American Horror Story: Apocalypse: The Biggest Moments from “Apocalypse Then” (Season 8 Episode 10)
Well… I guess that happened?
American Horror Story: Apocalypse, Season 8 Episode 10, “Apocalypse Then,” proves what I’ve been fearing for the last few episodes: This season squandered a ton of potential. As a whole, Apocalypse certainly had its great moments and exciting set pieces (as did the finale). But overall, I’m left with an intense feeling of… blah.
This isn’t particularly shocking. If I’m being honest, the writers have rarely (if ever) pulled off a successful, fully satisfying finale. Typically, the campy and over-the-top nature of the show results in a ton of disparate plots being introduced just for the sake of having them, and then they go nowhere.
Since a lot happens at breakneck speed to wrap up the season — arguably we could’ve used another episode or two to really tease everything out — it’s perhaps easiest to just do an overview of the biggest events and address what works and what doesn’t in each of them.
1. Cordelia puts Mallory and Coco under an identity spell
Step 1: Identity spell. #AHSApocalypse pic.twitter.com/ad7VmiEF2v
— AmericanHorrorStory (@AHSFX) November 15, 2018
Much of the finale is circling back and filling in gaps to explain how we got from where we are to what we first saw in the season premiere. Perhaps most importantly, we see how Coco and Mallory wound up at Outpost 3 — and it’s all part of Myrtle and Cordelia’s plan.
The scene where the two women are given new personalities and identities is actually pretty emotional, but it’s a little hard to care about them. We don’t learn a whole lot about either of them on a deeper level throughout the season. Of the remaining members of the coven, I really only worried about Myrtle, Cordelia, and Madison.
2. Cordelia, Myrtle, and Madison pop out of the ground like daisies
It's time… #AHSApocalypse pic.twitter.com/CJ8XTtVUnV
— AmericanHorrorStory (@AHSFX) November 15, 2018
The writers weirdly kind of gloss over this and don’t give much of an explanation, but basically the remaining witches bury themselves like turnips while waiting for Mallory’s powers to manifest themselves. Fittingly, they pop out of the ground soon after Mallory’s confrontation with Michael, when her powers show themselves (a moment we’d already seen earlier this season).
This catches us up to where we let off mid-season, in the present, before the show jumped backwards to fill in the timeline — the witches’ confrontation with Michael.
Much like the majority of Coven things, this emergence from the dirt is equal parts badass and sorta goofy.
3. Cordelia trades Dinah for Marie Laveau
This is objectively a great moment. Angela Bassett’s cameo went unreported prior to the season, so Marie turning up is an unexpected and pleasant surprise.
While Bassett’s swagger almost makes this moment worth it, it unfortunately doesn’t make a ton of sense. In theory, Marie is brought back to take out Dinah and also help hold off Michael. But… she doesn’t really do much of anything on the Michael front. She holds him off for like a second before Michael tears her heart out and eats it!
All in all, cool moment, but not super logical plot-wise.
4. Madison sacrifices herself to hold off Michael
OK, real talk: Madison Montgomery had one of the best redemption arcs ever. In anything. Period.
In what’s easily one of the best things about this mixed bag season, we actually get to see Madison develop as a character beyond the bitchy secondary antagonist she was in Season 3. After the decency and kindness she demonstrated in “Return to Murder House,” it makes perfect sense that her arc culminates in the ultimate sacrifice: giving her own life for the potential future of the Coven and the world.
Plus, she finally gets the acknowledgment and love from Cordelia that she’s so clearly been desperate for. That validation!
It’s just a fun bonus that she uses Meade’s robot arm to shoot at Michael and hold him off. It is brilliant and campy as hell — in the best way!
5. Cordelia kills herself so Mallory can ascend as Supreme
Cordelia’s sacrifice is a fantastic moment. Both Sarah Paulson and Cody Fern absolutely crush it in their final stand-off, and Cordelia’s final line is easily one of the best pieces of dialogue the show has ever produced.
Cordelia: Satan has one son, but my sisters are legion, motherf*cker!
I need that on a shirt, stat.
Of course, the first part of Cordelia’s statement ends up being untrue (more on that below). And besides that, it also begs the question: Why didn’t Cordelia just do this sooner?
I get that she wasn’t keen on dying, but she’s distinctly aware that killing herself will allow Mallory to come into her full powers, enabling the younger witch to perform the time travel spell to take out Michael.
If she’d just killed herself pre-apocalypse, wouldn’t that have been less risky? And also less of a hassle? Or did Mallory still need to “marinate” in her witchiness (as it were) regardless of whether Cordelia was alive or dead?
I’m left scratching my head, and not in a satisfying/thought-provoking way. Just in a plain confused/”this might be a plot hole” way.
