‘AHS 13′ Branded ‘Insanely Bad’ After Bizarre Premiere Scene

“American Horror Story” may have assembled its most stacked cast ever for Season 13, but one scene from the premiere is already getting ripped apart online. The episode introduces a man terrified of the number 13, his Taylor Swift-obsessed girlfriend, and her 13 closest friends before sending them aboard a plane that appears to be going down. A clip of the sequence has been making the rounds on social media, where viewers have described the writing as “corny,” “weird,” and comparable to a “bad TV movie.”

‘AHS 13’ Introduces A Man Terrified Of The Number 13

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Episode 1 introduces viewers to Ben, played by Joey Pollari, a well-mannered hospice worker living with triskaidekaphobia, which is the fear of the number 13. That condition immediately puts him at odds with his girlfriend, Kira, played by “Riverdale” alum Madelaine Petsch.

Kira is a devoted Swiftie whose love of the number 13 appears to dominate nearly every part of her personality. The reference connects her to Taylor Swift, who has frequently discussed the number’s significance throughout her life and career.

Despite his deep discomfort with the number, Ben reluctantly agrees to accompany Kira and her 13 best friends on a birthday trip built entirely around the very thing he fears. His decision quickly appears to backfire when their plane begins to experience serious trouble.

The setup seems designed to establish the season’s obsession with the number 13 while mixing horror with deliberately heightened humor. However, the combination did not land with everyone who encountered the scene online.

Viral Scene Leaves Viewers Asking If It Is ‘Real’

Once a clip of the plane sequence began circulating, social media users wasted no time tearing into it. “This season is so corny,” one viewer wrote. Another person appeared stunned that the scene had made it into the finished episode, asking, “someone pls tell me this is not real.”

The criticism only grew harsher from there. “This sucks lmao,” one reaction read, while somebody else declared, “Season sucks already.” Another viewer compared the scene to a lower-budget production, writing, “This is like a bad TV movie.”

Others were equally baffled by the episode’s tone. One person simply commented, “This is so weird,” while another slammed the creative choices as “Insanely bad at writing.”

Ryan Murphy Says The Season Is Bigger Than ‘Coven’

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Before the premiere, speculation centered heavily on whether the new installment would revisit “Coven.” Photographs from the New York City set seemed to support that theory, especially since several fan-favorite performers returned to the franchise.

However, co-creator Ryan Murphy previously insisted that “Coven” represents only one part of a much bigger story. “Everybody thinks it’s a ‘Coven’ season and it’s not. It’s all the seasons,” Murphy told Entertainment Tonight.

The producer then revealed just how ambitious the crossover would be. “Sarah Paulson is playing six or seven roles. Jessica Lange is playing all four of her iconic characters. Evan Peters is playing five characters… It is like the Avengers. They all come together to defeat the ultimate evil.”

Jessica Lange And Other Fan Favorites Return

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The Season 13 cast includes several of the franchise’s biggest names, including Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Emma Roberts, Angela Bassett, and Sarah Paulson. Lange’s return is particularly significant because she stepped away from the anthology after “Freak Show” in 2014. She later reprised her “Murder House” character, Constance Langdon, for “Apocalypse” in 2018, but had repeatedly indicated that she did not intend to make another comeback.

According to Murphy, the Season 13 concept was strong enough to change her mind. “As soon as I pitched it to them, many of them had said ‘no’ over the years, they were like, ‘Well, OK, I’ve gotta come back for that’,” he explained.

Murphy recalled Lange having a similar reaction when she heard what he had planned. “But I pitched Jessica Lange, and she was like, ‘Oh sh-t, now I gotta do it,’” he said.

Ryan Murphy Spent Years Planning ‘13’

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The show’s creator has made it clear that the number 13 is far more than a title. “It’s all of them in one season and it’s 13 episodes because it’s called ‘13’,” Murphy shared. “I spent many, many months and many years writing it. I wanted to do 13 in a special way.”

With Lange, Paulson, Peters, Roberts and Bassett involved, Season 13 still has plenty of star power waiting in the wings. The bigger question is whether the promised “Avengers” of the “American Horror Story” universe can overcome a premiere moment that some viewers have already labeled a major creative crash.