“They tell a narrative device in, like, under five minutes… Make you know, in some cases, what the song is really about, subtextually.” The Shards really beats you over the head with how unlikeable these hot, perpetually porn-lit rich kids are, probably to preempt whatever comeuppance they shall receive at the hands of The Trawler, the serial killer that lurks in the series' background.) But if there's anything The Shards really has going for it — beyond its shotgun blast of maximalist style, as if there's a big flashing arrow above it that reads “this is a Ryan Murphy show!” No wonder it goes to such lengths, in the scene mentioned earlier, to eulogise the artistic merits of the music video; the whole show is essentially an extended music video, going from track to track like a sexy greatest hits compilation. The Shards really does boast a playlist approaching the aforementioned Grand Theft Auto as far as being musically stacked.