American Horror Story: Apocalypse - 6 Major Questions Raised By The Finale

Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead

American Horror Story: Apocalypse has been quite the ride. After four mediocre seasons of AHS in a row, the new season started off strong with a literal bang, as the bombs drop and the world ends, and eventually delivered on the promise of bringing together two of its most popular seasons: Murder House and Coven.

While this season was by no means perfect, it was a lot more enjoyable than some of the preceding seasons, but there was one big problem that lingered over the entire run of episodes: if it begins with the payoff (the end of the world), where does it go from there?

While we got a series of flashback episodes that built up to the catastrophe (and where we saw a reunion of the Coven characters and a crossover with Murder House), how can you pull off a satisfying conclusion when we already know how it ends? The finale, titled Apocalypse Then, answers this question: you travel back in time and undo it all, of course.

Fine. Michael, the Antichrist, is dead and the apocalypse is prevented, so we should celebrate, right? Well, no, because changing the past not only has significant consequences for these characters, but completely undoes everything we've seen the entire season. It weakens Apocalypse as a result because the whole season becomes pointless.

It also raises some major questions about not only the season itself, but how it impacts the series going forward.

Okay, so this one isn't as big as other questions from the finale, but it's one that needs to be addressed: Was there a reason for Misty to return at all in the fifth episode, Boy Wonder?

Yes, it was important for Michael's character, as bringing her back from hell was a testament to how powerful he really is. But it made Misty a mere plot device for Michael, because after that episode she inexplicably disappears from the season until the finale, after which this episode was undone anyway.

Her return may have been emotional for the other witches, especially Cordelia, but since she's entirely absent from anything that occurs afterwards - notably the final battle against Michael - you have to wonder why they bothered to bring her back at all.

This was only reaffirmed by Apocalypse Then, when Mallory manages to set Misty free and we get yet another reunion between Misty and Cordelia. Wouldn't it have been more emotional to save her return entirely for the finale after the apocalypse was prevented if they weren't going to do anything with her anyway? And does she get another dance with Stevie Nicks?