American Horror Story: Apocalypse, episode 1 review: Has the show solved its identity crisis?

Though Apocalypse feels less-tethered to our own American horror story, we’ve still been left with a series that feel irreparably changed

It’s doubtful American Horror Story anticipated its own identity crisis; that, in 2016, its depraved fables of a country stalked by imaginary monsters would lose their sheen. America came to realise one of the monsters was real, and it became the president of the United States.

Fear had become more intimate to the nation and now the very words “American Horror Story” felt less whimsical in meaning – more frequently were they now seen plastered across protest signs.

It’s an odd situation for the show’s mastermind, Ryan Murphy, to be left in, and last year’s Cult prominently displayed the scars of that internal conflict. Back and forth, the show swung between direct political satire (with an entire plot twist centred on a character unexpectedly voting for Jill Stein) and the series’ usual ghoulish flair.

Cult misled itself, assuming we would demand it to be an astute portrait of America today, in all its paranoia and division, while still indulging in its usual flights of fancy. And so, a sincere attempt to examine the white toxic masculinity behind Trump’s fanbase sat rather uneasily next to Murphy’s delightfully self-indulgent revelation that the Zodiac Killer was, in fact, Valerie Solanas, the woman who shot Andy Warhol.

Thankfully, the premiere of American Horror Story: Apocalypse hints that the show has begun to settle its insecurities. The subject is just as pertinent, as we open on a text alert that a ballistic missile is headed straight for LA, and there’s a cognisance that what we’re seeing feels less speculative in 2018 than it may have in the past. A TV newsreader tearfully addresses the camera: “I’m not going to make it home. So if my children are watching this: Daddy loves you very much.”

However, Murphy and co-writer/co-creator Brad Falchuk are careful to step back from the full implications of such a “what if” scenario, turning the lens instead on a cast of typical American Horror Story-esque archetypes in Coco St Pierre Vanderbilt (Leslie Grossman), wannabe influencer and billionaire, and her clique: a pernickety hair stylist (Evan Peters), a husband she borderline loves (Billy Eichner), and a brooding, millennial assistant (Billie Lourd). Add to that, Joan Collins as Evie, introduced with a barely concealed Dynasty reference and appearing, all in all, delighted to be here.

Apocalypse’s premiere barely lingers on the destruction. Murphy and Falchuk make the wiser move here, compared to Cult, acknowledging our stronger affliction of existential terror, all while moving swiftly to more comfortable ground for the series. And so, we are introduced to Outpost 3, one of several fallout shelters scattered across the planet, drenched in the show’s usual high-Gothic glamour – it looks far less like an underground bunker, far more like one of those Michelin-star restaurants so dark you can’t see how disappointing your food is.

A good thing for the inhabitants of this compound, whose rations consist of small, gelatinous cubes. Just one of the many unpleasantries doled out to them by Outpost 3’s overseer, Wilhemina Venable, played by Sarah Paulson, who is awarded an entrance deserving of someone who’s proven herself as the true backbone of American Horror Story, despite what Jessica Lange’s fans may insist. Assisted by Miriam Meed (Kathy Bates), Venable’s motivations remain murky for now, as does her relationship to the mysterious “Cooperative” she claims to speak for.

However, while Apocalypse’s entanglement in real-word fears feels far less messy than it did with Cult, its eagerness to detach itself does result in a season premiere that travels at breakneck speed. In the blink of an eye, we’ve breezed past 18 months, ending on the arrival of an important figure from American Horror Story’s past. It all seems to suggest Murphy’s interest was never really in the end of the world, but that its presence in the popular consciousness pushed him towards an obligatory nod. Indeed, though Apocalypse feels less-tethered to our own American horror story, we’ve still been left with a series that feel irreparably changed – for now.

American Horror Story: Apocalypse continues in the US on FX at 10/9c, every Wednesday. In the UK, the season will premiere on Wednesday, 27 September at 10pm on FOX