American Horror Story: Delicate Recap: Did the Premiere — and Kim Kardashian — Live Up to Your ‘Expectations’?
Wednesday evening, we got our first hints as to whether American Horror Story was going to succeed with its mad experiment. As you’ve no doubt read, this season, the series’ 12th, is the first that isn’t born of an original idea but adapted from a book, Danielle Valentine’s Delicate Condition (which has been described as “the feminist update to Rosemary’s Baby”). Delicate also marks the first time that Ryan Murphy has handed over the showrunner’s reins (to Impeachment: American Crime Story vet Halley Feiffer). So, did the gambles pay off? Pregnant-pause for long enough to read through the below recap of the premiere’s plot twists, then we’ll discuss in the comments.
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As “Multiply Thy Pain” kicked off, actress Anna Victoria Alcott (Emma Roberts) awakened to find in her bed a stranger, who left behind a torn and bloody ultrasound. Flashing back a week, we joined the would-be mom-to-be on her way to meet husband Dexter (Matt Czuchry) for egg retrieval at the most ominously sterile-looking fertility clinic in TV history. Right outside her building, she spied creepy Ivy (Cara Delevingne) gawking at a dead baby bird in a fallen nest. So far, so creepy!
Post-procedure, Anna was told by Dr. Andrew Hill (Denis O’Hare) that he had managed to obtain nine eggs. “I am feeling very optimistic about our chances,” he told Dexter but, Anna noticed, not her. Leaving the clinic, Anna complained of what seemed like an unusual amount of pain. And why were all the women in the waiting room staring at her? And who was the freaky Miss Preecher who seemed to recognize Anna, and not from her roles?
Outside the clinic, Anna spied Ivy again and worried that maybe she was a crazy who was following her. Helpfully, Dexter said that she wasn’t famous enough yet to have a stalker. That evening, after Anna gave herself a progesterone suppository, she pulled an inordinately long hair out of her head. The next day, at a meeting with her publicist Siobhan Corbyn (Kim Kardashian), she was tasked with autographing the belly of a doll in the image of her old CW character — a doll that weirdly wound up in her purse.
Over coffee with Anna, Siobhan assured her client/bestie that she didn’t mind at all discussing the rising star’s IVF journey, even though Siobhan’s journey hadn’t been successful. She considered meeting Anna the only good thing to come from the IVF support group they’d attended together. (Hmm… ) Later, Anna asked whether Dex and his late wife had ever tried for kids. “It just wasn’t in the cards for us,” he said, plucking a spider from her hair.
That night, en route to dinner with friends, Anna was followed by footsteps… although when she turned around, there was no one chasing her. For some reason, Dex’s pals thought nothing of babbling about the new artist he’d signed who looked like his first wife Adeline. (Very Rebecca, how Anna didn’t feel like she could ever measure up to her predecessor. And who was hiding in that bathroom stall?) Before the Alcotts left, Dr. Hill called to say that they had two embryos still developing and would move ahead with the transfer of one the day after tomorrow. Or, er, the day after that. Anna was booked on Andy Cohen, don’t ya know?
Fearful after her phone was hacked, Anna had Dr. Hill change the time of the appointment. Siobhan thought nothing of it; par for the course, she said. While Anna was chatting with Andy Cohen, she spotted Miss Preecher in the audience. Afterwards, she found one of her old dolls in her dressing room. Back at home, she sensed a prowler, and it looked like she saw Ivy reflected in the butcher knife she pulled. Freaked, Anna hurried to Dex’s opening.
There, Anna met artist Sonia, whose shoes hinted that she’d been the woman eavesdropping in the bathroom. The following day, Dr. Hill gave Anna and Dex a picture of their embryo. But during the transfer, she saw Miss Preecher pull out her own tongue… while Anna’s mouth was sewn shut. There was some bloody kissing, too. Back home, we were once more in the scene that had started the whole season, the one in which Anna awakened to find an intruder. After realizing that the blood was actually lipstick, she received a text saying to look in the mirror. The message that she found there? “Don’t do it, Anna.”
What did you think of Delicate? Kardashian’s AHS debut? The potential for a semi-coherent season? Grade the episode below, then hit the comments.
