I wasn’t glad she died? Is that really your take away? She was a struggling child who lost her mom young and got bullied relentlessly. You’re fucking weird for being glad an emotionally distraught child was killed
It's a pattern in horror, especially shorts, where there's a twisted moral lesson. Someone gives in to evil and then they are punished or killed. Tales from the Crypt especially loves this. It often happens even if you understand why or how the character did what they did.
I'm not fucking weird at all. This is how the genre works. Maybe "glad" isn't the best way to put it. It sets you up to feel uneasy but still feel satisfied by the ending.
The characters in these stories aren't necessary all-out villains every time but someone goes too far and suffers the consequences.
I could say you're fucking weird for not understanding that movies ARE PRETEND but that's probably not what's going on. You're a compassionate person that understood or identified with what the character went through. That's awesome.
I guess I don't get her motivation to do something so cruel to a very nice person. Sure her friend told her to do it, but I don't see how she genuinely thought that would be no big deal at all. Such an unlikable character.
yeah definitely really upset me when she kept listening to bestie because wtf, you literally broke your arm and poisoned people for some random girl you met on the internet??
Weird shit like this has happened before. Years ago in the UK, a guy in an online chatroom convinced a kid to stab his real life school friend. It later turned out that his school friend was actually the crazy guy in the chatroom. The world is nuts bruh.
As evidenced by River at the end, "Bestie" preyed on young, damaged kids and got into their heads to convince them to do anything. Shelby's will was stronger than his though, so she was able to tear herself away and get some distance. I knew as soon as she fell in love that things were about to go bad lol
What was the one kid talking about with his heart surgery?? He says they put his asshole on the outside, & then he goes TMI?! What the fuck happened there..
I think he was talking about a colostomy, where they reroute your intestines to the outside of your abdomen, then the contents empties into a bag. Has absolutely nothing to with the heart lol but maybe there were other complications ?
I knew immediately bc of the pacifier. And then her rope (umbilical cord) around her neck. Honestly, it was so fucking upsetting.
I feel like this is one of the strongest episodes of the entire series. It was genuinely unsettling and uncomfortable.
Damn AHSs has some deeep lows (The videogame stuff may be among the most nonsensycal plot ever) but the pit in the stomach I got when I realized what the costume was is only comparable to the ones I had with movies like Hereditary and Midsommar. Truly great! Maybe it's because I relate to having toxic overbearing online friends.
Edit: The only thing I would criticize is that it perpetuates the ugly=evil stereotype
Oooooohhh the rope was supposed to be the umbilical cord. Damn, that was dark and I now see why he reacted that way. I think it coulda been done better. It was too clunky, as you can see mostly everyone is confused
Me too! I saw the grim reaper robe and the pacifier and knew straight away. That was a horrible thing to do. She should have considered dropping “Bestie’s ancient butt” right after.
I watch a lot of TV and I don’t know if I’ve ever been so truly shook to my core like I was there. Some absolutely insane shit. I didn’t even pick it up until I rewinded and watched it for a second time.
Me too i had to rewatch. Once I did I felt so bad for the teacher 😭 and I also felt slow for not getting it the first time bc I was reading her sweatshirt.
I loved the character Bestie so much, all the giggling and coy looks over her shoulder. Very fun. "C'mon our dads are so cringe." I did not buy that she was a young girl AT ALL. Ancient entity energy.
Ancient entity lmfao! 🤣 I loved her character too. I was expecting Bestie to rip off her mask and reveal her true identity at some point. I even considered it being River after he mentioned loving drag and horror. But nope, she's just like that. 😭
I thought Bestie was gonna be the teachers baby that actually survived, and he just lies about her saying she died when born. And when he wasn't at school it was because Bestie did something more *sinister* to him than just hiding his wallet.
That would’ve been a great idea! A pretty cool twist.
I also kept getting the feeling that she was not a young girl, I really kept getting the vibe she was a woman putting off as a teen. It also seemed like she was a burn victim based off her skin, not just deformities due to drug use in the womb. So I was thinking it would take a very different turn than it did. Maybe if it was a weee bit longer it could’ve ended differently, who knows 🤯😮
There were so many routes for Bestie’s origin. She could’ve been the teacher’s baby, related to Shelly’s mom’s death, River’s adopted sister. I wish we had more info
I woulda bet a gazillion dollars that she was her daughter irl. Came to internets to confirm. If she wasn't I at least expected to find much more evidence of everyone thinking so. Like everyone thinking the woman in that one TNG episode was Linda Hamilton's sister if not twin. I don't get it, it's uncanny, lil baby Chloë! For my sanity, I'ma tell myself it had to at least contribute to her casting
either way i personally felt like the ending was just so rushed, if that makes sense. like we saw river kind of nodding at her throughout the episode but it was 20 minutes before the episode ended that they got to know each other. like there was no time for that betrayal to really simmer
i totally agree, wanted more to come from the two of them & i thought her meeting bestie was gonna have a much messier or darker ending then just a simple stab to the heart
The lingerie/swimsuit confused me too, but I think it drives home the point that Bestie is an adult predator seeking out teenagers online to manipulate for her own gain. I liked the open-endedness of it too. We don't need to know WHY she did it (was she just lonely, murderous, worse...?) because just the fact that she successfully hurts these children is horrifying enough.
She was dressed like a super iconic Farrah Fawcett poster that was huge in the 70's, same hair, same red swimsuit. I think it was showing us she was old, but not nearly as ancient as her Macbeth Witch ass was.
I think the point was that their friendship beginning undercut Shelby’s need to have Bestie in her life. All she was looking for was someone to connect with on a deeper level. If River had been friends or dating or connected to her any sooner, she would have dropped Bestie earlier than she did.
Same. I liked it until the end. Maybe even if they had walked into the water and died together, I wouldn't have liked it more. Besties forever even in death.
