American Horror Story: Apocalypse - 2 Ups & 5 Downs From ‘Fire And Reign’

Ups...

2. The Birth Of The Cooperative

American Horror Story undoubtedly has one of the oddest narrative structures we've ever seen on television. The show often employs lengthy flashbacks and flash-forwards when they need to fill in some of the gaps in their stories. By this stage in the game, viewers are used to learning information this way, because if there's one thing we know about Ryan Murphy, it's that he really doesn't do linear storytelling.

Apocalypse is no different to previous seasons of the show, but you could be justified in arguing that it has the oddest narrative structure yet. The first three episodes of Apocalypse dealt with the aftermath of the nuclear warfare, and centred heavily around the goings-on of Outpost 9, before going back in time to fill in the blanks - and we've yet to return to the present.

During those first three episodes, authoritarian leader Wilhemina Venable often mentioned the powers that be - referring to them as the Cooperative. However, in spite of the constant mentions, very little is known about who the Cooperative actually are. That's where Fire and Reign comes in.

If the short instalment accomplishes anything, it's enlightening viewers as to who the Cooperative are, as well as making clear their part in the end of the world. Through this organisation, Michael practically has his own coven - one that will likely go head to head to Cordelia in the next episode.