Summary
- American Horror Story season 12, episode 7 offered insights into the cult at the core of the season's grisly story.
- Cara Delevingne's Ivy was revealed as an immortal villain with a dark past in a shocking flashback.
- Adeline's shocking death at the hands of the cult, led by Dex's friend Talia, added a new layer to the mystery.
Warning: Spoilers for American Horror Story season 12, episode 7.
Warning: This article contains discussion of pregnancy trauma.
Although American Horror Story season 12, episode 7, didn’t explain everything about the show’s twisty mystery, its extended flashbacks did offer some insights into the cult at the core of the season’s grisly story. Every season of American Horror Story starts simply and soon gets convoluted, but season 12 is different. American Horror Story: Delicate is the first outing of the horror anthology series to be adapted from an existing text. Author Danielle Valentine’s Delicate Condition provided the source material for the season, although the show’s version of events changed a few details of the book’s plot.
The long-awaited American Horror Story season 12 part 2 continued the story of Emma Roberts’ Anna Alcott, an acclaimed young actor trying to balance an awards campaign with her pregnancy. In the first six episodes, Anna becomes convinced that someone or something is trying to meddle with her pregnancy. Her publicist Siobhan Corbyn and her husband Dex seem like obvious candidates, but the strange stalker Ms. Preecher informs Anna that she is the target of a bigger cult that has existed for hundreds of years. In season 12, episode 7, “Ave Hestia,” American Horror Story offered more insight into these villains.
7 Cara Delevingne’s Ivy Was A Cult Victim
Season 12 Episode 7’s Cold Open Flashed Back To 42 A.D.
The opening scene of “Ave Hestia” flashed back to 42 A.D. for a scene set somewhere in “Western Europe.” This vague location was home to a character played by Cara Delevingne who gave birth to a pair of twins via a gruesome self-imposed C-section. While season 12 episode 6’s deaths were hard to watch, this violent scene took the show’s penchant for upsetting gore even further. After Delevingne’s character somehow survived the delivery process, she cradled her newborn babies as a shadowy figure entered her barn.
This black-clad witch offered Delevingne’s nameless character a gloved hand, prompting the exhausted new mother to ask who she was. American Horror Story: Delicate finally gave Cara Delevingne’s villainous Ivy a backstory with this opening scene, as the rest of the episode made it clear that her character was the same woman seen in 42 A.D. Although this was never explicitly stated, viewers can reasonably surmise that Ivy is effectively immortal since she was next seen in Galway, Ireland around a thousand years later. She is also an outright monstrous villain, despite the sympathetic circumstances of her introduction.
6 American Horror Story Season 12 Revealed Adeline’s Story
Dex’s First Wife Was Connected To The Cult
Succession’s Annabelle Dexter-Jones appeared as both Dex’s late first wife Adeline and the shady artist Sonia in earlier episodes of Delicate. American Horror Story: Delicate’s return saw Sonia torment Anna at a gallery opening, but it was unclear whether this scene was taking place in the troubled heroine’s mind. “Ave Hestia” centered entirely on Adeline’s story and the episode proved that Anna wasn’t imagining the cult of women who terrorized her at Dex’s exhibition in the preceding episode. The cult is confirmed to be real, and Adeline was once a part of it.
In a flashback to the Middle Ages, Adeline questions her mother, Ivy, about their commitment to a vaguely defined, unclear mission. Her mother savagely attacked her, prompting Adeline’s more compliant sister to not question her. Back in the show’s main timeline, Adeline is a successful restauranteur who is happily married to Dex, but reticent about the prospect of having children. When Dex suggested that the couple should consider parenthood, Adeline retreated into work, but she couldn't hide for long. Once everyone else left the restaurant, her evil twin arrived.