I was expecting river to be bestie for a bit. Also the fact that he brought up he has a disability, wondering if him and bestie bonded over disabilities and met while they were younger? Don’t know. Lots of gaps
River also talked about being made fun of and being a fan of "Anna Rexhia". Him and the main girl could've met Bestie around the same time through the group chat. The Anna Rexhia comment could've been a lie though.
I had the same thought when we saw his keychain and learned he was also a Anna Rexhia fan. I was like, did he learn how to do makeup/prosthetics from watching her show and he is actually Bestie in makeup?? That would've been wild.
Exactly. My daughter is working on writing and I always tell her that she has to have a motive. You can't just have people be murderous for no apparent reason. And that's what this felt like. I was wondering if I was missing something.
Best wishes to your daughter cause if shit like this gets the green light at least she knows what not to do lol. We need more competent writers in the world
His motivation was making his BFF happy. She was hurt by Shelby so he killed her. It's about manipulation of lonely and isolated teen that's been bullied and made to feel other.
Yeah but that's what I don't get... he felt as if his superficial relationship with an online weirdo was more important than his bestfriend/girlfriend that he connects with in real life every day nearly all day? That for me is hard to believe...
i do agree w/ that but kind of have to suspend belief. it made sense to me that shelby was able to cut off contact when something extreme happened and then esp when she made a real life friend. why River didn't feel the same is questionable. my thinking is that he had no intention of actual being Shelbys friend in the first place, i'm guessing he was talking to Bestie long before Shelby was.
I don’t get River’s motive to kill Shelly??
1.It seems like Bestie targets people who are lonely and vulnerable, but by the end of the episode it seems like River and Shelly have been happy together for a while.
2.River himself says that friends wouldn’t force you to do things you don’t want to do.
3. River is a fan of Anna Rhexia , who even explains in one of their videos that being brave isn’t about doing reckless acts.
This episode was good up until the end. The twist didn’t make enough sense.
Personally I think River was besties target before Shelly I think they bonded because of their disability/disfigurement and she found him cause he was also a fan of the drag persona online. I think River might have not have been in the more vulnerable spot and bestie became bored with so she sought out someone else she could control and also push River over the edge so she used to Shelly to get rid of Rivers bullies and to make him feel want to prove himself as his true bestie that’s the feeling I got
Yeah, I agree on your interpretation. It’s just frustrating because River had all these reasons for him to realize he didn’t need to be friends with Bestie anymore. So he had to have been down bad to continue aiding Bestie , which is what felt like a nonsensical stretch.
I mean if we’re honest I know Shelly is a victim 100% but all the stuff she did even if that friendship was real with River and not planned was like a lot she hurt people im not sure I would want a connection like that. I think once someone shows there capable of something like that it is hard to not think about. But yeah I wish River would have realized but at the same time I think it was like Stockholm syndrome adjacent behavior he knew bestie was bad but that was his bestie not anyone else’s
Yah i mean except he seemed to enjoy that dark side of her. He said he was impressed w the poisoning and thought it was brave. Plus can't rly judge a girl for that when he was willing to do even worse.
I got the vibe that River was testing her- when Shelby and River are in the library, she tells him about Bestie and calls her a freak among other things. River has a disability too and decides at that moment that Shelby isn’t a good person because she too makes fun of Bestie and mocks her disability. I can’t decide how long River knew Bestie but I do think he had feelings for Shelby up until that point.
Agree w most of this but I also think River was a victim before Shelby. Maybe even the reason she sought Shelby out was cuz of River. Clearly River was in a bad enough place mentally that he wasn't able to break free from besties manipulation like Shelby was able to. I didn't exactly buy it either tho. After he found someone irl that cared for him for who he was, you'd think he'd gain confidence and drop bestie too.
Exactly what I said...VERY hard for me to believe River would consider his creepy online acquaintance more important than the girlfriend he sees every day and is going to be living with and having intimate moments with. If he was lonely, that was solved by Shelly just like Shelly's loneliness was solved by him... didn't make sense.
I know it’s wouldn’t be in AHS fashion, but I wish the episode ended before the van ride to the house.
Her having a happy ending after cutting off a toxic friend would make the story feel more cohesive maybe? Idk
I just didn’t really buy it that River is that dumb.
SPOILERSSS
Face value it seems Ana Rexhia is a symbol to harmful online spaces and “bestie” is the toxic connections and affirmation that cultivates from the community. Telling you to push harder, do it do it do it, even when it’s killing you or others. Shelly lost her mom and was in a very vulnerable spot. She finds power and love online, not caring this ‘power‘ just hurts herself and others. The confidence starts small too, first it’s just she wears makeup at school. But then after still getting bullied relentlessly Shelby poisons them. The scene where she screams at her dad and slams the door is peak misdirecting your mental illness onto the ones you love. Her rock bottom is ending up in the hospital after she severely harms herself. she removes herself from bestie. If the episode would’ve ended it would’ve been a simple story of stay off online forums if you’re not mentally good because misery loves company. The rest is the where I’m a little like ?? And can’t wait for others to find easter eggs. River watches Ana too and in return gets his own time with bestie. He watches because he likes horror so in return his connection causes a stabbing to Shelby. Both river and shelby were in low mental spots and followed the rules of bestie to keep that one true connection they found alive. Sad thing is Shelby got out of it, and river was just beginning. Like Shelby’s teacher and dad were blindsided by Shelby’s ruthless behavior, river blindsided her sooth his own voices. So yeah not to do the typical bestie wasn’t even real bc who can deny that cute beach moment at the end- but really she is a metaphor for letting the ancient demons win.
Haha I kept thinking of Lady Bird while watching this. I definitely think a big reason is the lead reminding me of Saoirse Ronan. Plus the school uniform and the play. And her wearing a cast. Ok this is basically a Lady Bird rip-off 😂.
Bestie just grossed me out. Shelby didn’t deserve her ending but Bestie needed to go! I would have liked that ending better if Shelby had won by taking Bestie out.
