American Horror Story: Double Feature Finale: Who Didn’t Survive ‘Red Tide’?
After just five short weeks, our memorable stay in P-Town — with its scenic views, charming boutiques and streets running rampant with talentless, bloodthirsty baldies — came to an end on Wednesday with the finale of American Horror Story: Double Feature Part 1, “Red Tide.”
The episode begins with the long-awaited return of Adina Porter…’s body, as an unsuspecting fisherman discovers Chief Burleson’s corpse floating in the sea, prompting Coach Beiste — sorry, Officer Coach Beiste — of the Massachusetts State Police to open an investigation into the brutal crime. (Psst! It was the little girl!) Much to Officer Coach Beiste’s dismay, however, the town council is less than responsive to her concerns. Hell, they shrug off Burleson’s alleged “murder” and flat-out admit to covering up the bald creatures’ shenanigans. “Strange things happen down the Cape in the winter,” they tell the officer. “Everybody knows it.”
But Officer Coach Beiste will not be deterred, so Holden demands that Belle and Austin dispose of the Gardners, threatening them with all manner of unspeakable punishments… like, you know… stricter zoning regulations? (“I stopped Burger King from opening in this town,” he snarls. “I can stop you!”) That last threat clearly does the trick, because Harry arrives home to discover that Belle has kidnapped his baby.
Meanwhile, Harry informs Alma and Ursula that they’re all done with the pills “for good” after this summer, a decision that’s met with mixed reactions. Actually, there’s nothing mixed about Alma and Ursula’s responses; neither one of them are down for the cause, but Alma does a slightly better job of hiding it. She also does a terrible job of hiding the fact that she and Ursula are scheming to kill Harry behind his back. But we’ll get to that later.
Armed with a batch of “new” pills, Ursula goes into the woods to manipulate the baldies into doing her bidding — and manipulate she does. You know what, I’ll just let her speak for herself, because it’s wild.
“I know this sucks, OK?” she tells them. “I know you got a raw deal. But you are not monsters. You’re a bunch of Laurence Fishburnes. Fishburne turned down Pulp Fiction because his agent told him he’d be working with John Travolta — a has-been. Now, look, you’ve all made a very bad call, but it’s not the end of the story. Fishburne went on to beat out Sam Jackson for The Matrix. The moral of the story is that sometimes there are second chances.” She then offers them a new pill, one she claims is more potent with no side effects.
Unfortunately, things aren’t going quite as well over at Belle’s. Harry attempts to rescue his baby and get the hell out, but the erotic novelist has other plans — deadly, stabby plans. And just like Ursula, Belle incorporates a very specific Hollywood metaphor into her big speech, an on-the-nose critique about how Hollywood types took over California, despite the locals’ firm objections.
It’s a fine speech, but it’s the last one she’ll ever make. The creatures bust in, making quick work of both her and Austin. But before the baldies can set their sights on Harry and Alma, in comes Ursula, guns blazing. So, all’s well that ends well, right? Ha! Not by a long shot. First, Alma feeds on her dad. (Boo to patricide!) Then, she moves to Hollywood with Ursula, the Chemist and the baby. (Yay to road trips!)
While Alma gets busy murdering her way up the orchestral scene, and the Chemist uses her pills to target racist LAPD cops, Ursula goes on distribution overdrive, dishing out those sweet black beauties to countless young writers. Some turn out to be Harry-level successes, but judging by the chaotic final shot of Hollywood Boulevard being torn apart by freshly made creatures, I’d say the scales are hardly balanced. Can you really blame the Chemist for taking the baby and getting the hell out of Dodge?
That’s when Ursula delivers the season’s final monologue, which — and I mean it this time! — is definitely the message we’re supposed to take away from all of *gestures wildly* this.
“Looks like the streets are running red with blood and metaphors,” she says. “At least all of those no-talent monsters are taking their pain out in a real way. Being great is hard. The rest of us just don’t get it. We drive ourselves crazy with envy, but the truth is, most people aren’t willing to put in the work. They focus on the success, the notoriety, the wealth that their great piece of art will bring. But the journey there is tedious. And those that achieve greatness only do so because they’re f–d up enough to push through the pain and failure it takes to reach your potential At least with these pills, the world can find out if you’re any good. To be told we are talented, isn’t that all we ever want? The truth is, history will only remember a handful of us, but at least now we’re leveling the playing field.
Personally, I think she could have stopped at her earlier speech about how success is “just one swallow away. Spit or swallow, the choice is yours.”
And there you have it, folks. Part 1 of American Horror Story: Double Feature has come to an end. Were you satisfied by the six-episode journey? Weigh in via our poll below, then drop a comment with your hopes for next week’s kick-off of Part 2, “Death Valley.”
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So glad Alma & the baby got out alive. This season has been the best season of AMS I’ve seen in a while. Hope that the next story is just as compelling.
Why would u root for alma to live? She shoulda died in the most detailed gory disgusting manner. Number 1 most evil brat on show.
I agree, she really should have died terribly. All this season presented is old survival of the fittest BS.
She was such a sweetheart.
LOL
Alma should’ve died in the worst way possible. But I guess since The Chemist skipped down, Alma will have a rough time without the pills… She didn’t get a happy ending.
*town
Alma? Really? The baby definitely!
Alma needs to go. This show didn’t need her spoiled negativity. I dispised her.
I agree! I hate that little girl! I wanted to slap her the entire time! Someone should have told her that the only reason she was “great” was because of the pills, she needs to pop them to even come close perfecting that rendition she was crying about before. I can’t stand that little twit!
I was really enjoying this season, but the finale of Part 1 was (IMO) terrible. It felt rushed, haphazard, and utterly unfinished. Too many loose ends and conveniently dispatched characters.
My thoughts exactly!
I agree. What a mess. It really was, like, “Oops, we only have 1 episode left to wrap all of this up.” I’ll still watch Part 2, though. I do hope there is a role for Macaulay Culkin next season, as I think he was the best part of Red Tide.
Agreed
I totally agree with you. Haphazard ending and I think Part 1 needed one more episode to tighten up its ending. It just felt unfinished. I am glad the Chemist and the baby made it! I kinda hope that Alma got killed by a pale person and Ursula too!
I agree 100%. Just posted here and wrote the same exact thing.
Agree 100%!!!
I felt the same way, so did my mom who I watched this season with. We both felt it was very rushed, went by too fast and was too fast paced with some of the end storylines
I would have liked a twist where the competing violinist was also on the pills and took out alma.
Totally agree, I thought that was coming. Why else bother with the long drawn out speech? Disappointed in this ending.
No, just him being right woulda sufficed. Being super talented as a kid does distract and create dusharmony and freak show, and every genius was too ahead of their times and overlooked until later in life or after death. His speech was actually better than anything the whole episode, and his ego put her ego in place, and she truly doubted herself. Now it wasnt just the pills but the fear of losing to someone not on the pills. Someone with real talent. And sometimes real talent is dime a dozen, disciplined, and harmony with peers. Her losing would have been a better ending, after all she did to get there it was all pointless. That discipline pedigree, network, and systemic institutional status quo of arts trumps uber talent whether from pills or pure natural talent. Then if she were to quit the pills for her final attempt to pr9ve she is just as good, and was horrible and further embarassed, she freaks out in a panic while withdrawling from not eating bloid, and she starts going in a craze and starts consuming herself and biting off her own arms and bleeding out in front of shocked audience.
Ryan Murphy needs to hire you as a writer. That would have been an awesome finale!
Five great episodes and then that crap fest finale. Don’t know if I want to bother with the back half now. Color me disgusted.
Totally agree. Elisode 6 added nothing to the first 5 episodes. So much for saving the best for last. It was just plain bad and disappointing.
Totally agree with both of you!
The mom goes as a loser baldie, the dad gets murdered and that little s**t gets to live? Man the ending sucked donkey balls!
Ok so no painting? No what happened to Alma? Nothing? what a lame ending.
I would pour bleach down my throat
What was the point of the State Trooper? Dot Jones is honestly the only reason I watched this episode and did not watch the other 5) This may have been the stupidest show I have ever watched and I don’t think watching the whole series would have made it any better. What a bunch of crap.
Loved the show this season but that was a horrible finale.
The best thing about the finale was the final scene was in my hood. I just walked by there today, was nice to see somewhere I recognized.
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It was unimpressive and not scary in the least. Only thing that makes sense is that the story continues with the final episodes, which is why we never found out what happened with Sarah’s character.
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Disappointing and uninispired moving it to LA to have it end with a whimper. Someone on staff needed to stay on the pills when it came to the finale of Red Tide.
Sarah Paulson’s character committed suicide. She slit her wrists and walked into the ocean – i.e. “Red Tide.”
Looks like creators forgot to take the black pill for the finale. Uninspired, dull ending. Otherwise really liked the ending.
*season
I agree this was one of the best seasons I’ve seen in a while. This was a great storyline it just needed more background info given.
There were a lot if questions left unanswered… like why wasn’t Ursula and the Real Estate guy ever bothered or hurt by the monster’s or Belle and Austin. What made them so untouchable. I thought the idea of Belleand Austin only killing people that no o e would miss was great addition to the story. I wish there had been more episodes, only 6 episodes that’s o ly enough to make you thirsty.
All the other episodes were great and then this crap. Alma should have died. No if ands or buts about it.
And I want to know how Ursula was able to convince the chemist to work with her when the first time Ursula proposed it the chemist was against it.
