[ENTERTAINMENT] ‘AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE’ FULL SEASON REVIEW

We survived the apocalypse! With the eighth season of “American Horror Story” completed, it’s Judgment Day for “Apocalypse.” It had a lot of really amazing elements and some subpar plotlines that, in my opinion, knocked the season down a few pegs. Without further ado, let’s dive into the good and the bad of “American Horror Story: Apocalypse.”

THE GOOD

MULTI-LEVEL CROSSOVER

Going back to Murder House, the setting of “AHS’s” inaugural season, was undeniably one of the highlights of “Apocalypse.” Since Season 1’s finale, fans have been speculating what became of Constance (Jessica Lange) and her murderous grandson, the toddler Antichrist. While we’ve been following Langdon’s (Cody Fern) journey since the first episode of “Apocalypse” it was amazing to return to where it all began and find out what the characters of “Murder House” have been up to since 2011. Lange, who promised she was done with “AHS” after Season 4, brought the house down with an insanely powerful performance. No one can monologue like Jessica Lange!

It was also great to see the witches back, even if they were mostly underutilized, but one of the surprising elements of “Apocalypse” was that it was also a “Hotel” crossover. While we’ve known that Seasons 1, 3 and 5 all take place within the same universe, there was no reference that the Hotel Cortez would be featured in the eighth season. Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) sitting in a hotel room, playing cards with James Patrick March (Evan Peters) was one of the best surprises of the season. I wish Ryan Murphy would do more things like this, instead of spoiling the majority of the season’s twists via his social media.

MYRTLE SNOW

The red-haired, quirky witch Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy) was a big part of Season 3 “Coven”, but she really shined in “Apocalypse.” Conroy was somehow able to play the witch, who in theory should come off as ridiculous and campy, with a level of seriousness that quickly made her a fan favorite. Can you think of anyone else who’d be able to play the Theremin, vape and deliver lines like “My hair is an eternal mystery, never to be fully understood,” without sounding ridiculous? Frances Conroy, that’s who!

MICHAEL LANGDON

It can’t be argued that “AHS” newcomer Cody Fern didn’t crush it this season as the Antichrist himself, Michael Langdon. With his long blonde wig, piercing eyes and strangely soothing voice (watching the show, you’d never know he has an Australian accent in real life), he was wonderfully cast as the season’s main antagonist. While I didn’t find him to be scary, I feel as though he was a pretty accurate depiction of what the Spawn of Satan would be like, especially in the “AHS” universe. He was also able to seamlessly transform from an all-powerful being to a prepubescent child stuck in an adult’s body. I expect he’ll be back in future seasons because he was one of the best elements of “Apocalypse.”

THE NUCLEAR BOMBS

It happened early in the season, but I thought the depiction of the build-up as nuclear bombs are dropped was downright anxiety-inducing. This is the kind of thing “AHS” does best. The writers play on our fears that are brewing just below the surface. This was also one of the few genuinely scary moments in the show’s history that doesn’t feature anything paranormal (until we find out that the Antichrist planned it), which makes it ring all the more terrifyingly true.

MADISON MONTGOMERY

Emma Roberts has always been hit or miss. She’s great at playing the sassy, mean character, but there are few other roles in which she’s excelled. In “Apocalypse” her character, the quick-witted and loose-tongued Madison Montgomery was brought back from Hell to fight against Langdon, and the season was made much better for it. In “Coven” Madison was sassy and mean to almost everyone. While she still has her signature tone in “Apocalypse,” it seems as though spending years in Hell did a number on her, because she gave one of the more nuanced performances this season. While I couldn’t describe her character as “nice” it became clear that she wanted to be a better person and actually cared about the future of the Coven, which could not be said for her in Season 3.

THE BAD

FLASHBACK STRUCTURE

The flashback itself wasn’t inherently bad, but the fact that this season was called “Apocalypse” and the second half took place almost exclusively before the apocalypse seems silly. I enjoyed some elements of Langdon’s backstory, but it definitely should have been condensed into one or two episodes. There’s no reason we needed to spend so much time seeing his rise to power, and we certainly didn’t need to spend so much time with the Coconut Head robotic engineers (Evan Peters and Billy Eichner in the worst wigs I’ve ever seen) as they build his robotic companion. It just didn’t work and got old after a few episodes.

I was expecting more exploration of the post-apocalyptic world, but instead got multiple episodes detailing Langdon’s path towards the end of the world. With “Apocalypse” in the title, is that too much to ask?

I almost think it would have been better to call this season “Coven 2” and let it play out linearly, letting the nuclear bombs drop around Episode 6 or 7. I feel like that would’ve been more shocking, and we wouldn’t have had to wait three episodes for the witches to appear.

ROBOT KATHY BATES

Kathy Bates is an amazing actress, especially when she’s playing an evil character, which is why “AHS” is a perfect fit for her. Miss Mead, her “Apocalypse” character, certainly gave her the opportunity to express her darker side, but the “twist” (if you could even call it a twist) was pretty weak. At the end of Episode 3, it was revealed that Mead was, in fact, a robot. This just seemed like one of the writers had binged “Westworld” and wanted to include it, but overall it seemed silly to me.

