GAME CHANGE: "ALASKA'S PRETTY TOUGH"

It took me quite some time to watch this movie, and frankly, it had not even been on my list until it got so many Emmy awards. Honestly speaking, I don't like movies in general, especially those over one hour - I have very short attention span. But I love it when political processes are getting publicly dissected, so I actually enjoyed watching this one.

Game Change (HBO) was based on a book of the same title, written by political journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann about McCain/Palin campaign of 2008. Both Palin and McCain claimed the book and the movie to be false or inaccurate, though some of the campaign insiders, including chief strategist Steve Schmidt, who was also portrayed in the movie, seemed to believe otherwise.

In short, the movie is about how Palin (played by Julianne Moore) has been chosen as a VP candidate for a very wrong reason and how she managed to gain nation wide popularity without an adequate level of competence or the appropriate manners.

This movie left me with some mixed feelings. In terms of telling a story it was good and overall interesting to watch. Surprisingly, Sarah Palin comes out as a very humanly, almost sympathetic character, despite the fact that Game Change is clearly pro-Democratic. OK, she doesn't know shit about foreign or, for that matter, national politics, but it's not her competence she gets chosen for, is it? McCain's character was, to my shock, even more likable, which I could never say about this person IRL.

 
To the downsides. I like to think of myself as a liberal (well, for the most part that is), but it does not feel right to me that the story is perpetually rolling around Palin's ignorance, whereas, let's say, her dreadful rhetoric, which is still contributing to the country division, is barely even touched (they do talk about it, but I do not think it is thoroughly illustrated).  

I know, it must be extremely difficult to portray some real life person, especially, if this person is still all over TV. Julianne Moore was praised for her performance, but I actually believe Ed Harris did a better job. I swear, at times his gestures and mimics made my brain replace him with the image of real McCain and the makeup people did not even have to yellow his teeth! (That's very low of me to mock someone's physical features, I know, but I'm still very far from becoming Joan Rivers, aren't I?). I did not have these moments with Moore's Palin, it might be because I know the actress very well and can't subconsciously let go of this fact. Or it could be because though it is fairly easy to copy Palin's looks, imitating her gestures, manner of speech, facial expressions - not so much.

And then I did not think it was such a great idea to use the actual footage of Obama/Biden, because it made me even more aware that McCain/Palin are played by actors. The reporters I could take, but making Moore fake debate Biden in no way made it feel real, but I'm sure critics believed otherwise.

Talking about the current US President, the most fascinating idea of the entire movie was that Palin and Obama are fundamentally similar, only one of them is smarter and better educated. The non-achievers, the talkie-talkers with drive and charisma, they gained people's support by simply speaking, and their speeches remained to be their greatest achievements. To understand the mesmerizing effect Obama had on most of the world we just need to remember that he's got the Nobel Peace Prize, and this is not a freaking fiction, this is the fact that we have to live with for the rest of our lives.

Anyway, back to the movie. Although I admit that personalities are properly illustrated there, I regret to say that the things what I watch political movies or shows for are not. Tricks, tactics and techniques, typically used in campaigns like that, are presented very vaguely, and since they are ultimately not working, I have hard time understanding why they could be considered as valid in the first place. The only politically calculated, dubiously moral approach that is given a proper narration is the one that is addressed in Anderson Cooper's question, whether Palin has been chosen for being more appealing to Republican voters, rather than for being actually fit for the role of Vice President of the United States. And maybe the reason behind this choice has not been so boldly obvious to the average voter. But other things like when fair criticism of a candidate by reporters is presented to the public as a politically motivated attack, or when no one spends the money on campaigning in states that are either steady "red" or are more than likely to vote "blue" (vice versa for the Democrats, of course), or the whole practice of releasing pieces of negative information about the opponent - they are neither new nor there is anything in executing them that we wouldn't know. So, in terms of political system overview, this movie did not feel like an insider story, more like an anecdote told by an observer from the outside, who happened to overhear a couple of chitchats, but without any particular details.