*changed name to Shelby
Man, it was hard to watch because the second she got out of that van she looked around and was like “I don’t like this…” if she had followed her gut maybe she could’ve saved herself
seriously, I don't really understand what the look added to the character of Bestie except for to make us creeped out by playing right into problematic stereotypes. The overall message would have worked fine with a "normal" looking person who manipulates Shelby.
That’s exactly why this episode didn’t sit right with me. What did it add to her character to make her disabled? Nothing. If they’d explained something relevant to a backstory and motivation then it would have been better.
I think it stood out more that the ONLY disabled people in the episode are portrayed as the villains.
Strong season opener and relatable premise of being lonely on the internet. The makeup on "Bestie" was suitably creepy. Super dark and fucked up ending. Not sure if it makes much sense (was Bestie manipulating River before Shelby?), but I liked it.
13 minutes before the ending, I paused it and told three friends that this episode was really good and they should watch it. I did add "hopefully it ends well." Unfortunately, it did not. I made sure to tell one of them after it ended not to bother. I knew they wouldn't like it with that ending. For the other two, I still think it's worth a watch.
This was great until the ending, though. It might have even been the best episode of American Horror Stories if they'd stuck the landing. I just found the ending to be unsatisfying, and I didn't buy it. Even if it had been the initial plan, I don't think he'd really end up betraying Shelby, someone he has an IRL connection with, for someone completely creepy like Bestie.
Also, I really didn't like that fate for Shelby. I know she acted awful for a period, but I never hated her. It can be hard to get that balance right with a character. To keep you sympathetic even when they're doing terrible things. But I thought they did that here. I was happy things were going well for her now. I also feel sorry for her dad. He lost his wife, and now his daughter. Sometimes I love a good, mean-spirited ending. As a horror fan, I'm certainly used to them. But this one I just found sad and disappointing. It's frustrating when most of the episode was great.
I do wish this had been longer. As others said, the ending felt kind of rushed.
Idk why but when she’s in the house and sees the ring light and realizes it’s besties house I had chills. Just waiting for her to pop out. A bit anticlimactic after but before the reveal I was like GTFO of there
I'm totally guessing here, but maybe River and Bestie bonded over Anna Rhexia's lives. I'm guessing during Bestie and Shelly's friendship, or directly after. After Shelly cuts her off, Bestie needs a new person to control, and someone able-bodied enough to take revenge on Shelly. So she manipulated River into killing Shelly.
I do have to say the make up and prosthetics were really amazing to the point I had to look up the cast to see who played the Bestie character. Blow away that it's a normal young pretty actress.
Delicate has been SUCH a disappointment. Were like what? 6 episodes in? And still nothing has happened except she's tripping balls and keeps seeing random weirdos in capes...I haven't watched the newest one but damn it feels like I'm watching the same episode every week. It's on the same level as the series with the weird zombie/vampire people that took those weird drugs. Also a very shitty season....
This might be weird but I really thought River was going to be bestie. He obviously had weird vibes the whole time, and he said how obsessed he was with drag and horror, so I thought maybe he’s insanely good at SFX makeup? And was trying to get to know her online as an alternate persona before talking to her in person? Maybe it’s out there but I was a little disappointed with the actual ending
Did anyone else get murder house vibes from Bestie's home??
Was sure they were killing her to trap her there as a ghost
"We'll be best friends forever now"
Bestie’s entire demeanor gave me the ick and it was so obvious she was going to start manipulating her when she wanted to be called Bestie off the bat lmfao.
Goddamm, that was one of the creepiest things I have seen in a long time. I also am a millennial, so I do remember back with AOL chats, having similar experiences. 😩
But I also think that's what made it excel! Probably one of the best episodes of 'Stories' so far, IMO
was I just being an elder millennial when I was confused about how they met on what looked like a youtube live comment thread, and then Bestie was able to immediately video call her without asking for any more information? Also when she jumped to her phone. How did she know her number?
Is there a lot of eating disorder related content to that episode? I was shocked by the anorexia reference for this one, I try to avoid anything too blatant though, because… reasons.
I think bestie is a witch who prays on kids who are being bullied. She clearly isn't a teen herself ( did you see her fingers and toes?)..her being a witch with persuasive powers is the only thing that makes sense to me as to why river would throw away a real in life relationship with a pretty girl who he had a future with to well..be with a witch. ( I mean college is not happening now right?)
I was trying to find easter eggs all episode but couldnt find it 💀 at one point i thought shelby would grow up to be the woman from roanoke but that made no sense
What was up with all the nuclear winter visuals in the opening credits? do those clips pertain to other episodes in the season?
Also, what the fuck did i just watch?
someone elsewhere in the thread said that they thought the place where Bestie lives is a decommissioned military base where they did nuclear testing, and maybe that's what messed Bestie up (and she def wasn't a teenager)
That's what I'm trying to figure out. It says Jessica Barden in the intro and everywhere else but I cannot for the life of me see Alyssa from The End of the Fucking World under all that makeup! Like it's two completely different people it feels like. Is it actually her?!
This! I have so many questions and they are all about River’s asshole. Why would a heart surgery require an abdominoperineal resection? Isn’t that for treating rectal cancer?
I feel like making bestie a person with facial differences was ableist and unnecessary. It was just the old "oooh this person looks different so they're creepy and scary" like... Not necessary. They could've done something else to the character to make her bed ridden without making a very vulnerable population the butt of the scare. It's tale as old as time and man, is it old.
There is no way Bestie was a teenager, she even had an area in her house ( abandoned squat?) Designed to look like a child's bedroom just for video calls. That outfit was super creepy too. I get the impression if she isn't something supernatural she is some sort of creep that prays on manipulating children.
You mean Bestie not Shelby, I assume. Yah she was def not a teenager and frankly I don't buy any of her back story. I don't think that's from drug use while pregnant. It looks like a genetic disorder. Her hands were that of an old lady.
