Spoilers below for American Horror Story: Double Feature first episode for Part II: Death Valley, so be warned!
After delivering its creative-junkie twist to northeastern vampire lore, American Horror Story: Double Feature flew across the country to New Mexico, and I think it's safe to say that trip was taken inside a flying object of the unidentified variety. And with the first installment of this four-episode "Death Valley" arc, the FX anthology saw my over-arching theory about the season — which admittedly hadn't become anything super-intricate yet, given the lack of details — and raised it by a couple of sharp left turns. Which, if we're being honest, is exactly what I want from American Horror Story. So let's get into it.
The TLDR Version Of My Theory: American Horror Story: Double Feature will connect its two parts by ending on an alien/human hybrid-creature having a child with one of the vampires from the "Red Tide" section, and that offspring bangs the antichrist, and maybe the Infantata and Twisty the Clown are involved. Or at least watching from behind a veneer of disgust. Nothing too outlandish, but basically setting up the most evil and sadistic creation that this franchise has ever seen! Now let's talk about how AHS already added a few curveballs into the mix.
Everybody Getting Pregnant Out Here, Not Just The Females
Okay, I'll admit it. When I was picturing these various pregnancies happening between the half-alien/half-human creatures and the pill-pocked bloodsuckers, I was only picturing a female as the pregnant one. But American Horror Story: Double Feature laughed in the face of such limitations. First, we get the reveal that Lily Rabe's newly-returned-to-America aviator Amelia Earhart was abducted and impregnated by aliens who have mysterious controlling powers over technology AND time itself. Then, after introducing four present-day leads who went on a technology-free camping trip — Kaia Gerber's Kendall Carr, Rachel Hilson's Jamie Howard, Nico Greetham's Cal Cambon and Isaac Powell's Troy Lord — the episode "Take Me To Your Leader" ended on the hoot-worthy reveal that the quartet's mysterious abduction got everyone pregnant! And Cam and Troy are in a relationship, for what that's worth in this madness.
So if this storyline is truly introducing the concept that males can get pregnant, that opens up a lot of new theory avenues for where American Horror Story: Double Feature could go next. Especially if Amelia Earhart is somehow going to serve as one of the first mothers of the alien-human race. It's obviously a good time to bring other kinds of characters in that you might not think would make for a good evolution-bucking hybrid. Is this a good time for the show to bring Bastien the Minotaur back into the fold? (Well, probably not into the 1950s storyline, at least.) Also not a good time for Dr. Alden's experiments to return, even if I'm interested to see if AHS: Asylum's Kit and Alma Walker, as portrayed by Evan Peters and Britne Oldford, or their daughter Julia will be involved in any way.
The Aliens Can Make People's Heads Explode, Scanners-Style
This sweet-ass detail doesn't necessarily up-end anything from my theory stated above. I just didn't predict that the extraterrestrials would have the power to telepathically make people's heads explode. It's the kind of visual element that immediately brings David Cronenberg's Scanners to mind, even though it's obviously also been used in other films and TV shows. (Perhaps most recently and effectively in The Boys' second season.) And hey, anytime someone adds a few unexpected head explosions into a TV show, I'm not going to complain. Especially in the black-and-white section of the storyline, where the gore looked extra well-made, just without being quite as nasty.
While we're talking science fiction thriller influences, the alien autopsy scene was an almost too-faithful send up of the first appearance of the Facehugger in Ridley Scott's Alien. Though it did end with a head exploding, which I think we've all agreed is a great way to add some flavor to a scene. And to the walls and floor. I guess one other way American Horror Story: Double Feature could take things over the top is if Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk somehow brought in a well-known alien creature from a completely different fictional property and really turned this into a multiverse situation. What if Venom and Carnage are involved, too? The rabbit hole never ends, people! It goes right to the top with Neal McDonough's President Dwight D. Eisenhower!
With three episodes left to go in the anthology's tenth season, American Horror Story: Double Feature airs Wednesday nights on FX at 10:00 p.m. ET, and streams the next day through FX on Hulu. Be sure to keep track of all the other spooky TV shows heading into the Halloween season with our 2021 Fall TV premiere schedule.