Well, how shall I end this piece of writing? I guess, by saying that Game Change is a fine movie. The story, though is not told the way I would prefer it to be, is a compelling one, and whereas I can never know how accurate, if at all, it is, it does give a general idea about the source of the whole Sarah Palin phenomenon. In the end, when McCain gives his concession speech, his adviser Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) has a face expression, when he hears the crowd chanting "Sarah", as if he realizes that he is Dr. Frankenstein; well, he isn't. It's not the political advisers, who made Palin who she is now, they only put some light on her due to their own shortsightedness; the rest of work has been done by her and the people who see themselves in her.

The people of America are facing another presidential election now, and from the other continent it feels that sadly, neither of their options could be the right choice.

NASHVILLE (EPs 2&3): JAMES STILL NO ANGEL

The second episode of Nashville was extremely boring, the third seemed slightly better: though it still lacked any real action, at least the characters showed emotions that felt natural in given circumstances.

Watty White's idea was not to give a song by Scarlett and Gunnar to Rayna to safe her tour. He actually suggested her to tour with Deacon instead, to perform the old songs they wrote back in the times when they were dating. After singing with her ex at the Bluebird cafe, Rayna comes to realize that she still has some feelings she doesn't want out and that the idea of this duet could cost quite a lot for her personally. We learn that their romance lasted for eleven (!) years, right until the time when Deacon got to a rehab due to his drinking problem. So yes, a lot of painful memories that must bring. However, she doesn't say she doesn't want it, and when asked by Deacon why doesn't she pronounce that their relations and everything is over, she gives a weird speech about how she's trying to do the right thing and she can't. So, she neither wants to be with him, nor does she let him go.

Juliette throughout both episodes kept asking her manager, why Deacon is not on her band. There was very little use in that, because her manager doesn't seem to be particularly skilled, so she keeps screwing Mr. Clayborne (this time him exclusively), until they write and record a song together. But he does say "no" to going on tour with her instead of Rayna. On top of that she has to deal with her addicted mother, who came to Nashville, because she didn't have anywhere else to go. Juliette's manager advises to let mom stay at Juliette's manor, to minimize harm she can cause. In the end of a third episode, Barnes is caught on teenager's phone camera stealing a nail polish, which, I think she did on purpose. I imagine, she'll have to hold a press conference to explain how troubled her life was/is to get to Deacon. Or she's just a kleptomaniac.

The financial adviser of  Rayna and Teddy says they're pretty much broke. He suggests to take a loan on the house, which is no longer easy to get, or go on tour with Juliette Barnes, or borrow money from Lamar, Rayna's father. Lamar sends a loan offer of 500 000$, but he puts some clauses to the loan agreement that restrict Rayna's touring possibilities. When he appears at the school talent show to watch his granddaughters perform Juliette's song (this time their mother didn't seem to mind the low quality of this song), Rayna tells him to leave very rudely. She later learns from her sister that Lamar's attitude towards her career could have been caused by her mother's affair with some songwriter. Rayna comes to her dad with good intentions, but as she hears that he believes her to disregard her family like her mother used to (which is completely true), she insults him again, blaming him for her mother's affair.

Watty offers Gunnar and Scarlett to record some demos for them. Scarlett worries that her boyfriend Avery would be jealous, and he is, but he tells her to do it anyway. Then at the studio she screws up to the point where Watty offers to give the song to some other girl. Once again, Avery helps Scarlett overcome her insecurities and comes to support her in the studio. Because he's outlined as "bad" person, his secret motive could have been being introduced to Mr.White.

Teddy probably did some illegal stuff in the past, something that will obviously hunt him down in his campaign.  
So, to outline characters' traits: Rayna is a hypocrite, Juliette - sophisticated and evil, Deacon messed up, Scarlett - silly/naive, Gunnar - plain idiot, Avery - layered, Teddy - weak and cowardly, Lamar - excessively controlling.

