Summary
WhileAmerican Horror Storymight be known for its wild twists, the show has surprisingly tried to pull off the same revelation no less than four times in its 12 seasons.Every season ofAmerican Horror Storyis connected, but this doesn’t stop them from regularly surprising audiences with unpredictable twists. Since the series began in 2011,American Horror Storyhas been full of outlandish shocks, fromApocalypsekilling off most of its main characters after a few episodes toDelicate’s wild ending. Not all of these revelations work, but they can’t be faulted for lacking ambitious weirdness.
At least, the show’s early seasons couldn’t be accused of relying on familiar tropes. As the series continued,American Horror Storystarted repeating a handful of twists that worked in earlier outings to diminishing returns.Delicate’s finale might be thelowest-rated episode ofAmerican Horror Storyso far, but the outing at least managed to avoid repeating the same overly familiar twist for a fifth time in the show’s twelve seasons. As surprising as it may seem, seasons 1, 5, 6, and 9 ofAmerican Horror Storyall attempted the same twist, and only two of them succeeded.
American Horror Story Season 12 Saved The Show (With Something That Ruined 3 Earlier Seasons)
American Horror Story season 12 relied heavily on something that has ruined numerous earlier seasons and, surprisingly, this saved Delicate’s story.
American Horror Story Revealed Major Characters Were Ghosts Four Times
Hotel, Roanoke, Murder House, And 1984 Used The Same Twist
The revelation that the protagonist has been dead all along dates back to Ambrose Bierce’s legendary short story “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge,” and the twist is still a killer reveal if handled well. Alongside a handful of other less famous movies,The Sixth Senseproves that this twist ending can shock audiences despite its familiarity. However, this doesn’t excuse the anthology series revisiting the plot in a third of its outings.No less than four seasons ofAmerican Horror Storyrevealed some of the season’s characters were actually dead all alongand trapped in the season’s main location.
Early on,Murder Houserevealed that the eponymous location was some sort of purgatory for lost souls who perished therein.
Somerecurring tropes inAmerican Horror Storywork since each season reinvents them, but this twist has never been as impactful as it was in season 1. Early on,Murder Houserevealed that the eponymous location was some sort of purgatory for lost souls who perished therein. As the season was nearing its chaotic finale, the show doubled down by revealing that Taissa Farming’s Violet had been dead all along. This twist was genuinely surprising, butHotelandRoanokerevisiting the same surprise felt tacked on and unoriginal. Both seasons lacked the invention ofMurder Housebut shared its knotty plotting.
This Classic Horror Twist Succeeded In Murder House
American Horror Story’s First Season Was Genuinely Surprising
Farmiga’s character was a compelling heroine, soit was tragic whenMurder Houserevealed Violet had been dead all along. The series treated her plight seriously, makingMurder Houseone of thebest seasons ofAmerican Horror Story.Her relationship with Tate undeniably slid into melodrama at times, and the entire subplot had an air of campy soap opera about it. However, this overblown emotion fit the twistedRomeo and Julietretelling that the series was aiming for and, while it was tasteless for the series to romanticize Tate’s murderous rage and Violet’s self-destructive impulses, the storyline still worked.
Violet discovering her own body was an inspired, unsettling way to reveal she was dead, a visceral shock to the system that ironically breathed new life into a hoary old horror cliché.
Evan Peters and Farmiga had chemistry to spare and their tragic inability to be together felt like a fitting fate after Tate’s misdeeds. Since this wasAmerican Horror Story’s debut season, few viewers were likely to guess the twist early on. Violet discovering her own body was an inspired, unsettling way to reveal she was dead, a visceral shock to the system that ironically breathed new life into a hoary old horror cliché. Crucially,Murder Housedidn’t end with this revelation, meaning the twist didn’t feel like a cheap attempt to surprise. Instead, Tate and Violet still received a satisfying ending.
Hotel and Roanoke Both Struggled With The Same Problem
Unlikable Characters Made These Middling Outings A Slog
The reason thatAmerican Horror Story’s next two iterations of this twist failed was thatHotelandRoanoketried to do too much with too many characters. Both seasons were overstuffed with uniquely unpleasant characters, which meant that the eventual revelation that many of the villains were already dead was almost meaningless. In theory, this should have been a gut punch. Instead, it barely impacted the plot at all.American Horror Story: Hotel’s villainscouldn’t operate outside the titular haunted space, but that detail scarcely mattered when most of the season’s events took place within its four walls.
Roanoke’s revelation was a little different since the found footage-centric season revealed that all its characters had died, but didn’t explain when. As a result, this was less of a spin on the classic trope and more of a tease but, again, it was hard to discern its purpose.Roanokeannouncing that all but one character would die soon was pointlesssince viewers already knew the show they were watching.American Horror Storyrarely left many survivors behind, soRoanokeannouncing that almost everyone was doomed early on only made things more predictable in a middling season with few shocks.
American Horror Story: 1984’s Twist Was A Return To Form
1984 Justified Its Big Twist
The fact that1984was indebted to classic summer camp slashers likeFriday the 13th,The Burning, andSleepaway Campmade its campfire story-style twist all the more effective.
In contrast,American Horror Storyseason 8,1984, pulled off this twist with aplomb. This slasher story was stuck in the ‘80s in terms of its style and aesthetic, soit was clever and fitting when1984revealed the characters were literally stuck in the ‘80sthemselves. The story of Camp Redwood was more inventive thanHotelandRoanoke’s plots, despiteAmerican Horror Story: 1984’s misguided moments. Furthermore, the fact that the season was indebted to classic summer camp slashers likeFriday the 13th,The Burning, andSleepaway Campmade its campfire story-style twist all the more effective.
1984 Highlighted American Horror Story’s Future Problem
The Show’s Silly Side Is Its Greatest Strength
On the one hand,1984’s campy, goofy, over-the-top style reinvigorated a tired series after the disastrously grimApocalypse. On the other hand, the season almost turned the series intoScream Queensby being so silly and outlandish. Later seasons couldn’t replicate this tone without becoming ludicrous, as evidenced byDouble Featureand thefinale ofAmerican Horror Story: Delicate. That ending tried to bring1984’s level of silliness into a slower, more self-serious story and ended up earning the ire of critics and fans alike online. Thus,American Horror Storyis now unsure of its ideal tone going forward.
