Forces of good attempt to permanently extinguish the horrors of Camp Redwood in an exciting finale to a standout season of ‘American Horror Story’.

“I knew that if I had any chance at a future that I had to leave the past behind.”

There was a lot of discussion in the previous episode on who the final girl would be. Brooke has been this show’s protagonist from the start of the season and Donna has slowly become her partner-in-crime as the series builds to its conclusion. In spite of their efforts to put the evil at Camp Redwood to rest, the events of this finale, “Final Girl,” reinforce how thoroughly this season has really been about the Richter family. As this period piece of a season finally jumps to the present, three generations of Richters must confront the pain and tragedy of Camp Redwood, for good.

One of the strongest aspects of this season of American Horror Story is how what seemed to be a simple genre pastiche on camp-based slashers has turned into a taut tale about generational trauma and labeling theory. This season of American Horror Story proudly advertised that it’d be set within 1984, but this season only truly opened itself up in rewarding ways when it started to hop around through other time periods. The massacre that happens in 1984 is just one of several tragedies to strike Camp Redwood and with each new pit stop to 1948, 1970, 1989, and now 2019, a new chapter cleverly gets incorporated into this saga. American Horror Story: 1984 manages to cram an entire multi-decade slasher franchise into a nine-episode season of television. It’s quite the feat and the season’s final chapter, “Final Girl,” not only does the season justice, but powerfully encapsulates the themes that have been in play since the season premiere.

American Horror Story: 1984 has utilized a very schizophrenic structure for its entire season, but this bifurcated style of storytelling is most on display in this finale. “Final Girl” ricochets back and forth from 2019—the present—back to the events of the planned massacre at Camp Redwood’s 1989 Halloween music festival. There’s even some tongue-in-cheek meta commentary about how the ’80s have never been more fashionable than they currently are.

This new of era of Camp Redwood—along with this season finale in general—is largely seen through the eyes of Bobby Richter, the now-adult version of Mr. Jingles’ abandoned son. Even though the presence of a newcomer results in a good amount of catch-up for Bobby, this is still a smart angle to frame the final piece of this story. It’s also just a lot of fun to watch Montana and Trevor flaunt their ghostliness while a shocked Bobby tries to follow along.

This finale builds genuine suspense with how its jump to thirty years in the future initially leaves the events of the 1989 music festival a mystery, as well as the fates of characters like Brooke, Donna, and Margaret. In fact, this episode intentionally teases that Brooke is dead and that her piece of this story is finished. “Final Girl” is an ambitious epilogue more than it is the climax to this story. It also doesn’t hurt that American Horror Story brings back Finn Wittrock (AHS: Freak Show’s Dandy!) to play the grown-up Bobby. Wittrock may only be in one episode of this season, but he delivers a very strong performance as he attempts to get answers and put his father’s memory to rest.

Glimpses of the events of 1989 indicate that Trevor did the honorable and sensible thing by preventing any musical acts or guests from entering Camp Redwood. It’s a noble act, but unfortunately one that also costs him his life as Margaret catches wind of this and is none too pleased of her husband’s rebellious actions. This turns into a tragic scene that’s beautifully simple. Trevor lies dying outside the confines of Camp Redwood as Montana watches, unable to leave the camp’s perimeter to help him. If Trevor can just make it within the border of the camp then he’ll be blessed with a ghostly eternity, but Montana is a few dozen feet away from “saving” him.

Matthew Morrison is really fantastic in these moments and he’s someone who’s particularly shined in his role over the course of the past few episodes. It took Murphy quite some time to let the Glee alum into his American Horror Story entourage, but I hope that he returns next season. Morrison puts so much into his performance, whether it’s his emotional content with Montana or his mustache appreciation with Bruce (Dylan McDermott makes a brief, but enjoyable, appearance in this finale).

Just as it seems like hope is lost, Brooke returns and helps Trevor cross the threshold of Camp Redwood. Brooke’s innocent act of relocating Trevor’s body has a drastic chain reaction that she couldn’t have anticipated. Her gesture allows Montana and Trevor to gain a strange peace via Camp Redwood’s purgatory and it’s this unusual slice of happiness that causes Montana, and the rest of the ghosts, to turn a new leaf. It’s been a long, difficult process for them, but finally these lost souls become resolved to do good, help others, and concentrate their efforts on stopping Margaret from inflicting more pain.

