Following the disappointment of Death Valley, American Horror Story needs to return to its old themes and connections that have made the show so great. Throughout American Horror Story’s first nine seasons, a vast universe of interconnected characters, locations, premises, and storylines has been created in a fairly satisfying manner. While the show is an anthology series that follows a new story and characters each season, it has always found a way to bring back old faces and reintroduce familiar storylines to create a fascinating in-show universe - that is, until season 10.
It was largely assumed that American Horror Story season 10’s alien return would mean answers to all of the questions left from season 2’s Asylum. Sadly, this never happened, as the entire season was contained to its own two separate stories. The quick and contained storylines for American Horror Story season 10 seemed far more reminiscent of the spin-off American Horror Stories than the original series, which did in fact connect to the main show through Murder House, but in a severely disappointing manner. Moving forward, American Horror Story needs to work on bringing back the classic themes, characters, and clever connections of seasons past.
Clearly, what long-time fans prefer after 10 years is the overlapping storylines, classic characters, and interconnected universe that American Horror Story has built. There’s a reason why American Horror Story season 8’s episode, “Return to Murder House” is the highest-rated installment in the entire series. Murder House has been referenced over and over again throughout the series, and it felt great to have the ambiguous ending from season 1 finally be fulfilled in Apocalypse - not to mention Jessica Lange made her triumphant return to the series after a three-season hiatus. Apocalypse achieved what fans had been longing for, and brought back beloved characters from two of the show’s most beloved seasons, Murder House and Coven, in a satisfying manner while also introducing new characters in a novel setting.
After such a long time on-air, fans seem to have the most fun in American Horror Story’s seasons when they begin to overlap. Hotel’s Countess going back to Murder House while Coven's Queenie becomes a Hotel Cortez guest, Freak Show featuring Asylum’s Pepper, and Apocalypse’s exciting mash-up of Coven’s witches and Murder House’s psychopaths maintains audience investment in the overall series. Not featuring any connections to past seasons or even direct links between Red Tide and Death Valley were some of the biggest critiques of American Horror Story season 10. There were no characters, locations, or references that connected season 10 back to its previous 9 seasons, which was largely disappointing and out of character for what the series has built over the past decade.
Double Feature had so much going for it by reshuffling vampires and aliens, yet it didn’t contribute anything substantial to the series with their returns. Red Tide didn’t end up connecting back to old seasons, but its exciting storyline and twist on vampire creatures made up for this loss. As for Death Valley, it provided the clearest possibility to connect back to Asylum with season 10's aliens. American Horror Story season 2 left so many of its alien plotlines ambiguous, and Death Valley would have been the perfect way to bring back Evan Peters’ Kit Walker or even his alien-connected children to contribute to the series’ universe. With American Horror Story coming back for at least 3 more seasons, hopefully, classic characters and themes can be properly shuffled back in.