Summary

• American Horror Story season 12 struggled to stick the landing, marking the franchise's recurring ending problem.
• The spinoff American Horror Stories also faced difficulties with poor endings due to time constraints.
• Rushed conclusions and last-minute twists have led to disappointing finales, raising concerns for the future of the series.

American Horror Story season 12's ending missed the mark, as episode 9 proved to be a massive disappointment. There were some irable individual performances throughout the finale, but Delicate's conclusion proved the franchise is lacking a finishing touch.

Although the main storyline did get wrapped up, American Horror Story season 12 left many unanswered questions and fell flat in comparison to the show's earlier seasons. The likes of Asylum and Freak Show had great endings, and even 1984 stood out with an impressive finale, but season 9 was the last time the franchise nailed its conclusion. Since then, the show has suffered from a downward spiral, with Delicate being the latest in a series of failures. While a few poor finales could have been coincidental, season 12 has proven that American Horror Story officially has an ending problem.

American Horror Story Season 12 Continues The Franchise’s Ending Problem

The Franchise Has Struggled Wrapping Up Its Stories For 3 Straight Seasons

Season 12's underwhelming finale continued the franchise's troubling ending problem. Before COVID, American Horror Story's endings were still relatively inconsistent, but at least had a level of quality that made these conclusions satisfying. Season 9 actually had one of the show's strongest finales, with 1984's "Final Girl" becoming the season's highest-rated episode on IMDb. However, since the series returned from COVID, it has continued to struggle with its finales as they are consistently the worst episodes of each season. Delicate's finale earned a 3.4 IMDb rating, the worst-rated episode of the season and the main show's lowest-performing episode ever.

This continued a worrying trend, as season 10 and 11's climaxes were also the poorest-performing episodes of their respective seasons. Despite season 10 being split into two separate stories, both Red Tide and Death Valley had disappointing finales which began this frustrating ending trend. Including both of Double Feature's endings, American Horror Story has had four terrible conclusions in a row, highlighting that there is something seriously wrong with the franchise's ability to finish its recent stories. This repeated failure has definitely become an infuriating aspect of the series and indicates that something has to change soon.

American Horror Stories Has Also Suffered From Poor Endings

The American Horror Story Spinoff Has Struggled Despite The Individual Story Format

Alongside the main show's ending problems, the franchise's spinoff, American Horror Stories, has found it equally difficult to wrap up its stories. Whereas the main show usually has a full season to explore a concept, the spinoff only has a single episode, making this ending problem even worse. American Horror Story at least has the time to set up potentially interesting finales, but the spinoff barely gets a chance to present its idea before having to conclude. The show only has one two-part story, meaning every other premise is introduced and concluded in less than an hour.

American Horror Stories looks set to continue the main show's mistakes, despite being designed as an alternative.

Most episodes run between 40 and 50 minutes, giving audiences hardly any time to get invested in the story and characters. While some concepts utilize the short run time well, most episodes have relatively disappointing reviews since there isn't enough time to make these ideas work. With American Horror Stories season 4 confirmed, the franchise clearly isn't learning its lesson. Unless season 4 has more two-part concepts, it will struggle to engage audiences in these short stories. Ultimately, this means American Horror Stories looks set to continue the main show's mistakes, despite being designed as an alternative.

Why Are American Horror Story’s Ending So Bad?

American Horror Story Has Continued To Rush Its Conclusions

Given the franchise has had fairly strong finales in the past, it is puzzling why things have changed so much. The biggest factor comes down to the show's conclusions feeling rushed. Despite the average episode length being around 40 minutes, American Horror Story season 12's finale was surprisingly short, lasting just 31 minutes. Delicate's condensed finale seems even more bizarre when considering how many shows opt to make their finales longer to allow the proper time to finish each storyline. Season 11's disappointing finale also suffered from this exact same mistake, showing the franchise isn't learning from these huge errors.

American Horror Story has often rushed its conclusion or included last-second twists, leaving audiences baffled at what they've just watched. Given the series often feels like it's crafting a careful story, these rushed and messy endings become even more frustrating. Episode and season lengths have varied over the years, meaning there's no exact formula to follow, yet American Horror Story continuously fumbles the story at the most crucial moment. While this feels like something that could be easily fixed, the franchise's repeated ending problem has become worrying and has to change before it's too late.

American Horror Story season 13 has been confirmed.