'American Horror Story' Season 2, Episode 1 Recap - 'Welcome to Briarcliff'

The wait is over, and the second season of the Emmy-winning "American Horror Story" is finally here. So, now that we've all seen the first episode, how does this new season compare to the first?

It's... well, it's very different, isn't it?

We were eased into the horror in the first season of this show, as we had a small group of protagonists to identify with (the Harmons), all with their own very normal, real-life problems. On top of that, the show started introducing paranormal problems that were easy to accept as a possibility under the circumstances, because we were broken in slowly.

In this second season, it felt much more like we were thrown right into the deep end. There's a lot going on here, and the season is so much more an ensemble piece that it's tough to say who our true protagonists are.

The Good Guys

A couple of them are easy enough: in the present day, we have Leo and Teresa (Adam Levine and Jenna Dewan-Tatum), a newlywed couple who sneak into the long-abandoned asylum. Things end badly for Leo, as his arm is ripped off by an unseen monster when he sticks it through a slot in a thick metal door. And as for Teresa, she's stopped when trying to get help by a terrifying figure that we have to assume is Bloody Face.

Also easy to sympathize with is Kit, played by Evan Peters (who played Tate in the first season). We first see Kit as a good-hearted gas station attendant who is carrying on a secret marriage to his wife Alma. Why secret? Well, this part of the story takes place in 1964, and they're an interracial couple.

Things take a turn for Kit when a strange phenomenon happens and Alma is taken away from him. From the little Kit remembers, he believes it was an alien abduction. From what everyone else can tell, Kit is a horrible murderer who killed and skinned his wife. His nickname? Bloody Face.

So Kit is committed to the asylum, where his only friend appears to be a mysterious (and seemingly very sane) patient named Grace, who was also accused of killing her family.

Also on the "good guy" side is Lana Winters, a reporter who goes to great lengths to get the real scoop about the asylum. Her storyline is a bit thin in terms of plotting, and she seems to go to the last resort (sneaking into the asylum at night) right away. An attack from the same monster that rips Leo's arm off many decades in the future puts her in the care of the asylum.

The Bad Guys

From the moment we meet Sister Jude (played by Jessica Lange), it's clear that she's not the nicest person. Our introduction to her comes as she is attempting to shave the head of a nymphomaniac patient (Chloe Sevigny), and that's not the worst thing she'll do in the episode: she also has a tendency to cane her patients and her subordinates alike.

Even more despicable is her move to get Lana admitted to the asylum: she tracks down Lana's live-in girlfriend Wendy, who, since it's the 1960's, is keeping their relationship a careful secret, like Kit was with his wife. Sister Jude is smart enough to know what's going on, and blackmails Wendy to signing Lana over to her. She aims to "cure" Lana of her homosexuality... you know, just in case you forgot this was a Ryan Murphy show.

But even Sister Jude can seem like our protagonist when put up against Dr. Arden (James Cromwell). The Doctor is clearly conducting some twisted experiments in his lab and getting patients killed in the process, and Sister Jude aims to get to the bottom of it.

Arden gets his hands on Kit, and aims to uncover his darkness by examining his brain... he seems to think that the "devil," as it were, resides in the frontal lobe. During the examination, Arden finds a small alien chip in Kit's neck, so I guess we know Kit wasn't lying or hallucinating.

The Other Guys

Mostly, characters in this season seem to be like they were in the first season: morally ambiguous. There's Sister Mary Eunice (returning regular Lily Rabe), who seems less evil than she is just obedient and unquestioning. She fears Sister Jude's discipline, but also takes buckets of meat from Arden out to the woods to feed it to whatever creatures Arden has been keeping out there.

There's also the Monsignor Timothy Howard (Joseph Fiennes), who doesn't show us much in terms of his moral alignment other than the fact that he doesn't seem to take his priesthood all that seriously. Mostly, it would seem that he's there to act as a temptation for Sister Jude, who so clearly has the hots for him. Maybe that makes her a bit more relatable, but mostly it makes her a hypocrite when she acts so righteous to her patients.

And then there's Shelley, the sex addict who doesn't necessarily show any malice, but isn't one to trust either. What role will she play in the madness?

The Scary Stuff

The potential issue with this season is that we're facing a lot of different threats: there are the aliens that abducted kit, the monster in the cell, Bloody Face (who may or may not be the same monster in the cell), the monsters in the woods, and the more human threat of Sister Jude and Dr. Arden's sadism.

Compare that to the first season, which had just one threat (spirits), and things are much more complicated. It may prove better to have many forms of one supernatural threat (as it was in the first season) than many different supnatural threats, as it is now.

In any case, there are already a lot of questions to answer. What is the monster in the cell that tore off Leo's arm? Who is Bloody Face, if it's not Kit (or is it Kit)? What was the significance of the doll, bottle and other odd trinkets that Leo and Teresa passed by in the dilapidated asylum grounds?

What do you think, AHS fans? A good start thus far, or are you already missing the simplicity of season one?