American Horror Story: Delicate Season Review – A weird and wonderful horror tale

Episode Guide

Episode 1 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 2 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 3 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 4 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 5 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 6 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 7 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 8 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 9 – | Review Score – 4/5

The long-running anthology series American Horror Story takes a different turn in its 12th season, subtitled Delicate, as it’s the first one to not be an original idea. It’s based on Danielle Valentine’s Delicate Condition. It was considered a feminist update of Rosemary’s Baby. Halley Feiffer of Impeachment: American Crime Story fame takes over as showrunner from Ryan Murphy, and it all starts off in a very unsettling way, introducing the audience to Anna Alcott, opening with a flash-forward scene, which gets expertly paid off later in the first episode. 

Reality television fans will delight in seeing Kim Kardashian join the cast in a supporting role. Her acting skills are a revelation, and her character Siobhan is one of the highlights of the season. The writer’s strike caused major disruption to this season, but it does add to the anticipation for the last four episodes when they finally returned in April of this year. 

American Horror Story: Delicate doesn’t hold back on the scares, and it is very uncomfortable viewing. Emma Roberts plays the tortured Anna with her usual brilliance that she has shown playing a number of different characters throughout her run in the anthology series. Delicate gives Roberts the opportunity to showcase her vulnerability in spades, and the supporting cast alongside her gives the audience plenty to question about their true motives, and the pace very much picks up speed as it gets to the mid-season finale. 

This series just gets weirder when it returns with the second batch of episodes. There are some bizarre openings to the episodes that make more sense as the season progresses. One cold open even sees events take place in England in 1555. There are some nice callbacks to horror movies, like The Omen, and of course, Rosemary’s Baby, which was a huge inspiration on this season. 

The 12th season of American Horror Story comes to a very shocking and satisfying end, and everything is tied up nicely, but the journey to get there is brutal and traumatic. AHS has done something significantly different from previous seasons and makes it feel very fresh. Bring on season 13!

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