Fall is here, and naturally the most important aspect of this fact is the return of our TV show lineup, namely, brand new seasons of Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder and American Horror Story. I’ll be briefly reviewing new episodes each week, so stay tuned and as always, watch out for spoilers.

Scandal

Oh, Scandal, Scandal, Scandal. We can always count on this show to deliver melodramatic twists and gotchas, emotional and painful romance, and of course, good ole political backstabbing and murder. But at some point these tropes become repetitive and remarkably predictable. Olivia and Fitz break it off and get together. Their tryst is nearly revealed to the world but at the very last moment smoothed over. Olivia’s dad is still…there and sure to be a sociopathic, oppressive paternal influence throughout the season. Fitz still hates Mellie. Jake continues to hang around doing spy stuff with Huck and Quinn.

I’m beginning to think the show has run its course. The pretense for Olivia and Fitz’s tragic love story is beginning to stretch thin (they really can’t wait another several months when his term is over to be together?), the White House scandals are becoming increasingly farcical, and the focus is being placed far too heavily on Olivia’s relationships with, and dare I say control by, the men in her life.

In an attempt to one up itself each season, Scandal seems to have burned out its more creative thrills and compelling plots. I’m hoping the season gains some direction and pleasantly surprises, but the only scandal I see here is that I’m no longer excited for Scandal and I’m not sure how many more “Olitz” make ups and breakups I can take.

American Horror Story: Hotel

The premiere of AHS started gruesomely and shockingly enough. I don’t think I’ve ever been genuinely startled by any scene of the show’s 4 seasons so far, but I definitely jumped when that bloody arm popped out of the tourists’ mattress in the opening action. This can only portend good things right?

With the new season centering around the horrors that take place in an antiquated Hollywood hotel, many familiar tropes abound, heavily in tribute to the classic film The Shining. You have, of course, the creepy small children appearing at the ends of corridors, the dizzying compression as a frightened character runs through hotel hallways, a variety of ghostly tenants haunting every room, and that one room in particular being extremely haunted. Kudos to you if you caught the more subtle references, like the scene with the hotel owner’s kid casually bouncing his ball against a wall–a tempered echo of Jack Nicholson’s more frenzied version in the classic.

Lady Gaga makes her AHS debut as a terrifying, high maintenance vampire queen of sorts who bends everyone in the hotel to her will. She appears to be one of the main villains of the story who uses the hotel and its dead guests to lure victims in to satisfy her bloodlust. Gaga’s aesthetic, predilection for darker themes and general weirdness makes her a perfect fit for the role, which is somewhat of an extension of her celebrity persona. I’m not fully convinced of her acting chops quite yet as some of her lines fall somewhat flat, but she may improve as the season goes on.

An aspect of the premiere I was less than impressed with was the rape scene. We all get it, AHS pushes the envelope with the blood and the gore and the general horrors, but there’s something particularly lazy and unnecessary about depicting rape purely for shock value. Did it need to be so graphic or prolonged? Would anything have been lost without it? No. As if AHS is running low on ideas for cheap shock tactics.

How to Get Away with Murder

This show just gets increasingly insane as time goes by. Last season the big mystery was who killed Lila and what transpired on the night that Sam died. We were then left with the cliffhanging question of who killed Rebecca.

This season the stakes are even higher, and as high as they can possibly be since the puzzle we all need to solve is who killed the main character—Annalise Keating?! Similar to the format of Season 1, we are given glimpses into the future and the immediate aftermath of Keating’s (seeming) demise, only to return to the events of months prior to explore what led to the ghastly conclusion. It’s a pretty brilliant format that works for the show—enough of future events is revealed to leave you anticipating and constantly guessing, but not enough is shown to allow you to accurately guess what’s happening. For now, the show is unpredictable and all over the place in a good way.

This season we’re learning more about Annalise’s past, including a former love affair with a woman she went to law school with. A black, bi-sexual woman in a position of power as the main character in a TV series? Yes—more of this. Additionally, we’re learning more of Annalise’s dark and destructive side, and she seems to be slowly unraveling before our eyes, played immaculately by Viola Davis.

I don’t know how this show keeps pulling out the twists and turns—similar to what Scandal used to do well—but here’s to hoping it doesn’t peak or fizzle out too soon and keeps us on a ride throughout the season.