Score:

S01E02: 5/10

S01E03: 7/10

VEGAS: GETTING CLEAN IS NO EASY

I am really behind my schedule and my only excuse is that I'm lazy. I wrote the post below some time ago, but I couldn't find any strength in me to edit it.

The story in Vegas's fourth episode "(Il)Legitimate" was once again rolling around the idea that the right way doesn't get you very far, especially, if you're a mobster.

Vincent Savino is declined on Savoy expansion plan by his Chicago bosses, but he has another idea: he wants to buy a part of next door's Tumbleweed Club with a bank loan, without Angelo knowing. Unfortunately, there is a little snag - another group called Milwaukee mob is also interested in Tumbleweed and they're already organizing strikes and  throwing firebombs there. Savino tries to peacefully persuade their boss to back up by promising more money after some time, but he's eventually attacked by two brave Milwaukee gunmen. Savino survives, but then the main problem appears: sneaky Johnny Rizzo, who somehow gets to know about Vincent's plan, demands fifty per cent of Savino's share for not telling Angelo. Vincent is then forced to send two of his gunmen to take care of  Milwaukee boss, he now can't afford to lose this deal.

I thought Dixon would fall for Mia, but it's actually Jack. Their romantic story is a little more compelling than that of Ralph and Katherine's, but it'll probably turn out more tragic as well.

The procedural part of story is not worth going into, really, I feel like the writers are failing to come up with a story particularly relevant to the rest of the series. The tale about a black girl with rich white father and drug addicted brother, who has strong position about the strike and is eventually killed by a fellow maid out of, well, jealousy, just didn't feel right, it was overcrowded with too many lines and was overall an unnecessary extra.

Sheriff Lamb's softer side was also revealed as he had nostalgic feelings towards the old tree, which reminds him of his deceased wife.

Overall, "IlLegitimate" seemed like the weakest episode of Vegas so far, but I'm still interested in seeing how the mob story ends, so I'm glad that CBS ordered the full season of this series.

Score 5/10

MID SEASON

So, it's not too early to to take a look at the mid season, is it? Ripper Street by BBC definitely looks interesting. The series is said to be released on BBC America in January 2013 (initially, the launch date was supposed to be sometime this Fall). And of course it's about Jack the Ripper, as the title suggests.



The series, created by “Mistresses” writer Richard Warlow, features a dynamic cast starring Matthew Macfadyen (“MI-5,” “Pride and Prejudice”), Jerome Flynn (“Game of Thrones”), Adam Rothenberg (“Alcatraz”), Myanna Buring (“The Twilight Saga,” “White Heat”) and David Dawson (“Luther,” “Secret Diary of a Call Girl”).

Red Widow, a show about "the mob mom". I'm worried that because it's gonna be on ABC, it will be soft and soapy, but we'll see. I don't know anyone from cast, but I've read there will be a character named Andrei Petrova which is hilarious because it's male first name and female last name. So, not only Dexter creators can't get Slavic names right. Writers, focus!



One of the most ridiculous shows must be CWs The Cult, about a TV program that kidnaps people.

BOSS SEASON 2

I loved Boss, both seasons were really great. It's the first political drama that I could not get enough of. Every little detail of the story actually meant something, there was a reason behind every action, justified by characters' psychology or the situation. Yes, many of dialogues were not without pathos, why wouldn't they be, the show is roughly based on Shakespeare's King Lear. Yet numerous lines are just a bouquet of refined hints and undertones.

Americans are complaining that British series and actors are starting to dominate the drama niche (well, Jimmy Kimmel sort of did at the EMMYs), yet US TV series amazing, like Boss, are six feet under a pile of appalling shows like, let's say, Homeland, where nobody knows what they're doing, especially the writers; or CSIs (either one) with acting so poor and dialogues so pathetic, they make my eyes and ears bleed.

Boss had been renewed for the second season before the pilot aired, Iäm not sure it would have happened if Starz waited a little, because the first season's ratings were very modest, and those for season 2 were, the least to say, heartbreaking. The future of this series seems to be really dark, and that's a shame.

