The first two episodes of Big questionyet another fall series from executive producer Ryan Murphy, debuting Wednesday night on FX and running for several seasons American horror story at the same time. The presence of nuns, priests and religious images – the serial killer in this series, whose name is Grotesquerie, is very fond of biblical references – echoes American Horror Story: Asylum (not to mention Evilthe first season of Real detectiveand the movie Se7en). The season’s allusions to cults and emphasis on the apocalyptic – “The end is damn near,” cries a man without a home in the first episode – are reminiscent of the Sect And Apocalypse seasons. The lurid fascination with creatively disgusting ways to torture and kill other people is on par with what we’ve seen in every movie. American horror story to date and in at least 75 percent of Murphy’s television oeuvre.

But even if it is rolled out in the weeks leading up to Halloween, which is what traditionally happens AHS season, Big question is not yet another installment in the anthology series, although you would be forgiven for thinking so: The 12th AHS season, Delicatewas split in two and closed earlier this year, so Big questiontogether with American horror storiesplural, which debuts on Hulu on October 15, fills something of a gap in programming. (American horror story was renewed for a 13th season in 2020, with a new season expected next year.) So for those wondering if Big question is just a seasonal replacement for American horror storythe answer is ‘no’ but also ‘yes’.

While it’s too early to tell if the show is actually any good based on the first few episodes – critics were not given any additional episodes to review – Big question stands out because it is primarily a police series. Detective Lois Tryon, played by Niecy Nash-Betts, is the main character and the primary prism through which we view the world. Big question world. She is assigned to determine who is behind the gruesome murder of a Christian family of four, as well as two similar crimes. She’s written along the lines of virtually every cop in every vaguely prestige crime drama in recent history: an alcoholic, workaholic-obsessive woman who uses her police responsibilities to escape her painful home life, including caring for a husband of nearly a month. .

In accordance with a procedural approach, Big question is very clearly a whodunit, which is a slight departure from the typical AHS structure. In another departure, while almost every good actor in the main cast has appeared in at least one Murphy project – Nash-Betts was in Shout queens And Sample; Courtney B. Vance, who plays her husband, was in attendance The People vs. OJ Simpson; Nicholas Chavez, a priest with a true crime fetish, was Lyle Menéndez Monsters – none of them have appeared in a season of American horror story. (Lesley Manville, who plays a nurse with a retro style and a very mean temperament, looks like she was in Ratched, but she wasn’t.) Big question also promises to deliver a highly anticipated performance from Super Bowl champion tight end and friend of American Sweetheart Travis Kelce, although he does not appear in the first two episodes. I’m willing to bet he shows up as a member of whatever cult is linked to the murders, in a role that nods to his connection to Taylor Swift by commenting on the dangers of hero worship. That, or he’s in this thing for five minutes before he’s brutally mutilated.

Kelce’s presence feels like a new echo of American horror story given the franchise’s love affair with stunt casting. (See Adam Levine in AsylumStevie Nicks in it Coven And ApocalypseEnter Lady Gaga Hotel And Roanokeand Kim Kardashian inside Delicatee.) Actually, AHS‘s most consistent selling point has always been the caliber of its performance, and Big questionse has that too. The material is consistently elevated by the actors, especially Nash-Betts, who gives Lois a grounded restraint that keeps her from falling into a river of clichés. Manville is also great, literally licking her lips at the prospect of portraying a dominant, perverted caregiver.

Besides being well acted, Big question is, like most Murphy joints, riveting and graphically violent out of the gate. Whether it really needs to exist or not, especially in a two-week stretch that gives us three additional new Murphy-produced series (American sports storyMonsters, Doctor Odyssey) and the return of another (9-1-1)like Travis Kelce, remains to be seen.