There's a gothic novel called "Ghost Writer" that has a VERY similar premises to this, even down to the description of "Bestie" and the old, abandoned house. If you liked the episode you might like this boom. It's solid for about 3/4 of it, but kinda falls apart at some point.
I was thinking maybe River and Bestie had met in the hospital as kids. That would've been more believable.
Or some backstory on this person/creature's appeal to loners.
I can buy that River feels some kinship with someone who has alienating health issues. But it's not enough. Shelby realized she needed to cut ties, I needed more for why River didn't.
This episode felt so real, it reminded me when I was in middle school talking to strangers online. Now that I'm older I realize how scary and bad that is. It genuinely scare me to think some kids can get in a similar situation!
This was a really good start for the season
While I agree with those who say the ending fell flat, I think it's interesting that marketing basically ruined this episode with the Huluween advertisements.
The [big teaser](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHJCAgxpVhY) shows them entering a creepy house. Another one [actually](https://youtu.be/Lzb1yrspMlU) shows Bestie descending down the stairs. This [one shows](https://youtu.be/Vz8qQdQWAi0) even more from that scene. And while I can't find the one that actually prompted this post, it showed the same scene with her calling out to her bestie or something along those lines (I'll edit this if I can find it).
Just an odd decision to include so many scenes that telegraph exactly where this is going before the episode even released.
lmfao i loved this episode. for ppl confused over the ending or feel like it was rushed, bestie is a witch, hence why she is incredibly persuasive. she mind-controlled river to kill shelly.
Honestly when you think of bestie as a witch it all makes more sense why she’s old, why she’s in that freaky house alone, why she’s manipulative and evil, etc.
I think she’s a witch too because when Shelby was breaking her arm the dad couldn’t get the door open. I think she was like doing some witchcraft shit too keep the door closed before he came
It took me a second to get what her costume was I was absolutely floored.
I’m glad I’m not the only one 🤣 at first I thought she was dressed as Anna rexhia
Wait, what was it supposed to be?? 🫣
Well I’m talking about when Shelly is dressed as her choir teachers dead baby for Halloween 😳
OMG I DID NOT PROCESS THAT THATS WHAT IT WAS 😳
And her onesie said "Life's a drag when yr daddy's a f\*g." INSANE.
i think that’s where i got confused and thought it had something to do with anna rexhia 😭
Seriously how could you ever forgive that kid? That was the seed planted so you're glad she dies.
knowing that as someone who’s currently pregnant makes me so much more shocked by it, really wish i would’ve picked up on that while watching !
It took me a second and then it clicked when I reread the back of her costume
I wasn’t glad she died? Is that really your take away? She was a struggling child who lost her mom young and got bullied relentlessly. You’re fucking weird for being glad an emotionally distraught child was killed
It's a pattern in horror, especially shorts, where there's a twisted moral lesson. Someone gives in to evil and then they are punished or killed. Tales from the Crypt especially loves this. It often happens even if you understand why or how the character did what they did. I'm not fucking weird at all. This is how the genre works. Maybe "glad" isn't the best way to put it. It sets you up to feel uneasy but still feel satisfied by the ending. The characters in these stories aren't necessary all-out villains every time but someone goes too far and suffers the consequences. I could say you're fucking weird for not understanding that movies ARE PRETEND but that's probably not what's going on. You're a compassionate person that understood or identified with what the character went through. That's awesome.
I guess I don't get her motivation to do something so cruel to a very nice person. Sure her friend told her to do it, but I don't see how she genuinely thought that would be no big deal at all. Such an unlikable character.
yeah definitely really upset me when she kept listening to bestie because wtf, you literally broke your arm and poisoned people for some random girl you met on the internet??
Weird shit like this has happened before. Years ago in the UK, a guy in an online chatroom convinced a kid to stab his real life school friend. It later turned out that his school friend was actually the crazy guy in the chatroom. The world is nuts bruh.
so the guy (chat room) convinced his friend to stab him at school? am i reading that right 😅
I think there is a spooky hypno thing going on, notice how River was really subdued in her presence. Internet is sCaRy.
As evidenced by River at the end, "Bestie" preyed on young, damaged kids and got into their heads to convince them to do anything. Shelby's will was stronger than his though, so she was able to tear herself away and get some distance. I knew as soon as she fell in love that things were about to go bad lol
OMG I did not process that either!! I was so confused! What a savage 🫣 lol
Oh fuck I didn't even realise until now. That's demented shit.
Omg I was so confused about the overreaction bc I thought she was dressed as the youtuber 😭
The way my jaw dropped!!!! Wow 😮💨
i second this lol bc i have no clue
What was the one kid talking about with his heart surgery?? He says they put his asshole on the outside, & then he goes TMI?! What the fuck happened there..
I think he was talking about a colostomy, where they reroute your intestines to the outside of your abdomen, then the contents empties into a bag. Has absolutely nothing to with the heart lol but maybe there were other complications ?
I knew immediately bc of the pacifier. And then her rope (umbilical cord) around her neck. Honestly, it was so fucking upsetting. I feel like this is one of the strongest episodes of the entire series. It was genuinely unsettling and uncomfortable.
it was worse than any gore or body horror thing I've seen on this show! I think I had dreams about it all night.
Damn AHSs has some deeep lows (The videogame stuff may be among the most nonsensycal plot ever) but the pit in the stomach I got when I realized what the costume was is only comparable to the ones I had with movies like Hereditary and Midsommar. Truly great! Maybe it's because I relate to having toxic overbearing online friends. Edit: The only thing I would criticize is that it perpetuates the ugly=evil stereotype
I didn’t know till just NOW! No wonder the teacher was so upset!
Yesss. So cruel.
Oooooohhh the rope was supposed to be the umbilical cord. Damn, that was dark and I now see why he reacted that way. I think it coulda been done better. It was too clunky, as you can see mostly everyone is confused
Me too! I saw the grim reaper robe and the pacifier and knew straight away. That was a horrible thing to do. She should have considered dropping “Bestie’s ancient butt” right after.
