“American Horror Stories” occupies its own unusual space within the “American Horror Story” world. Yes, the most obvious way is that the new show as a spin-off to the original — but what shape that takes is unpredictable.
With the show’s two-part opening story, “Rubber (Wo)man,” we get a direct link between (and pseudo-sequel to)”American Horror Story” and the first story of the parent show dubbed “Murder House.” And while the majority of “American Horror Stories” involves tales that exist outside of the parent show’s world, the new show’s season finale, “Game Over,” acts not only as a sequel to “Rubber (Wo)man” and as a continuation of the overall Murder House narrative, it also serves as arguably the most meta-textual experience we’ve ever seen from “AHS” and its spin-offs to date.
The set-up is simple: Michelle (Mercedes Mason) takes on the responsibility of creating a video game based on “American Horror Story” when things go sideways because, it turns out, all those stories are true. That includes plenty of references to AHS’s past but there’s likely at least one big one you missed.
How Rubber (Wo)Man really fits in with Game Over
We get two fake-outs over the course of “Game Over” that explain some, but not all, of what is really going on in the story. The episode opens with Connie (Noah Cyrus) and Dylan (Adam Hagenbuch) agreeing to spend the night in the Murder House because they are die-hard fans of the original “American Horror Story.” Spending the night is effectively a kind of escape room which is a direct reference to what Scarlett’s dads planned to do with the house at the start of “Rubber (Wo)Man.” However, after Connie and Dylan are killed we find out that the whole experience was just a video game created by Michelle.Michelle’s son tells her the game doesn’t “get” what makes “AHS” a beloved series, so she takes it upon herself to visit the real Murder House on Halloween — where, of course, she is killed by the ghosts who live there, including Ruby (Kaia Gerber) and her still-alive, serial killer girlfriend Scarlett.
The rest of the story focuses on Michelle’s son burning down the Murder House to free the spirits trapped there. “Game Over” ends with Scarlett moving into the condominiums built where the Murder House was so she can reconnect with Ruby once more — except it turns out none of this is real either, just the second draft of Michelle’s video game.
The big question isn’t so much that of whether or not “Game Over” just ended the Murder House story forever, but how Scarlett, Ruby, and the rest of the cast of “Rubber (Wo)Man” could even be part of the game. After all, the game is based on “American Horror Story,” not “American Horror Stories,” right?However, if you pay very close attention, there is a scene where Michelle is rewatching old seasons of “AHS” and there is a brief moment where we see her watching “Rubber (Wo)Man” as well.
