American Horror Story
Recap
Spoiler Free! After the world is blown up in the Apocalypse by the Antichrist and his cohorts, the Witches from American Horror Story Coven return for the final battle of Good vs Evil. We flashback and learn how the Witches became aware of the upcoming events and set about to be prepared to meet the son of the devil, Michael Langdon, the child of the Harmon family featured in season one of American Horror Story (aka "Murder House") who was taken and raised by Constance Langdon (Jessica Lange).
Review
Season one of American Horror Story (aka “Murder House“) and season three, “Coven“, are at the top of people’s favorite seasons of the series. So, when it was announced that season eight, “Apocalypse“, would be a “sequel” to those two seasons, it got people excited. But did it deliver?
I would say a very enthusiastic “Yes!”. Not only did we get to see favorite old characters return such as Sarah Paulson’s Cordelia Fox, Frances Conroy’s Myrtle Snow and best of all, Jessica Lange’s Constance Langdon (a role she won an Emmy for) we also got answers to questions like “why didn’t we ever see any male witches?” and “whatever happened to Constance and her grandson Michael, the Harmon baby?”. Apocalypse opened with the end of the world right off the bat. Then later, after the Witches make their big comeback, we get to see all the little intricate details that built up to the Antichrist’s bringing Hell down on Earth and how others such as real life Satanist Anton Le Vey and a secret coven of Warlocks guided Michael into his role as the Antichrist. We were given more depth into the Witches and their vital role in everything. We saw the long standing feud between the Witches and the Warlocks and why there had never been a male “Supreme”.
After the bombs fell the story began to lag a little but when the withches arrived we got out of the claustrophobic setting of the Outpost and learned what happened with the Coven after that season ended. Not everything was perfect, to be sure. Joan Collins, who would have made an excellent addition to the series was largely wasted. The show was bogged down with too many characters, some of which seemed to serve no purpose.
The best episode was episode 6 “Return to Murder House” in which Jessica Lange made her return to the series after starring in the first four seasons….”Murder House:, “Asylum“, “Coven“, and “Freak Show“. We got to see how the Harmon family has been doing in the afterlife. Connie Britton, who starred in “Murder House made only her second appearance in the American Horror Story series. The main focus, though, was the Harmon’s child, Michael, who fathered by Constance’s dead son, Tate. in the Rubber Man suit and how Constance tried to raise a boy with homicidal tendencies. Some of her scenes here with Michael are saved to complete the story in the finale when the Witches call upon all their power in a final battle with the son of Satan.
Final Thoughts
I know there are going to be a lot of people who were dissatisfied with this chapter of American Horror Story. There seems to be a tendency for many shows that last this long for its most avid fans to turn on the show they once praised. I happened to like the way the story resolved...even its not so unexpected epilogue which will surely piss off a lot of people. But you can't please everybody. It was a well done season, washing away the bad taste that season 7's "Cult" left. Ryan Murphy is reported to have signed on for 2 more seasons of American Horror Story...where you go after the Apocalypse we'll just have to wait and see. As one of the characters says in the finale "The battle between Good and Evil is never truly over".
American Horror Story Apocalypse Season 8
- Writing - 10/1010/10
- Storyline - 10/1010/10
- Acting - 10/1010/10
- Music - 10/1010/10
- Production - 10/1010/10