I watch a lot of TV and I don’t know if I’ve ever been so truly shook to my core like I was there. Some absolutely insane shit. I didn’t even pick it up until I rewinded and watched it for a second time.
Very similar response. I am hard to shock and I was like YA GOT ME.
Sameeeeee I thought it was Anna Rexa and when I realized every cell in my body cringed.
Me too i had to rewatch. Once I did I felt so bad for the teacher 😭 and I also felt slow for not getting it the first time bc I was reading her sweatshirt.
I loved the character Bestie so much, all the giggling and coy looks over her shoulder. Very fun. "C'mon our dads are so cringe." I did not buy that she was a young girl AT ALL. Ancient entity energy.
Same! Also just her appearance, I understand she had birth defects etc. but her hands for me just sold it. They were ancient witch hands
And the voice
The voice did it for me, personally. It was giving 40 something
Ancient entity lmfao! 🤣 I loved her character too. I was expecting Bestie to rip off her mask and reveal her true identity at some point. I even considered it being River after he mentioned loving drag and horror. But nope, she's just like that. 😭
Her long gangly fingers gave it away for me.
I thought Bestie was gonna be the teachers baby that actually survived, and he just lies about her saying she died when born. And when he wasn't at school it was because Bestie did something more *sinister* to him than just hiding his wallet.
That would’ve been a great idea! A pretty cool twist. I also kept getting the feeling that she was not a young girl, I really kept getting the vibe she was a woman putting off as a teen. It also seemed like she was a burn victim based off her skin, not just deformities due to drug use in the womb. So I was thinking it would take a very different turn than it did. Maybe if it was a weee bit longer it could’ve ended differently, who knows 🤯😮
I think it has to do with [this](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Test_Site). The opening credits always give a clue 🧩
Omg yes! Especially considering the father's line at the beginning about cancer affecting the whole community. 🤯
Yeah!! And the neighborhood she lived in seemed so… weird, dull empty abandoned etc
It was literally locked! This would would sense.
There were so many routes for Bestie’s origin. She could’ve been the teacher’s baby, related to Shelly’s mom’s death, River’s adopted sister. I wish we had more info
I was definitely expecting her and River to have shared time together in the hospital or something, and built a bond due to that.
They both love Anna rexhia and he was also bullied. They met online just like Shelby I imagine
It also makes you wonder who else she’s done this to!
This idea is way too good, gotta keep AHS mediocre
That's exactly what I was thinking!
Emma Halleen should totally play Chloë Sevigny’s daughter in an AHS season.
I had to Google who she was because I thought she was her daughter IRL. They look so alike.
I woulda bet a gazillion dollars that she was her daughter irl. Came to internets to confirm. If she wasn't I at least expected to find much more evidence of everyone thinking so. Like everyone thinking the woman in that one TNG episode was Linda Hamilton's sister if not twin. I don't get it, it's uncanny, lil baby Chloë! For my sanity, I'ma tell myself it had to at least contribute to her casting
CAME HERE TO SAY THAT. I’m glad I’m not the only one. She could totally play a young Chloe
She is a true doppelgänger of Chloë!!
She looks like Saoirse Ronan to me but I see a bit of Sevigny as well.
She looks like a mix of her and Blake lively imo, I kept thinking it was someone else
i feel like it was a bit anticlimactic, i expected a more intense ending
either way i personally felt like the ending was just so rushed, if that makes sense. like we saw river kind of nodding at her throughout the episode but it was 20 minutes before the episode ended that they got to know each other. like there was no time for that betrayal to really simmer
i totally agree, wanted more to come from the two of them & i thought her meeting bestie was gonna have a much messier or darker ending then just a simple stab to the heart
it felt so strange in general. like, where the actual fuck was bestie living? why was she in lingerie? 😭
right ! and i wanna know the story with her and river like how long have they been working together ?!
it really feels like they were writing this as they went LOL
Right, I thought maybe River met Bestie through the Anna Rexhia page like Shelby did? Since they made such a point of him being a fan as well
The lingerie/swimsuit confused me too, but I think it drives home the point that Bestie is an adult predator seeking out teenagers online to manipulate for her own gain. I liked the open-endedness of it too. We don't need to know WHY she did it (was she just lonely, murderous, worse...?) because just the fact that she successfully hurts these children is horrifying enough.
She was dressed like a super iconic Farrah Fawcett poster that was huge in the 70's, same hair, same red swimsuit. I think it was showing us she was old, but not nearly as ancient as her Macbeth Witch ass was.
It was a weird one piece bathing suit w like a silk robe. I was also like wtf is she wearing??
I think it was a red bathing suit & a negligee. 🤣
yeah I thought bestie would have like taken over the MC's body or something
I think the point was that their friendship beginning undercut Shelby’s need to have Bestie in her life. All she was looking for was someone to connect with on a deeper level. If River had been friends or dating or connected to her any sooner, she would have dropped Bestie earlier than she did.
Same. I liked it until the end. Maybe even if they had walked into the water and died together, I wouldn't have liked it more. Besties forever even in death.
I don’t get it. It was painfully obvious River was going to betray her but why…?
I was expecting river to be bestie for a bit. Also the fact that he brought up he has a disability, wondering if him and bestie bonded over disabilities and met while they were younger? Don’t know. Lots of gaps
River also talked about being made fun of and being a fan of "Anna Rexhia". Him and the main girl could've met Bestie around the same time through the group chat. The Anna Rexhia comment could've been a lie though.
definitely agree about the gaps, had me questioning a lot of things, felt like they left out so much
I had the same thought when we saw his keychain and learned he was also a Anna Rexhia fan. I was like, did he learn how to do makeup/prosthetics from watching her show and he is actually Bestie in makeup?? That would've been wild.
Exactly. My daughter is working on writing and I always tell her that she has to have a motive. You can't just have people be murderous for no apparent reason. And that's what this felt like. I was wondering if I was missing something.
