Only in the American Horror Story universe are you not totally dumbfounded by the fact that the cold open just made you go back and check if you’re watching the right show. And when a narrative is this unpredictable and the horror creeps you out way more than it sends chills down your spine, you know that Delicate is finally on its way to achieving cult status. Just like the rest of the deliciously morbid seasons that make American Horror Story what it is. Witches, satanic abuse, demonic children, and the freakiest pregnancy craving combined—Anna might just get nominated for the Most Miserable Pregnant Woman Award. At least throwing up on the stage wouldn’t be that big of a deal.
Spoilers Ahead
Things Have Been Brewing For A While
If you’d heard me squeal at the top of my lungs when episode 4’s cold open took us way back to 15th-century England to be treated to a demonic royal birth, you’d know that you weren’t the only one shocked. It turns out that our terrifying goth twins were in the wicked doula business long before Anna came to be. But the queen wasn’t getting a royal heir. What the satanic exchange cost her was the sinister birth of a “monster”. But as long as England gets a fruitful reign, no means is unreasonable, right? And when infertility was the price to pay for having the audacity to refuse the witches (most likely) played by our recurring American Horror Story favorites Leslie Grossman and Billie Lourd, you can imagine why women didn’t have much of a choice back then.
Are Ashley And Ashleigh Witches?
Who’s going to tell Anna that a dead, decomposing raccoon carcass isn’t her baby? Nicolette sure wouldn’t dare cross the “animal lover,” who’s just trying to bring the poor thing back to life. And Dex? Judging by the way he’s been concocting tales to comfort his crestfallen wife, all Anna’s being buried under are layers of gaslighting and manipulation tactics that are getting increasingly less convincing. But he sure is mixed up in whatever horror Anna’s been going through, as there couldn’t be any other rational way of explaining how he could’ve been privy to what Cora’d told Anna about the good ol’ Miss Preecher.
But Anna’s got bigger territories to conquer. For starters, the woman in black don’t seem to be leaving her side. And to add to her already overwhelming amount of stress, she’s got to revive the image that’s apparently in the sewer system ever since her projectile embarrassment at the award show. And who better than Ashley and Ashleigh, the sketchy immortals (seemingly) who were awaiting the demonic baby’s birth for 6,000 years in the 15th century, to woke-wash Anna’s public image? No sleep is to be lost over a PR team of two witches whom even the likes of Meryl Streep have to thank for taking care of their career-dooming mistakes. And considering Siobhan is playing a double (or could be triple) game to get Anna that sweet, sweet Golden Globe nom, I doubt she has her bestie’s best interests at heart.
Did Dex’s Father Practice Satanism?
If my MIL dropped by unannounced only to lend me a snarky gesture of support and to talk my husband into backing her as she’s suing her husband, I’d have lost about half of my hair and shattered a mirror into pieces too. I am, however, not Anna, and I definitely wouldn’t have gone down the basement to cradle a dead raccoon as though it were my baby. Another day of thanking the universe for not making me a character in American Horror Story, I suppose. It’s hard to read Dex at times, though. One moment, he’s the obnoxious guy telling the most ridiculous lies to his wife. The next moment, he’s defending her honor and feelings in front of his mother, who, from the looks of it, Dex might’ve inherited most of his bad traits from. But here’s the thing about cycles of abuse, especially the generational kind. A person can just as easily be the victim of one and the perpetrator of another. And judging by Dex’s mother’s bone-chilling notions about her having repressed memories of her husband drugging her and abusing her through satanic ritualistic means, the whole thing could be tied up to Anna’s current circumstances.
Is Anna Pregnant With A Demonic Baby
As a longtime fan of the show, it’s truly fascinating to see how the Murphy-Falchuk duo has passed the baton to a truly worthy successor. Through Halley Feiffer’s astute understanding and, to some extent, her internalization of each exclusive element that makes American Horror Story what it is, “Delicate” has achieved the exact look and feel that’ve kept us hooked for over a decade. That’s a hard-to-miss quality in episode 4, as you willfully give in to the labyrinthine mystery, knowing fully well that it’s just going to get more complicated. Thank your stars if you didn’t give yourself a seizure trying to keep your focus still while simultaneously jotting down everything sketchy about practically every single person around Anna. It’s tremendously likely that, despite being more than a tad unstable and sort of, you know what, Dex’s mom is spot on about her Satanist husband. And if you’re to entertain the possibility that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, you may as well wonder if Dex isn’t doing a toned-down version of the same to his wife.
If you know American Horror Story, you know it’d be a waste of time and sanity to wonder exactly what kind of shady deal Siobhan’s made that involves the witless director of Anna’s hit film. But since you’re here already, let’s take the ride anyway. Hamish clearly didn’t come up with the narrative of The Auteur. But Anna desperately needed a hit so she didn’t end up just another washed-up nobody. And who stands to gain from Anna’s success? Her publicist, of course. And if you’re willing to speculate that Siobhan’d offered Anna’s demonic baby to the witchy PR duo in exchange for a film that’d turn both her and her client’s lives around, that automatically makes a lot of the stray pieces fall into place. But how many witches are actually around Anna?
Judging by the not-so-subtle congratulatory mention of “sisterhood” by Nicolette, Talia’s house is probably being managed by a witch. But Anna’s especially wound up. Nurse Ivy’s cryptic appearance right after Anna’s happy diagnosis by the clueless Hollywood doctor did make me go down yet another rabbit hole. What if, and bear with me here, Nurse Ivy and Miss Preecher are on Anna’s side and have been trying to stop her from conceiving the spawn of the devil? That’d surely explain why Ivy made her miscarry her baby. But as the ending sequence of the episode suggests, Anna may just be a bit beyond help. The wild combination of ice cream and pickles does make sense as a pretty common pregnancy craving. But any sane person would draw the line at gorging on a maggot-infested dead animal. What started as a loss of time, hair, spotless skin, and peace of mind is heading towards a loss of sanity. Even the Golden Globes nomination can’t be worth such a rotten diet, right?
