The FX series American Horror Story has become one of the longest-running genre series on television, largely due to its ability to reinvent itself as an anthology-style narrative. However, despite that ability to create fresh stories, long-term fans have dually been able to experience over-arching connective tissue with a shared continuity — occasionally including recurring storylines from favored seasons like Murder House and Coven.

Still, like any lengthy series, there’s the immensely difficult challenge of creating new content that lives up to some of those beloved earlier seasons. With its newest edition titled American Horror Story: Delicate, the franchise has masterfully risen to the challenge and offered us a stellar new contender for one of the series’ best seasons to date. Here’s why. 

Emma Roberts Has Given Us Another GEnre Icon

Emma Roberts has earned her scream queen status with unforgettable roles in Scream 4, AHS: Coven, and of course, Scream Queens. All roles that have led to cult audiences, with fans still begging for more Scream Queens and/or Coven. While one might think it would be difficult to live up to that momentum — Roberts’ AHS: Delicate character Anna Victora Alcott (who already sounds like a legend) lives up to her iconic potential by bringing a surprising sense of humanity to an up-and-coming, fame-driven starlet being subjected to psychological torment at every turn. It’s a lot to unpack. 

For starters, the idea that Anna is surrounded by people who continuously disregard her experiences and question her sanity makes it much easier to feel sympathy for her excessive personal struggles. Including her husband, Dex, who doesn’t feel as invested in Anna as she is with him (possibly due to an unspoken love triangle with his deceased, enigmatic first wife). And as it progresses, her palpable relationship turmoil amid a pregnancy gives Anna a blend of Connie Britton’s Murder House role and a much softer Madison Montgomery of Coven. So at this point, If we’ve learned anything about Roberts’ potential in the genre, it’s that she can play up the duality of a complex character masterfully. 

An Efficient, Singular Narrative

Across some of its strongest seasons, AHS has introduced a plethora of plot points, with the ability to (mostly) resolve everything by its conclusion. Pretty solid, standard storytelling stuff. However, in some of the later seasons, there have been instances where a lot is happening.

In this instance, AHS Delicate has recognized that less really can be more — stripping back each character's sub-plots to efficiently streamline the devilish witchy undertones of the Anna Victora Alcott agenda. This structural pivot also gives these supporting characters more importance within the ongoing story than the average AHS season and switches up the standard franchise formula to deliver its most claustrophobic tale to date. 

Bringing the Eerie Energy Back to AHS

As you already know, horror doesn’t necessarily have to be “scary.” It’s more about following a few key guidelines or setting a specific tone to a story. For the most part, you need to have a legitimate threat. There needs to be a potential body count looming (not necessarily a high one, we love Scream VI here) or conversely, some sense of danger. And most importantly, you need a protagonist that’s closely tied to whatever brand of insanity is about to kick off.

Generally speaking, AHS has always followed that traditional trail, offering it the opportunity to briefly explore other sub-genres with comedic pop-culture stylings, sci-fi influence, or even fantasy-driven tales. However, some of those stylistic deviations resulted in a departure from the tonal atmosphere established in the first few eras of AHS.

Now,  Delicate relives components of that prime AHS energy by spotlighting real-life horrors about the societal treatment of women with a supernatural twist — elevating its thematic importance and becoming a classic psychological horror story with a modernized edge. This is a straightforward, devilishly-crafted season, and that’s something to celebrate.

If we can get more of these strategically planned horror stories for the foreseeable future, we could easily see AHS lasting for another 10 seasons. Keep it coming AHS team!