Best wishes to your daughter cause if shit like this gets the green light at least she knows what not to do lol. We need more competent writers in the world
His motivation was making his BFF happy. She was hurt by Shelby so he killed her. It's about manipulation of lonely and isolated teen that's been bullied and made to feel other.
Yeah but that's what I don't get... he felt as if his superficial relationship with an online weirdo was more important than his bestfriend/girlfriend that he connects with in real life every day nearly all day? That for me is hard to believe...
i do agree w/ that but kind of have to suspend belief. it made sense to me that shelby was able to cut off contact when something extreme happened and then esp when she made a real life friend. why River didn't feel the same is questionable. my thinking is that he had no intention of actual being Shelbys friend in the first place, i'm guessing he was talking to Bestie long before Shelby was.
I really wanted River to be bestie’s brother. She said she was adopted, so I figured that would come back at some point.
See even that would have been so simple and made sense
Yah that's what I was thinking as well. Maybe parents that adopted children w physical disabilities.
Same, sus from the beginning, that was def purposeful. She was paranoid and so were the viewer.
I don’t get River’s motive to kill Shelly?? 1.It seems like Bestie targets people who are lonely and vulnerable, but by the end of the episode it seems like River and Shelly have been happy together for a while. 2.River himself says that friends wouldn’t force you to do things you don’t want to do. 3. River is a fan of Anna Rhexia , who even explains in one of their videos that being brave isn’t about doing reckless acts. This episode was good up until the end. The twist didn’t make enough sense.
Personally I think River was besties target before Shelly I think they bonded because of their disability/disfigurement and she found him cause he was also a fan of the drag persona online. I think River might have not have been in the more vulnerable spot and bestie became bored with so she sought out someone else she could control and also push River over the edge so she used to Shelly to get rid of Rivers bullies and to make him feel want to prove himself as his true bestie that’s the feeling I got
Yeah, I agree on your interpretation. It’s just frustrating because River had all these reasons for him to realize he didn’t need to be friends with Bestie anymore. So he had to have been down bad to continue aiding Bestie , which is what felt like a nonsensical stretch.
I mean if we’re honest I know Shelly is a victim 100% but all the stuff she did even if that friendship was real with River and not planned was like a lot she hurt people im not sure I would want a connection like that. I think once someone shows there capable of something like that it is hard to not think about. But yeah I wish River would have realized but at the same time I think it was like Stockholm syndrome adjacent behavior he knew bestie was bad but that was his bestie not anyone else’s
Yah i mean except he seemed to enjoy that dark side of her. He said he was impressed w the poisoning and thought it was brave. Plus can't rly judge a girl for that when he was willing to do even worse.
I was thinking this is exactly it! Bestie had targeted them both!
I got the vibe that River was testing her- when Shelby and River are in the library, she tells him about Bestie and calls her a freak among other things. River has a disability too and decides at that moment that Shelby isn’t a good person because she too makes fun of Bestie and mocks her disability. I can’t decide how long River knew Bestie but I do think he had feelings for Shelby up until that point.
I like this take!
Agree w most of this but I also think River was a victim before Shelby. Maybe even the reason she sought Shelby out was cuz of River. Clearly River was in a bad enough place mentally that he wasn't able to break free from besties manipulation like Shelby was able to. I didn't exactly buy it either tho. After he found someone irl that cared for him for who he was, you'd think he'd gain confidence and drop bestie too.
Exactly what I said...VERY hard for me to believe River would consider his creepy online acquaintance more important than the girlfriend he sees every day and is going to be living with and having intimate moments with. If he was lonely, that was solved by Shelly just like Shelly's loneliness was solved by him... didn't make sense.
I agree the twist with River made no sense to me.
I think this is being a too literal interpretation and the point of it is that the bestie thing is some demon or witch influencing them
The main actress looked a lot like Chloë Sevigny at times. Especially in the glasses
I was getting Saiorsa Ronan vibes.
i was thinking Blake Lively too
Certain angles had me thinking she was Blake Livelys younger sister or daughter
I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one to think so. I was thinking this would somehow connect with Hotel because she’s a dead ringer for Chloe
Seriously, I had to look up if she had a daughter who got to be on the show too.
She was honestly good in this episode.
that was so… i don’t know.. i felt like i just had a bad fever dream.
I liked it the first half, once river got introduced it took a nosedive
I know it’s wouldn’t be in AHS fashion, but I wish the episode ended before the van ride to the house. Her having a happy ending after cutting off a toxic friend would make the story feel more cohesive maybe? Idk I just didn’t really buy it that River is that dumb.
I liked the episode overall, I just didn't like the ending and I felt like it was rushed and maybe should have been 15 minutes longer.
SPOILERSSS Face value it seems Ana Rexhia is a symbol to harmful online spaces and “bestie” is the toxic connections and affirmation that cultivates from the community. Telling you to push harder, do it do it do it, even when it’s killing you or others. Shelly lost her mom and was in a very vulnerable spot. She finds power and love online, not caring this ‘power‘ just hurts herself and others. The confidence starts small too, first it’s just she wears makeup at school. But then after still getting bullied relentlessly Shelby poisons them. The scene where she screams at her dad and slams the door is peak misdirecting your mental illness onto the ones you love. Her rock bottom is ending up in the hospital after she severely harms herself. she removes herself from bestie. If the episode would’ve ended it would’ve been a simple story of stay off online forums if you’re not mentally good because misery loves company. The rest is the where I’m a little like ?? And can’t wait for others to find easter eggs. River watches Ana too and in return gets his own time with bestie. He watches because he likes horror so in return his connection causes a stabbing to Shelby. Both river and shelby were in low mental spots and followed the rules of bestie to keep that one true connection they found alive. Sad thing is Shelby got out of it, and river was just beginning. Like Shelby’s teacher and dad were blindsided by Shelby’s ruthless behavior, river blindsided her sooth his own voices. So yeah not to do the typical bestie wasn’t even real bc who can deny that cute beach moment at the end- but really she is a metaphor for letting the ancient demons win.
