Maybe two good ones American horror story seasons in a row was too much to ask.
I’ll be the first to put on my clown makeup and call myself out for daring to wish for too much. But after the surprisingly moving AHS: NYC Last season I was full of hope. Early episodes of AHS: Delicate had me enchanted by the more subdued psychological structure. And I kept making excuses when the show didn’t deliver, when the build-up for another episode was delayed.
I forgot the first basic rule to get one AHS fan: The show rarely, if ever, sticks around.
(Ed. remark: This post contains major spoilers for the end of American horror story: delicate.)
Image: FX
Delicate followed Anna Alcott (Emma Roberts), an actress campaigning for an Oscar and also desperately trying to get pregnant. After finally becoming pregnant, she begins to experience many strange things: dark figures following her, dolls of herself with various injuries remaining, and cravings for raw animal flesh, among other things. Throughout all of this, her best friend and manager, Siobhan (Kim Kardashian), assures her that everything will be fine and normal.
But Siobhan is actually the mastermind behind everything Anna has experienced. ‘She orchestrated (almost) every horror event this season!
Except… What the hell was she orchestrating?
Yes, she’s been preyed upon for centuries by women who want it all, including famous faces like Talia (Juliana Canfield), her husband Dex’s tech mogul, and Sonia (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), the artist he works with. They are all in this cult to birth creatures, which Siobhan claims will be a new race of super-powered beings that will take over the world and kill all humans. This is all revealed in a weird luxury apartment where almost everything is painted bright red and all the cult members wear stupid costumes and look over Siobhan.
And it would be 1% more forgivable if the costumes weren’t so bad. Seriously, it’s been bugging me all season that the feathered headdresses look like something you can buy at Party City for $25.99 (plus tax).
Image: FX
It all seems like it’s taking place in a liminal space, or in Anna’s own head, which contributes to another frustration of this season: we don’t necessarily need an answer to the question of whether or not certain events are in Anna’s head. happened, but so few of those moments had actual, tangible effects on her that it doesn’t even matter. Siobhan planted her cultists in every aspect of Anna’s life, from the nurse who held her when she was born to the ambulance driver who whisked her away when she gave birth. Anna began having increasingly disturbing visions, including her baby clawing out of her and strange scaly legs, all of which immediately disappeared as soon as someone else was there to observe them. And even if we don’t get answers, we should at least have them some sense of what is going on.
Take last season, for example: we never learned who the strange, leather-clad figure haunting New York City’s gay community was, even when he unmasked himself in front of one of the characters. But that was okay, because we got the general feeling that he was some kind of harbinger of death, a trauma from the past lurking around and eventually dragging everyone down with it. It was a metaphor, and a devastating one at that.
Image: FX
In DelicateBut we learn too much and yet not enough. The show clearly has some things in mind about beauty, aging, motherhood, and femininity — but ultimately it all comes together without much metaphorical structure. Siobhan never reveals what or who she is. (Except, secretly, Dex’s mother.) This would be fine, if not for her strange master plan to kill all the men. It’s too specific in detail, especially when we have no idea what her motives are. It ends up being a comedic portrayal of extreme feminism, which is strange considering everything else the season was trying to do.
However, it’s the way Siobhan is defeated that turns everything from bad to laughably stupid. Dex’s late wife, Adelaide, who we learned a few episodes earlier was a former cult member who defected and tried to live a normal life, suddenly appears next to Anna. She leads her in a cryptic chant invoking Hestia, the Greek goddess of the hearth, for some reason (although it is never suggested that Siobhan is a figure from the Greek pantheon; there is at least some evidence that she is Satan whether Lilith is or some other, more Biblical figure). All Anna does is repeat these words louder as Siobhan enters, and then Siobhan withers into dust.
Image: FX
Ta-da! That is it!
The cult is gone. Anna’s baby is normal. The super modern apartment is now white and not bright red. She also has her Oscar.
All that build-up (so much. build-up) and it’s just some loud chanting that solves everything. Certainly!
As far as AHS seasons go, Delicate wasn’t the worst. The first half was intriguing, especially because it wasn’t typical AHS conventions, thanks to a new showrunner at the helm. But the ending was perhaps one of the biggest disappointments this show has ever had, with one of the most baffling “defeats” of a villain I’ve ever seen. Even Kim Kardashian’s surprisingly good performance couldn’t save her from ridiculous motifs and that awful costume.
All episodes of American horror story: delicate streaming now on Hulu.