‘American Horror Story: 1984’ Season 9 Finale ‘Final Girl’ Review: A Touching Farewell

Peace finally prevails at Camp Redwood on tonight’s finale of American Horror Story 1984. After a grueling 30+-year ordeal, the ghosts of the camp exact justice for their poor souls as Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman) and her killer henchmen fall. And despite the episode title saying “Final Girl,” there’s more than one—someone that brings a definitive closure to the whole fiasco.

“Final Girl” begins with a massive time jump from 1989 to 2019, roughly thirty years after the ill-fated Camp Redwood Music Festival. The AHS season 9 finale also throws in a slew of touching scenes that are usually present in all the finales of the epic FX horror anthology show. But the aspect of tonight’s episode is justice (and seeing Margaret die at the hands of the people she single-handedly fucked up in 1984).

It’s a damn good finale for AHS: 1984, so you better bail out now if you don’t want to be spoiled from here on.

A Fresh Soul Searches For Closure…

Finn Wittrock makes his return to American Horror Story as—yes, you guessed it—Mr. Jingles’ son Bobby Richter. It’s 2019, and Bobby is hell-bent on looking for answers about his dad. He sets foot in what’s left of Camp Redwood (now a deserted and restricted property) where he meets Montana (Billie Lourd), clueless about what year and what an iPhone is. But there’s something odd about her now. She’s not the psycho ghost killer anymore. Montana has had a change of heart, and it looks like most of the Camp Redwood ghosts did as well. It’s been a long time since Montana saw a fresh face, and it’s a welcome gift from fate itself to have her meet Mr. Jingles’ son. But Bobby’s visit comes with a warning—leave now because he’s more likely to not come out of it alive.

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It’s a very odd occurrence for Bobby because he can’t bring himself to believe that the casualties of the massacres in the ’80s are still alive. Montana and Trevor (Matthew Morrison) had to explain that they are ghosts by coaxing Bobby to shoot Montana in the head and slit Trevor’s throat. This gives Bobby hope that he can still meet the ghost of his father. After all, Bobby believes that it was Jingles who kept on sending anonymous checks to him growing up. But there’s a catch—Montana and the others haven’t seen Jingles since 1989’s failed music (and murder!) festival. Although, we know that he’s just chillin’ with his mom Lavinia (Lily Rabe) and brother Bobby (Filip Alexander) on the other side of the lake.

It all sounds confusing to Bobby, so Montana and Trevor do an impromptu history lesson.

Flashback to Halloween 1989

The Music Festival was supposed to move forward, if not for Richard (Zach Villa) murdering Kajagoogoo. It’s a fiasco for Margaret, and she lashes out her anger by killing her assistant Courtney (Leslie Jordan) when he delivered the news. On top of that, Trevor barricaded the camp’s entrance to keep the festivalgoers away from a bloody fate. Margaret then shoots Trevor in his long schlong and leaves him outside the camp’s premises to die and never return as a ghost. Montana tries to beg her true love to crawl back to the camp’s border but is too weak. Luckily, Brooke (Emma Roberts) comes to the rescue and brings Trevor to Montana so he can die and be reunited with her. Despite Montana raining hell on Brooke in 1984, she still has some good left in her no matter what. Huh, okay.

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Montana also reveals to Bobby that it was that act from Brooke that changed her and the Camp Redwood ghosts forever. They no longer wanted to kill and instead took care of Margaret’s fuckups to make sure that no one dies in the camp ever again. They first got rid of creepy mustachioed Bruce (Dylan McDermott) by killing him outside the camp’s premises so he won’t join them. Richard, on the other hand, was basically an unkillable force thanks to Satan. So they subjected him to an endless death loop, with various creative ways on how to kill the Night Stalker. There’s a group slashing, bludgeoning, violent stabbing, you fucking name it. It’s is a slasher season, after all.

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But while Bobby was in Camp Redwood, Chet (Gus Kenworthy) and Bertie (Tara Karsian) forgets to kill Richard right as he reanimates because the call of hot sex was too strong. Richard escapes and nearly kills Bobby, but the ghosts were able to pin Richard down (killing him for the nth time) and save Bobby.

..and Gets More Than What He Came For

Montana tells Bobby to go to Red Meadows Asylum’s medical director for answers. He almost gets taken in as a patient if not for a middle-aged Donna (Angelica Ross) recognizing Bobby and filling some of the blanks from 1989. After everything that went down, Donna turned out to be the final girl. She and Brooke teamed up with the Camp Redwood ghosts to end Margaret once and for all. But Brooke gets shot during the standoff, leaving Donna the only one alive. Margaret was then cut up to pieces by the ghosts and fed to a meat grinding machine that threw her parts outside the camp. Boy, was it the best gore I’ve seen in American Horror Story! It was beautifully gross—disgusting but satisfying to watch.

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With most of Bobby’s questions answered, he thanks Donna for sending the checks. But Donna doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about. There was someone else at play here, which brings us to a welcome twist—Brooke is alive! She was saved by Ray (DeRon Horton) after she was shot and helped mend Brooke’s wounds so she can leave. Brooke lived under the radar (adapting a hippie-like lifestyle that thrives on Splenda packets) all these years, pissing Donna off. How could she not reach out when they’re the only living survivors of one of the bloodiest massacres in AHS history? Brooke revealed that Mr. Jingles’ life in Alaska inspired her to turn her back on the past and live a life of meaning. And as an act of repentance, she kept on sending Bobby the money so she could be free from “that awful legacy.” In the end, Donna and Brooke made up and accepted their official “final girl” club membership.

Just when I thought the episode ends there, a touching conclusion happens. Bobby decides to return to Camp Redwood. And although Margaret appeared (she died a split second before her decapitated head was thrown out the camp) to finish him off, Mr. Jingles finally appears to stop her. A sweet reunion with Bobby and his father was enough to cap off the night. Lavinia also appears when Margaret reanimates again to finish Bobby off (she wanted to be the final girl so bad). “Leave him alone,” Lavina commands in the midst of the Camp Redwood ghosts. “He deserves a happy ending.”

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With Bobby getting more than the closure that he needs, he leaves Camp Redwood as Mr. Jingles, Lavinia, and little uncle Bobby sees him off to a bright and beautiful life ahead.

‘American Horror Story: 1984’ Overall Verdict

I did not expect this kind of touching ending for American Horror Story 1984. But everything about this season was a glorious thrill, seeing all the slasher action come down and reach an avenging conclusion is enough for me to say that 1984 will stand right next to Asylum and Roanoke as my favorite seasons. Despite the absence of Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson, creator Ryan Murphy was able to create a compelling story that introduced new people in the AHS family and made me love them to the core of my being. The weekly anticipation for gore and shocking twists was effectively entrenched in every episode. I couldn’t ask for a better execution of this season’s overall narrative and scares as 1984 stands well on its own, never needing to look back and doubt itself for a second. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in my room crying to Mike + The Mechanics’ “The Living Years.”