American Horror Story’s “Red Tide” goes for a safe finish that is full of blood and bodies, but lacks the impact that’s been present all season.
“It’s just the price of living in such a special place.”
The first part of American Horror Story: Double Feature has been a mixed bag, but by far the most interesting aspect of “Red Tide” has been its discussion on talent and the relationship that exists between an artist and their creations. These episodes have continually examined whether it’s worth selling yourself out and abandoning your values for the purpose of creative fulfillment and if the end can justify the means. These very human questions have made “Red Tide” much more than a typical story about vampires or a family in dissolution. “Winter Kills” puts the finishing touches on “Red Tide’s” screenplay, but it’s a surprisingly literal and surface level conclusion for what’s been a more symbolic season of American Horror Story.
“Winter Kills” kicks off with a highly heavy-handed introduction, which effectively sets the tone for the finale and telegraphs where it’s going to go. There are no lack of unnecessary moments where these decisions could be inferred without all of the evil town council shenanigans. Provincetown devolves into a city of gaslighters who refuse to acknowledge that anything is amiss in their quirky, little hamlet.
Holden, Austin, and Belle try to regain control of Provincetown over the Gardners and Ursula, which is a very simple premise for this finale. At one point Denis O’Hare‘s Holden muses that a local Burger King is more of an obstacle than what the Gardners have triggered. It’s meant as a joke, but it feels apt for the stripped down nature of “Winter Kills.” This is an episode where Laurence Fishburne’s career resurgence and filmography choices are used as an inspirational cry to arms and then later baseline metaphors from The Matrix are invoked to hammer in the point.
Harry reaches an impasse with Alma and Ursula that turns into another argument over the sacrifices of an artist and if a conscience is an impediment to success in life. This is still compelling subject matter, but it’s the same debate that’s been in play all season. When Alma agrees to give up the pills and submit to a “normal” life, the episode doesn’t even try to pretend that she should be taken seriously and trusted. “Winter Kills” flirts with some interesting developments on all of this, like at Alma’s violin audition, but it chooses easy kills over something deeper. Alma failing ignites a fascinating commentary on how sometimes talent isn’t enough and how a rotten personality can taint a deal. Some people would rather have a very good person who’s tolerable than an excellent person that’s an asshole. This could have been an interesting hell for Alma to experience.
The episode’s big climax where the two sects of contrasting pill users collide together has some fun ideas, like the use of violin music over the vampire ambush, but it’s fairly tame by American Horror Story standards. It ends up feeling like a middling set piece from one of the Resident Evil movie sequels. The decision to blame all of Provincetown’s murders on Harry also comes across as a little too pat and the type of writing that would get someone turned into one of the Pale People if they were to take these pills.
Finn Wittrock continues to excel this season and his work across these final episodes has been especially nuanced. His exhaustion is felt as he tries to hold everything together, chastises Alma, and still genuinely believes on some level that he can make all of this work and maintain some sort of “honor” through it all. Of course, it goes without saying that Ryan Kiera Armstrong’s performance as Alma remains a constant highlight of the season, especially when she’s in contrast to Lily Rabe or Wittrock. Unfortunately, Leslie Grossman‘s Ursula is a constant caricature at every turn and her getting slotted into the role as the new mother in this odd family is irksome and never really earned. She basically becomes the lead of “Winter Kills.”
The penultimate episode of “Red Tide,” “Gaslight,” pushed this season to its darkest places yet and allowed American Horror Story to properly embrace some of the most uncomfortable subject matter that it’s ever explored. There’s so much power in how it’s Alma who becomes the driving force that dismantles her family. This is strengthened when it’s juxtaposed between Mickey’s own mental manipulation of TB Karen and her festering self-doubt, albeit through a relationship that turns out very differently than Harry and Doris. Unfortunately, there’s nothing in this finale that carries the same weight as Mickey and TB Karen’s goodbyes and these oddballs are actually missed in “Winter Kills.” This conclusion can’t reclaim these emotional highs.
The second half of “Winter Kills” is basically where I expected this finale to begin and the episode wouldn’t really suffer much if it just started in Hollywood and the audience is left to fill in some obvious blanks. Ursula desperately uses her pills to establish a wunderkind stable of Hollywood writers is exactly the type of conclusion that Ryan Murphy is all about, especially when it’s implied that these pills have been integrated into the natural world around us. Hollywood is just filled with these literal bloodsuckers. It’s appreciated that this finale doesn’t get too meta and visit an American Horror Story writers’ room where Murphy and company pop pills and break stories. There’s still a scene that’s a borderline parody of Brian Cox’s Robert McKee story scene from Adaptation. The use of pills as a way to take out bad cops and enact social justice also seems really far removed from what this season has been about. All of this crumbles into easy mayhem and implied Armageddon. Been there, done that.
“Winter Kills” makes a lot of easy choices and follows a clear path, which isn’t necessarily bad, but just feels uneventful more than anything. A finale that turns the clock ahead even further and looks at a world full of Chemist-enhanced individuals and rampant Pale People, or even an episode where Alma is now an adult (if she’s even able to physically age) that examines what the later stages of her life would resemble after decades of success and pill use may not have been any better, but they’d have been more interesting. Everything that happens in “Winter Kills” is a foregone conclusion rather than the setup for something richer.
“Red Tide” was far from perfect, but this shorter six-episode structure does seem to be like a beneficial shift for American Horror Story, whether it retains this approach or not. This season could have been more succinct and its heavy use of flashbacks in some episodes could have been reduced, but the season succeeds more than it doesn’t and successfully tells a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. This shouldn’t come across as revelatory, but it actually kind of is with how scattered American Horror Story can get.
The “Red Tide” finale has its Robert McKee analogue announce to the audience, “Talent rises, but it’s nothing without craft.” “Winter Kills” underscores the importance of this mantra with its loose ending that’s rich in grisly visuals and smug betrayals, but is a mess when it comes to technique and substance. It’s a disappointment for a season with such promise to go out with a whimper. “Red Tide” wasn’t without its highlights, but it may ultimately wash away as one of the series’ more forgettable stories.
Bring on the aliens.
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“Red Tide” Ranking: 
