Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
And that’s a wrap on American Horror Story: 1984. After giving us an endless supply of serial killers and even more hapless victims, AHS actually left on a happy note….? We’re shocked too. Spoilers ahead for AHS: 1984, “Final Girl.”
Instead of jumping into the musical festival it’s been teasing for half a season, American Horror Story utilized another time jump. This time we jumped ahead to 2019 to see Benjamin’s (John Carroll Lynch) now adult son Bobby (Finn Wittrock) arrive at Camp Redwood. His goal? To find out what happened to his father.
Oddly enough it was Montana (Billie Lourd) who helped him make it out alive. Thanks to a selfless act from Brooke (Emma Roberts), Montana had a murderous change of heart. Instead of encouraging all the ghosts to kill to their heart’s desire, she asked them to band together to focus on the two people who brought them to this hell: Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman) and Richard Ramirez (Zach Villa). Margaret and Ramirez’s many enemies killed them repeatedly in gleeful, gore-filled flashbacks.
But what happened to the music festival? It was canceled thanks to the quick thinking of Trevor (Matthew Morrison). He created a road block to the camp and told arriving festival goers to leave. That selfless action cost him his life. But it wasn’t all bad. By the end of “Final Girl” Trevor was trapped in eternity with his ’80s love, Montana.
Speaking of nice things, Bobby was eventually reunited with his dad. After months of trauma, Donna (Angelica Ross) and Brooke made it out of Camp Redwood alive and went on to live happy, fulfilling lives far away from murder. And it looks like no one is reopening that terrible camp anytime soon. It was a happy ending for almost everyone, which is a major outlier for this creepy show.
But don’t relax just yet. Before fully basking in the glow of AHS: 1984‘s finale, let’s unpack what just happened. Here’s everything you may have missed in American Horror Story: 1984 Episode 9. And if that isn’t a deep enough dive for you, we have you covered. Here are your guides to Episode 8, Episode 7, Episode 6, Episode 5, Episode 4, Episode 3, Episode 2, and Episode 1
Finn Wittrock, the man behind Bobby Richter, is an 'AHS' fave.
We were due for one more American Horror Story fan favorite, and we got one in the finale. In 2019 the now adult Bobby Richter goes to Camp Redwood to track down his long-dead father Mr. Jingles. And he was played by none other than Finn Wittrock.
1984 is far from Wittrock’s first time on American Horror Story. He first appeared in Freak Show as series regular Dandy Mott before playing recurring parts in both Hotel and Roanoke. Wittrock also starred in Ryan Murphy’s HBO movie The Normal Heart. But his most impressive role to date was in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. In that heartbreaking installment of the anthology series, Wittrock played Jeffrey Trail, a U.S. Navy lieutenant who was murdered by Andrew Cunanan.
Richard Ramirez's many deaths are packed with horror movie homages.
American Horror Story finally revealed what happened to Richard Ramirez (Zach Villa), and it wasn’t pretty. After being murdered by all of the ghosts of Camp Redwood, the souls of the camp took turns watching over him. Whenever Ramirez returned from the dead, the people he killed were right there to murder him again before Satan could fully revive him.
But there were some major horror Easter eggs hiding in The Night Stalker’s many deaths. When Ray (DeRon Horton) bashed in Ramirez’s legs with a sledgehammer? That was a clear nod to Kathy Bates’ Misery. Those two camp counselors from the ’70s stabbing him through the eyes with poles? That’s straight out of Kill Bill and to a lesser degree Alien. And Xavier (Cody Fern) posing with that chainsaw? That’s an Ash Williams smile from Evil Dead if we ever saw one.
In reality Ramirez’s death was far less climatic. The convicted killer died from medical complications in June of 2013. At the time of his death he had been on death row for more than 23 years.
Margaret's death contains a big nod to 'Fargo.'
As gruesome as Ramirez’s many deaths were, there were nothing compared to what was in store for this season’s real killer, Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman). Just like with The Night Stalker, all of the ghosts of Camp Redwood banded together to take Margaret down. But they had a crafty plan to ensure she would die without returning as a ghost in Camp Redwood. Cutting her up limb by limb, the ghosts fed Margaret into a wood chipper that shot her bloody chunks out onto the other side of Camp Redwood’s property.
It was very gross but not the first time FX has nodded to a wood chipper death. The most famous cinematic example of this death happened in the 1996 black comedy film Fargo. Directed by the Coen brothers, the big incriminating moment in this movie’s criminal case comes when police chief Gunderson (Frances McDormand) catches one of her suspects feeding the other into a woodchipper. Fargo the movie went on to inspire the FX series of the same name.
But what was the original inspiration for that woodchipper death? That would be the murder of Helle Crafts in 1986. It was later revealed that Crafts was murdered by her husband Richard. The case became the first murder conviction in Connecticut to be given without the victim’s body.
Donna and Brooke surviving are two big middle fingers to the final girl trope.
Halfway through “The Final Girls” AHS revealed who its final girls were: Donna (Angelica Ross) and Brooke (Emma Roberts). Having a female survivor who makes it through a slasher’s madness is right out of Horror Tropes 101. But picking Donna and Brooke to continue this trope, which is typically reserved for innocent virgin women, is refreshing.
Let’s start with Donna. Not only is she a murderer who is the daughter of a serial killer, Donna brought Mr. Jingles to Camp Redwood to encourage him to kill. She started this whole thing in the name of science. Ultimately Donna ended up as one of the good ones, but innocent she is not. Also a black woman making it to the end of a horror movie with her life is a rarity.
Brooke is closer to the typical final girl trope. Perpetual victim with a complicated past? A lost love? Being framed for a crime she didn’t commit? Big old check on all those fronts. But Brooke isn’t a virgin and that’s what saves her in the end. It’s Ray who carries her across Camp Redwood’s grounds and presumably calls an ambulance for her. If there’s a lesson in all of this it’s probably that people can be redeemed and having casual sex doesn’t mean you should die.
'AHS' isn't the first Ryan Murphy show to use the song "The Living Years."
For all of the blood and gore of this season, AHS: 1984 ended on a happy note. After finally meeting his dad and escaping with his life, Bobby Richter spent a few moments staring back at Camp Redwood. The ghosts of his father Benjamin, aka Mr. Jingles (John Carroll Lynch), his uncle Bobby (Filip Alexander), and his grandmother Lavinia (Lily Rabe) waved him goodbye as Mike + The Mechanics’ emotional “The Living Years” played.
This isn’t the first time a Ryan Murphy show has used “The Living Years.” That honor goes to Glee Season 2. In “Special Education” New Directions and the Warblers face off against each other in Sectionals. But the group that competes against them, an old folks group called The Hipsters, are the ones who perform “The Living Years.” It’s very sweet but ultimately they ultimately lose to New Directions and the Warblers, who tie for first.
