Summary
Although Kim Kardashian’s Siobhan might have beenAmerican Horror Story: Delicate’s breakout character, this didn’t stop the series from blocking her best route to return. Now thatAmerican Horror Story: Delicate’s finalehas been and gone, it is fair to say that the outing made some questionable creative choices. Unlikeearlier seasons ofAmerican Horror Story,Delicatewas based on an existing piece of source material. Author Danielle Valentine’s novelDelicate ConditionprovidedDelicatewith its main characters and premise, although the show altered a lot of specific details in terms of style, tone, and plot twists.
At first,Delicatehad a relatively slow pace in comparison to earlier seasons. However,American Horror Storyseason 12’s finalewas a mile-a-minute absurd extravaganza that undid any clever character work or subtle atmosphere found in earlier episodes.Delicate’s ending featured a slew of plot twists in quick succession. First, the episode killed off the heroine Anna’s husband, Dex. Then Anna gave birth to a demon, then she became paralyzed and captive to a cult. Then she learned her publicist and best friend, Siobhan, was the cult’s ageless leader and secretly Dex’s mother. Then things got even weirder.
Why The Heck Was American Horror Story: Delicate’s Finale So Short?
American Horror Story: Delicate’s season finale had a string of complicated twists to explain, so why was the episode so much shorter than most?
Kim Kardashian’s American Horror Story Season 12 Character Doesn’t Die In The Book
Delicate’s Villain Siobhan Survives The Source Novel (Sort Of)
Delicate’s finale ended with the ghost of Dex’s ex-wife returning to help Anna destroy Siobhan. Anna magically regained her ability to walk and the rest of Siobhan’s cult seemingly vanished as Siobhan crumbled into dust. This was a major departure from the plot ofDelicate Condition, which offers a much more holistic explanation for the cult that has been targeting Anna. Although the book’s version of Siobhan is still in league with the cult, she has been trying to save Anna’s pregnancy from the good of her heart, instead of some nefarious intent. Her fate is also very different.
American Horror Story’s twists are always unpredictable, but it is particularly hard to see why the show changed Siobhan’s fate so radically.
Siobhan isn’t a villain in the novel and, when she sacrifices her life to ensure that Anna’s baby will live,the book’s version of Anna lets Siobhan’s soul inhabit her baby to keep her spirit alive. In the book, the cult is angered by Siobhan flouting the rules and this is the only compromise that allows her to live on.American Horror Story’s twists are always unpredictable, but it is particularly hard to see why the show changed Siobhan’s fate so radically. After all, Siobhan’s survival would have allowed guest star Kim Kardashian to reprise herAmerican Horror Story: Delicaterole.
The acerbic, catty Siobhan was a campy character who felt perfectly at home in the world ofAmerican Horror Story.
American Horror Story Season 13 Could Have Brought Back Kim Kardashian’s Siobhan
Siobhan’s Less Villainous Role Would Make A Return Viable
Reality TV legend Kardashian didn’t appear inAmerican Horror Storyuntil season 12 and, before the outing’s release, numerous commentators worried that her part was an egregious instance of stunt casting. However, this did not bear out in the show’s reviews. Somewhat surprisingly,Kardashian’s character was one of the most highly praised elements ofDelicate. The acerbic, catty Siobhan was a campy character who felt perfectly at home in the world ofAmerican Horror Story. At times, Kardashian’s performance fit the winking, self-aware tone of the series more than the respective turns from Matt Czuchry or Emma Roberts.
IfAmerican Horror Story: Delicatehad followed the book more faithfully, it would have been easy for the series to introduce an older version of Anna’s baby in a later season. This character could have been played by Kardashian, thus sticking toDelicate Condition’s twist ending. However,American Horror Story’s weird sense of self-mocking humorhurt the show in this instance. The series instead revealed that Siobhan was the head of a matriarchal cult that instilled patriarchy worldwide to lead to eventual societal breakdown so they could return to matriarchy, an absurdly convoluted twist that fell flat with viewers and critics.
Kim Kardashian’s Siobhan Was American Horror Story: Delicate’s Breakout Character
Kardashian’s Villain Was A Highlight of The Uneven American Horror Story Season
Despite how intensely silly and illogicalDelicate’s instantly infamous finale was, Kardashian’s Siobhan remained a well-liked addition to the show’s roster of villains. After bothNYCandDouble Billfailed to provide viewers with a singularly memorableAmerican Horror Storyvillain, Siobhan’s goofiness was a breath of fresh air. Kardashian’s character livened up proceedings whether she was supplying Anna with “B12 shots” that were blatantly vials of human blood or dispassionately laughing off the death of her own son. EvenAmerican Horror Storyseason 12’s terrible real-life charactercameo was improved by her presence. Siobhan’s campiness redeemed the regrettable scene.
American Horror Storyrevealing that Mia Farrow was secretly visited by an immortal demonic witch on the set ofRosemary’s Babywas initially terribly tacky. The storyline mixed lurid elements of the living actor’s real-life biography, like her relationship with Sinatra and her work with Roman Polanski, into a story of demonic babies and witch cults. However, Kardashian’s Siobhan elevated the scene by giving it the level of absurd detachment that it required. This proves just how much she salvaged a deeply flawed season and explains whySiobhan’s death in the finale was an unfortunate unforced error.
Kim Kardashian Should Still Return In American Horror Story Season 13
Siobhan’s American Horror Story Season 13 Comeback May Not Have Worked
While it is bizarre thatDelicatekilled off its funniest new character, it is understandable that the show changed Siobhan’s role in the story. The book’s surviving version of the character admittedly may not have been as interesting and appealing as Kardashian’s cartoonishly cruel villain. The book’s Siobhan isn’t an over-the-top, callous publicist in the novel and instead plays the role of a more traditional mentor to Anna. Not only that, butfuture seasons ofAmerican Horror Storycan still revive Kim Kardashian in new roleseven if Siobhan is gone. Not every returning actor plays the same character in the series.
American Horror Storyhasn’t necessarily seen the last of its best new heroine, even if her original character was inexplicably killed off.
From Lily Rabe to Evan Peters, to Kathy Bates, to Sarah Paulson, plenty of actors have played entirely unrelated roles in different seasons of the anthology horror show. Some stars, like Taissa Farmiga and Emma Roberts, have played the same character in more than one season. However, this is not a necessity.American Horror Storyseason 13 could adaptanother unrelated novel, meaning Kardashian could play a new character now that she has proven her potential. Thus,American Horror Storyhasn’t necessarily seen the last of its best new heroine, even if her original character was inexplicably killed off.
