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American Horror Story Season 11: The Ending Explained!
*Spoiler Alert*
After seasons about the apocalypse, aliens, witches, and pills that put an end to writer’s block, it was almost inevitable for the American Horror Story franchise to visit the highly intense world of NYC.
The 11th season is set against the backdrop of this much-loved city, starring Russell Tovey, Billie Lord, Joe Mantello, and Issac Powell. The 11th season of the show aired between the months of October and November 2022. It’s a pretty different setup, as compared to earlier seasons, particularly in terms of the tone.
Of course, horror is at the core of the plot, but this season also explores it in relatively more depth with serious themes. But what about the show’s ending?
With a new season on the brink (and we hear Kim K is making her debut in the acting world with this season), we had to re-watch the last season again. The ending, friends, was sorta chilling. So we had to come back and write a blog about the ending of the show’s 11th season!
What Is American Horror Story Season 11 All About?
American Horror Story Season 11 takes the audience back to New York in the 1980s. This was the traumatic time when gay men were being killed. And the show’s main characters are trying to find out who is this serial killer bent on inflicting horror.
In the very first episode, called ‘Something’s Coming,’ the two major plot lines are immediately introduced:
■ The serial killer, and
■ The virus in Fire Island.
Just like American Horror: Hotel was inspired by real-life events, the 11th season was no different. The primary decision to explore the AIDs/HIV epidemic in this season makes all the episodes very sad and tragic. While the show’s characters are all fictional, every character has their own arc as a sobering reminder of the traumatic real-life epidemic of AIDs.
Gino Barelli (played by Mantello) and Patrick Read (played by Tovey) are introduced. Gino is a journalist for a newspaper known as the New York Native. Read happens to be a detective who is in the closet about his sexuality in the show’s beginning.
After Gino spends some time at a bar, he meets a stranger who drugs him and eventually kidnaps him. Next, the audience comes across the character of Adam Carpenter – a man called Big Daddy (played by Matthew William Bishop) is following Carpenter. However, Theo (played by Issac Powell) does tell Adam that Big Daddy is dead, and Adam continues to be scared.
**Note: Big Daddy is the main villain, but is he even real? It’s more like the human representation of the virus killing people in New York!**
The rest of the show focuses on the different victims of this ‘serial killer.’ Additionally, everyone else is on the run to find out the identity of this killer.
American Horror Story Season 11: The Ending Explained!
American Horror Story Season 11 was certainly meant for television and television only. We will give them that. However, opinions on how the season ended differed (though we didn’t really hate it!).
Some critics mourned the absence of likable characters or the lack of direction. And that’s not all. Critics also lamented the specific focus on a certain type of queerness, A.K.A gay men who are white.
But then others praised the hard-hitting realities and sweeping metaphors that this season explored in association with the AIDs and HIV crisis. The show’s last episode talks about this in a beautiful way. This, in turn, reverses the absolutely muddled finale curse that has plagued the whole franchise for a long, long time.
Whatever side you support, hopefully, we can all address that American Horror Story Season 11 was the sweetest and gayest season of the whole franchise, which is definitely worth praiseworthy.
But how did it all eventually play out eventually in the end? After all, which hot gay guys were able to survive, and which weren’t able to? And most importantly, who is Big Daddy?
Just grab them poppers and stay with us while we dive really deep into the show’s two-episode finale.
So, Who Is Big Daddy?
Throughout the whole 2-episode finale, Big Daddy’s existence is felt constantly, even when he is not on screen, but his actual identity is never really revealed.
This confirms that he did not actually exist in reality at all. In fact, Big Daddy was some sort of supernatural or someone even less tangible, like a symbol of death, homophobia, and AIDS. The character could also be a blend of all three.
That is certainly implied in the ninth episode when Big Daddy chases Sam on the beach. While that was some kind of a feverish dream, the way in which he gives into the character indicates it is actually Sam who is accepting his death, which appeared under the disguise of a hot blond twink.
The character made appearances for multiple deaths in the two episodes, including the time when Patrick died in bed and then again inside Hannah’s apartment right after Adam found out that she was gone.
Big Daddy As The Leather-Clad, Gay Angel Of Death:
While you can hold the character of Big Daddy directly accountable for the multiple deaths, it is also a possibility that he ends up representing a leather-clad, gay Angel of Death. This ‘angel of death’ figure is very similar to the one the audience saw earlier during the whole tarot episode.
There’s definitely a symbolic moment right towards the episode’s end when Big Daddy actually scares Gino at the memorial service of Patrick. Swathes of the different nameless men walk into this big grave that was dug by Big Daddy.
Plus, this also ends up tying in with a pretty early scene where Adam actually thinks of the character as someone who literally gave him the deadly disease via unprotected sex, and that too at Central Park.
It almost appears to be that Big Daddy is sitting on the juncture of death related to HIV and the associated panic, especially for queer people who actually went through this trauma way back in the 90s and 80s.
And that is precisely why Big Daddy kept showing up repeatedly in Gino’s life, simply killing his lovers. But then Gino did refuse to back down in the face of horror. Moreover, right until the very end, Gino keeps up his fight against Big Daddy. By choosing to do so, he helps to protect other people in his community as well.
And It’s A Wrap!
There’s no denying that American Horror Story Season 11 has an entirely emotional core. But it is also genuinely scary and has multiple fast-paced moments. After multiple seasons of the show featuring different campy elements, the show does stand out, telling a very powerful story.
So, what do you think about the bone-chilling season finale? Before we get to watch Kim K in American Horror Story Season 12, a re-watch is a must! Feel free to share your thoughts on the show’s ending and upcoming season in the comments below.
