Yahoo News 7 unanswered questions after the AHS: Apocalypse finale
Note: This article contains spoilers for episode ten of American Horror Story: Apocalypse.
In the last episode of Apocalypse, Mallory (Billie Lourd) finally defeated the Antichrist with her unprecedented power, thereby achieving the impossible. It's just a shame that American Horror Story itself couldn't quite do the same.
Fans had long feared that showrunner Ryan Murphy wouldn't be able to wrap up every loose end in the short time that he had... and they were right. While 'Apocalypse Then' was supremely entertaining and included some of the most iconic scenes we've seen yet on the show, loyal viewers whose collective memory stretched back further than just a week or two soon realised that plenty of questions have still been left unanswered.
Between the return of Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett), Jessica Lange's award-worthy monologue and that 'Regina George' scene, there were plenty of meme-able moments for us to obsess over in the final episode of Apocalypse.
However, once the nuclear dust has settled, fans will still need answers, and that's where we come in. Join us as we attempt to solve the biggest mysteries raised in the season eight finale that we'd like to see answered in future seasons of American Horror Story, ideally with everyone's favourite Coven in tow on a yearly basis.
1. Were Mutt and Jeff put under an identity spell too?
It's been a while now, but cast your minds back to the first few episodes of Apocalypse and you might recall that Billy Eichner and Evan Peters played two characters called Brock and Mr. Gallant who were both directly connected to Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt (Leslie Grossman).
Since then, we've learned that Coco's entire identity was just a magical fabrication designed to keep her safe while trapped in Outpost 3. If Coco wasn't real, then were Brock or Mr. Gallant either? What we do know is that Gallant's grandmother (Joan Collins) was also put under an identity spell, so it makes sense that her grandson must have been too.
If that's true, then it looks like one of the witches decided to keep Mutt Nutter (Billy Eichner) and Jeff Pfister (Evan Peters) around still in Outpost 3, even though they helped the Antichrist (Cody Fern) put his plans into motion. Why they did this remains unclear because the show never took the time to address this, but it seems likely that Myrtle Snow might have cast the spell to punish them somehow.
2. How did the plane fly without a pilot in the pilot?
Remember way back in the very first episode of Apocalypse when the nuclear bombs started to fall? Coco, Mallory, Mr. Gallant and Evie were all safely swept away in a plane bound for Outpost 3, but the flight's safety quickly came into question when they ventured into the cockpit and realised that no one was actually flying the plane.
After this scene, no mention was made of this bizarre occurrence ever again and it was soon made clear that the four survivors had arrived at their destination safely. For a while, it seemed like this event might eventually tie into later episodes somehow, but nope!
While it's possible that the Cooperative simply used their wealth to build pilotless planes, the most likely explanation for this head-scratching moment is magic. Although it's never shown on screen, it's entirely possible that Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy) or one of the other witches used their powers of telekinesis to ensure that Mallory and Coco were kept safe aboard the plane.
We already saw Myrtle's various manipulations behind the scenes take effect in the finale. This would just be one more step on the way that this already overpacked season had no time to address.
3. Who wore the Rubber Man suit in Outpost 3?
When the Rubber Man first popped up in this season's first crossover with Murder House, it seemed obvious that Michael Langdon was the one decked out in latex. That theory fell by the wayside though when someone dressed up as the Rubber Man had sex with Mr Gallant while Michael himself was dressed still in his regular attire.
In season one, it was Tate Langdon (Evan Peters) who wore the suit, and scenes within this year's Murder House flashback complicated things even further when it was revealed that Michael used to wear rubber as a teenager too. Obviously then, the most important question that's still on everyone's lips is, "Who was Gallant so gallantly banging?"
For once, we don't have to try and come up with an answer ourselves as actor Cody Fern did exactly that for us this week during an interview with Out. According to everyone's new favourite Antichrist, Michael wasn't wearing the suit during this scene.
Fern goes on to explain that, "The Rubber Man is also a demon, so when someone is wearing the suit, they become the Rubber Man, but when nobody is wearing the suit, Rubber Man - through the power of Murder House - becomes a demon, and that demon is in many aspects controlled by Langdon." Simple, no?
4. What was the point of all that weird stuff in Outpost 3?
Just like Roanoke before it, Apocalypse also surprised fans around the halfway mark by turning everything we thought we knew on its head. In this case, the first few episodes of season eight took time out to set up how Outpost 3 would work before unceremoniously killing off the majority of its residents.
