The finale of American Horror Story: Red Tide was driven by a devious plan by Ursula, where she used the black pills for her own gain and to the detriment of society. Part 1 of American Horror Story season 10, Double Feature, followed a small seaside town in Cade Cod, where the winter residents take a black pill made by The Chemist which gives talented individuals intense inspiration and turns untalented users into cognitively impaired Pale People. For all users, the pill also features side effects that give one aggression and an unhinged thirst for blood.
Red Tide’s final episode sees nearly all of the other vampiric characters like Harry, Belle, and Austin die at the hands of Ursula, Alma, and The Chemist. The three then travel as partners to Hollywood, where The Chemist provides black pills, Ursula finds new clients, and Alma auditions for the Los Angeles Philharmonics as a young prodigy. As American Horror Story’s black pills make their way outside of P-town’s winter confines, chaos erupts around Hollywood — particularly because of Ursula’s selfish plan.
Ursula devises to give out the black pills in bulk, asking anyone if they will take them, talented or not. Instead of scoping out to see if someone is talented by going to shows or just screenwriter classes, the Red Tide character decides she’ll give everyone the pills and if they have the positive effect of talented individuals, she’ll represent them. She says she hands out pills at Starbucks to “anyone on a laptop with a script on it,” thinking if they could even possibly have talent, she’ll push them to take the pill. Unfortunately, Ursula’s plan creates way more Pale People than revealing the creativity of talented individuals, which leads to massacres around town from Pale People attacking Los Angeles residents.
American Horror Story season 10’s episode then sees Ursula attend a screenwriting seminar where she encourages each student to take a black pill. She tells them it’s not just a pill, it’s a vehicle to their dreams of fame and glory. Red Ted ends as Ursula goes into a monologue about the now-vampiric Pale People seeking greatness and taking out their anger because they won’t be able to know the mad genius of creative minds. The AHS: Red Tide character then explains that at least with the pill, Pale People and the talented alike won’t have to worry about if they’re good or not. Ursula admits she’s not talented, so turning a significant number of users into Pale People helps progress her plan to “level the playing field” so that untalented individuals can be remembered in history as well.
While Ursula is the mastermind for distributing the pills to the public, The Chemist had her own plan for purposefully turning Hollywood residents into Pale People. The Chemist researched local police officers who are well-known members of the “bad apple list” database that includes LAPD officers who have multiple race-based complaints against them. Red Tide's Chemist tells Alma that she was helping people out of necessity because those cops had no right to be serving in a protective manner. The Chemist seemed to always have a plan for American Horror Story: Red Tide's black pill, where she is now off trying to develop one that will make her live forever.