The acting in this season is incredibly uneven. We get some excellent performances (Lady Gaga is surprisingly charming and imposing as The Countess, and Denis O’Hare really sinks his teeth into the bombastic type of role that bartender Liz Taylor provides); we get some hilariously over-the-top roles (Evan Peters’ serial killer ghost James Patrick March walks and talks like a bad gangster movie clichê from the 1930s and takes a ridiculous delight in killing), and many terrifically dull ones (Wes Bentley seems exceptionally bored in his role as hardboiled detective John Lowe). The characters are all entirely unlikable, so it’s a chore to try to care about anyone. Even in the first few seasons, when characters made morally wrong choices, it seemed less out of malice and more because they were flawed and human and therefore more relatable and tragic. Here, even the characters who seemed as vanilla as possible turned out to be pretty terrible people by season’s end, holding little-to-no redeeming qualities and taking joy in causing harm to others. The only ones who are remotely likable are the small supporting characters who have no real character traits and are just disposable fodder for the main characters.

   The one major criticism I have of this series as a whole is it is essentially a teen drama. Murphy’s series, even one’s I’ve really liked (“Nip/Tuck”), always have had a sense of immaturity and a noticeable lack of subtlety. It almost seems as though Murphy realizes he has written some sort of CW-esque poppy drama and then thinks peppering it with tons of sex and gore will somehow make it seem more adult and mature, when in truth it merely highlights how truly infantile the whole show is. Sex and gore don’t make things more mature on their own; a piece of art’s maturity comes more with complex insights and themes. Murphy always seems on the brink of tapping into (particularly in season one of this series and earlier seasons of “Nip/Tuck”), but always falls back on more blatant predictable dialogue and character arcs, as though he fears his audience is not intelligent enough to process anything more subtle. The on-the-nose dialogue and bland characters feel a little bit insulting.

   This series suffers the exact opposite issue as “Nip/Tuck,” which suffered from a lack of ideas by its later seasons. Although all of “AHS” is set in the same universe, each season is essentially a stand-alone arc with new characters and a new location. However, due to this, Murphy must resolve each season’s plotlines within those 12-13 episodes. The problem is, Murphy seems to have so many ideas running through his head at once and wants to infuse so many of them into one season that there are plotlines that could fill two seasons crammed into one. The rush to tie up dozens of loose ends by the season’s final episodes always leaves the conclusions cluttered and disappointing.

   “American Horror Story: Hotel,” despite having the most flaws of any of the seasons, feels like Murphy is just doing whatever he wants, no matter how ludicrous or pointless (Matt Bomer’s Donovan dancing drunk to “Hotline Bling” by Drake in his penthouse was very amusing), and I respect that. Sure, it’s essentially an exploitation film stretched out to TV length (paper-thin characters, excessive violence for violence’s sake, etc.), but I enjoy that subgenre, no matter how trashy, and feel it definitely has its place. I just wish people would not pretend that it’s more brilliant than it is and just acknowledge it as what it is: popcorn entertainment. Despite me harping on it, it’s a series so entertaining and crazy and stupid I can’t help but watch it every week just to see what happens next.