Despite being renewed for a further three seasons, American Horror Story missed its perfect ending opportunity almost four years ago with Apocalypse. Since then, AHS has painfully forced out 1984 and Double Feature, and both seem to prove that showrunner Ryan Murphy has exhausted ideas for the franchise. Hence, Apocalypse should’ve been the final season.
In late 2016, mogul Ryan Murphy first spoke of a crossover season that would unite the worlds of Murder House and Coven, with it soon becoming clear that this concept would serve as the theme for season 9 of the FX anthology series. However, plans soon changed, and Murphy announced during the Summer of 2018 that the forthcoming season 8 would accommodate the Murder House and Coven crossover. Later christened Apocalypse, the season saw the witches of Coven face off against (and save the world from) Michael Langdon, the accelerated-in-age Antichrist born at the end of Murder House.
For all its problems, Apocalypse should have been the final run for American Horror Story (reeling from its worst season). While the writing and the execution were flawed, the concept brought the franchise full-circle in a way that the eventual final season of the franchise will not be able to, simply because an apocalypse, the literal end of the world, is a difficult concept to top. It dealt with the Antichrist, Murder House‘s biggest unanswered question, and Ryan Murphy even managed to persuade the infamously unconvinced Jessica Lange to return for a handful of episodes, a feat that he will never be able to achieve again. It’s difficult to imagine why a season so grand in scale, that provides closure to many plot threads from previous seasons, was not envisioned as the show’s swansong.
Cementing the point that Apocalypse should’ve been American Horror Story‘s final season is the mere existence of 1984 and the recent Double Feature. Neither are original for the franchise in the slightest, let alone well written. Season 9 boils down to yet another amoral ghost sitcom that treads much of the same ground as Murder House and Hotel. Similarly, the first half of season 10 recycles much of the same plot (including vampires) and character archetypes from Hotel. For instance, Frances Conroy’s bloodsucking Belle Noir is essentially a one-dimensional version of Lady Gaga’s Countess Elizabeth, and Sarah Paulson’s Tuberculosis Karen is a pale imitation of Hypodermic Sally. The existence of these pointless seasons could have been avoided had Apocalypse ended the franchise.
All things considered, it seems that boss Ryan Murphy no longer has fresh and original ideas for American Horror Story. Both seasons that have aired since Apocalypse have proven to be nothing less than summer camp or coastal-set editions of Murder House and/or Hotel. Yet the showrunner persists in his unintentional demonstration that playing it safe is more reliable than pushing the boat, taking risks, and developing new stories. Thus, the perfect opportunity to end American Horror Story was missed with Apocalypse, an imperfect season that nevertheless brought the franchise full circle, and delivered a concept that will never be topped.
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