But I don't blame the viewers, which, I'm sure Starz and the creators of the show do, no, I blame the creators. I have absolutely no idea what kind of target audience they had in mind when writing it, filming and editing.

I know that cable channels like Starz can afford what major network channels like ABC and Fox can't (I'm talking about sex and violence here) and they're using that excessively, desperately trying to compete. What they don't seem to understand is that by doing so, they're placing themselves to the whole different and much tougher sort of competition, against, you know, regular porn, with all the plumbers and women in their thirties wearing school uniform.

Yes, I am complaining about all the sex scenes and how explicit they were in Boss. OK, women en masse are not that really into politics, I get it. But what about people who love all the mindless fucking on TV, are they the ones to appreciate  the complicated characters, elegantly introduced events and reasoning (meaning, the characters don't normally say out loud "I did this because that"), dramatic dialogues and great acting? Are they really?

I'm leaving this question to creators. All in all, I think that to gain the audience, they should have been either more brutal (murders did not seem all that graphic) to attract more freaks, or more decent, not to scare fancy drama lovers.

Anyway, despite the fact that I kept rolling my eyes on all these less than decent scenes, I loved the series.
For me it was a story about how a man has built a system that now controls him, a machine that won't ever let him be human again, an environment, where nobody could be trusted but himself. This trust in self, though, is also put to test by his sickness. The real mortality he replaces with more familiar and understandable concept of political death, a type of death he can actually escape. That's why the stakes are so high, that's why he sacrifices so much to keep his kingdom; he seeks comfort in his power, because there's nothing in his other life that could possibly make him feel better in these tragic circumstances.

There is no hidden partisan message you often find in other political dramas and even soaps like Nashville, there is no single political figure that has principles or ideals, except for, maybe Mona, but she's just too young. All their actions are driven by desire of power, or money that essentially lead to power. Boss is a technical review of political machine, a reminder to the voters that the warm looks from billboard posters, touching messages and smiles are no more than the result of calculation carried out behind the doors of political offices.

AHS: IN BRIARCLIFF EVERYBODY IS A PATIENT

I read that people are really inspired by episode 2 ("Tricks and Treats") of American Horror Story, though I, unfortunately, ain't one of them. And don't get me wrong, I really tried to be amazed, but I guess, there was no chemistry between me and this week's story.

What I wrote below is not really a review, it's rather a bunch of thoughts on this episode without any particular structure. So, let's roll.

Like last year, they have two Halloween episodes, "Tricks and Treats" is the first one.

Leo is probably killed by Bloody Face and so is Lana's girlfriend, Wendy. I must wonder why Wendy tried to avoid the inevitable by mentioning she's a school teacher. Is that how shock worked for her?
On another note, I'm very close to accusing every other character of being Bloody Face, like that lesbian friend of Wendy's, the bigger one, who offered to stay with her, she acted suspiciously... or not.

Dr. Arden gives Sister Mary a candy apple; now it could be a reference to Snow White tale, but the more obvious analogy is with the forbidden fruit from a very well known biblical story. Sister Mary gets possessed in the end of the episode, so sweets do lead to sin.

I loved how the scenes with Dr. Oliver Thredson (Zachary Quinto) being nice to Kit are mixed with those where he cold-bloodedly dissects his subject while writing a psychiatric conclusion about his mental state. Also, Oliver's mother gave him up as a child, if we should trust the demon that took over the soul of poor Jedd (and he was very persuasive).

Evan Peters (I always want to name him "Peter Evans") has lost most of his oomph and this darker kind of charm since he parted ways with his last season's character - Tate. I don't think teenage girls would have fallen for him as much, if he had started as Kit in the first place; and may I say that flashing ass every episode doesn't really help him, nor does talking about it.

On the other hand, Kit has been a very reserved characters so far, we know very little about his personality. He seems to be just generally "good", which, in terms of AHS is a euphemism for "boring". So, what I'm trying to say is, I hope there will be more to Mr. Walker as the story develops.

