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At times, when crafting a story, knowing how to bring it to a close may pose a challenge, leading to an abrupt ending. While this approach is acceptable for novices or those in the midst of their initial drafts, it is less favorable for a successful horror anthology series. This is the case with American Horror Story: Delicate.
The final episode offers up a surprisingly complicated romp filled with blood and guts and an uncomfortable amount of eugenics, but in the end, fails to establish consistent lore or deliver any real answers.
The twelfth installment in Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s popular series follows rising actress Anna Victoria Alcott (Emma Roberts) as she navigates her tricky pregnancy while being stalked by a mysterious cult.
The penultimate episode, “Little Gold Man,” sees Anna at the Oscars, where she wins Best Actress for her breakthrough role in her movie The Auteur.
She tells her publicist Siobhan Corbyn (Season MVP Kim Kardashian) that she’d do anything to be a successful actress, and they share a chaste kiss as her name is announced as the winner.
While accepting her award, Anna’s water breaks and she envisions her late mother in the audience. Now, any other actress could spin the event into a sweet tale of motherhood and dedication, but instead, Anna is kidnapped by the cult and endures a difficult birthing scene.
Confused by the ending of American Horror Story: Delicate? Did Anna choose fame over being a mother? What’s going on with Dex? Did Siobhan die? We’re here to help you make sense of everything that happened in the season finale.
AHS: Delicate Ending Explained
The episode, titled “The Auteur,” opens with a flashback showing Anna and Siobhan meeting for the first time at an IVF support group. The two women poke fun at another group member who has seemingly told the same sad story repeatedly, and they exchange phone numbers.
In the present, Anna has been rushed off the stage at the Oscars and has begun giving birth. Her cheating husband, Dex Harding (Matt Czuchry), shows up in a formal suit and Anna exclaims to her publicist, “You called him?” The line left me with so many questions, such as, why are we pretending like that man isn’t dressed to attend the Oscars? Or if he was dressed for another formal event and rushed to Anna, how much time had passed without taking Anna to a hospital? We’re talking Los Angeles traffic, here. You’re telling me that man left one formal event and arrived at another in under, let’s say, 20 minutes? And if it was more than 20 minutes, why is Anna still at the Oscars ceremony when she’s actively giving birth? But I digress, given this isn’t the most confounding part of the finale.
So, Dex shows up and the group rushes into an ambulance. Lo and behold, cult member Ivy (Cara Delevingne) is driving the ambulance. When a random passenger tries to offer help from the front seat, Ivy shoots him dead which prompts panic from Dex and Anna. But the two are quickly distracted because, in case you forgot, Anna is giving birth. Dex reaches under her gown to see what’s going on down there and reacts in horror as his hand is devoured.
That’s right, Anna’s Satan baby just ate her ex-husband’s hand. Iconic move, unborn baby.
The episode takes a detour with a flashback sequence that shows Siobhan — rocking a hot 1980s blowout — threatening a fertility specialist with a nondescript order to treat the patients he sends to her without question. At this point, it’s obvious that Siobhan’s a leader in the cult and has been playing the long game with Anna.
Returning to Anna in the present, Ivy has finished killing Dex and the mother-to-be is not happy. Life and death in one episode, dramatic much? Some creepy cult stuff happens and Ivy delivers the craziest line of the episode: “Every human being on this earth was welcomed by a woman screaming.” Okay?? Anna births her son while surrounded by the cult and he’s whisked away in a red velvet cloth by Ivy and the placenta is placed in a glass box.
Anna pleads for the group to let her hold her baby, but she is denied. The new mother is told, “You already are,” and she’s revealed to be holding her Oscar Award. Ivy passes the baby to her fellow cult members and Anna stands up to follow, but she falls to the ground.
When Anna awakens, she can’t move her legs and is told that she is paralyzed. Looking around, she sees Ivy and her strange house manager Nicolette (Michaela Jae Rodriguez) surrounding her, alongside a few others. The cult has a multi-level marketing vibe and they try to recruit Anna to further their mission, which is to repopulate the world with superhuman babies so that they can “finally have a matriarchy.”
Siobhan arrives at the scene to torment Anna and explains that she’s Dex’s birth mother and that she had sex with his father to make the perfect baby. The cult leader executes Ivy for killing her son before teasing that she has a major reveal to share. She stalks to another part of the room and unveils a glass tank that contains Dex’s sperm, which she is planning on using to make more perfect babies.
In the final scene, Anna has joined the cult in exchange for her son and she’s brought to a room to breastfeed. The new mother is shocked that her baby is feeding on blood, but Siobhan reassures her that it’s normal behavior, ie: the dead raccoon baby and Dex’s hand.
Siobhan leaves the room and the ghost of Dex’s late wife, who was a former cult member, appears and begins chanting something. Anna joins along and when Siobhan reenters the room, she’s burned and killed. Left alone with the remains of Siobhan, Anna puts on the late cult leader’s headpiece and follows the sound of a baby crying. She reaches a crib and sees a normal baby, and cradles him to her chest.
Let’s work through the checklist: Did Anna have her baby? Yes. Is Siobhan the cult leader? Yes, but we’re still not sure why. Did Anna join the cult? Yes, but we don’t know if she still has to be in it now that Siobhan is dead. Is Anna the new incest mother? I dunno, but it seems likely.
American Horror Story: Delicate is streaming on Hulu.
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