American Horror Story Season 12: A Thrilling Revival That Outshines its Past Mistakes

Summary

American Horror Story season 12's split release strategy repeats the mistake of Double Feature, as one part was received part better than the other.

Red Tide received praise from critics, while Death Valley was met with negative reviews, showcasing the contrasting outcomes of Double Feature. Delicate runs the risk of encountering a similar situation if there are significant differences between the two parts.

The decision to release season 12 in two parts is not due to separate storylines, but rather in response to production disruptions. Part One is scheduled to debut in September, while no official release date has been disclosed for Part Two.

American Horror Story season 12 is repeating a past mistake, which had a negative impact on one of its strongest seasons in recent years. Despite the promising return of actors like Emma Roberts and a chilling plot reminiscent of Rosemary's Baby, American Horror Story: Delicate is following a similar release strategy that led to disappointment in season 11. The absence of familiar faces such as Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters will be felt, but season 12 has the chance to redeem the anthology series after two lackluster installments. While American Horror Story has had notable seasons like Murder House, Asylum, Coven, and Apocalypse, recent seasons have shown a decline in writing quality and character development. The start of American Horror Story: Double Feature with Red Tide seemed to indicate a promising return, but the second half, Death Valley, fell short. Unfortunately, season 12's Delicate appears to be repeating the same risky release strategy without learning from the criticism received for Double Feature.

American Horror Story: Delicate Being Split Into Multiple Parts Repeats Double Feature's Mistake

Similar to Double Feature, American Horror Story season 12 is also divided into two parts. This approach was first introduced in season 10, where the first six episodes were titled Red Tide and the remaining four episodes focused on the story of Death Valley. Although both parts shared themes of government cover-ups and experiments, Double Feature lacked a true connection between Red Tide and Death Valley. This decision proved to be a major mistake for the season.

While Red Tide received high critical acclaim, Death Valley was met with much poorer reception. Unfortunately, since both parts were part of the same Double Feature concept, the success of Red Tide became intertwined with the failures of Death Valley. There is a risk of repeating this mistake with Delicate if part one surpasses its successor in terms of success. This will heavily depend on how different the two parts are in terms of story, themes, and writing.

Why American Horror Story Season 12 Is Being Split Into Multiple Parts

In contrast to Double Feature, the split release strategy of American Horror Story season 12 does not appear to revolve around two distinct storylines for each part. Instead, the decision to have a two-part season for Delicate is a response to production shutdowns caused by strikes. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the FX series was already in production when the strikes began, leading to the first part airing the completed episodes and the second part comprising the unfinished ones. Although the premiere of American Horror Story season 12, Part One is scheduled for September 20 on FX, there is no information available regarding the release date for Part Two.