Dr. Arden is a pervert, no shocker here. On the first photo in his "trophy box", the tortured prostitute's position resembled one that the younger nurse had in last season's "Home Invasion" episode before she was stabbed; Arden can't be R. Franklin, of course, because the dates don't add up (nurse murder happened in 1968, as we remember, and asylum story takes place 4 years before that).

last season

this season

So...was that "the thing" in sixties or what?

Moving on to Sister Jude. Not that long ago she was a slutty bar singer and it's hit and run what brought her to God (again, if we can believe the possessing demon). Not a big surprise, I must say, the only question is what the hell that poor girl was doing out so late in the middle of nowhere (an adult would work just as well and make much more sense).

Lana Winters is given an electroshock, a treatment, which despite being called barbarian twice in AHS is embraced nowadays by those practicing experimental therapy, as Boss and Homeland suggest (so, I guess, medicine did not progress that much after all, huh). Anyway, I get that Lana did not want Kit, whom she believed to be a serial killer, out. What I don't understand is why she suddenly trusts a random girl? Does she know Grace's story at all? I mean, officially, Lana is a subject for treatment because of her homosexuality, which isn't the wrong "diagnosis", she believes Kit is who police claims he is, why is it different with Grace? Because she's a girl or?

Chloe Sevigny I've read is praised for performing her bit, but frankly I thought it was too theatrical, really, her act reminded me of girls talking in Chicago between singing Cell Block Tango part, only with no music. Also, if creators wanted me to feel like it wasn't fair to lock Shelley up in Briarcliff just because she was "into pleasure", they shouldn't have made her act that crazy.

My favorite character in this episode was Jedd/the demon, especially I loved his line "you're boring the hell out of me". This was my highlight.

Score: 7/10 

REVENGE: INTUITION LIES

Revenge episode "Intuition" was very intense as opposed to last week's "Confidence". I'm more and more convinced that Revenge is the best soap not only this season (I did watch episode two of Nashville as well and I can't force myself to write about it, that's how boring it was), but probably in a decade or so.

What happened:

Revenge creators used again their favorite way of narration by showing blood in Grayson's house and Victoria burning papers only to then tell us what the hell happened 24 hours before that. I think they are overusing this technique.

Emily confronts Aiden. She says he found her mother, referring to the non existent detective Kara mentions on the voicemail message. Aiden lies that the detective must have been someone from the Initiative, the group TWHM worked for. He also suggests that Emily tempers her expectations about her mother, Kara Clarke could clearly be a very dangerous person now.

Conrad flies to meet the Initiative (a very pointless trip I should say), as he leaves, he asks Ashley to report if Daniel is up to something. Daniel discovers that Ashley is spying on him, but before that he tells her that his father is doing tricky stuff with the company share price and that kidnapping of Victoria didn't really happen.

Amanda moves out from Jack's bar. He tries to stop her but without particular enthusiasm, so she comes to Emily's house to stay in the guest room. Emily wants her help with getting information from Victoria about Kara. The plan A where Amanda trades fake David Clarke journal for this info fails miserably. The plan B is to get a check signed by Victoria to then confront her by showing that the signature on the check matches the one on the visitor log from the mental hospital where Emily's mother was held.

Declan's burglary turns out to be a set up. The guy he robbed apparently wants Jack's bar; a wish that I can't really understand, 'cause the place is a s**thole.

Aiden goes back to the motel to ask Kara about the Initiative, long story short, she gets him unconscious with the help of an electroshocker and leaves him tied up. She's like Sarah Connor or something.

Nolan Ross gets to know that his father died. The two have not been in touch since Nolan was kicked out from his home for not getting back to school (because he already established his company). His nosy employee, Padma, brings him to gather some of the unclaimed stuff of his father. Their romantic story gets a development as they kiss and Nolan promises to take her out on a date.

Padma finds the check that David Clarke gave to Nolan for the start-up, which I believe isn't good for the upcoming audit of the company (like, terrorist funded or something). At least she makes a look like it's something bad.

