-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email If all horror is metaphor, then of course “Grotesquerie” would feature a turducken . The hedonistic holiday feast occasions Det. Lois Tryon ( Niecy Nash-Betts ) to drop the culinary term “engastrated,” which she explains to her daughter Merritt (Raven Goodwin) describes when the remains of one animal are stuffed inside of another animal – here, a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey, each separated by layers of andouille sausage stuffing.
The word lends a technical remove to a grisly concept unless you love food and haven’t seen the gore and entrails served up rare and glistening throughout the previous episode. Absent those images, watching Lois debone, stuff and truss up a turducken would be mouthwatering. Subtlety has never been a Ryan Murphy signature, so not even the food porn in “Grotesquerie” offers a safe harbor.
The same episode that shows the corpse of a dead woman with what look like intestines coming out of her mouth features a tight shot of Lesley Manville’s manicured hand selecting a clean grape from a dish before the camera zooms in on her scarlet lips as she greedily masticates it. A snug frame of a flower bed in full bloom is interrupted by vomit. People are reduced to meat and parts arranged in artistic displays reminiscent of Renaissance paintings.
Carolina Costa’s unrelentingly intimate shots of viscera through the first three episodes refuse to allow us distance from these murders. Since w.
