American Horror Story Season 13 debuts with returning characters
American Horror Story returned for its 13th season on September 24, delivering what critics characterize as its most incoherent debut in the anthology series’ decade-plus history. Co-written by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, the FX and Hulu series launched with its first three episodes, leaning heavily into a chaotic premise that brings back several characters presumed dead. The latest episodes establish narrative parallels to the show’s eighth season, Apocalypse, which similarly relied on a crossover structure to thwart the end of the world. Characters from past seasons are apparently making deals with the devil for supreme power, but the plot maintains such strict mystery that viewers struggle to grasp the core stakes. Instead of clear conflict, the early episodes rely on a cascade of fan-service cameo appearances.
A Parade of Returning Characters and Cameos
The premiere episodes resurrect numerous staple actors from the franchise’s history. Emma Roberts returns briefly as her character from Coven, while Evan Peters pulls double duty in the same scene as Kai from Cult and Tate from Murder House. Sarah Paulson appears as Cordelia Goode from Coven, with further character returns promised for later episodes.
Jessica Lange makes her first appearance on the show since Apocalypse, reprising her season-one role as Constance, the nosy neighbor from next door to the Murder House. In the third episode, Constance instructs her son Tate to guide Elizabeth Short—the Black Dahlia, played once again by Mena Suvari—to a speakeasy functioning as a portal to hell named Club Hell. Constance advises Tate, You do your part down there and there’s a place for us in the future,
though the exact nature of that future remains obscure to the audience.
Bizarre Narrative Choices and Unsubtle Themes
Constance also functions as a caregiver for Mr. Nas, a Nosferatu-like figure. Her duties intersect with home-hospice worker Ben, played by Joey Pollari, whom Constance mentors in giving sponge baths. Constance commands Ben to swish that old thing around in the Jean Naté suds,
directing him to clean Mr. Nas’s body with 1980s-coded bath liquid.
Ben arrives at his post following a plane crash that opens the season premiere. His journey begins with a flight to St. Vincent and the Grenadines to join his girlfriend Kira, played by Madelaine Petsch, for her birthday trip. Kira was born on the 13th, and her birthday this year takes place on Friday the 13th, compounding Ben’s anxieties as the plot unfolds.