Amanda brings some of her friends from the stripclub to the fancy baby shower Victoria throws.

She then acts according to the plan B and confronts Victoria. Victoria, after taking some pressure, says that Kara attempted to kill her daughter, and as Mrs. Grayson tries to get her check back, Amanda slips and falls over the banister. So that's whose blood that was.

Conrad gets back home and asks Ashley why she did not tell anything about Daniel. She says that there is nothing to report, Daniel only has his father's best interest at his heart and that she's done spying. Daniel is happy to overhear that.

Amanda is taken to the hospital, where a C-section is performed and she is put to a coma, her son is also under a special tretament. Jack is blaming himself (as well he should), Declan is comforting Charlotte. Emily wonders around the hospital and as she looks inside Amanda's ward through the glass door, she sees her mother who arrived as soon as she heard about the accident on the radio. Emily then has a flashback of her mother trying to drown her. So Victoria wasn't lying about this one, huh.

Emily leaves poor Amanda unprotected, one-by-one with this crazy mommy monster. Aiden arrives at Emily's house where she sits devastated and hysterical. But he gets to hug her and she cries on his shoulder.

So, a lot happened, no idea what Amanda's fate will be. If she survives she could be in a wheelchair for some time. Bad stuff will happen to Nolan's company for sure (Emily keeps thanking him, so she will have to return her debt by helping him out for a change, or?). Initiative group's story line has so far been extremely weak, the dialogue Conrad had with their representative was quite idiotic and as I said I can't figure out why they couldn't deliver that message over the phone, for instance. Jack's bar will hardly go, but at least we got another candidate to go down with "Amanda", the boat (I mean the robbed man here).

Score: 9,5/10 (0,5 deducted for Initiative)

DEXTER S07E04 ("RUN"): HOW DO YOU FEEL? GLAD!

So, Debra started seeing blood. In her dreams!

Recap:

Deb learns why Trinity killed Rita and who took care of Trinity himself. She suggests that Dexter sends Harrison to his grandparents, so that Dexter's secret life wouldn't harm him.

Speltzer got arrested, it took four police officers to detain him. Batista and Debra play a combination of good cop/creepy psychoanalytical cop to get his confession, and they succeeded. Unfortunately, one of the officers fucked up with Miranda rights upon the arrest, so Speltzer walked.

Dexter makes an unsuccessful attempt to kill Speltzer. He gets knocked out and Speltzer brings him to a grand labyrinth. As Dex regains his conscience, he sees a note saying "RUN", a command he does not want to follow at first, but as he sees "a bull with an ax" approaching, he does. By the way, the scene where Speltzer touches the wall with his an ax:.

 instantly reminded me of Breaking Bad scene with the twin killers:

Of course, Dexter manages to escape by breaking the pattern. But the Minotaur wannabe saw his face, so Dexter sends his son to Rita's parents for two weeks.

Hannah McKay appears at Miami Metro to help find other bodies she and her ex boyfriend hid.

Isaak Sirko sees Dexter's photos and says he looks familiar. Police still comes to the strip club, so to stop the money loss, Sirko decides to provide them with the fake murderer. He and his crew make one Russian bartender write a suicide note, mentioning Kaja and blow his brains off. Batista finally reveals his detective skills by not really trusting that the guy is the murderer. Dex arrives at the crime scene as well and Isaak sees him out of his car.

Speltzer attended the funeral of the waitress he murdered, which made Debra snap. I could totally relate to her that moment, except for I wouldn't start a conversation with "haven't you done enough already?" and would just  proceed with "f***ing c**ksucker, motherf***ker" and so on.

Sirko gets to Baskov's apartment and cries over the photograph where both of them are together. Baskov probably is his son or something.

Dexter arrives at the cemetery where the bull maniac works. He leaves a note saying "STAY" on a pile of mud and knocks Speltzer out with a shovel. Then he has his usual talk with his victim and puts a piece of a broken shovel haft to Speltzer's chest and then burns the body together with all of his blood slide trophies in a crematorium oven.

