In Ryan Murphy’s eighth installment of his hit anthology TV show “American Horror Story” he ushers in the end of the world: “Apocalypse” explores what happens with the few who survive a nuclear ballistic missile.
Outpost Three is a fallout shelter dedicated to preserving the human race and is comprised of those wealthy enough to buy their way in or those chosen for their genetic desirability to help repopulate Earth. The outside world is left practically uninhabitable because of residual radiation and those left are uncertain that anyone has survived in the alleged other bunkers stationed around the world. This leaves the setting of Murphy’s largest undertaking as a theme of AHS feeling a bit cramped.
The cast of characters that inhabit Outpost Three is a motley crew for sure, leaving the audience wondering how these people were the ones chosen to rebuild humanity. Wilhemina Venable, played by series regular Sarah Paulson, is the tyrannical, utilitarian headmistress appointed by the mysterious “Cooperative”, some government organization that orchestrated the Outpost. At her side is violent Mrs. Mead (Kathy Bates). The two of them terrorize the occupants of the bunker, banning sexual relations and serving cubes of gelatin packed with protein for dinner. The characters worth note include Mr. Gallant, a flamboyant hairdresser, an almost offensive homosexual portrayal from Evan Peters, and his disapproving grandmother (Joan Collins). Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt (Leslie Grossman) offers one of the more outrageous caricatures as an heiress with absolutely no idea how to do anything with incredible one-liners: “With all the thought that went into this place, they don’t have a single bag of Pirate’s Booty in the pantry?” Her assistant, Mallory (Billie Lourd), has been assigned the role of a Gray, a servant, while the more elite have been named Purples.
Murphy announced that this season would be a crossover between seasons one and three of AHS, “Murder House” and “Coven”, two fan favorite seasons. So far what we know of the crossover involves Michael Langdon, the son of Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) and the Rubber Man, Tate Langdon (Peters). The Antichrist, whose coming was foretold by medium Billie Dean Howard (Paulson), has come to Outpost Three on command from The Cooperative to decide who will be taken from the bunker to the elusive Sanctuary, a place intended to help repopulate the earth. How is that different than what Outpost Three was supposed to be doing? Who knows…
In the last act of the third episode, after Wilhemina and Mrs. Mead carry out a plan to kill the inhabitants of Outpost Three with poisoned apples to ensure their places in The Sanctuary, three familiar faces return from “Coven”: Cordelia Goode (Paulson), Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy), and Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts). They resurrect their fallen sisters (Coco and Mallory included) and Madison re-delivers one of AHS’ most iconic quotes: “Surprise, bitch… I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me.”
In the following episode we are provided with backstory explaining the witches and Langdon’s connection to Outpost Three, which we discover was once the Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men, a coven of Warlocks. While studying there pre-apocalypse, Langdon is suspected of being their Alpha, a Warlock capable of mastering the Seven Wonders, a test to see who could be the highest level of Witch or Warlock. Until this point a Warlock had never risen to the power that Witches are capable of, creating a magical power structure where women are superior. The Counsel of Witches is called, but Cordelia, the Supreme, doubts Langdon’s powers until he is able to rescue two of their sisters from Hell, which Cordelia could not do herself.
What Murphy has envisioned with his latest creation is a world of his own making, one where women rule over men, where everybody is queer, and where the people are decked in Victorian regalia. Though “Apocalypse” is set somewhere in the near future it’s almost as if the people of Outpost Three have been transported back in time with their extravagant clothing and puritanical sensibilities, bathed in candle light. Most of the installments of AHS have focused on powerful women and queer characters but with this season Murphy is able to create a sanctuary of his own with despotic Wilhemina Venable, witches more powerful than their male counterparts, and a gay Antichrist.
Murphy is also able to explore class politics with his designation of Purples and Grays, elites and servants essentially. Not only has Murphy gone back to a time of days gone by with attire, but with this limited caste system, re-envisioning our past as a dystopian future.
The ground that Murphy has laid with the first four episodes of “Apocalypse” is ambitious. The season so far is a slow burn, though the audience can feel that something is coming to add on to the nuclear winter that we see already. For the first four episodes the characters have done a whole lot of lounging and complaining about The Cooperative’s song choices; Murphy has promised that episode 5, airing this Wednesday at 10 p.m. on FX, is where things get turned up a notch. Will it be as big as the armageddon? I guess you’ll have to watch to find out… at least to see if Madison Montgomery dies for a third time.