As a viewer who has eaten up every season of American Horror Story like the Witches’ Council ate up their ill-fated melon balls in Coven, I was just as pumped as every other fan for episode 6 of Apocalypse which promised a “Return to Murder House.” Arguably the best season of the show, Murder House is what started it all. Even if you love the glitz of Hotel, the badassery of Coven or the dark twists and turns of Asylum, Murder House is the quintessential chapter and an understandable fan favorite.
Given its iconic reputation, the promise of our favorite Murder House characters returning has been building suspense for fans since the “cross-over season” Apocalypse premiered on Sept. 12. And the episode did not disappoint. But something about the episode has been eating away at me.
To recap, “Return to Murder House” featured a trip to the unassuming-on-the-outside, ominous-on-the-inside home filled with generations of ghosts. Witch Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts) and warlock Behold Chablis (Billy Porter) are looking for answers on the past of Michael Langdon (Cody Fern), a shaggy blonde with surfer looks and Satanic tendencies, who is potentially the next “Supreme” (hence the Coven tie-ins).
As anticipated, our favorite ghosts were back. Well, more like right where we left them - in the dreaded house. We indeed got answers on Michael’s past. Kindhearted maid Moira O’Hara (Frances Conroy) finally got a happy ending. Flawed “family guy” Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott) still has some pitiful tendencies. And everyone’s favorite emo couple made an appearance - whose story took quite a different turn from how it ended in Murder House.
And that’s the twist that bothers me.
Tate Langdon (Evan Peters) is a contradictory character. His unassuming looks, gentle nature and devotion to Violet Harmon (Taissa Farmiga) make it hard to believe he committed the horrors that he did - namely, kill 15 students in a mass shooting and rape Violet’s mother Vivian Harmon (Connie Britton) to impregnate her with a demonic child who grew up to be - yup - Michael Langdon.
Tate and Violet’s story in Murder House (to clarify, I’m referring to the first season of the show, not the Apocalypse episode) ended with a heartbreaking yet satisfying conclusion in which Violet refuses to tie her life to someone who committed such atrocities. As they are both dead, the two angsty teens are trapped in the house together, but Violet puts her foot down and uses the words that will keep Tate away from her, ending the relationship with a sense of finality and freedom.
As much as I can understand the emo-Tumblr appeal of Tate and Violet as a couple, I loved this ending. Violet’s strength in saying goodbye to the boy she thought she loved with such resolve was satisfying to see as a viewer, when it would have been so easy for the writers to have them end up together in dark, twisted coupledom for eternity.
Apocalypse’ “Return to Murder House” episode undid this gratifying and arguably feminist conclusion and left me with a bad taste in my mouth - probably even worse than the aforementioned Coven melon balls.
If you haven’t seen the episode and are waiting for Apocalypse to hit Netflix, I’m obviously about to spoil it for you, so proceed with caution. During the visit to the house, Madison comes across a sullen Violet and orchestrates a reconciliation between the teen and her forlorn ex-boyfriend Tate. Their story here ends quite differently than in season 1, with less shouting (none) and more loving embraces (one). As Madison leaves the house, she spots Violet and Tate in the window, locked in a gaze loaded with forgiveness and years of lost love. This final image is sure to live long in the hearts of AHS fans.
I’m not heartless. Despite my principles, my love-loving heart fluttered at seeing the two of them together again, and I felt satisfied as a fan that the two characters might be able to now find peace, rather than living with longing (Tate), anger (Violet) and loneliness (both). I mean, they’re stuck in the house for eternity. Why waste it alone and sad?
However, like any feminist viewer of any mildly problematic media, I was discontented at the message this idea sends - namely, a guy can do whatever he wants, and still get the girl in the end.
Like many things, male entitlement has a range, from catcalling women on the street to taking the lives of others, often out of a belief that one has been wronged or unfairly denied something seemingly deserved. These ideas are internalized from a young age. Think about your own favorite shows and movies, especially those with a male protagonist. Does he get the girl in the end?
The character of Tate Langdon has long been considered a problematic person, acting out violently toward both men and women, particularly when he doesn’t get his way. In this manner, Tate is remarkably childlike, despite his aggressive and criminal acts. But make no mistake, he carried out monstrous acts both in his previous life as a human (despite his apparent inability to remember them) and continues to play out abusive patterns toward Violet in the afterlife as a ghost.
When we first meet Tate in season 1, he’s explaining to therapist Ben that he has the urge to shoot classmates he likes in order to take them out of the scary and violent world. If your entitlement sensors are going off, you’re right. This motive initially goes to show that Tate isn’t as bad as he seems, but it still shows a desire to exert a sense of control of who lives or dies.
The “Return to Murder House” episode of Apocalypse was transparent in its attempts to make Tate likable again. One way this is evident is in the language that’s used. During Season 1 of the show, it’s stated explicitly multiple times that Tate raped Vivian (his girlfriend’s mom), including by Vivian herself, when she begins to understand what happened to her and how she was violated.
The language surrounding this plot point was softened in Apocalypse, when Ben (who is still giving Tate therapy sessions) is giving Tate a convenient rundown of all he did, including when he “impregnated” Vivian. The word “rape” was notably absent from this episode in an attempt to water down Tate’s violent season 1 behavior. Season 8-era Vivian herself makes excuses for Tate, explaining that the house made him do it (an explanation reminiscent of the “boys will be boys” excuse for bad male behavior).
The episode surmises that Satan (and more broadly, the evil of the house) is the one that made Tate rape Vivian in order to bring the anti-Christ into the world, further distancing Tate from the evil Michael.
Despite these attempts to soften the viewer toward Tate in order to elicit swoony-eyed “awws” when he and Violet eventually reconcile, the plot development still left a bad taste in my mouth, a reaction also had by the actress who plays Violet herself.
I can understand the appeal of Tate, played by the wholesome and undeniably talented Evan Peters, one of my favorite AHS staple actors. I can also understand the appeal of wrapping up the story of Tate and Violet in a neat little bow and slapping on a happy ending. But trapping her in a relationship with a guy who committed monstrous acts, and who she firmly did not want in her life at the end of season 1, doesn’t seem like the happy ending she (or any girl) deserves.
As a well-stated Refinery29 article by Ariana Romero expressed, in an era when men are finally facing the consequences of bad behavior, and we’re finally recognizing the role of male entitlement and violence in some of the world’s most egregious acts, “Apocalypse doesn’t need to be explaining away the behavior of someone like Tate Langdon.”