(Photo courtesy of: Men’s Health) “Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian star in “AHS: Delicate”.”
Riley Fontana
Connector Editor
“American Horror Story: Delicate” has returned for the second half of its season after a hiatus due to the writer’s strike, and with the way the season is going, their writers are still away. Fans had hopes that maybe the writer’s strike would kick “Delicate” into the gear they knew “American Horror Story” to be capable of, but sadly it has not.
Fans as a whole have not been pleased with Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story” since season eight titled “Cult”, but each season does have die-hard fans. So far two episodes have aired of the second half of the twelfth season of the previously beloved horror show, and the downfall continues.
The latest season “Delicate” plays with themes seen in previous seasons, mainly the thought of giving birth to the devil. As a premise for a horror-based show, this concept could be really good, if “American Horror Story” had not done it twice already. In season one “Murder House” where Vivien gets pregnant and a goat is seen on her sonogram and later in season eight “Apocalypse” this baby is revealed to be the antichrist himself. Having already done this storyline makes “Delicate” feel tired and unoriginal.
With all of the seasons of “American Horror Story” being interconnected somehow there are ways writers can save this season, but since they are a total of seven out of nine episodes deep, this does not seem like a path the showrunners are going to take. Each episode has been laying out more backstory and confusing mythology for the characters. People are being haunted, stalked, murdered and more for no apparent reason it seems. Each episode also contains flashbacks to centuries ago with witch-like characters experiencing terrible births, but these memories hold no stakes for the modern characters.
The season follows Anna Victoria Alcott and her husband Dex basically going through their pregnancy. It becomes clear that Anna is struggling with the pregnancy and Dex has some dark history from his ex-wife. Nothing is connected and there has not been any actual horror so far. All the characters are famous rich people, which makes them incredibly unrelatable to the audience, and none of them show remorse for the things they do. Anna has hurt several people due to her hormones and does not seem to really care, as long as she is still in the running for an Oscar.
One thing that kept “American Horror Story” fans coming back each season, no matter how bad, was the returning cast. This season only boasts one: Emma Roberts as Anna Victoria Alcott, the struggling actress. Stunt cast alongside her was Kim Kardashian as Siobahn Corbyn who serves as Anna’s publicist and Cara Delevinge as Ivy, a seemingly very important character with limited screen time and lines. This season brings nothing, not even actors, that fans have come to expect from “American Horror Story”.
This season is just another nail in the coffin for a once groundbreaking horror show. With three episodes left for writers to make any sense of the past season, it is clear to see why viewership of “American Horror Story” has been declining. Renewed for a season thirteen, fans can only hope for a story that actually makes sense.
Overall Grade: F
