Spidery spoilers are creeping around below for the season premiere of American Horror Story: Delicate, so be warned!
FX’s annual spooky season delight American Horror Story brought mega-celeb Kim Kardashian into the star-studded Season 12 cast, but the core story for this cycle is centered squarely on married couple Anna and Dexter, played respectively by franchise vet Emma Roberts and Gilmore Girls vet Matt Czuchry. The pair’s goals of starting a larger family together were at the heart (and womb) of the debut episode, “Multiply Thy Pain,” though it was immediately clear that something was and is awry concerning the show’s medical professionals, with Denis O’Hare’s Dr. Hill being a geyser of red flags. But it was Dexter Harding’s past tragedy that sparked my theory-hungry attention the most, in regards to how it could relate to one of the following disturbing and heinous potential scenarios listed below:
- 1. Anna is going to have a baby, and Dexter is going to eat it.
- 2. The baby is somehow going to consume Anna herself.
Stay with me here, because I'm not just writing about infant-oriented cannibalism because that's just how I choose to spend my work hours these days. Stay with me here, because I'm not just writing about infant-oriented cannibalism because that's just how I choose to spend my work hours these days. This conjecture stems from a pair of presumed mythological references, as well as the frequent references to the eight-legged creatures that have been all over American Horror Story: Delicate’s marketing.
Dexter’s Wife Ran And Died In A Restaurant Named Hestia
Let’s already make it clear that I’m leagues away from being anything resembling an expert in Greek mythology, so none of my ideas would hold up in anything but kangaroo court, but there are still some clear and easy connections for anyone to make. The news article Anna read about Dexter’s late wife Adeline noted that she died on August 10, 2013, in an accidental kitchen fire at her restaurant Hestia, where she’d rather quickly risen to James Beard Award-winning fame.
Sister to Zeus, Hestia was Ancient Greece’s goddess of the hearth, which already makes enough symbolic sense for why it was chosen as the name of the eatery itself, and with the concept of fire also serving as more ghoulish connective tissue. But beyond that, Hestia was also notable for refusing to marry, and choosing to remain a childless virgin, which seems like it has to be connected to Dexter and Anna’s current push to have a child together, and why he hasn’t talked to her about his first marriage much.
Before any of that, though, an infant Hestia and several of her siblings were gobbled up by their powerful Titan father Cronus, whose horrifying actions — spoiler: not uncommon in such myths — were guided by a worry of being usurped by one of his children. Zeus saved them from such digestive doom, though had his own issues with such behavior later in life.
Anna Hopes To Name Their Child Theya
While perhaps not as direct a reference as the mythology clue noted above, the fact that Dexter kept saying it’s not a name was curious, and possibly points to the idea that “Theya” is a remixed version of “Theia,” the Greek goddess of sight and vision. The name also just plainly means “goddess” or “divine.” At this point, anything that looks and quacks like a mythology reference is going to be mentally noted as one.
Since so much of AHS: Delicate’s premiere involved Anna possibly being gaslit-by-suppository, with Dexter often seeming just as non-empathetic as other characters, I think we can stretch the argument to suggest that Dexter also low-key shit on Anna’s name idea because he doesn’t want to have a daughter at all. Because, like Cronus (who was Theia’s brother) and Zeus (who consumed daughter Athena), he may be worried about female offspring being his eventual downfall.
Spiders Are Known For Eating Their Mothers, And Vice Versa
Salutations anew, those who are still with me. Similar to not being a mythology scholar, I’m also not extremely well-versed in the ins and outs of creepy-crawly creatures like spiders. But a lifelong fandom of gross facts meant I was already vaguely aware that the arachnids are among the living creatures that engage in cannibalistic methodology within their families. Though I don't think I realized that the act goes both ways, with spider children feasting upon their elder mother, as well as eight-legged matriarchs consuming their young.
All things considered, however, I don't think we need to worry about Anna having a particular taste for bitty babies anytime soon, since she'd probably worry about how that might change how she looked on camera. (Not that she seems that callous just yet, but we're just at Episode 1.) So if this season isn't gearing up for Matt Czuchry to go all Mother! on his kid, I then have to think the child will be the cause for Anna's downfall. Which may be too closely related to how things played out in the first half of Double Feature, but still.
And if you thought this section was free from Greek mythology, YOU WERE WRONG. We definitely can't ignore the existence of Arachne, the skillful weaver who challenged the aforementioned Athena to a contest, and was beaten and shamed into suicide by the vengeful goddess. Upon hanging herself, Arachne was transformed into a spider by a regretful Athena. The tale has served not only as a tall tale origin story for spiders' webbing skills, but also a cautionary fable about the dangers of being led by one's pride, which I think totally ties into Anna's career goals.
Obviously, the next American Horror Story episode could totally blow up all of my theorizing in an instant, but I don't think I'm completely off-base here. Even though that would be perfectly fine, since I don't necessarily want to see anybody eating babies in any capacity. (Not even Sugar Babies. No kinds.) The rest of the episodes haven't even finished filming yet, with this being the first AHS season to split its airing schedule in half, so maybe there's still time to change it even if that IS the way things are going.
American Horror Story: Delicate airs Wednesday nights on FX at 10:00 p.m. ET, and streams the next day with a Hulu subscription. Check out some other theories I’ve had about this season just based on the trailers and promos.