Before that though, plenty of plotlines started up that would never be resolved. Aside from the Rubber Man's identity, fans also wondered why Michael visited this outpost in the first place and seemingly tortured the survivors while deciding who to 'save' in some mythical 'Sanctuary'.
Some of this can simply be explained away by the fact that Michael is the son of Satan. Why wouldn't he torture these people just for fun?
One aspect of the Outpost episodes that we can't account for though is why Mallory was sent there in the first place. If Cordelia Goode (Sarah Paulson) and the other witches could survive the apocalypse by hiding underground in the Louisiana mud, why couldn't Mallory just join them and hibernate there instead of risking an encounter with Michael?
The only answer that makes any sense to us is that her powers needed time to develop and she needed to be awake for this to happen. While that sounds rather flimsy, a simple mention could have filled this giant plot hole.
5. How do Mallory's powers work?
Sure, there's something rather futile about arguing how fictional magic powers should work, but the Apocalypse finale brought to light some huge inconsistencies that are worth mentioning nonetheless.
In last week's episode, Mallory tested her newfound time travel abilities by going back to Russia in 1918 while attempting to save Princess Anastasia in the process. As her powers waned, Mallory faded out again like a projection and it wasn't made clear whether she could even have any kind of physical impact on the past anyway.
This time round though, Mallory not only went back to the past, but she also ran Michael over with a car and then just decided to stay there permanently. Sure, the new Supreme was given a huge power boost following the death of Cordelia, but is that enough to explain how she can remain in this new timeline forever? Perhaps it's easier for her to stay in the past now because there's no longer an apocalyptic future to head back to?
And while we're at it, why does Mallory think that she can just head straight into hell and rescue Madison so easily when the last Supreme couldn't? Yes, the Coven's new leader is probably the most powerful we've seen yet, but that's still pretty cocky on her part.
6. Will the residents of 'Murder House' ever receive their happy ending?
Episode six of Apocalypse was a favourite for many thanks to the way that it dived deep into the mythology of Season 1 while unexpectedly giving each Murder House resident the happy ending that they deserved. Moira was freed and reunited with her mother, Tate Langdon found redemption with Zoe Harmon (Taissa Farmiga) and the Harmon parents reconciled too. Lovely.
Unfortunately, these happy endings were ripped away by Mallory's actions in the season eight finale. This isn't called American Delight Story, after all. Because of the shifts that our newfound Supreme made in time, Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts) and Behold Chablis (Billy Porter) never visited the Murder House to dig up dirt on Michael and therefore never helped the spirits find peace.
As it stands, Mallory traded the happiness of these ghosts for the lives of billions, which seems like a fair trade. However, this season cemented the crossover appeal of American Horror Story more than any before it, so we wouldn't be surprised if at least some of the Harmons return yet again in a future instalment.
Perhaps the Coven will need some help from the Murder House residents at some point later down the line if the apocalypse returns somehow...
7. How did these snot-nosed kids give birth to the Antichrist?
Ever since season one, it's been established that the Antichrist can only be conceived through the union of a living woman and a dead man, so how did Emily (Ash Santos) and Timothy Campbell (Kyle Allen) give birth to Satan's spawn in the new timeline? We've known for some time now that their DNA is "perfect" or special for some reason, but they're not that special, right?
The only explanation that seems to make any vague kind of sense here is that their so-called "perfect" genetics are perfect precisely for the job of conceiving the Antichrist and the Cooperative knew this all along. While this still flies in the face of everything we've been told up to this point, such a theory does help tie up some of the loose threads that were created by their very existence in the first place.
If this is true, then it's likely that them meeting again in the new timeline wasn't a coincidence either. Through some demonic manipulations from behind the scenes, Satan was able to use Emily and Timothy as a contingency plans of sorts, encouraging them to create a replacement Antichrist in the event of Michael's death.
The final scenes of the Apocalypse finale suggest that Mallory has only delayed the inevitable and that the Antichrist will rise once again in the future of the show. Don't count on Emily and Timothy sticking around though. After all, anyone stupid enough to answer the door to strangers right after their toddler murders the babysitter isn't exactly what we'd call a "survivor".
American Horror Story: Apocalypse is on Wednesdays on FX in the US, with the UK getting it on FOX and NOW TV two weeks later. Catch up on series 1-6 on Netflix, with season 7 available to buy on Amazon Prime Video.
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