American Horror Story: Apocalypse - Boy Wonder **

So clearly a lot happened prior to the select few arriving to the Outpost 3. It was once a completely different place. Langdon is assured by his mentor, Mead, that John Henry has been dealt with. Now AHS has won over some horror fans (and left others sort of mixed) with its turns to the darkside on many an occasion. Yes, the show can be off-putting (as horror as a genre often is) and visceral in its graphic violence. Such as when Mead gains the trust of John Henry with her evangelical speak, needing him to close, encouraging him to help her at the gas pump with the nozzle and hose, slitting his ankles and throat before torching him. It is quick but jarring. Ariel, the voice of the Hawthorne school, was in on it, tipping off Mead to take care of John Henry, seeing as Langdon is finally their chance to have a man as Supreme. This is very, very important to the Hawthorne faculty. Once Behold was pinned to the wall when trying to convince John Henry to remain at the school and not go to confront Cordelia, and Ariel knew of his plans, John Henry (not his goose) was cooked.

“He wore the perfume of death”. – Missy May

There is a line before this where May, having been “rescued” from her “perdition” (having to scalpel open a frog over and over in class at the command of the teacher, repeatedly after bringing it back to life) by Langdon to a dying Cordelia, to be replaced by him as the new Supreme. “I could smell the sweet rot of a decaying soul.” Well that seems to sum up Langdon quite well!

The “fan service” tag this season received before I started watching it does ring true. At the end of this episode, Murder House (from season one) is shown. Cordelia cleverly never planned to cede control of Supreme to Langdon but through his ability to arrive into Misty’s own personal hell, even speak to the evil there (whitened eyes of the students in the classroom after disemboweling the teacher, they heads cocked back and mouths agape, voices in gibberish “talk” to him) she is assured that he’s got some kind of bad intentions needing to be revealed. His background is of interest to her and Madison will be chosen to investigate. Behold, curiously, has interest in also researching Langdon, not really giving Cordelia too much info on why. So Behold, because he would tell his faculty fraternity otherwise, is allowed to accompany Madison to the Murder House. I can just imagine fans marking out to that final moment in the episode. Speaking of marking out, although a bit odd and rather random, Stevie Nicks appears as “white witch” to sing her song, “Gypsy” for Misty. It was nice to see the beautiful Lily Rabe, as Misty, most known for her epic work in Asylum. She is overwhelmed and very pleased that Nicks sings specifically for her. I’m not even sure what to make of that. But it was still awesome. 3/5

Special mention to the Seven Wonders Silent Film montage where Langdon performs all the required magic tricks and successfully completes each spell test expected of him. Sometimes Murphy and his team show off and I admittedly being such a horror fan enjoy all these cinematic tricks available for the television medium.

*Just because I noticed it, there was a trailer for QT’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It was said that the premiere was the next day. I watched the film that Friday and remember how jazzed I felt from the experience upon leaving the theater. I came home and watched Bad Times at the El Royale that later evening. I had recorded Apocalypse during that week when FX showed the previous season late nights and early mornings. I should have written some thoughts on that film because it was one of the best experiences in a theater I’ve had in some time.