Debra comes to the cemetery as well and as Dexter says that the smoke coming out of the chimney is Speltzer, she shockingly says she feels glad.

Awesome!

Score: 10/10

AHS: WELCOME TO BRIARCLIFF!

I don't want to do a recap, Entertainment Weekly has already produced that on seven (!) pages, I can't possibly beat that (since I'm on that, I don't really think that what happens to Leo and Teresa deserves the whole page). But I can't restrain from the pleasure of introducing the characters.

Leo and Teresa (Adam Levine and Jenna Dewan) are the newlyweds, who are on a "haunted honeymoon" trip, because Teresa is apparently a horror freak. Their story happens in our time, while the rest of the show looks back to the year of 1964. So they get to the abandoned asylum to explore and have sex. Long strory short, Leo puts his hand with a phone to the food hatch in the locked door to see if anything is there. Oh, there is something there, alright. It grabs his hand and rips it off (haha! the best moment, he deserved it). 

Sister Jude (Jessica Lange, last season played the role of Constance Langdon), the person running the Briarcliff. She says that mental illness is a fashionable explanation for the sin and thus she sees her mission in making inmates of the asylum repent. And oh my, she's got great arsenal for that.

"Jude" in fact is a masculine name, it's a form of famous biblical name Judas/Judah. Just saying.

Dr. Arthur Arden (James Cromwell, first appearance), a man truly, insanely dedicated to science. He's catching up with aliens by running horrible, Nazi-style tests on patients of the asylum. Afterwards he feeds their flesh to the unknown beast(s) that, I suspect, he created.

Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe, last season appeared as Nora Montgomery), Sister Jude's minion. It is said that other people think she's stupid, but in fact she doesn't seem that at all. Behind Sister Jude's back she's running errands for Dr. Arden, so no matter who wins the battle over the asylum, she stays (or maybe there's some other motive).

"Eunice" means "good/noble victory".

Monsignor Timothy Howard (Joseph Fiennes), a person behind the project of the asylum. Extremely ambitious, he believes this place will make him a cardinal and eventually, the Pope. Sister Jude seems to be sexually attracted to him. "Timothy" means "honoring God".

Kit Walker (Evan Peters, previously played Tate Langdon), a new inmate of the asylum, who allegedly killed three women, including his black wife, skinned them, chopped their heads off and wore their flesh. The press calls him Bloody Face.
Kit himself believes he and his wife were abducted by aliens and were performed tests on, police sends him to the Briarcliff to check if he is fit for the trial.
The name "Kit" means "bearer of the Christ"

Grace (Lizzie Brocheré), a patient who helps Kit by sharing her knowledge about the rules of the Briarcliff. She allegedly chopped up her entire family, which she claims isn't true (I think it is). She also suggests that being in Briarcliff alive is better than ending up electrocuted.

Shelley (Chloë Sevigny), a nymphomaniac (or "the victim of her own lust", as Sister Jude puts it). Nothing much happened to this character yet.

One of the meanings of her name is "a sheep", and the character is shaved like one in the first episode.

Lana (Banana) Winters (Sarah Paulson, played Bllie Dean, the medium, last season), an ambitious lesbian  reporter, who comes to the sanitarium to get an interview with Bloody Face. She is refused, but it doesn't stop her. She sneaks to the Briarcliff at night and thanks to her threats to Sister Mary Eunice, she is let to the ward where Bloody Face is kept. Unfortunately, she gets attacked by something, similarly to Leo. Sister Jude discovers that and is determined to lock Lana in the asylum, to treat her from homosexuality and keep the asylum secrets.

Wendy (Clea Duwall) is a school teacher and Lana's "roommate". Upon Lana's unfortunate admission to the asylum, Wendy signs petition that allows to lock her lover up, after Sister Jude threatens to expose her. This is my absolutely favorite part of the episode, Jessica Lange was just outstanding.