American Horror Story, Ryan Murphy’s creepy anthology, is the only reason I look forward to Tuesdays. It’s one of the only shows I watch live because it’s that good. Every season has been a fresh take on horror, starting out strong with Murder House and hitting a peak for me with Roanoke (don’t @ me). The man is a genius for coming up with these unique ideas – a crazy person, but also a genius. AHS: Cult is no exception. A horror story centered around modern day politics? Sign me up. The teasers gave us nothing – bees? clowns? ladies with blue hair? How does it all connect?! I NEED ANSWERS!
AHS: Cult so far has been a slow burn. Every episode we get a morsel that has to tide us over until the next week and the next tidbit. It’s suspense at it’s finest. It doesn’t hurt that everyone on this show is at their best this season. Evan Peters has always been a delight, but this season I AM TERRIFIED OF HIM, which means he’s doing his job. Sarah Paulson is killing it as Ally, the most annoying woman who ever lived, and The Billies (Lourd and Eichner) are my new favorite band. Since it’s about halfway through the season, it’s time to check in to talk about what’s happened so far, and what we think might come.
What We Know So Far
There’s a cult terrorizing a lovely suburban town. And we just keep finding out about more members. There’s our supposed leaded Kai Anderson, and his sister Winter, former Hillary supporter who quickly got over her disappointment to join in on her brother’s shenanigans.
Seemingly unconnected to Kai and Winter are Ally, Ivy, and Oz, a lesbian couple and their clown-obsessed son. They’re as liberal as they come, and can’t believe this is the world we live in now. But wait, who’s their new babysitter? None other than Winter, so maybe these families aren’t as disconnected as we thought. Ally is besieged by phobias and it seems like her family has reached their wit’s end with her. Could this lead one of them to do something…drastic?
Across the street, we have Meadow and Harrison, who are weird, but nice. But it turns out they’re in on it too. Doesn’t seem like there’s anyone in this show you can trust. Cue clowns breaking into homes, people accidentally getting killed, panic attacks in grocery stores, and general mayhem.
One by one, more people are revealed to be part of the cult, but we still don’t know their ultimate goal. We know the “takeover” is coming, but what does that mean?
Conspiracy Theories
The best part about American Horror Story is trying to figure out what’s next. It’s like a game. Will it tie back to older seasons (yes)? Will something crazy you could never have thought of happening (yes)? So here some theories and queries about what could be coming. I take no responsibility if these are wrong.
Theory 1
The name Oz may trigger visions of yellow brick roads, but since this is AHS I’m thinking there’s more of an Ozzie Osborne eating bats vibe here. Deep within the underbelly of the internet (aka a google search and Twitter), people have theorized that Oz is the demon baby from season 1. It’s been a while, so if you need a refresher, Murder House ended with our lord and savior Jessica Lange adopting a baby created out of a ghost/human coupling (#thatsnormal) who promptly proves his unearthly ways by murdering his nanny. Sarah Paulson’s character of that season, medium Billie Dean Howard (she could probably join The Billies), predicts this little boy will bring on the end of days.
Yes, it’s a bit far-fetched, but I can think of crazier theories. It’s my firm belief that the last season of AHS will be some amazing, convoluted story that will connect every season to each other so I’m not discounting any idea. This one has a bit of proof at least. Winter, a key member of the cult, and sister of Kai, asked Oz in the first episode if he knew who his dad was so that could mean that Kai has an interest in him. Why else target his entire family?
This theory loses steam a little bit after scenes in the most recent episode showing Ally giving birth to Oz, but with this show, I wouldn’t be surprised if they could explain that away. Maybe it was a baby swap or maybe Ally was knocked up by a ghost too and both these demon babies are going to take over the world together. With families breaking apart and fear turning neighbors into enemies, the end of days doesn’t seem too far off.
Alternative to this theory: Kai is Oz’s dad/sperm donor, hence the vested interest.
Theory 2
Rather than tying back to Murder House, this season could tie back to Asylum. Ally’s psychiatrist is related to Kai and Winter. This combined with the fact that it’s been suspiciously easy for the cult to guess all of Ally’s (and other patients’) fears have me thinking that Dr. Vincent might be the mastermind of the cult. Kai makes an imposing facade, but his older brother has the brains. This doctor turned villain plotline is pretty similar to Asylum with Dr. Thredson becoming Bloody Face. So what does this all mean? This season goes full circle and this is all a vision in Lana Winter’s head? Dr. Vincent is the new Bloody Face? Is he somehow a descendent? Your guess is as good as mine.
This theory is interesting if it means that the next 6 seasons will parallel the first 6. Roanoke had ties back to Murder House just by its plot alone – haunted houses and ghosts, as well as with mentions of Billie Dean Howard’s spells. If this season relates to Asylum maybe it cements that theory. Or maybe this is all a game and Ryan Murphy just likes to make us think there’s more to all of this than there actually is.
Theory 3
In the promo for the next episode, we get glimpses of Lena Dunham and Frances Conroy. Dunham is playing Valerie Solanas, who tried to kill Andy Warhol. It’s already been spoiled that Even Peters plays a couple other roles in addition to Kai – Charles Manson, Andy Warhol, Jim Jones, and maybe others we don’t know about yet. So what does this mean? It looks like this week we’re taking it back in time, but how does that connect back to our present-day cult?
The promo also hints at some dissonance between Beverly (Adina Porter) and Kai. I’m thinking that Beverly might separate herself from the cult as we know it, and create her own thing. This episode is said to be about “female rage” so it’s not a far jump to say this could happen. And though I think the term “female rage” coming from a man is pretty rude, Beverly does seem pretty angry. And isn’t that just the point of this season? These people are pushed to their brink, and the cult is the result. Is there a cult-on-cult war coming? Does that just bring us back to the “end of days” theory? It adds more chaos, that’s for sure.
Question 1
Ryan Murphy promised a love story, so where does it come in? Are things about to take a drastic turn with Ally and Kai falling in love? Or are Ally and Kai incarnations of characters from past seasons? Or does he mean love story as in stalker/prey? Not my kind of fairytale, thanks, Bambi…
Question 2
What’s going to happen to Kai? He got himself purposefully shot which we know will get him sympathy, but how can you run a cult from the hospital? Is this an opportunity for someone else to step in?
Question 3
Does the return of Twisty the Clown have any significance? Or was that just a bit of “fun”?
Sign Me Up?
I’ve found this season of AHS more difficult to get through than any other season in the past. It’s still filled with horror, suspense, and all the creepiness that we’ve come to expect from Ryan Murphy, but the setting is a little too close to home for me. Being that it’s set less than a year ago and firmly anchored in the madness of the post-election world, it’s hard for me to not see it as true crime, in a sense. As viewers, we can separate ourselves from the settings of past seasons like Asylum or Freakshow, because either they’re so far-fetched or they don’t have context around them.
Cult is the clear opposite of that. It feels like yesterday that I woke up at 2 am to find out that Hillary had lost and I remember all the emotions I felt with that. I find it incredibly believable that someone like Kai exists, and that is perhaps why to me, he’s the scariest character dreamed up in this series to date.
So to anyone feeling particularly delicate about our political climate right now (and that’s pretty much anyone who was with her or otherwise), I’m not sure if I’d recommend this season of AHS for you. I’m pretty desensitized to horror. I watch horror movies on the regs, I read thrillers like it’s my job and my podcast of choice is My Favorite Murder, but there have been moments this season that have turned my stomach. The fact that the most recent episode had to be highly edited due to it’s similarity to current events is telling enough. There’s enough horror in real life that this show isn’t the escape it once was. I’ll keep watching, but it might be from between my fingers.
