Rating 4.5/5 stars

The time leading up to the 2016 presidential election does not need much added to it to make it terrifying. The anthology horror series “American Horror Story” leans into burgeoning political fears for its seventh season, “Cult.”

“Election Night” is the inaugural episode of the seventh season and takes viewers through the fears, angers and frustrations felt by people “on many sides, on many sides.”

The episode opens with a shocked party full of Hillary supporters hosted by Ally (Sarah Paulson, “American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson”) and her wife Ivy (Alison Pill, “Goon: Last of the Enforcers”).

The two weep while watching the results with their liberal neighbors as Ally cries, “Merrick Garland. What’s going to happen to Merrick Garland?”

“Election Night” relies much more on satire than previous seasons, but for most of the first episode, the comedy falls flat. Its attempts to reach across the aisle and take shots at both Democrats and Republicans renders the first hour with cartoonish caricatures and few likeable characters.

At the same time, as the snowflakes watch the election returns in awe, Kai (Evan Peters, “X-Men: Apocalypse”), a Cheetos eating, Trump supporting, deplorable watches in wonder as he sees the results come in on Fox News.

Peters gives the standout performance of the episode, though Ally’s babysitter (Billie Lourd, “Scream Queens”) is delightfully creepy in her few minutes of screen time.

“American Horror Story” has always been about people confronting their fears, and in the wake of the election, Ally’s many phobias return worse than ever. She is claustrophobic, afraid of small holes and petrified of clowns, which she begins to see all around town. Creepy clowns make up the bulk of the real scares of “Election Night.” Besides the cold open clown attack, which sees the return of Twisty from season four, “Freak Show,” most of the clown appearances are tedious and ineffective as any real sort of horror moment.

For all its faults, “American Horror Story: Cult” explores the aftermath of the 2016 election in ways that have not yet been totally explored, because of the hot takes from Trump seen since January, this is certainly no small feat. The central idea of how voting changes the way people see their neighbors, colleagues, and own family. Many today believe this is a major impact of the 2016 election and the way people think about their fellow Americans is a powerful one.

The first episode of the new season stumbles in the same places many first episodes stumble. It has a lot of plates to juggle in setting up its world, its characters and laying the groundwork for a season’s worth of story to come.

“Cult” has the potential to be one of the better seasons of “American Horror Story.” Despite its often on-the-nose satire, the first episode shows glimpses of greatness that can hopefully lead to a season of fire and fury, the likes of which this world has never.

Photo: FX Networks via YouTube.com