As the season went on and we got deeper into the flashbacks, we saw the real character that the robot was based on, and that was genuinely one of Bates’ better roles on the series. She was able to play up Mead’s creepy and Satanic vibes without seeming farcical. I just wished they had left her as a Satanist and didn’t bother making her a discount version of Dolores from “Westworld.” Although I can’t lie, her machine-gun arm was pretty cool.

ANTICLIMACTIC FINALE

All season, Langdon was hyped up to be this big, bad unstoppable force. So how do the witches finally kill him in the finale? They just run him over with a car. All season I was hoping for a big battle between the witches and the Satanists. I wanted the Coven to finally show off their powers, but no such luck. I get that Mallory (Billie Lourd) traveled back in time to his most vulnerable moment, but they totally could have killed him in a more creative, or at least horrific way. If everyone has these amazing abilities, why wasn’t anyone using them? When Langdon was hunting the witches down in the finale, why didn’t anyone use their telekinesis against him? I’m assuming the magic budget was down, but if you’re doing a “Coven” crossover, how could you not include more magic?

USELESS CHARACTERS

I get that scheduling conflicts are an issue, but if Ryan Murphy is going to bring back so many fan-favorites, why wouldn’t he use them? They went through all the trouble of bringing Misty Day (Lily Rabe) back from Hell, only to have her absent for the remainder of the season. Sure, they can say in a throwaway line that she’s “off galivanting with Stevie [Nicks]” but she definitely should’ve been a bigger part of the season.

It wasn’t just Misty who was underutilized in “Apocalypse.” One of the main characters of “Coven” Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) came back this season with newfound confidence and grace, yet she was mainly relegated to the background. There was no mention of her powers (killer vagina) that took up the majority of her Season 3 timeline, and she performed minimal magic.

Similarly, Queenie the “Human Voodoo Doll” has been stuck in the Hotel Cortez since Season 5. They made a big plot point of Langdon rescuing her, but once she got back to the Coven, she really didn’t do much. With all these iconic witches brought back, why wouldn’t they actually showcase their powers?

SAME ACTORS PLAYING TOO MANY CHARACTERS

While some actors, most notably Sarah Paulson, have no problem playing multiple characters, I feel as though this season featured too many multiple roles. While I love Billy Eichner as a comedian, I’m not sure he has the acting chops necessary to pull of two different characters. In the finale, I wasn’t able to differentiate between Brock and Mutt with a potential haircut.

After playing seven characters in last year’s “Cult” the fact that all three of Evan Peters’ “Apocalypse” characters (excluding his brief cameo as James March from “Hotel”)  seemed wasted can’t be his fault, but that of the writing. Gallant, his first character of the season, died in the Hallows Eve poisoning, Tate was just a cameo and Jeff was completely unnecessary. Instead of throwing three subpar characters at him (I didn’t like how they tried to make school-shooter Tate into an innocent victim of the house), they should have focused on giving him one really strong, relevant character to play.

RETCONNING THE TIMELINE

By having Mallory go back in time to defeat Langdon in 2015, the show inadvertently changed the outcome of multiple plotlines. Since the apocalypse never happened, that means that Moira (Frances Conroy’s “Murder House” character who was given a heartfelt reunion with her dead mother) is once again stuck in the house, negating her plotline in the “Return to Murder House” episode.

Additionally, Mallory stops Queenie from staying at the Hotel Cortez during her upcoming trip to “The Price is Right.” Since Queenie never goes to the hotel, this drastically changes the last few episodes of Season 5. If Queenie was never there to hold over Angela Bassett’s character over, that means the Countess (Lady Gaga) could have very well escaped before being beheaded, which would, in turn, transform The Ten Commandments Killer’s final objective. Did they think of this when writing the finale, or were the writers only concerned with keeping Queenie alive for another potential crossover?

With the whole timeline resetting five years before the events of “Apocalypse” the entire season is essentially negated. None of it matters, because, in the new timeline the finale presented, none of it happened. Does that make this whole season a waste of time? Not necessarily, but it definitely knocks it down a few pegs.

Overall, I enjoyed this season of “AHS” but it clearly wasn’t without its flaws. It went slightly off the rails after the “Return to Murder House” episode and may have been too concerned with fan-service, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy watching it every Wednesday night. I wish that Ryan Murphy and the writers would spend more time mapping out the whole season because it always lacks a level of cohesion.

If you feel like playing catch-up, click on the episode titles below to read my recaps of every episode of “American Horror Story: Apocalypse.”

Episode 1: “The End”

Episode 2: “The Morning After”

Episode 3 “Forbidden Fruit”

Episode 4 “Could It Be … Satan?”

Episode 5 “Boy Wonder”

Episode 6 “Return to Murder House”

Episode 7 “Traitor”

Episode 8 “Sojourn”

Episode 9 “Fire and Reign”

Episode 10 “Apocalypse Then”