American Horror Story: Apocalypse E4 — Could It Be….Satan? recap

The Council convenes at The Hawthorne School for Boys. Image courtesy of FX.

Ariel eventually convinces everyone that he should get Michael from jail so that they can train him in the ways of the light-working warlock, so that they can finally be on top of the game. Within a very short time, Michael has learned how to perform all the tasks that make him a level four warlock, at which time, the warlocks call on the witches from the Council to meet them at the school.

We see another familiar face at the beautiful New Orleans estate where the witches reside, which is none other than Zoe Benson (Taissa Farmiga), teaching a class to a new group of young witches, among them being Mallory. She’s able to turn a white rose into a whirling bunch of blue butterflies. I wonder when she’ll remember this about herself?

The Council, which now consists of Cordelia Foxx, Zoe Benson, and Myrtle Snow, arrives at the Hawthorne School. Ariel presents the idea of their candidate for Alpha performing “The Seven Wonders.” Cordelia says that she wouldn’t want to put anyone through that because it would be tantamount to signing Michael’s death sentence. She refers to Misty Day who died during her test because she took it too soon.

The Warlocks strike back with the accusation that she doesn’t really care too much about her people because she left Queenie to die. This is when something really cool happens. In a flashback, we are taken back to somewhere I thought we’d never revisit but I’m so happy we did, The Hotel Cortez. A lot of people had mixed feelings about AHS: Hotel but it is undoubtedly one of my absolute favorites of the series, right after Murder House and Coven. 

Cordelia explains that she went on an exhaustive search for Queenie, and finally discovered that her ghost was living in Hotel Cortez. She went there to retrieve her, where she is found sitting in one of the rooms, playing cards with one of my favorite Evan Peters’ AHS incarnations, late hotel owner, James Marsh. That is when we see Cordelia attempting to remove Queenie from the hotel, but just like in Murder House, any time Queenie leaves the hotel, she is transported right back to where she was, playing cards with a serial killer from the 20’s..forever.

Cordelia says she refuses to allow Michael to go through the seven wonders. During this conversation amongst the council and the warlocks, Michael uses his psychic devil powers to figure out that Queenie is at Hotel Cortez.

Somewhere we didn’t think we’d return to, The Hotel Cortez. image courtesy of FX

Unlike Cordelia, Michael is able to lead Queenie out of the building which builds up an entire sea of questions as to what’s going to happen once we revisit the Murder House, which I’m still thinking that the Outpost/Hawthorne School For Boys is built on the grounds, but we shall see.

After getting Queenie out of the hotel, leaving James with no one to play with, Michael says “One more stop”, which I thought meant going to the Murder House, but nope, not yet. Instead, my question from last week gets answered. How did Madison Montgomery appear in last week’s episode if she’s in hell?

Madison Montgomery’s version of hell is somewhat similar to my own. Image courtesy of FX.

More from American Horror Story

• What’s up with season 12 of American Horror Story?
• The other AHS season 12 teaser big reveal (besides Kim Kardashian)
• Where can I watch American Horror Story, and what is it about?
• American Horror Story alumni Evan Peters and Ryan Murphy win Golden Globe awards
• AHS: NYC showcases a very real kind of horror story

We see Madison Montgomery working in a big box retail store, replete with ugly turquoise vest and all, ringing up customers. The customers recognize her from when she was famous. They call her a nobody. She says “You’re a nobody, you don’t even exist, you’re just a bit player in my personal hell”. Madison is one of the few people, out of all the ones we saw in Coven that went there, who knows where she is.

Michael then approaches her and she says “You don’t belong here.” She then explains that she knows she’s in hell. She then sees Queenie with him and goes up to hug her. Queenie is not into it. “I told him that he should let you stay here,” she says, among other non PG things. Then the three walk out of hell, and at the very end of the episode, we see Michael, Queenie, and Madison approaching the Hawthorne school, just as the Council is exiting. Cordelia faints, because she can’t believe her eyes, and the episode ends.

Next week, we’re sure to find out more, for example, why is Madison with Cordelia and not Michael when she arrives at Outpost 3? Why aren’t Queenie and Zoe with them? Who is Mallory really? Where does Coco fit into all of this? And so so so so many more. I’m excited to see what happens next. Are you?

Fan of American Horror Story? Enjoying Apocalypse on FX? Let the other horror heads know what you think in the comment section below.