Season 12: Delicate - 9 episodes (2023-24)
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Created by: Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy
Starring: Emma Roberts, Matt Czuchry, Kim Kardashian, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Denis O'Hare, Cara Delevingne
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
An anthology series centering on different characters and locations, in season twelve actress Anna Victoria Alcott wants nothing more than to start a family after failed attempts of IVF. As the buzz around her recent film grows, she fears that something may be targeting her and her pursuit of motherhood.
Verdict
This is split into two parts. Part one is slow. It doesn't provide any answers and keeps coming back to Anna's paranoia without building a plot. Part two isn't much different, while we finally get some answers, this entire season should be two or three episodes long. There's just so much filler. The same scenes of paranoia persist. It's not building plot, it's just filling time. Even the conclusion leaves a lot to be desired. If you hope the conclusion will somehow save this, it won't.
Skip it.
Review
This season is broken into two parts. In part one Anna Alcott (Emma Roberts) has issues getting pregnant. Her fertility doctor seems shady and Anna is soon paranoid that she's being followed. The season focuses on marginalized women. No one believes Anna or listens to her concerns. Everyone else makes her doubt herself. While it's implied she's being forgetful, it seems like more is going on. Her best friend and publicist Siohban Corbyn (Kim Kardashian) is no help.
Anna's fears seem to materialize. Is what we see actually happening or is this Anna's imagination? In episode three this still hasn't kicked off the plot. We keep seeing Anna's paranoia, but the story hasn't progressed.
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| Kim Kardashian plays Siohban Corbyn |
Episode four jumps back to 1555. It seems like we're getting into some kind of devil cult, and it's implied this is a far reaching conspiracy against Anna, though I don't know why her specifically.
The first five episodes provide nothing more than a teaser. It easily could have been two episodes as the pace is so slow. It doesn't provide any answers. If I wasn't writing a review, I wouldn't finish this season. So far there's nothing redeeming about it.
The long break between the two halves of the season doesn't help, especially when I didn't like the first half very much. This follows a routine for every episode. Anna hears or sees things. People call her paranoid or she embarrasses herself. That causes her to become more anxious. There are also frequent jabs at Anna's age and how she's "old." I can't help but feel this wants to be feminist without actually exploring the issues. It wants to acknowledge the issue as far as it adds to the drama, but the problem is also how this keeps repeating instead of exploring.
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| Emma Roberts plays Anna Alcott |
It's lazy. Siohban asks Anna if she wants an Oscar as much as a baby. No one would readily agree to that without asking questions. This show alludes to sacrifice so many times. It's the same thing repeated. This show just treads water. Each episode teases a sinister plot, then for the rest of the episode Anna becomes paranoid, freaks out, then is embarrassed. That just keeps repeating.
There's a good idea in this season, but so little happens. It drags out the idea without exploring it. The resolution is completely lacking. This wants to point out the problems women face, the double standards. That lures you in, thinking the show will address it or provide some kind of thoughts. It doesn't. This show doesn't want to explore any ideas. It's an attempt at cheap thrills that falls flat.
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