Thursday, November 14, 2019

My Review of American Horror Story: 1984 - Final Girl


Written by Crystal Liu
Directed by John J. Gray

Brooke (to Donna): "I guess we're both the final girl."

Gotta be honest - I knew that this show was somewhat going to subvert the infamous trope this episode was named after and having both Brooke and Donna make it out of Camp Redwood alive (even things were a bit touch and go) absolutely worked for me. Of course, we also got a Final Boy in the mix.

Having sat out the previous two seasons, Finn Wittrock came back for the finale as an adult version of Bobby Ritcher and naturally the handsome lad wanted a bit of insight into his father's history with the forgotten camp. Both Montana and Trevor were more than happy to fill him in on that while at the same time doing their best to protect him from Richard Ramirez.

Bobby managed to make it out of Redwood alive, even though Ramirez did get to stab but things didn't become totally clear for him until he met up with Donna and Brooke in the second half of the episode. Donna working in an asylum filled Bobby in on his father being a victim of Margaret's machinations while also pointing out how the latter eventually got her just desserts.

Of course there was also the mystery of who was giving Bobby money all the years throughout his childhood and that was resolved when it was revealed that Brooke was alive and had built a pretty nice life for herself, even though she had kept her distance from Donna. It was nice to see both women reunite and while the makeup department didn't convincingly age up either Emma Roberts or Angelica Ross that much, I'm just glad both of them survived.

As for Bobby - he went back to the camp again, nearly got killed by Margaret, was saved by his father and grandmother and told by Montana to live his life but not to forget the ghosts of the camp as they've formed their own peaceful-ish community to punish Margaret and Ramirez for the rest of time.

I wish we had gotten more scenes with Bobby, Benjamin and Lavinia but the material we did get was satisfying enough. I also forgotten how great Finn Wittrock can be on the show and I seriously hope he's back next season in whatever capacity that Ryan Murphy and company can get him for.

- Chet apparently swings both ways and he nearly copped with Chef Bertie while they were watching over Ramirez.
- Ray was the one to make sure Brooke didn't die in Redwood and Brooke herself made sure that Trevor died there after Margaret killed him outside the camp.
- Standout music: Mike + The Mechanics The Living Years for the final moments of this episode.
- Chronology: 2019 for the duration of this episode but also Halloween 1989 for the flashbacks.

Final Girl marks a very satisfying ending to what was a wonderfully fantastic season. While it would've been to have kept the whole in 1984, the second half of this season really ramped things up and this finale brought it all home. This season is definitely now a Top 3 favourite for me.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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