Breaking Down the Ending of ‘American Horror Story: Delicate’

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Slow declining popularity and waning originality aside, American Horror Story has remained a key touchstone in TV culture since its 2011 debut. The anthology series’ latest story, Delicate, sees the return of the franchise’s familiar faces including Emma Roberts and Denis O’Hare, plus new players like Gilmore Girls’ Matt Czuchry, Pose’s Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, and pop culture figure turned billionaire mogul, Kim Kardashian. This time, Delicate—as the 12th installment in the American Horror Story universe— actuallyadapts its story from a novel from author Danielle Valentine called Delicate Condition.

The season was split into two parts, the former sect premiering in September of 2023, and the latter in April of this year. Emma Roberts helms this latest season, playing an actress balancing her twin desires—motherhood and an Oscar—aside her suspiciously handsome gallery-owning husband, Dex. The season opens with the pair’s IVF journey, with Roberts’ Anna instantly met with the supernatural forces and creepy figures that will plague her throughout her entire pregnancy. Following her IVF procedure, Anna loses the baby, only to find herself once again mysteriously pregnant not long after. We can all agree, this is not Dex’s baby, right?

There’s a lot at play here, but just think Rosemary’s Baby. The iconic film, which follows a young woman who becomes pregnant with a demon baby, is referenced heavily in Delicate and clearly serves as a major inspiration for the story. This is the world we’re working in – demon babies, dismissal of women's’ health concerns, and influences of the occult.

How did part one end?

The presence of demonic infants born of deals with the Devil runs through the entire season of Delicate. One of the hosts of said demons is a mysterious figure named Preecher, who opens the part one finale episode in a flashback to 1987, the year she gave birth to a demonic child after being promised her deepest desires by a suspicious woman. Back in present day, Preacher warns Dex’s mother that the young parents-to-be are on the radar of a Satanic cult.

In a similar offering of dream fulfillment, Anna’s publicist Siobhan asks her point blank – do you want an Oscar? Anna says yes, and the next morning wakes to learn that her greatest competitor has been suddenly decapitated in a car crash.

Do you see where we’re going here? Deals with the devil, and all that.

Now, let’s talk finale.

Part two of Delicate's season begins in a flashback to the death of Anna’s mother, who suffered a pulmonary embolism during childbirth in 1988. Fast forwarding through three episodes of demon babies and drama, we land at the finale episode. Siobhan asks Anna once more, “do you want an Oscar?,” she confirms and promptly wins the award, only for her water to break during her acceptance speech.

In the final moments of Delicate, what we've long suspected is revealed—Kim Kardashian is not of this world. Siobhan is discovered to be far more than a publicist, a demonic figure who has been feeding on the power of the pregnant for centuries. The goal? Complete and total matriarchy, which in truth, doesn't sound all that bad.

While Anna labors through screams in the back of an ambulance driven by Cara Delevingne, we are thrown into a flashback wherein we learn that Siobhan struck up a devilish deal with Dr. Hill, promising to send him wealthy patients who will do anything for a baby, as long as he follows her every command. There's a truly insane wig atop her head that cannot go unmentioned, but for fear of further confusing you in this maze of a season, dear reader, we digress.

Back in present day, Anna gives birth to a healthy baby boy, but—gasp!—her hospital bed is sat directly at the center of a pentagram, which is not ideal for infancy. Anna is informed by Siobhan's crew that she's traded her baby for her Oscar. She is also informed that Siobhan boned Dex's nasty father back in the day, and thus, is Dex's mother. BTW, Dex is dead at this point. Honestly, we're lost too and we watched the finale twice.

We are further informed that, Siobhan preserved Dex's nether regions and will use Anna as a vessel for continued breeding, and eternal youth and power for her witchy coven of hotties. Not so fast! Anna is given the chance to hold her baby and with one simple Latin chant (sent to her by the ghost of Dex's first wife) turns Siobhan to dust.

Anna is released from the demon hospital and goes on to raise a perfectly human baby boy. That, dear reader, is the ending of American Horror Story: Delicate. Exhausted? Same.

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