American Horror Story season 12 episode 8 revealed a lot of major twists, including confirming the identity of the outing’s biggest villain so far
Warning: Spoilers for American Horror Story season 12, episode 8.
Although American Horror Story season 12, episode 9, did not end Anna Alcott’s story, the outing did finally explain a lot of the season’s complicated conspiracy. Every season of American Horror Story gets increasingly grisly, twisted, and surreal as it continues, but season 12 broke from the show’s usual formula. Unlike earlier outings of the horror anthology series, American Horror Story: Delicate is based on a novel, Danielle Valentine’s Delicate Condition. Delicate tells the story of Emma Roberts’ Anna Alcott, an ambitious actor who struggles to maintain her sanity while balancing pregnancy with an awards campaign.
The subject of pregnancy has given this outing some of American Horror Story’s most disturbing episodes in a long time, as the series revels in gruesome emergency C-sections, traumatic births, and violent medical maladies. Anna suffered a miscarriage early on, only to become pregnant again soon after. In the episodes since, she became convinced that her husband Dex, her publicist Siobhan, and a host of other characters were secretly trying to sabotage her pregnancy. The truth, however, looks like it will be something even darker and stranger, judging by the events of season 12, episode 8, “Little Gold Man.”
7. American Horror Story Season 12 Revealed Another Victim of Delicate’s Cult
Delicate Introduced Mia Farrow During The Rosemary’s Baby Shoot
“Little Gold Man” began with a flashback to 1967 as Mia Farrow shot the seminal horror classic Rosemary’s Baby with director Roman Polanski. After a tense lunch date with Frank Sinatra, Farrow undertook a dangerous stunt that involved walking through Manhattan traffic. This real-life incident soon turned to fiction as Farrow returned to her dressing room and felt her costume’s fake pregnancy bump moving by itself. As blood poured between her legs, Farrow panicked and desperately called for help. A reassuring, familiar voice told her to calm down and promised to save her.
When Farrow followed the voice’s instructions and removed her costume, the bleeding vanished. American Horror Story: Delicate revealed Kim Kardashian’s Siobhan is part of the season’s villainous cut as she entered Farrrow’s dressing room and offered her an unsettling smile. Kardashian’s Siobhan has been teased as Delicate’s villain since episode 1 but, until now, the show never quite confirmed that she was part of the supernatural cult dedicated to tampering with pregnancies. This cold open finally proved that she was central to the cult, just like Nicolette and Ivy.
6. American Horror Story: Delicate’s Siobhan Is Part of the Cult
Kim Kardashian’s Character Was Finally Revealed To Be An Ageless Villain
Earlier episodes of American Horror Story: Delicate featured similar cold opens where major recurring characters were revealed to be ageless cultists who had engineered various events throughout history. Since Siobhan was the last person to see Hamish alive before his suspicious death, it seemed almost certain that she was one of season 12’s villains. However, the publicist played her cards close to her chest and, until “Little Gold Man,” American Horror Story season 12 could technically have revealed that Siobhan was innocent. Her disregard for Hamish and Babette Eno’s lives might have just been tasteless oversharing.
5. Dex Had An Affair With Dr. Hill’s Assistant
Tavi Gevinson’s Cora Has Been Sleeping With Anna’s Husband
Anna visited Ms. Preecher in hospital but she was signed out by a group of unseen women before Anna could speak candidly with her. Anna then discovered that she was nominated for an Oscar while in the hospital, and soon she was joined by Siobhan at a glamorous campaign event. Even though Preecher warned Anna to steer clear of Siobhan in American Horror Story season 12 episode 6, the glamor of the awards circuit soon saw Anna forget her fears. During the event, Anna stumbled upon Dr. Hill’s assistant, Cora, and recognized her cape from Anna’s home invasion weeks earlier.
Cora immediately admitted that she was the one who broke into Anna’s house six episodes earlier, and it was not long before her explanation got convoluted. Dex began an affair with Cora after meeting her during Anna’s fertility treatment, and he hooked her up with an apartment that, inexplicably, had a live video link to his and Anna’s home. Obsessed with Anna, Cora continued her affair with Dex and began to watch Anna every day. Her behavior soon grew even weirder as Dex kept hiding his extramarital activities from his wife.