It made no sense. The chemist was all for getting rid of everyone including Ursula until she wasn’t. Also for keeping a lid on things and keeping things discreet. All of sudden allowing Ursula to hand out pills like candy in LA.There was no window provided inro her reasoning for changing course. This episode was so badly executed. It made wonder why they didn’t just showcase Harry and Alma’s attempt to escape P town after Doris was turned pale.
Remember when Alma and Ursula went to visit the chemist? Assume all this was planned then.
As to the very end, without the chemist, Alma and Ursula are screwed–no more pills… Given her ambition, Alma particularly would be better off dead.
Kept waiting for Ursula to get her comeuppance.
What a crap ending to a great season.
I had high hopes for this season yet AHS may have peaked early in seasons 1-4 with Asylum being the best of the bunch. If the back half of the double feature ends like the first. This season is a major disappointment.
Despite the finale, this was one of the best “seasons” of AHS in a long time. I looked forward to watching it and it entertained. Two keys points in a show for me. My fear now is part two will let me down. I hope not, truly, because then this really will be right up there with Murder House, Coven, Cult and Asylum (in no particular order).
Agree. Best season in SO long! I was disappointed in the ending, but not too badly. I have high hopes for Part 2 – previews looked good.
I really liked Alma, she was vicious and unsparing and totally murderous and I loved that about her character. It’s a “Horror Story”, at least one character should be!
I was on edge every time she was on screen after she took the pill. The fact that she was a child only amped up the creep factor.
Overall, This story falls somewhere in the middle for me in terms of this show. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t a great one.
If Harry was blamed for the murders as Ursula planned, why was his name greeted with gasps of excitement during the writing class?
Why did his scripts go into production if he was a known serial killer? Was it supposed to be a metaphor on how Hollywood cares more about talent than what you do with your personal life?
I thought Double Feature Part 1 was great. I was engaged . It was entertaining and fun with cool characters. It had a sense of humor. Loved the finale, not sure why there is a lot of unhappiness, maybe just the voices of the disgruntled.
I like playing around with cutting season into two stories.
What are you talking about? The voices of the disgruntled? Yeah, we’re disgruntled because that finale was absolutely terrible and as people already pointed out a lot of things didn’t even make sense. Like the chemist not wanting to work with Ursula and wanted to keep things quiet suddenly letting Ursula distribute them all over the place for one. Then of course we have to have the politically correct story, turning those “racist” cops into monsters. I think people are more disappointed then usual because the last number of seasons went downhill fairly quickly but this one was great for every episode and then to have such a bad ending makes it worse then usual.
Ursula went to see the Chemist with Alma at the end of episode 5, she said she was going to convince her. And she did. We never saw the actual scene, but it’s later implied given what happened. And what’s your problem with racist cops being taken down?
Once again Ryan Murphy shows that he knows how to start a great story but has no idea how to end it. This was my favorite season up until that mess of a finale episode. How disappointing.
Here’s hoping the two parts connect to finish story.
Otherwise this was the biggest disappointment in the entire series.
That’s what I was thinking … will Part 1 connect somehow to Part 2? Then it might have a chance to redeem itself.
One would think with an entire year to prepare for this season, the writers, producers, and Ryan Murphy could have created a better, more entertaining storyline. I had hope that this season would explore the mystery of The lady of The Dunes, or possibly introduce sirens. AHS had the beauty of Province Town Massachusetts, and the best they could do was a create a story of vampires vs. Zombie like creatures? Such a shame!
Admittedly the plot started out interesting. The idea of a city family moving to P-town to escape the winter, and writer in search of a creative muse was appealing. The idea that a magic pill, delivered by folk singing vampire duo Evans Austin (Evan Peters) and vampire Queen Belle Noir (Frances Conroy) could bring out someones inner talent, inspiration and could lead to great success was a good, albeit trite concept. Or in the case of his ill-fated wife Doris, morph into a talent less, flesh eating “pale person”. As Rumplestiltskin used to on Once Upon a Time “all magic comes with a price”. It would be foolish to think this thought never occurred to Harry or his daughter. Harry should have questioned the side effects of the bill prior to consuming it. Such as blood thirsty murderous tendencies , or the possibility of turning in to a no-talent “pale person”. Clearly he had some ability as became a blood thirsty vampire.
The story quickly looses momentum with the town vampires vs. Zombie like pale people, who alas were talentless. Essentially the writers wrote themselves into a corner. They would need to exit this small town somehow. They failed to address the state trooper investigation into the small town murders, and solved Harry’s problem by allowing his daughter to murder him. A flash forward to LA and more people consuming these black pills and eating people all over the city proves to sum up this season theme of talent and ambition. I pray part 2: Death Valley serves is something more fresh than the bloody red tide offerings.
Boring season
The series was awesome, the penultimate episode was nearly perfect television. The finale was a dumpster fire.
I agree!
What a car crash if an ending! And how can a 9 year old girl overpower the other guy… hated the ending
Red Tide was really good for the most part but not sure about the finale. It was disappointing.