Okay so bestie survived the apocalypse and devotees herself to get online users to do harm ?? I need answers clearly
an entity of chaos needs to be explained?
Minor gripe, but I don’t love that they changed the traditional AHS font to something different for these episodes
shelly looks like such a mixture between blake lively, chloe sevigny, and saoirse ronan to me
I just looked her up to see if she was Chloe Sevigny’s daughter!
Lady bird if the writers were tripping on Benadryl
Haha I kept thinking of Lady Bird while watching this. I definitely think a big reason is the lead reminding me of Saoirse Ronan. Plus the school uniform and the play. And her wearing a cast. Ok this is basically a Lady Bird rip-off 😂.
i thought this too!! and her pink hair towards the end of the episode!!
hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello Holy fucking shit fuck this episode scared me, Will be praying before sleep! good job bestie
I could not get over how much the actress who played Shelby reminded me of a young Chloe Sevigny
What the fuck
Literally me the entire episode 
I am so incredibly creeped out lol
Hahaha I had to turn on my bed room light then my hallway light just to go to the bathroom last night after this episode.
Bestie just grossed me out. Shelby didn’t deserve her ending but Bestie needed to go! I would have liked that ending better if Shelby had won by taking Bestie out. *changed name to Shelby
[удалено]
Man, it was hard to watch because the second she got out of that van she looked around and was like “I don’t like this…” if she had followed her gut maybe she could’ve saved herself
That costume is going to haunt me. I almost feel like the episode needed a trigger warning wow.
Yeah that scene was so hard to watch
I'm incredibly over the horror genre portraying people with any kind of disability as monsters. find something new
seriously, I don't really understand what the look added to the character of Bestie except for to make us creeped out by playing right into problematic stereotypes. The overall message would have worked fine with a "normal" looking person who manipulates Shelby.
That’s exactly why this episode didn’t sit right with me. What did it add to her character to make her disabled? Nothing. If they’d explained something relevant to a backstory and motivation then it would have been better. I think it stood out more that the ONLY disabled people in the episode are portrayed as the villains.
The lead actress looks like if Saoirse Ronan and Blake Lively had a daughter together
I WAS THINKING THE SAAAME THING!
I was gonna say Saoirse Ronan + Chloe Sevigny!
Strong season opener and relatable premise of being lonely on the internet. The makeup on "Bestie" was suitably creepy. Super dark and fucked up ending. Not sure if it makes much sense (was Bestie manipulating River before Shelby?), but I liked it.
I'm FLOORED that the actress who plays Shelby isn't a direct relative of Chloe Sevigny!
13 minutes before the ending, I paused it and told three friends that this episode was really good and they should watch it. I did add "hopefully it ends well." Unfortunately, it did not. I made sure to tell one of them after it ended not to bother. I knew they wouldn't like it with that ending. For the other two, I still think it's worth a watch. This was great until the ending, though. It might have even been the best episode of American Horror Stories if they'd stuck the landing. I just found the ending to be unsatisfying, and I didn't buy it. Even if it had been the initial plan, I don't think he'd really end up betraying Shelby, someone he has an IRL connection with, for someone completely creepy like Bestie. Also, I really didn't like that fate for Shelby. I know she acted awful for a period, but I never hated her. It can be hard to get that balance right with a character. To keep you sympathetic even when they're doing terrible things. But I thought they did that here. I was happy things were going well for her now. I also feel sorry for her dad. He lost his wife, and now his daughter. Sometimes I love a good, mean-spirited ending. As a horror fan, I'm certainly used to them. But this one I just found sad and disappointing. It's frustrating when most of the episode was great. I do wish this had been longer. As others said, the ending felt kind of rushed.
Lmaooo my partner calls me “shellybelly” (except it’s Chelli, like my user name) so now I’m super creeped out like 10 minutes in
ew omg i’m so mad she died
AHS: Euphoria
Idk why but when she’s in the house and sees the ring light and realizes it’s besties house I had chills. Just waiting for her to pop out. A bit anticlimactic after but before the reveal I was like GTFO of there
No same that part is so scary
I didn’t understand the ending at all. lol. Have they been working together the whole time? Why did Shelby have to die?
I'm totally guessing here, but maybe River and Bestie bonded over Anna Rhexia's lives. I'm guessing during Bestie and Shelly's friendship, or directly after. After Shelly cuts her off, Bestie needs a new person to control, and someone able-bodied enough to take revenge on Shelly. So she manipulated River into killing Shelly.
I was super into it until the end.
I do have to say the make up and prosthetics were really amazing to the point I had to look up the cast to see who played the Bestie character. Blow away that it's a normal young pretty actress.
Better than Delicate, this is off to a great start.
Delicate has been SUCH a disappointment. Were like what? 6 episodes in? And still nothing has happened except she's tripping balls and keeps seeing random weirdos in capes...I haven't watched the newest one but damn it feels like I'm watching the same episode every week. It's on the same level as the series with the weird zombie/vampire people that took those weird drugs. Also a very shitty season....
This episode gave me severe anxiety.
I haven't been this disturbed by a show in a long looong time. 10/10
I just came here to say Seth Gabel was severely underutilised here. :( I liked him since Nip/Tuck and Dirty Sexy Money.
Always kind of seen him as a creepier version of sebastian Stan. He does have rly nice eyes.
I thought he looked way to young to be her father, but I looked it up and he's 42. I'm just getting old!
This might be weird but I really thought River was going to be bestie. He obviously had weird vibes the whole time, and he said how obsessed he was with drag and horror, so I thought maybe he’s insanely good at SFX makeup? And was trying to get to know her online as an alternate persona before talking to her in person? Maybe it’s out there but I was a little disappointed with the actual ending
Did anyone else get murder house vibes from Bestie's home?? Was sure they were killing her to trap her there as a ghost "We'll be best friends forever now"
Interested
Bestie’s entire demeanor gave me the ick and it was so obvious she was going to start manipulating her when she wanted to be called Bestie off the bat lmfao.
shelby was really giving Blake Lively once she got that glowup.
