American Horror Story: Apocalypse ‘The End’ Review

 

After several seasons with small crossover moments, fans have been eagerly anticipating something more – and AHS Apocalypse does just that. It has been said by viewers that the first three seasons were AHS favorites, so by bringing the series full-circle with Murder House and Coven intertwined, it’s the perfect strategy for the next step of the beloved series.

 

To begin, the series showcases a massive apocalypse in every sense of the word. We see Coco, (Leslie Grossman) the child of an elite family who is mid-appointment with hair stylist Gallant and her assistant Mallory (Billie Lourd) when a mass alert is sent out about a missile warning. Coco and Gallant (who both provide brilliant comedic relief) realize that the Kardashian’s aren’t outside, but the world is in-fact crumbling. Bomb sirens begin and we discover the sheer chaos of the outside world.

 

Thanks to the wealth of Coco’s family, they discover that a plane awaits them to a special location where they will ultimately survive the outside war. With four spots available, it ends up being Coco, Mallory, Gallant and his famous grandmother Evie Gallant who take the spots, leaving Coco’s boyfriend to die in Santa Monica. After the bombing is seen from their perspective, we see that prior to the event – a young man named Timothy is whisked away from his family by people who claim his genetics are important in some capacity. He is taken to a concrete bunker where we meet Emily, a young woman who also was deemed worthy of survival and the two are eventually dropped off to a place known as Outpost 3.

 

When entering, we witness the world is overcome with a fog-like radiation and the pair undergoes a preventive measure that removes any possible exposure. When entering, we’re introduced to Wilhelmina Venable (Sarah Paulson) who is somewhat of the matriarch of Outpost 3. She sets up the rules which include wearing purple if you’re important, grey as a “worker ant” and no “unauthorized copulation” – so the two young characters are already expressing disappointment. Among the survivors of Outpost 3 are the four from the plane (Mallory is now a grey with the others being purple) Dinah Stevens (Adina Porter) and a few other faces we assume won’t be present for very long. We additionally meet Miriam Meade, a military like presence ready to be the right hand of Venable.

 

In the Outpost, they are subject to repetitive music, vitamin jellos molds and Victorian inspired clothing that we initially believe to be mandatory – but is actually just part of Venable and Miriam’s rules. In fact, the group known as the Cooperative that founded the Outposts has nothing to do with their ways and the pair have a twisted idea of what they want this mini-society to be. During a (lack of) dinner, Miriam reveals that there has been a radiation leak that they say could be from Gallant and a man named Stu, causing them to be thrown into a chamber where they are stripped and subjected to an intrusive cleaning. Gallant is cleared, but Stu meets his end with a bullet and later becomes Stu stew. It crosses peoples minds that they are eating Stu, but most aren’t as phased as his partner who crumbles at the notion. We also learn that the radiation leak was faked by Miriam as just another scare tactic to keep everyone on edge.

 

The group discovers a change of song in the common area, making them believe someone is sending a message of hope – until we skip 18 months and they still sit in the same spot listening to that exact song. Everyone’s patience wears thin, rations have decreased yet again, and turmoil seems to be extremely close, however an arrival from a Cooperative official looks to shake things up. The man shows a badge that reads Michael Langdon, and he reveals himself with long hair and a menacing grin that just radiates trouble. Fans are fully aware that Langdon is the antichrist child of spirit and human, so any involvement he has clearly isn’t going to bode well for people. He first meets Venable, almost mocking her leadership and saying that he’s here to establish who is worth saving. With claims of a larger Outpost and good intentions, we already have a strong suspicion that he will be causing more mayhem than any AHS character we’ve seen so far… but we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

This has been the season I’ve personally been most excited to see since Coven, and the decision to crossover with other storylines is worth the hype. The first episode takes a lot of steps to set things in motion and introduce the new world of AHS, but still leaves plenty of mystery as it should. For a first episode, AHS Apocalypse is off to a strong start and it’ll be interesting to see how it embraces the witches in the upcoming episodes.

 

 

– Joan Collins and Evan Peters are instant standouts with the Gallants providing excellence.

 

– Despite Venable being a villain, I’m already drawn to her wicked ways and fiercely unique wardrobe.

 

– I have so many questions about Michael, Constance and the witches (Madison) but I’ll hold off until we see just a little bit more.