‘American Horror Story: Apocalypse’ Season 8 Finale ‘Apocalypse Then’ Recap: The Great Battle Royale

All hell has finally broken loose. Weeks of preparation and fear all lead up to this final moment—Coven V Michael: Dawn of the Apocalypse. American Horror Story: Apocalypse‘s season 8 finale finally comes full circle and answers all our questions after the harrowing apocalyptic episodes in the first half. But with every end, a new beginning is teased in typical Ryan Murphy fashion. The war is here, and the final verdict is in to see whether magic or evil prevails.

The Coven Strikes Back

Tonight’s episode, titled “Apocalypse Then,” dives straight into the chaos as Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy) breaks into Jeff (Evan Peters) and Mutt’s (Billy Eichner) office to exact her plan and gather information. Michael (Cody Fern) slaughtered the witches of Miss Robichaux’s Academy, so it’s time for the Coven’s move. Miss Venable (Sarah Paulson) tries to stop Myrtle but is silenced with a spell. Myrtle surprises Jeff and Mutt, who are seen arguing about the occupants of each Outpost that Michael had them build. Seeing how Outpost 3 seems to be where Michael wants to take refuge in, Myrtle decides to kill off Jeff and Mutt to save space in the bunker. This way, their plan can move forward.

Back at the Coven’s murky river house, Cordelia (Paulson) puts Mallory (Billie Lourd) and Coco (Leslie Grossman) in an identity spell, making them forget that they are witches so they can blend into Outpost 3. It’s funny how Cordelia decided to give Coco the likeness and irritating bitch-diva attitude of Madison (Emma Roberts). Finally, with their bunker spots secured, Madison drops Mallory and Coco (now in full undercover) at Mr. Gallant’s (Peters) salon where Coco also meets Brock (Eichner). At first, I thought Gallant and Brock were also Jeff and Mutt put under an identity spell by Cordelia. But since Myrtle slaughtered the pretentious nerds beforehand, turns out I was wrong.

Madison also sees that Dinah (Adina Porter) is now an accomplished talk show host after selling her soul to the devil. As payback, Cordelia also puts her under the identity spell.

We time-jump back to when Michael conducted his interviews. Mallory shows his power, much to Michael’s shock. This, it turns out, was a signal for Cordelia, Myrtle, and Madison to rise from soil hibernation and gear up for the showdown. After Venable killed everyone with the poison apple (and got herself killed in the process), the witches are reunited against Michael and Robot Mead (Kathy Bates).

But before things get bloody, Dinah excuses herself from the fight and pledges her loyalty to Michael. In comes a special last-minute surprise—Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett), the original Voodoo Queen, comes back from the dead, courtesy of Cordelia. It turns out that Cordelia gave Dinah’s soul to Papa Legba in exchange for Laveau. Dinah tries to get over her shock, but Laveau stabs her neck and leaves her to die.

Queue the war and chaos.

Coven V Michael: Dawn of the Apocalypse

Robot Mead takes advantage of the situation and prepares to open fire on the Coven. But Cordelia counters with a spell that made Mead explode. Michael, distraught after losing his “mother” again, loses sight of the war at hand and is “killed” by Madison, thanks to Mead’s robot machine gun arm. Myrtle also grabs a portion of Michael’s hair to use in Mallory’s time travel spell. But this is only temporary.

As the Coven runs upstairs, a deformed Brock appears and stabs Mallory in the stomach. An angry Myrtle sets Brock on fire. Myrtle and Cordelia struggle to keep Mallory alive so they can push through with the spell. Michael reawakens, but Coco and Laveau try to fend him off. Michael’s power proves to be greater than theirs, however, as he kills them all easily.

Myrtle and Cordelia place Mallory in the tub, but she dies even before the spell could be completed. In her last heroic act as Supreme, Cordelia confronts Michael in the hallway and kills herself, never allowing Michael to have the privilege of killing her. Cordelia’s death serves as a power-transfer to Mallory, who wakes up to finish the time-travel spell herself.

Mallory Saves Mankind

With Mallory now the new Supreme, she’s capable of maintaining her grasp on her powers and travels back to 2015, when Michael suddenly grew ten years older. Constance (Jessica Lange) sees what Michael has done, killing a priest and not giving a flying fuck about it. Constance is enraged and kicks Michael out of the house. Michael tries to kill her but doesn’t push through with it since he still loves his grandmother. Michael runs outside but is ran over by Mallory. You’d think that’ll do it, but Mallory decides to do it repeatedly. You can never be too sure with the Antichrist! Since Michael was still too young to realize the extent of his powers, he’s unable to heal himself. Constance sees Michael dying in the street. He asks her grandmother to get him inside the Murder House so he can die there and be reunited with Tate, his father. Constance mulls it over but ultimately decides to leave him to die.

It’s mission accomplished for Mallory, so she decides to leave things as they are and return to Miss Robichaux’s Academy to re-enroll herself. Everyone is back, except for Myrtle, who Cordelia only brought back to life for help in defeating Michael. But since the Antichrist is dead, things are back the way it should be. Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) and Queenie (Gabourey Sibide) are in their highest spirits, teaching a small group of young witches. Mallory, however, decides to take her powers up a notch and deliver Cordelia a few surprises. She brings back Misty (Lily Rabe), accompanied by Nan (Jamie Brewer).

Since Mallory singlehandedly usurped Michael, the various lords of the underworld wanted to give her favors. Her first act was bringing back Misty. Though Nan could’ve returned with her, she decided to stay with Papa Legba because she loves doing what they do together. Cordelia feels that Mallory is special, but Mallory thinks that it doesn’t matter whether they know or not. At least they’re all happily back together—or so we thought.

Epilogue

Remember Emily (Ash Santos) and Timothy (Kyle Allen), the teenagers from Outpost 3? It turns out that they are Satan’s backup plan should things with Michael go south. We fast forward to 2020, where Timothy meets Emily during a protest against a coffee shop. It’s a cute boy meets girl moment, and we fast forward again to a year after, where Emily and Timothy have a baby. Finally, we end at 2024, where it’s revealed that Timothy and Emily’s baby is the Antichrist. They come home to a dead babysitter, with the kid smiling at them.

The doorbell rings and the couple are greeted by the Church of Satan’s Anton LaVey (Carlo Rota) and his church cohorts Samantha Crowe (Naomi Grossman) and—yep, you guessed it—Miriam Mead. “We’ve been waiting our whole lives for this,” Mead eagerly says. “We’re here to help.”

‘American Horror Story: Apocalypse’ Overall Verdict

What a season finale. As compared to last year’s AHS: Cult, Apocalypse tore through the usual tropes that American Horror Story always has every season. Though it isn’t the best AHS season (I still put Asylum and Roanoke as the show’s top narratives), it’s way up there, sitting comfortably as it should. The overall pace of the season was good, and I have to commend the way the time jumps were fleshed out. It’s not confusing and very easy to follow. AHS: Apocalypse’s writing also breaks ground into new horizons with its spot-on dialogue and edge-of-your-seat revelations and twists. Though considerably shorter, this is American Horror Story at its very best.