6. Mallory travels back in time and runs Michael over with a car in 2015
I’m still torn on whether this is brilliant or lazy as hell.
Seriously… that’s it?!
After everything we’ve seen of Michael, are we really meant to believe a car is enough to kill him at any point in his life? Also, why does Mallory choose this particular moment, of all times?
I mean, I’m glad in a way, because it gives us more unexpected Jessica Lange time — it was only reported that she’d appear in Episode 6. Lange’s monologue during her final confrontation is also amazing. Lange and Cody Fern both give phenomenal performances.
On top of that, the parallels to Season 1 are great.
Exactly like Constance’s daughter Addie, Michael dies in the street after being hit by a car. Whereas Constance desperately attempted to get Addie to Murder House so her ghost could be there indefinitely, Constance flatly refuses Michael’s request to help him die in Murder House. She simply doesn’t want to deal with his evil nonsense anymore and certainly not for eternity.
You heard her. #AHSApocalypse pic.twitter.com/oVZntKAAXW
— AmericanHorrorStory (@AHSFX) November 15, 2018
It’s also a testament to Fern’s acting that I actually feel badly for Michael as Constance berates him and moments later as he dies. The writers did a great job of humanizing Michael in small ways throughout the season, and it’s actually believable that he struggled against his darkness for a time.
But in the end, Satan’s darkness won out, and he had to die to save the world.
7. Mallory lives out the rest of the intervening years, knowing everything that happened
While I sort of expected Mallory to return to the present after changing the past, the time travel “rules” of American Horror Story are apparently a bit different.
The Supreme-to-be seems to just continue re-living the past several years in the new timeline, fixing things along the way. She prevents Queenie’s death, rescues Misty from hell, and plans to do the same with Madison — which, by the way, I think is quite rude. Why is Madison expected to tough it out in hell again, after all she did to redeem herself?
It begs all kinds of unanswered questions.
For one: How is Cordelia still the Supreme? Mallory becomes the Supreme once Cordelia kills herself. Does going back in time undo that? Is she still eventually going to become the Supreme?
8. Timothy and Emily give birth to the Antichrist 2.0
As it turns out, those two random kids in Outpost 3 with “special DNA” serve a purpose after all. Specifically, their purpose is to produce the back-up Antichrist circa 2021.
Ah, Satan. Always on top of those contingency plans!
It’s a clever twist. The closing reveal of Devan as another Antichrist smartly mirrors the ending of Season 1, where toddler Michael also murdered his babysitter. But I’m also a little confused.
Billie Dean’s prophecy specifically says that the Antichrist would be born of a union between a human and a ghost. Neither Timothy or Emily are ghosts. So… what gives? It’s a bit lame to just toss out the whole “special DNA” thing and then not clarify that or give it any depth.
All in all, this season of American Horror Story once again tried to do too many things. With so many balls left up in the air, it’s understandable that there would be a few resolutions that are less than satisfying.
That said, I will fully tune in to any and all future Coven crossover seasons involving this or other Antichrists.
Lingering Questions:
- So Mutt and Jeff weren’t put under an identity spell and then given the names Brock and Mr. Gallant? They’re just randomly played by the same actors for no reason (other than the visual LOLs of Billy Eichner and Evan Peters in those bowl haircuts)?
- Similarly, Joan Collins plays both Evie Gallant and Bubbles McGhee just for funsies?
- Does Mallory’s undoing of the past mean that all of the Murder House ghosts get their various “happy endings” taken back? That’s incredibly distressing, particularly in the case of Moira. And it also casts a shadow on what was one of the best episodes of this entire mixed bag of a season! Since Nan seems to recognize Mallory and recall what happened in the Apocalypse timeline, I’m choosing to believe that the undead in Murder House are similarly unchanged. That’s it, that’s the head canon.
- Speaking of Murder House, did Constance still kill herself in the new timeline? On American Horror Story: Apocalypse Season 8 Episode 6, “Return to Murder House,” Constance explains that she killed herself so that Michael wouldn’t have a chance to murder her. Given that she’s still alive after Mallory runs Michael over, does that mean Constance Langdon still lives in the Apocalypse-averted timeline?
- What’s the point of Michael wanting Meade Bot’s mind wiped so that she doesn’t remember he’s the Antichrist? More importantly, what’s the point of him psychologically torturing the Outpost 3 residents with the whole “Sanctuary” thing? Did I miss something there?
What did you think of this episode of American Horror Story: Apocalypse? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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American Horror Story: Apocalypse airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX.
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Caralynn Lippo
Caralynn is a freelance writer and editor, but most importantly, she is a diehard TV addict. A few of her current favorites are Mr. Robot, You're the Worst, iZombie, and The Vampire Diaries. She also writes about TV for Romper, The TV Junkies, and TV Fanatic.