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I was very concerned about the season finale of American Horror Story: Apocalypse after the previous episode because there was so much ground to cover to get from where they were to where the season first started — with the Apocalypse. Thankfully, they were actually able to pull it off, and even put a nice spin on the usual ‘let’s kill everyone but Sarah Paulson’ off finale (and she did die this season, twice).
I liked how the episode just put it out there plain and simple — the Coven knew there was no way they were going to stop Michael and The Cooperative from launching a thousand nuclear missiles to bring about the end of the world. There had to be a contingency plan and sending Myrtle to work her magic on Mutt and Jeff was the first step, learning the locations of the Outposts and planting in their minds that Mr. St. Pierre Vanderbilt would be paying them $100 million for four spaces in Outpost 3.
Meanwhile, Cordelia had to bring Mallory and Coco up to speed on the plan which was to place a spell on them to forget their identity until the time was right (and it was sweet to see the two fear losing this friendship they had developed with Coco apologizing in advance for whatever she said to Mallory as they began their new lives), which gave us a chance to revisit the pair as boss and employee (with Madison as their Uber driver), Coco’s hair appointment with Mr. Gallant and the moment she first met Brock. Madison happened to see a bus banner advertising Dinah Stevens’ new talk show and knew that the only way that woman could get a TV show was by making a deal with the Devil. That is the reason Dinah made it to the Outpost before the Apocalypse … all part of Cordelia’s plan as a payback for Dinah helping Michael murder her girls.
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In order to wrap things up and still find a way to give us some much needed backstory there was a bit of time jumping, particularly back to Murder House (and a second appearance by Jessica Lange!). Back to the moment when Constance discovered that Michael had killed the priest, because he kept shoving his cross in Michael’s face and speaking Latin, which burned his ears. Knowing that she was not the best mother, she also knew that there was nothing else she could do for Michael. And since his sudden growth spurt, she didn’t even accept him as her grandson anymore. Her days of coddling him and burying the help were over and she wanted him out. In a fit of rage, he nearly choked her but when she told him to do it, he calmed and then she said she knew he wouldn’t because he’s a coward. He still had to go.
Back at the post-Apocalyptic Outpost, Cordelia, Myrtle and Madison awoke their friends … and Dinah … to fight Michael. Dinah said there was no way she was going to go against him, and Cordelia knew that so she brought out a much bigger gun — Marie Laveau (a surprise appearance by Angela Bassett!). And Cordelia, with the help of Nan, made a deal with Papa Legba: one voodoo witch queen for another. Marie happily dealt the killing blow to Dinah. But now they still have to fight Michael and it isn’t going to be easy. He is the Anti-Christ, after all.
But first they had to take care of robot Miriam, using a little magic to blow her to bits, her disembodied head dying in Michael’s hands singing that same song the HAL 9000 sang as he was being shut down in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Luckily her machine gun arm was nearby and Madison put a few dozen bullets into Michael, watching him bleed out. Snatching a few strands of his hair, Myrtle and Cordelia had to get Mallory to a safe spot so she could attempt another bit of time travel.
While those three ran, Michael bled back in and he popped Madison’s head, sending her back to retail Hell. Marie and Coco tried to hold him off, but not even her voodoo magic could stop Michael from ripping out Marie’s heart, and from killing Coco as well. But … remember Brock? He’s been lurking around the Outpost unseen for some time now but he finally made his reappearance, still holding a grudge about Coco not holding the plane for him. Unfortunately, he stabbed Mallory and Myrtle went ballistic, send Brock to his death. But now Mallory was bleeding out, and they needed her to make the jump before Michael caught up to them.
But her wound was too serious and she barley had enough power to keep herself alive. Cordelia knew what had to be done for the new Supreme to ascend. She went to confront Michael to basically through it up in his face that he’ll never get the satisfaction of killing her or the rest of the Coven. And she she stabbed herself and plunged over the railing to her death … which gave Mallory a jolt of energy and back she went to 2015.
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To the very moment when Michael exited Constance’s home. As he stepped into the street, an SUV came out of nowhere and ran him over … driven by Mallory. And then she backed up, then forward just to make sure the job was done before speeding off. Constance saw what happened and even made eye contact with Mallory before she drove off, then went to cradle Michael’s broken body. As he lay dying, Michael begged his grandmother to take him into the house before he died so he could be there forever. She just looked at him and told him to go to Hell, letting him die in the street.
Thus preventing the Apocalypse. But there were other ripple effects from Michael’s death. Mallory did not return to the future from which she left as it didn’t exist anymore. Stuck in 2015 now, Mallory made her way to New Orleans to (re)join Cordelia’s academy. She still had the memories of all the people she’d met and lost in the previous timeline, and they were all back — Zoe, Queenie all the other girls. Myrtle, however, was not there as Cordelia hadn’t had the need to resurrect her. And Mallory decided to let Madison stew in Hell just a bit longer.
There was another surprise visitor at Cordelia’s door, two in fact: Nan and Misty. Papa Legba had agreed to let Misty return to her earthly life, but Nan was having a ball with him so she opted to return. Nan knew, however, that it was Mallory who made it possible for Misty to return because she killed the Son of Satan. Apparently, as Mallory said in her voice over, not everyone likes their boss. She’s got all kinds of street cred in the Underworld now (which is why she could let Mallory stay in Hell for a bit longer before bringing her back). There was a nice callback to ‘Hotel’ again with Queenie talking about getting her tickets to The Price is Right and staying at some hotel in downtown Los Angeles, the Cortez. As soon as she said that Mallory jumped in and told her not to stay there, reminding Queenie that she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the beach by staying in the city. Queenie said she’d find a place in Venice Beach then. And all was well with the world …
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But what about Timothy and Emily, the two genetically superior teenagers from the Outpost? Flash forward to 2020 and the two meet cute at a sidewalk protest against a coffee shop using unethical means to get its coffee beans. Timothy was just passing through when Emily bumped into him and spilled his coffee. She offered to buy him another one, just not from that shop and the two got to talking. They eventually did more than talk as a couple of years later they’re married and a couple of years after that, they have a baby. After some much needed alone time, the could returned home and saw blood on the walls. In their child’s room, there was the dead babysitter, their baby boy sitting happily in a rocking chair just as we had seen Michael at the end of Season 1.
A knock on the door found Anton Levay, Samantha Crowe and Miriam Mead eager to meet the son of Satan. The end.
This was a whirlwind of a finale as it hopped all over the timeline, but it was still a solid finish to a solid season. The problem is, have the AHS Powers That Be painted themselves into a corner? The last few seasons have not been very well received by the fans, many of whom are just ‘hate watching’ at this point — and seriously, why keep watching if all you’re going to do is complain about the show? — but cleverly bringing together two previously unrelated seasons into a new season that pleased just about everyone is only going to make expectations for season 9 all the more lofty. Can they keep mashing up seasons to please the fans? Doubtful. What else can they put together aside from ‘Asylum’ and ‘Freak Show’? ‘Apocalypse’ is going to be a tough act to follow, but hopefully the writers and producers have found their mojo again and will come up with something new and exciting for the next two seasons.
What did you think of the season finale? Sound off in the comments below!
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