What Does the Plan B Ending of American Horror Story Apocalypse Mean for Universe, Other Seasons
A New World Order
American Horror Story is no shrinking violet when it comes to new ways to tell stories in their universe, compacted on the seven deadly sins, and the rings of Hell. Some seasons are much better than others, think of the artful story telling and gripping drama of Murder House and Asylum and pair that with Roanoke falling a little flat when it came to the found footage type of storytelling.
No matter what season AHS loves a story with intricate layers and it loves to weave its tale with references to other seasons taking place in different time periods and locations.
When Apocalypse promised a mashup of Murder House and Coven, fans wondered how to connect the dots, especially with most of the lead characters playing multiple roles between the two show timelines. We were left with a dark tale of how one child Antichrist was set in position to be the bringer of the end times- if only he could secure himself from any of the witches being left on earth.
The son of Satan, brought out from the tragic birth in Murder House, the backstory for how the Hellish home had given the power to create the Antichrist was believable enough and the girls of Coven the only power strong enough to chase off the evil.
It was the perfect match.
While the flashbacks filled with nostalgic scenes and familiar backdrops from both seasons got the story in motion, it is a common complaint that too much time was spent in the flashbacks as only Halloween night took place in present day.
The show begins with all those that were fortunate enough to buy their way into bunkers to survive the nuclear fall out were being taken care of by a group called The Cooperative, whom were none other than The Illuminati.
While everyone else had to pay their way in two young people were selected for their "superior genes", whatever that had meant.
While the world was burning, we find out in flashbacks that Cordelia had the perfect strategy to have some of her witches hide in plain sight from Micheal Langdon by placing the girls under a memory spell that would suppress their powers until the moment when the Coven could come save them. Coco, a useless witch that was assigned to help cover Mallory being the rising Supreme, the girls are given new identities as a rich socialite and her assistant.
Witches And Warlocks
The first few episodes of Apocalypse were in present time as it had shown the life of those in the vault for several weeks until food began to run out. Later finding out that Langdon, while never explained to why he was visiting vaults and what he was actually looking for; there were weak moments in the plot for sure as in true AHS fashion fans were lead to believe they were watching a show about one thing to have the entire season flip on its head. Roanoke anyone?
At first getting to know the dwellers in the vault, especially a young couple that had been chosen for superior genetic makeup, it seemed baffling to spend so many episodes devoted to life in The Cooperative only to (spoiler) have everyone killed off on Halloween night.
Skip to the end of that night which only plays out in the finale when Michael Langdon attacks the Coven, kills most of the surviving witches and Mallory after the death of Cordelia has enough power to perfect a spell where she can alter the past.
While the first few episodes made us believe that perhaps the warlocks finally had accomplished having a male Supreme, the warlocks were entirely wiped out after finding just how evil Michael's powers actually were and that he was much more than just one of witch blood.
Choosing the precise date that Michael had lost his grandmother, Mallory knew when to find Michael vulnerable and ran him down multiple times with a car; while this was an unexpected end to the Antichrist, killing him before his powers would be developed enough- this was one of the moments in AHS that felt rushed after a season had spent seven back to back episodes of flashbacks. While all these things added to the story, there just want room for the story they were trying.
Mallory's Duties
Mallory, as the new Supreme had ended Micheal in the past at Murder House and then went back to her best memories of the academy in Coven to see a future in which her sisters would not perish as she talked Queenie out of staying at the Hotel while being on The Price Is Right.
Each season had locations that were portals to the Hell we see connecting all the seasons, so it would have been interesting to see more crossovers from ghosts that were loose after the world ended from Murder House, Asylum, Hotel, and Roanoke in this same Hell under the control of Michael.
Like Back To The Future when Mallory stopped Michael, it only delayed the inevitable from coming true and set the world into an alternate timeline in which the world would still end as our two lovers with perfect genetic material would now be the parents of the Antichrist, although it made no sense from what little we knew about them. They seemed like such a nice couple, but then Anton Levay shows up on your doorstep and all.
What if Mallory being unable to stop the events of the Apocalypse season, only delay them and present them in a new form means that she wasn't the Supreme after all?
If the undoing had changed who would father the Antichrist, what else has now changed in the other seasons?
A new look at old seasons where the circumstances have changed due to Mallory's meddling might be exactly what the showrunners need going forward into season 10.
What other events that cross over between seasons have now been changed that Mallory had killed Michael? The Antichrist will be born anyway, just other other circumstances.
Perfect Genetics
While past seasons of AHS have found a way to tell us about the future of past characters by making a reference to the family line in other seasons like that of the Montgomery's and the Motts, there was never any explanation of the alien children of the Asylum season, and this is who I am still hoping that our dear Timothy and Emily might be.
Recalling back to the second season, after escaping the institution, Kit went on to raise children with both his wife and his mistress. The family was all visited by the aliens while living in their home and the biracial pair of toddlers were superior to their full human counterparts. If somehow Timothy and Emily were family members of those lines, it could explain how their referenced superior genetics would be so up to par that it would be able to bring about the Antichrist when Michael Langdon wasn't able to step up and do so himself.
Going forward, by having the child of Emily and Timothy be the evil one, did that reshape all the previous season?
What Now
While Apocalypse did its very best to wrap up the season into one finale, this story could defiantly have continued into another season and maybe it will.
Who is still alive in other vaults? Will we see a world outcome of Emily and Timothy's little span of Satan changing the AHS world in meaningful ways?
Not being able to see what there was a Plan B from the beginning, was genius on the writers behalf, but I wish more of the season had taken place in present time as the only scenes that in which weren't flashbacks felt hurried to tie a bow around everything.
American Horror Story plans to return for at least one more season at this time.
