American Horror Story Review

Erik Guerra, Reporter

Screenwriter, director, and producer Ryan Murphy has been working on his eighth season of “American Horror Story,” now called “AHS Apocalypse,” which is rated TV-MA. In this season he brings back the witches and the murder house.

Murphy aired the very first episode of “American Horror Story” in 2011, which was then called “Murder House,” and for every new season there’s a new theme but are all connected in some way. “Murder House,” “Asylum,” “Coven,” “Freak Show,” “Hotel,” “Roanoke Nightmare,” “Cult,” and “Apocalypse” are the names of each season, and for “Apocalypse,”

Personally, I love the show because the characters are relatable and I experience a range of emotions. I am amused at the dark humor, serious when I witness Michael Langdon (Cody Fern) coping on his own, and then grief-stricken when a character is sacrificed. But, if I had to choose my favorite season it would have to be “Murder House” because I was intrigued by the love story between the two characters, Violet Harmon and Tate Langdon.

Season 8 is a nail biter especially because Murphy had the idea of combining the first and third seasons (“Murder House” and “Coven”) together. I can not wait to see how Murphy accomplishes this. He recently received a star on the Walk of Fame.

In this season of AHS, a nuclear blast destroys humanity except for those in the Outposts. Outposts are shelters for the chosen ones with DNA that make them genetically ready to survive the blast. The Cooperative break into people’s houses and they choose people (from ancestry websites or any other DNA logging methods) to find refuge in the Outposts after the missile warning.

Slowly, the Outpost runs out of food and they are welcomed by Langdon who is recruiting members from Outpost 3 to move to a sanctuary which is more protected. Due to that, they are the only running Outpost because of the creatures that are attacking other Outposts.

As Langdon is interviewing the people in Outpost 3, he meets a worker, Mallory (Billie Lourd). As he is talking with Mallory he has her explain what she meant when she said that she doesn’t know who she is and that there is something buried inside of her trying to claw its way out. Then, when she asked to leave, Langdon grabs her arm and shows her his demon self, and she screams, “Let me go” and Mallory reacts with a flame of fire. Langdon returns to his room and gets answers from his father, Satan,  for what to do since he thought he killed all of the witches. In the third episode “Forbidden Fruits,” the Outpost receives fresh apples from the Cooperative.

Miss Venerable, played by Sarah Paulson, is in charge of Outpost 3 and she is planning on killing everyone so she can get into the sanctuary after finding out she won’t be going. So, Venerable tells everyone that there will be a Halloween masquerade and everyone must attend.  Later Miriam Mead, Played by Kathy Bates, poison the apples with snake venom and everyone dies except Michael, who did not attend the party. So, Venerable and Mead plan on shooting him, but once they enter Michaels room he controls Miriam to point the gun at Venerable and shoot her.

Towards the end of the episode, we see dead bodies and “She’s a Rainbow,” by The Rolling Stones, plays and it shows the gate to Outpost 3 opening with three women entering the Outpost. Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts), Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy), and Cordelia Foxx (Sarah Paulson), all enter the outpost to find their “sisters.”

I was excited when I saw this episode because I have been waiting to see when and how the witches would return. I feel that Murphy did this part at just the right time.

The three ladies are from AHS Coven, and later on, in the season it shows how those three come into place, and show how the coven has a conflict with Langdon during this apocalypse which he caused. Langdon is a familiar name to some who watched “Murder House” until its last episode when we found out that he is the antichrist. And, “Murder House” comes in the sixth episode when it is before the blast and Montgomery along with a warlock go back to that house and find out the history of Langdon.

The ladies from AHS season three, “coven”

That episode had brought back the very missed characters including Constance Langdon, played by Jessica Lange. She tells them that Michael would murder small animals and she had accepted that she was raising a “run-of-the-mill serial killer” after having her son, Langdon, shoot up a school to only die back then. And, one minute Langdon was a child at the age of six then the next day she went into his room and he had grown up nearly a decade. After hearing his backstory they both soon realized that the warlocks had messed up for thinking he was the Alpha, stronger than the supreme.

This season, so far, has many twists, turns, along with cliffhangers that leave fans anticipating what will come next as they try to piece together from what they know so far.