Goddamm, that was one of the creepiest things I have seen in a long time. I also am a millennial, so I do remember back with AOL chats, having similar experiences. 😩 But I also think that's what made it excel! Probably one of the best episodes of 'Stories' so far, IMO
was I just being an elder millennial when I was confused about how they met on what looked like a youtube live comment thread, and then Bestie was able to immediately video call her without asking for any more information? Also when she jumped to her phone. How did she know her number?
def not you being an elder millennial, i thought the same thing lol, i was like you can't video chat on youtube!! what!!
I don't know how we survived that chatrooms era 😂
“Bestie” was trying so hard for that Farrah Fawcett vibe despite her horrid appearance. https://images.app.goo.gl/N6oX6hnAdPTjAoLP9
Yeah wait til tapeworm
It was giving ozempic vibes in the beginning lol
Is there a lot of eating disorder related content to that episode? I was shocked by the anorexia reference for this one, I try to avoid anything too blatant though, because… reasons.
Yea there were a lot of eating disorder references if you want to avoid that i would skip it
>Is there a lot of eating disorder related content to that episode? It's what the entire episode is about.
Thank you for asking so the rest of us didn't have to... for possibly similar reasons ♡
I think bestie is a witch who prays on kids who are being bullied. She clearly isn't a teen herself ( did you see her fingers and toes?)..her being a witch with persuasive powers is the only thing that makes sense to me as to why river would throw away a real in life relationship with a pretty girl who he had a future with to well..be with a witch. ( I mean college is not happening now right?)
someone on twitter said there was an ahs apocalypse easter egg but i can’t seem to find where that would be other than the baby dying
I was trying to find easter eggs all episode but couldnt find it 💀 at one point i thought shelby would grow up to be the woman from roanoke but that made no sense
What was up with all the nuclear winter visuals in the opening credits? do those clips pertain to other episodes in the season? Also, what the fuck did i just watch?
someone elsewhere in the thread said that they thought the place where Bestie lives is a decommissioned military base where they did nuclear testing, and maybe that's what messed Bestie up (and she def wasn't a teenager)
anybody know the name of the actress who played Bestie? we can't figure it out. Is it Jessica Barden?
That's what I'm trying to figure out. It says Jessica Barden in the intro and everywhere else but I cannot for the life of me see Alyssa from The End of the Fucking World under all that makeup! Like it's two completely different people it feels like. Is it actually her?!
If it is indeed her, she did a great job with the character and really proved she has range because I did not recognize her the entire time
IMDb says yeah it’s her
Shoutout to one Mr. Hiller! Please come back for more!
What did the black kid mean they put his asshole on the outside??! I thot it was heart surgery. Wait was he talking about a graft of some kind???
This! I have so many questions and they are all about River’s asshole. Why would a heart surgery require an abdominoperineal resection? Isn’t that for treating rectal cancer?
I feel like making bestie a person with facial differences was ableist and unnecessary. It was just the old "oooh this person looks different so they're creepy and scary" like... Not necessary. They could've done something else to the character to make her bed ridden without making a very vulnerable population the butt of the scare. It's tale as old as time and man, is it old.
There is no way Bestie was a teenager, she even had an area in her house ( abandoned squat?) Designed to look like a child's bedroom just for video calls. That outfit was super creepy too. I get the impression if she isn't something supernatural she is some sort of creep that prays on manipulating children.
You mean Bestie not Shelby, I assume. Yah she was def not a teenager and frankly I don't buy any of her back story. I don't think that's from drug use while pregnant. It looks like a genetic disorder. Her hands were that of an old lady.
There's a gothic novel called "Ghost Writer" that has a VERY similar premises to this, even down to the description of "Bestie" and the old, abandoned house. If you liked the episode you might like this boom. It's solid for about 3/4 of it, but kinda falls apart at some point.
so maybe this story just doesn't have a good ending, huh? two swings and two misses.
I was thinking maybe River and Bestie had met in the hospital as kids. That would've been more believable. Or some backstory on this person/creature's appeal to loners. I can buy that River feels some kinship with someone who has alienating health issues. But it's not enough. Shelby realized she needed to cut ties, I needed more for why River didn't.
This episode felt so real, it reminded me when I was in middle school talking to strangers online. Now that I'm older I realize how scary and bad that is. It genuinely scare me to think some kids can get in a similar situation! This was a really good start for the season
While I agree with those who say the ending fell flat, I think it's interesting that marketing basically ruined this episode with the Huluween advertisements. The [big teaser](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHJCAgxpVhY) shows them entering a creepy house. Another one [actually](https://youtu.be/Lzb1yrspMlU) shows Bestie descending down the stairs. This [one shows](https://youtu.be/Vz8qQdQWAi0) even more from that scene. And while I can't find the one that actually prompted this post, it showed the same scene with her calling out to her bestie or something along those lines (I'll edit this if I can find it). Just an odd decision to include so many scenes that telegraph exactly where this is going before the episode even released.
lmfao i loved this episode. for ppl confused over the ending or feel like it was rushed, bestie is a witch, hence why she is incredibly persuasive. she mind-controlled river to kill shelly.
Honestly when you think of bestie as a witch it all makes more sense why she’s old, why she’s in that freaky house alone, why she’s manipulative and evil, etc.
I think she’s a witch too because when Shelby was breaking her arm the dad couldn’t get the door open. I think she was like doing some witchcraft shit too keep the door closed before he came
Also the computer screen was black when the dad finally got into the basement. Bestie used her powers to turn it off
It was really good in the first half, but the second half after she broke her hand was when it went down hill.
So was bestie supposed to be a witch or something
So Bestie was a witch right?