Meanwhile, Richard Ramirez’s evil spirit is still very much a threat at Camp Redwood. Unbeknownst to Bobby, the ghosts have been protecting him and doing Benjamin justice by keeping Ramirez at bay for the past three decades and ensuring that he can’t escape and harm Bobby. Ramirez is left to endure a very Tityus-ian fate where he’s stuck in a purgatory of neverending death. The fact that this takes place in a dank cabin that’s not unlike Jason Voorhees’ is also a nice touch.

This perpetual slaughter cycle for Ramirez allows for appearances by violent tools like chainsaws and any tropes that this season hasn’t been able to cram in yet. Both this and the camp’s ambush of Margaret in the past are highly cathartic moments where the weight of the entire season’s events is felt. To be honest, Margaret’s dismemberment and murder is one of the more brutal sequences that the series has ever pulled off. This finale is full of emotional closure, but there’s no shortage of blood and gore either.

It’s also all-too appropriate that in perfect slasher fashion it’s sexy hijinks that are what lead to Ramirez’s escape. Ramirez’s exodus turns into a free-for-all that pits him against “Jingles Junior” as the collective forces of Camp Redwood’s undead try to intervene and keep these two apart. Bobby successfully escapes and soon aligns himself with Donna, who then gets to take on the role of narrator for a minute and fill in some gaps. It’s a little distressing that Bobby is nearly admitted to an insane asylum for virtually no reason at all, but fortunately Donna’s there to help before this story becomes needlessly convoluted. It’s a very distressing moment, all the same.

For a minute, “Final Girl” pushes the narrative that Donna is the episode’s namesake, but pretty soon it’s clear that this isn’t the case. It turns out that not only did Brooke survive her attack in 1989, but she’s the one that’s been sending Bobby Richter checks all of these years and making sure that he stays afloat. In spite of their shared final girl status, both Brooke and Donna’s appearances here are brief and are meant more to highlight that normal, functional lives are possible after experiencing traumatic misfortune.

A lot gets covered in this episode, but it’s an entry that’s remarkably simple in its aim. All of the answers that Bobby receives are in service of “Final Girl’s” main message that happiness can be born out of darkness and that it’s possible to live comfortably after experiencing trauma. This is an apt theme for the finale of a slasher-based season of American Horror Story. Horror sequels like Halloween (2018) and the Scream series obsess over this idea because it’s so realistic and powerful. So much of this finale is just about characters talking and listening to each other rather than grand, climactic showdowns. There are plenty of deaths in this finale, but it’s an episode where the hugs mean more than the stabbings.

Overall this season of American Horror Story feels like it hit most of its major marks and didn’t waste opportunities or characters. Everyone from the cast had a lot to do and were given individual episodes that effectively showcased them. Furthermore, the majority of characters from this season are seen over a stretch of several decades. Even the campers that feel like the most egregious caricatures gain depth after the season explores their malaise as wandering spirits. Emma Roberts’ prim and proper Brooke was the centerpiece of the season. Roberts’ delivers a nuanced performance, but in the end it feels like John Carroll Lynch’s work as Benjamin Richter and even Billie Lourd’s duplicitous execution of Montana are at times more moving.

Another major asset to AHS: 1984 is its briefer nine-episode structure. I have no doubt that Ryan Murphy and company could have gotten a tenth installment out of this material and found some other niche of the slasher genre to explore. Restraint is rarely American Horror Story’s best quality and so it’s comforting to see some applied here. “Less is more” is usually a phrase that can’t apply to American Horror Story, but 1984 makes for a welcome exception. Moving forward, more eight- and nine-episode seasons wouldn’t be the worst thing for this show.

Granted, there are some sloppier moments in the finale, like how Margaret kills Leslie Jordan’s Courtney for really no reason at all. Margaret definitely becomes a little too broad as her character verges into supervillainy, but thankfully the majority of the episode is with Bobby, who’s a substantially more grounded individual.

“Final Girl” is a busy, exciting finale that brings this season of American Horror Story together in a surprisingly fulfilling way. A lot of this conclusion is very expository as the episode attempts to cover so much ground, but it’s entertaining more than it is condescending. In a way, it even feels akin to the approach taken by AHS: Asylum’s finale. This is a season of American Horror Story that started by embracing the slasher sub-genre of horror and it was able to maintain that level of passion throughout its entire run. Clever tricks with both storytelling and character have resulted in this being one of the most consistent and complete seasons of the series, even if it wasn’t the biggest. I’d say that this is my second favorite year of the show, right behind AHS: Asylum, which is huge praise.

AHS remains a horror series that so often wears its faults on its sleeve, but the success of AHS: 1984 indicates that maybe the show still has a few more good years left in it.

“Final Girl” Rating:

Overall Season Rating: