‘American Horror Story: Apocalypse’ Season 8, Episode 9 ‘Fire and Reign’ Recap: The Advent of the End Times

The end is near. Well, technically it has already come, but American Horror Story: Apocalypse is now diving into how the antichrist, Michael Langdon (Cody Fern) prepares for the end times. On tonight’s episode, titled “Fire and Reign,” we see how Michael annihilated the Coven and took control of the mysterious Cooperative. We’re closer to the finale now, but questions remain. Where is the show taking us? Will this ever fare well for Cordelia Goode (Sarah Paulson) and the remaining witches of the Coven?

Wiping Out The Coven

“Fire and Reign” shows us the last moments of a united Coven. As Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) and Queenie (Gabourey Sibide) prep the witch students for an incantation class, Dinah (Adina Porter), the voodoo queen, appears by the academy’s front porch to destroy Cordelia’s spell that hides the school from anyone who dares to enter. Michael and Ms. Mead (Kathy Bates) hired her to break the spell so they can slaughter the Coven once and for all, and as payback for Cordelia killing off the human Mead, Warlock Headmaster Ariel Augustus, and Baldwin Pennypacker. Her reward? The greenlighting of her talk show.

The spell breaks and Michael has Mead brutally shoot the witches, including Bubbles McGee (Joan Collins), Zoe, and Queenie. Upstairs, Cordelia and Myrtle (Frances Conroy) escape with Mallory (Billie Lourd). Michael’s plan was nearly perfect had not Cordelia escaped. Frustrated, he tells Mead that he doesn’t know where to go from there. What Michael doesn’t know is that Mead is being controlled by tech nerds Mutt (Billy Eichner) and Jeff (Evan Peters).

Before this, Jeff was ranting about how the world needed to end after he had a bad morning. They’re tired of waiting for Michael to exact his plans for the end of the world. Ms. Venable (Paulson) then came in to remind them of a meeting. The two had her book their flight and hotel room. But Venable, wanting to know more about what they are doing, asks about The Cooperative. When Mutt and Jeff tell her to stand down, Venable quits her post as their secretary as she told them all the things she sacrificed for them to succeed. As she was making her litany, Jeff had a brilliant idea—since Michael is the antichrist, they can use him to gain control over The Cooperative (which was then revealed to be a cover name of the Illuminati). The members have sold their souls to the devil, making Michael their apparent leader.

So Jeff and Mutt have Mead tell Michael to ask for some help from them. Since Michael is naive and doesn’t know how to fulfill antichrist duties, he agrees.

Witches In Hiding

Cordelia, Myrtle, Madison (Emma Roberts) Coco (Leslie Grossman) and Mallory hide at an unknown shack in a lake. They try to hold Cordelia down as she performs some kind of spell to bring back Zoe and Queenie. Her efforts, though, are fruitless. Madison mentions something about Michael’s power to make souls disappear. When he wiped out the Coven, he made sure that their souls wouldn’t come back. This angers Cordelia, and she slaps Madison for not telling her sooner. Myrtle neutralizes the tension and tells Cordelia that there’s another way to undo what Michael did—Mallory’s power.

Myrtle then tells them about a witch’s ultimate power to travel through time. By doing this, they will be able to prevent what Michael did. According to the Coven’s history, time travel is a spell so powerful that there’s no record of anyone ever trying it. In fact, it’s so dangerous that it would kill the witch trying to perform it. However, Myrtle is confident that Mallory’s near-Supreme powers will withstand the limitations of the spell. Determined to save their Coven, Mallory agrees to do it.

Myrtle and Cordelia prep Mallory for the spell. Myrtle then tells her about a witch named Anastasia in 1918 Siberia. She’s the daughter of Nikolai Alexandrovich, the last Emperor of Russia. That night, a revolution was starting. Nikolai was forced to abdicate a year before, and now they want to kill him. The Russian soldiers had Nikolai and his entire family hide in the cellar so they could kill them. Anastasia tried to prevent it with a spell, but she wasn’t strong enough to do so. In the end, they were all slaughtered brutally.

As a test, Myrtle needs Mallory to go back to that time so she can stop the Bolshevik Revolution from ever happening. Myrtle then hands Mallory Anastasia’s pendant to help her go back to that time. The spell begins, and Mallory is transported back to the cellar with Anastasia. Mallory joins her in chanting the spell, but Anastasia’s fear was so great that they weren’t able to prevent the Russian soldiers from shooting Nikolai. Mallory wakes up with bloody eyes and nose, unable to thwart the revolution.

Later, Cordelia contemplates in giving her powers over to Mallory so she could lead the war against Michael. As their last attempt to gain more allies, they head over to the Warlock academy to enlist John Henry (Cheyenne Jackson) and Behold’s (Billy Porter) help. But they arrive at a bloody scene—the warlocks, including the two, were also killed by Michael, arranging their bodies into a pentagram.

Michael’s Rise to Power

After Robot Mead convinced Michael to go to Jeff and Mutt for help, the tech nerds tell him all about the Cooperative’s history and how it’s made up of the world’s most powerful and wealthiest people (which they are also a part of). They run the world covertly, and they encourage Michael to use them as his number one resource for bringing about the end of the world. Michael’s interest is piqued, especially after they show him the prophecies in the Book of Revelation and suggest performing a nuclear attack on the rest of the world. All Michael needs to do is to talk to the Cooperative directly. Later, Jeff and Mutt try to appease Venable’s anger at them by offering her a leadership position at an outpost they’re building once the end of the world happens.

The episode ends with Michael meeting with the leaders of the Cooperative, demanding their full allegiance to him. He then has them look over his plans to create Outpost 3.

‘American Horror Story: Apocalypse – Fire and Reign’ Overall Verdict

At last, the narrative has come full circle. However, I couldn’t help but think how “Fire and Fury” makes for a mundane penultimate episode. I mean, sure, now we know the full story behind the Coven-Antichrist feud, but does it make sense to stretch it out until the second-to-the-last episode of American Horror Story: Apocalypse? That might not be a good idea seeing how they’d have to chalk up the great war between the Coven and Michael in only one episode.

Odd narrative aside, the episode did have notable strengths—the Russia sequence was impressive, and the gory deaths of the Warlocks and the Coven members made for a nostalgic appeal to how AHS was when it first premiered. That’s the kind of violence that the show is known for. But now there’s a question of how the identity spell would be carried out, how Dinah the Voodoo Queen would become a part of the Coven’s last battle royale, and what the Outpost 3 survivors back in episode 1 has to do with the Cooperative’s choice of selecting them. As much as I’d like for the show to flesh out more, sadly, next week will be the conclusion to this mysterious season of American Horror Story.

American Horror Story: Apocalypse continues next Wednesday, with the season 8 finale titled “Apocalypse Then” at 10/9c on FX.