" Checking In ," the season five premiere of American Horror Story: Hotel , is a visually stunning, ultra-violent, and decadent return to form that successfully resets the anthology's atmosphere after the more campy Freak Show .
Plays the "straight man" detective investigating a series of gruesome Ten Commandments-inspired murders, providing a grounded noir element to the supernatural chaos.
Stepping into the void left by Jessica Lange, Lady Gaga debuts as . She delivers a performance that relies more on presence and fashion than dialogue. The centerpiece of the episode is a stylized, blood-soaked four-way encounter set to She Wants Revenge's "Tear You Apart," which firmly establishes the season's "vampiric" (specifically, an ancient blood virus) and hyper-sexualized tone. Plot and Performance Highlights
