It would be so easy to take something like this personal, but the finale to Red Tide does bring up a lot of interesting points and, more to the point, it’s fiction on a level that might go over the heads of some folks and hit the nail right on the head for others. The discussion of talent, who has the raw, unfettered type and those that think they have it but are fooling themselves, has been a huge part of this first half of American Horror Story season 10, and it’s been amusing to be certain. But like all things, it had to come to an end before moving onto the second half in the coming week. The finale was a little bit anticlimactic, but for the fans of AHS that have been watching since season 1 that’s not entirely out of character since the denouement that comes after is often stretched just enough that it makes sense and can even lead to the open endings that we’ve become used to. But the way things happened in Red Tide made it clear that there wouldn’t be a lot of winners coming out of this particular fracas.
As was expected, Harry, Alma, and Ursula were finally confronted by Austin and Belle, but in a way that felt more like cowardice than any real confrontation given that Belle nabbed Harry’s infant son Eli to use as a bargaining chip. Upon arriving at the Chemist’s home, where the trio of Austin, Belle, and the Chemist waited with little Eli, Harry and Alma were definitely outmatched despite the fact that the two blood-sucking writers were far better with the pen and typewriter than a blade. One could say that the two of them were exposed in a way that made them appear far more pitiful than the strong and empowered beings they thought themselves to be. When Ursula put her plan into motion however things became extremely chaotic as the pale folk, lured by the promise of revenge, broke into the Chemist’s home and slaughtered both Belle and Austin before being dispatched by Ursula. It was beyond obvious that Ursula is just as vicious as anyone, and this kind of proves it since her machinations continued to move forward as Alma made it clear to her father that he wouldn’t be joining them on the next leg of their journey.
It’s not too surprising that Harry wasn’t allowed to move forward in the story, and it’s not even that surprising that Alma was the one to end him, since her obsession with perfection and being the best didn’t leave much room for a father that wanted things to go back to normal. After all, this is a girl who condemned her own mother to being a pale person and was feeding on her brother at one point as well. Alma definitely gets a vote for being one of the most vicious and devious individuals on the show, since while some might not have expected her to be this way, the young girl showed her obsession early on when it came to her musical ability, and it didn’t take much for her to turn on her father when he let his guard down. Sadly, Harry wanted a life away from the pills, a life with his family, and that didn’t factor into the plans that Ursula had made.
The issue of talent and who really has it became a major plot point throughout the entire first half of season 10, which makes it easy to wonder what’s going to happen with the second half. While the whole idea is fiction it’s likely to make some people wonder what might happen if a pill really did exist that could unlock one’s hidden potential or expose the fact that a person doesn’t have any. It’s also interesting to wonder if the Chemist ever took her own creation or was content to watch what it did to others. Plus, what would happen if Ursula ever took the pill? She certainly has the gift of gab and can talk her way into or out of anything it would appear, but is that a survival trait or true talent? There are a lot of questions that have been left unanswered by the time the credits roll, but the understanding is that this is likely one of the most tragic and dangerous endings to a season of AHS that one can remember.
It also makes it easy to wonder what’s going to be coming with the next half of the season and how it will all end up tying together since AHS has taken viewers on a ride from a single house that’s located over the gateway to hell, to the end of the world and back again. Trying to anticipate what will come next is getting a little more difficult with each season.
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