With “Afterbirth,” the season finale for American Horror Storie’s first year, the show ends 45 minutes in and then aimlessly, pointlessly meanders around for 15 minutes of epilogue. In fact, in many ways, the final episode loses much of the footing it gained with its last four of five weeks and derails into a uneven mess. It also ends on a predictable and boring note, taking its sweet... 

Holy crap, didn’t see that coming. Or, maybe I did, just a little. With “Birth,” American Horror Story goes full-tilt dark with its 11th show and next to last episode for its first season. Everything goes south for most every character as Ben (Dylan McDermott) drags Vivien (Connie Britton) back to the Harmon House just in time for her to give birth to the twins. The house is buzzing with anticipation... 

With episode 10, “Smoldering Children,” American Horror Story reveals a terrifying secret and opens its arms to a number of the remaining human, living characters as they all dance closer and closer to the dark supernatural dimension hiding in the basement of the Harmon House. Never holding on to their darlings for long, the writer’s unleash a Gatling gun of horror onto the Harmon family... 

While American Horror Story gets better and better with each episode, it also continues to adopt the LOST character-centric approach. However, determining which character it is concentrating on can be a challenging puzzle. In “Rubber Man,” the title suggests that it may be the man in the latex suit, but it could also be Vivien (Connie Britton) and her downward spiral, or even Nora Montgomery... 

With “Open House,” episode seven of the first season of American Horror Story, the FX creep show finally shows signs of hitting its stride. The first six episodes have been shaky as the writers struggle to discover a descent balance between story and mood. To borrow a beloved term from another fan-favorite, LOST, this episode was Larry-centric, focusing on the back story and motivations... 

With “Halloween Part 2,” American Horror Story brings on the ghosts in a big, big way with just about every specter or supernatural being from the first four episodes appearing in some shape or or another. The show’s highlights are a tense encounter between Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) and a decaying Hayden (Kate Mara) and a gruesome showdown between Tate and a group of undead teens.... 

Episode 2 of American Horror Story, titled “Home Invasion,” opens with a flashback to 1968 when a number of female students appear to be living at the haunted Victorian home. Most of the residents head of to a Doors concert leaving two homebodies home alone when a stranger arrives with a head wound looking for help. When they discover the blood dripping down the stranger’s forehead is not his... 

Genre television is huge this season (Fall, 2011), especially in the form of horror and fantasy. Not only are favorites returning (Fringe, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Dexter and The Walking Dead) but a gaggle of new shows are attacking oversized HD TV screens across the Nation: Once Upon a Time, Grimm, The Secret Circle and Terra Nova, to name a few. Vampires, witches, zombies, serial killers and...