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AHS: Apocalypse E6 — Return to Murder House (Recap)

By Lorry Kikta

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Madison Montgomery and Behold Chablis revisit Michael Langdon’s birthplace, “The Murder House.” So many  twists and turns occurred in this episode that’s bound to be a fan favorite for years to come.

Caution: Extremely detailed spoilers ahead so watch the episode!

OH MY LORD, I am still reeling from last night’s episode of American Horror Story. It’s as if Ryan Murphy read every American Horror Story fan’s mind and did everything all of us hardcore devotees from the first season would have wanted.

We start out with Behold Chablis (Billy Porter) and Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts) traveling to Los Angeles to discover everything they could about Michael Langdon via visiting his birth place. Which we all know is where Michael Langdon’s tour de terrible began, The Murder House.

Madison and Behold masquerade as a married couple when they go to the house with plans to buy it. The realtor discloses to Madison and Behold that 36 murders had taken place in the house and that the real estate company couldn’t be held liable for any accidents that took place on the property.

Anyway, Madison and Behold let the realtor know that they don’t care about the murders, and they get to move in right away. Immediately both Behold and Madison know the energy from the house is off. Madison declares “WHAT THE F— HAPPENED IN THIS HOUSE” immediately upon entering. They then come to the consensus that they’ll need to do a spell to get the spirits in the house to become visible.

After the spell is done, we see Gladys (one of the nurses murdered by a serial killer on a spree in the ’60s) stroll through a hallway in the distance. That’s when Madison and Behold know that they’re in and can start doing the work they need to discover Michael’s origins.

It’s interesting to find out that the same dynamics exist as years prior. Violet is still avoiding Tate, and Tate still wants her back. I will say that at the outset of the Apocalypse season, I didn’t think Tate would be involved, because Evan Peters was playing Mr. Gallant. However, as soon as Mr. Gallant died AND we got an appearance from his Hotel character James Marsh, I had a pretty good feeling that we would see Tate again, and I’m very glad we did.

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Another returning favorite is Ben Harmon, played by the excellent Dylan McDermott. Funnily enough, years upon years later, Dr. Harmon is still counseling Tate in his office. Madison asks the two of them whether or not they have any information about Michael and Tate doesn’t want to talk about it. Dr. Harmon said that he couldn’t do it right now because he had plans to “Look out the window and cry while I masturbate” which is a very tongue-in-cheek reference to something that Dr. Harmon’s character absolutely would do, and McDermott’s delivery is incredibly dry which makes it all the more funny.

The duo is starting to feel like they aren’t getting anywhere. Then another one of Sarah Paulson’s multiple iterations, Billie Dean Howard, psychic to the stars, enters. Madison refers to her as a “Sh—y Miss Cleo” but then, the moment we’ve all been waiting for occurs. Constance Langdon descends the stairs, and says “I’m Constance Langdon and this is my f—ing house.” I wasn’t sure before this season started how exactly Constance would factor into the plot, but when we had flashbacks of Kathy Bates of Miriam Meade, I had a feeling that Constance might have died in the house, but I wasn’t 100% sure.

After a little bit of chit chat, Madison asks Constance what the “hot goss” is on her grandson, Michael Langdon.

“I know more about that boy than anything, but I don’t spill a drop of tea for free.”

Constance’s proposal is for Madison and Behold get rid of Moira (Frances Conroy). If you can remember, however, Moira’s greatest wish was to be out of the house and to be with her mother. Surprisingly, Madison wants to do the right thing. She wants to find her bones and remove Moira from the property so that her soul may finally rest. She’s successful and Moira finally gets what she always wanted, which is to be with her mother in heaven.

At this point Constance regaled Behold and Madison with the tale of Michael Langdon’s young life. She admitted that she made mistakes raising Tate but that Michael was her destiny, because she was “born to be a mother”.

Soon after that, he aged a decade overnight to become the Michael we see now (Cody Fern). It was after this happened that she realized her true destiny was to raise monsters.

Michael continued to get worse after becoming a teenager out of nowhere. He almost strangles Constance to death, but you can tell that there is something inside him that is trying to stop the evil part, and he cries and apologizes profusely when he stops.  She said that Michael had shattered her beyond recovery and that “If I had corrected his grammar one more time, he would slit my throat”. So, she went to the Murder House to kill herself, so that she could be with her children forever.

Our witches next stop is to talk to Dr. Harmon. After he sees Michael crying about Constance’s death, he offers to counsel the young man. He tells Madison and Behold that Michael “wanted to be good, desperately.” Michael also wanted to be close to Tate, his biological father, but Tate will not lay claim to him as a son and yells at him to stay away from him. Michael is upset by this, because he feels lonely. At that point, the house sells to a 30-something couple. Michael kills both of the women the moment they come in.

Dr. Harmon yells at Michael that “they’re good people, they deserved a chance, now they’ll have to spend eternity here”. At the mention of that, Michael sets both of the new owners’ souls on fire. “He murdered their bodies and destroyed their souls.”

Of course Ben and Vivien have problems again, even in the afterlife. This time, Vivien is mad at Ben for spending time with Michael when she knew immediately that something was off about him. She enters the room and forgives Ben again.

She tells our witches that “It won’t be easy. It’s not just evil, he’s not just a bad witch.” She then proceeds to say “Nothing about Michael is natural to me.” She had a bad feeling about him when he was in the house, after Constance died. The house became about ten degrees hotter, a murder of crows was constantly flying over the house and blood would rain from the sky.

As if that weren’t bad enough, things change drastically once visitors arrive. Three hooded figures approach the door. Michael opens it and we see Miriam Meade, accompanied by a bald bearded man in the center, and Pepper (Naomi Grossman). The bald man is none other than Anton Lavey (Carlo Rota; Boondock Saints), leader of the real life Church of Satan, who (in reality) died in 1997. It’s quite hilarious that they chose to portray Anton Lavey as the ring leader of actual worshippers of Satan, because Lavey’s message was always more philosophical than religious. His representation as a truly evil figure is a nod to the “Satanic Panic” of the ’80s and ’90s.

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This is when the mythical Black Mass takes place. Vivien decides she has to kill Michael. She approaches his room while he’s sleeping and just like Damien from The Omen, he has a 666 birthmark.

Vivien tries to stab Michael but he wakes up and starts the process of setting her soul on fire, but who rescues her in the nick of time but Tate. This seems uncharacteristic of him, but we discover something. Madison approaches Violet before Behold and she are about to leave the house. She tells Violet that Tate was under the influence of the evil that was present in this house when he did the horrible things he did to so many people.

She also says that Tate wasn’t Michael’s father, the evil was, and since Michael was no longer in the house, the evil that was in Tate is now gone. She blows some kind of dust in her face and finally, Violet realizes that Tate has indeed changed. They kiss and are finally reunited in what must be the biggest tribute to fans Ryan Murphy has done so far in the series.

light. Related Story. American Horror Story: Apocalypse E5 — The Boy Wonder (Recap)

Fan of American Horror Story? Keeping up with Apocalypse? Let the other horror heads know what you think in the comment section below.

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