Since season eight of American Horror Story [1] began, all we've done is try to predict how it will end [2]. Every episode of Apocalypse [3] had us wondering about the grand scheme of it all, trying to untangle the wild timeline [4], and deciphering clues to guess where things were heading [5]. Now the finale is upon us and it's safe to say that when it comes to shocking viewers, no one does it quite like Ryan Murphy. From memory spells to surprise allies [6] and lots of bloody deaths, we're going over the big moments from Apocalypse's finale and trying to figure out exactly where we go from here.
Cordelia's Plan Goes Into Action
The finale begins with the explanation and execution of Coredelia's master plan to kill Michael. After he and Ms. Mead decimated the coven at Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies in the last episode, she's ready to let go of that offer to help him turn good and just end this already. To kick things off, Myrtle struts her way into the office of Jeff and Mutt to magic up some free space in Outpost 3 (but not before burning Ms. Venable with the crack that "Purple is for royalty, dear, not middle management"). With their spots secured, Coco and Mallory are put under the memory spell and dropped off at Gallant's salon. It's there that Coco connects with Brock — which tells us that their romance was magical, before he went and killed her in revenge for being left behind during the apocalypse.
We Time Jump Back to the Present
We're finally back at the bunker right after Coco, Mallory, and Dinah have been given back their memories. We learn that Mallory's confrontation with Michael during her interrogation [7] served as a signal of sorts for the other witches to arise from their years-long hibernation. Now they're all reunited against Michael and Ms. Mead.
Psyche! Dinah is still only out for herself and quickly lets the witches know that she's putting her voodoo behind the Antichrist. Turns out Cordelia is totally okay with that because she's already made a deal to set her to rights. In comes Marie Laveau, swinging her butt-length twists like the true Voodoo Queen she is. They reveal that Cordelia offered Dinah's twisted soul to Papa Legba in exchange for Marie [8], who never had the heart for torture as Papa likes. With that explanation Marie takes a hatchet to Dinah's neck and hell breaks loose.
The Final Showdown
After Marie kills Dinah, Ms. Mead acts quickly and attempts to gun down the witches. Cordelia uses magic to cause the robot to explode and while Michael is distracted being distraught (this is the second time he's seen his "mother" die after all) Madison swoops in to grab Mead's machine gun arm and render him temporarily out of commission. Myrtle grabs a lock of Michael's ("smooth as silk") hair and rushes off to the tub with the others to perform the time travel spell. Brock, still pissed about being left behind, stabs Mallory and gets set on fire by Myrtle for his troubles. While Cordelia and Myrtle scramble to get a dying Mallory to the tub, Madison, Marie, and Coco do their best to keep an awakened Michael out of their way. He kills them all in quick succession before confronting Cordelia.
Mallory isn't strong enough to complete the time travel spell — she doesn't have the power and she's just been killed for the second time. She could probably use a juice box and a nap right about now. Cordelia confronts Michael and lays into him; she calls him a scared, little boy who's always followed other people like Ms. Mead and his father rather than being his own person. And rather than let him have the satisfaction of killing her, Cordelia kills herself, sacrificing her life so that Mallory can gain her powers and rise as the new Supreme.
Mallory Travels Back in Time
With her new boost in powers thanks to Cordelia's sacrifice, Mallory gains the strength to do the time travel spell and goes back to 2015, right after Michael grew 10 years overnight [9]. Here we see a confrontation between Michael and his grandmother Constance after he kills a Priest. The fight results in Constance kicking Michael out of her house, feeling betrayed by the grandson she thought she was meant to love and raise until her dying day. Michael runs from the house and into the street where he's almost immediately hit by Mallory's car. Then promptly run over again, twice more. Just to really get the message across.
Since Mallory has gone back to a point where Michael is young enough not to be all powerful, he isn't able to snap back like he did after Madison shot him. Constance, who ran out after the commotion to find Michael dying in the street, cradles him in her arms. He asks her to take him into the Murder House so he can die there and be with her forever. Though she does give it a bit of thought, Constance tells her grandson to "Go to hell," and leaves him to die alone.
The Coven Is Reunited
After successfully murdering the Antichrist, Mallory goes back to Miss Robichaux's to enroll as a student in 2015. She's the only one that remembers anything about the apocalypse and as such, makes a few changes to the "present" to keep the coven together. She warns Queenie away from the Hotel Cortez, uses demonic favours from killing the son of Satan to resurrect Misty, and says that she plans to get Madison back from her personal hell as well. Whereas Zoe is still alive and teaching at the academy, since Myrtle was only resurrected when Cordelia needed help saving the world, she is unfortunately still dead in this timeline. Nan lets everyone know that she quite enjoys helping Papa Legba torture souls in hell, so she's gonna stay where she gits in.
Emily and Timothy are Finally Explained
While all seems well in 2015, another time jump finally explains what the deal is with Emily and Timothy. In the 2020 of this new timeline, the two meet during a "random" bump-in at the protest Emily was part of before she got arrested in the Apocalypse timeline. They have a meet-cute and we flash forward to a hospital where Emily is having a baby (seems a little fast, but destiny and all that!). One more flash forward, but this one takes place three years after the last, in 2024. Emily and Timothy are returning home from a date night where they lament about how terrible their child is. They enter their home to discover their three-year-old son has killed his babysitter, and we all get major deja vu vibes [10].
Just as soon as Emily picks up their smiling baby, Ms. Mead, the Black Pope, and Not-Pepper [11] show up at the family's front door. "We've been waiting our whole lives for this," Mead explains. "We're here to help."
So What Happens Now?
You got us there chief. This ending leaves so many questions unanswered! None of them will probably ever get answered, but in no particular order we'd like to know:
- If all the seasons are connected [12], what kind of ripple effects does Michael's death have?
- Why did Michael have Timothy and Emily in Outpost Three?
- Did he know they would be parents to the next Antichrist?
- Why would he have his future usurper's parents survive the apocalypse?
- How can Emily and Timothy have the next Antichrist if neither one is a spirit [13]???
- Why did Mallory even have to go to the Outpost if the witches cold just take a long dirt-nap?
- Who was the Rubber man!?