4. American Horror Story: Delicate’s Original Villain Wasn’t In The Cult
Cora Broke Into Anna’s Apartment and Gaslit Her
Cora broke into Anna’s apartment numerous times so she could rearrange things, tear up notes, and generally gaslight Dex’s wife. Dr. Hill’s assistant never provided a clear explanation for her motive beyond being obsessed with Anna, meaning the break-in that occurred at the beginning of the season had nothing to do with Delicate’s villainous cult. Ironically, Cora was confessing everything to Anna so that she could warn her about the cult since, although she recently attempted to make Anna question her own sanity, Cora was now worried about Anna’s safety.
Cora explained that Dr. Hill’s patients never have their babies and that the women who work for him are part of a shady organization who trade these infants for power, money, or something equally awful. American Horror Story season 12’s timing was terrible here, since viewers already know the nature of the cult. After Ivy was revealed to be an ageless supernatural entity in the preceding episode, it was pretty easy to surmise that Dr. Hill was working with them. Still, someone needed to clue in Anna, and it ended up being her husband’s mistress.
3. American Horror Story: Delicate Paid Off 1 Surreal Obsession
Season 12 Episode 9 Made Sense Of The Show’s Spider Imagery
After Anna’s encounter with Cora, she swiftly broke up with Dex in a bizarrely brief scene that only featured two lines of dialogue. Anna took the breakup surprisingly well, although the next morning brought challenges of its own. Anna woke up with spider legs, finally justifying the spider imagery in American Horror Story season 12’s promotional materials. Siobhan’s arrival forced Anna to hide her terrifying new problem, but after scraping her grotesque appendages with a razor, she was forced to reveal them to her publicist.
Inevitably, Anna’s legs magically returned to normal when she revealed them to Siobhan, and she decided not to share her nightmarish ordeal with Kardashian’s blunt character. On the way to the Oscars, Siobhan commended Anna for breaking up with Dex and Anna finally confronted Siobhan about Preecher. Siobhan dismissed Preecher as a hater, prompting Anna to ask Siobhan whether she was involved with the tragic death of Babette Eno. Siobhan laughed off this ludicrous accusation and, relieved, Anna stepped on to the red carpet at the Academy Awards.
2. Anna Went Into Labor At The Oscars
American Horror Story: Delicate’s Heroine Felt Contractions During The Ceremony
Seconds after joining the red carpet, Anna walked into Babette Eno’s ghost, complete with a head reattached via Frankenstein stitches. Anna almost fainted in shock, but Siobhan caught her. Anna finished the red carpet without further incident. As the pair took their seats, Anna realized she was experiencing contractions, but Siobhan encouraged her to ignore them until after her category was announced. Again, if it weren’t for the cold open revealing her villainous nature, Kardashian’s character could have just been a particularly callous caricature of professionals in the entertainment industry.
Finally, Anna went into labor at the Oscars while her category was being announced, but a disarmingly calm Siobhan insisted that she should stay in her seat and wait it out. As Anna listened to the nominees, Siobhan placed a gloved hand on her pregnancy bump and asked whether she would be willing to give up everything for professional success. Anna agreed to this Faustian bargain and the moment she did, her name was announced. Siobhan congratulated Anna a second before she won, confirming that she either has supernatural powers or an outsized influence on the Oscars.
1. Anna Won Best Actress
American Horror Story Season 12’s First Storyline Finally Ended
After losing her husband and possibly her mind, Anna finally won her hard-earned Oscar in “Little Gold Men.” Dazed, she got up to make her acceptance speech and envisioned the entire venue empty except for her mother. Grace Gummer’s American Horror Story: Delicate character returned to give her daughter a standing ovation while fighting back tears, while Anna finally got to enjoy her moment in the spotlight after weeks of gaslighting, trauma, hallucinations, betrayals, delusions, and assorted injuries. Her fantasy faded as Anna realized she was standing on stage in silence, and she was led off by two men.
Although everything worked out in her favor, it was no coincidence that Anna’s fate in the episode’s ending mirrored Ms. Preecher’s in its opening scene. Both women were dragged out of an event when attendees were disturbed by their conduct, which echoed a sentiment Siobhan shared during her conversation with Anna. Siobhan warned Anna that there were two types of women in the world; successful winners and spiteful losers. Since Ms. Preecher told Anna earlier in American Horror Story that she traded her pregnancy for professional success and regretted this, it seemed like history was about to repeat itself.
