‘American Horror Story: 1984’ Was the Most Fun This Show Has Been in a While

As great as prestige TV is, it can be a major downer. There are so many angst-ridden men brooding around windows and blah blah blah regret. Who needs all that hyper-realistic drama when you can be injected with 10ccs of pure madness? That’s what American Horror Story has delivered this season while twisting one of the biggest tropes in all of horror: that sex gets you killed. And it’s felt like a brand new show in the process.

American Horror Story has never been shy about mixing up its formula, but it’s been extra experimental lately. Roanoke played with unrelenting horror and multiple framing devices. With Cult, the series combined gruesome torture with pointed political commentary. And Apocalypse delivered on series creator Ryan Murphy’s longtime promise that every season of this show is connected. But 1984 is first season in a long time that hasn’t been concerned with making some grand, larger point. It’s just had fun playing in the sandbox of slasher films like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Scream.

This has been one of the most straightforward and enjoyable seasons to date, likely because that’s what slashers are. They’re straightforward stories about killer monsters who just want to murder people in creative ways. There’s truly very little else but gory delight to this subgenre, and that’s what 1984 embraced.

But for all of 1984’s final girls and hints about who would be killed first, there was some careful trope-bending at play. For all of this season’s warnings that sex would lead to these teenagers’ deaths — a common refrain in slasher movies — sex ultimately led to most characters’ survival and happiness. Mr. Jingles (John Carroll Lynch) leaving Camp Redwood to start a family is what ultimately gave his life purpose and returned him to his late mother and brother. Montana (Billie Lourd) hooking up with the hung-like-a-horse Trevor (Matthew Morrison) eventually led to one of the sweetest romances in the show’s history. And in the ultimate example of sex positivity, Brooke (Emma Roberts) was saved by the man she lost her virginity to, Ray (DeRon Horton). This season sex saved everyone who deserved to be saved. That’s exactly the sort of winking, slightly perverse twist American Horror Story thrives on.

This season also shone its spotlight on some unexpected cast members. Leslie Grossman’s Margaret and Angelica Ross’ Donna shined in particular. No one can make a conservative prude feel quite as unsettling as Grossman. And equating her unyielding belief in God with the snowball argument that there is no way a devoted, Christian woman can do anything wrong was a thing of beauty. Margaret’s shift from hapless final girl to this season’s true villain felt as natural as it was wickedly delicious.

And enough good cannot be said about Ross. The revelation that her character wasn’t Nurse Rita after all but a psychologist named Donna was one of this season’s truly jaw-dropping twists. After this season and her devastating arc on Pose Season 2, Ross has proven that she needs to be a American Horror Story regular.

And let’s not forget this entire season made sense! American Horror Story gets a bad reputation for starting strong and finishing…not so strong. But 1984 didn’t fall off the rails. It started with a campfire ghost story and ended with the son of that ghost (Mr. Jingles) coming back to find some closure. Sure, it was insane. Every season of this show is a bit mad. But it’s the type of madness that’s been fun to watch week after week.

When it was first announced that AHS would air a season without Evan Peters or Sarah Paulson, many fans were nervous and rightfully so. Those two have practically defined this series. But American Horror Story: 1984 has cemented the fact that we don’t need to worry. AHS is still going to be a ton of fun no matter who’s in its leading roles. Maybe it just needed a fresh start and a break from its bigger aspirations to remind us all of that.

Where to stream American Horror Story: 1984