The 'AHS: Cult' Finale Sees the End of Kai's Cult
The American Horror Story: Cult finale is finally here. As usual, the season saw a huge amount of deaths, many in extremely disgusting and gruesome ways. As we near the end, Winter is nowhere in sight following a stand-out performance by Billie Lourd this season. But the final showdown between Sarah Paulson's Ally and Evan Peters's Kai was definitely worth the wait, even if the final episode is a little anticlimactic. Here's everything we learned from the final installment of Cult.
1) It's 2018 and Kai is in prison.
The episode begins with a flash-forward to a maximum security prison in Jackson, Michigan sometime in 2018. A female prison guard opens her shirt to show Kai her breasts following a pinky-swear induction with the cult leader. They're interrupted by two other inmates who ask Kai to take a walk with them.
One of the inmates beats him up in the bathroom, but just as he's about to get murdered, the second inmate stabs the first in the head. Ouch. He then calls Kai "Divine Ruler," and it's clear the cult is alive and well in 2018, even if Kai's incarcerated.
Then, Charles Manson (also played by Evan Peters) shows up and instructs Kai to murder the second inmate. He explains, "For what I've got to do, there's no room for loose ends." Charles, who Kai is calling Chuck, is impressed, and Kai tells him, "We have more corpses in our future."
2) Kai has recruited 16 men while in jail.
Speaking to a possible new recruit, Kai reveals that in his 11 months inside, his movement has recruited 16 men and counting. Kai explains that since he's not a strong man, he's made it his business to know everything about everyone, making him one of the most powerful people in there. His future plans are simple: "While women destroy the world outside, we wait safely for our time to strike."
3) 11 months earlier, "night of a thousand Tates" becomes "night of one hundred Tates."
Inspired by Manson's murder of Sharon Tate, Kai's cult decided in the previous episode to murder a thousand pregnant women to make a statement. However, Kai calls off the night, stating that while ambitious, it's impossible to murder that many pregnant women. So Kai declares it the "night of one hundred Tates," which generates loud cheers from the male cult members.
According to Kai, Ally has compiled a list of names of pregnant women for the cult to target. Kai gruesomely demonstrates how to murder both the mother and the baby in one go, saying that unless both die, the cult's "message is lost." The reason for his disgusting plan? To execute an injustice against the female population so brutal, women have no choice but to react and rise up. Kai predicts that when they do, their rage will be aimed at the current Senator (Kai's competition), clearing a path for Kai to the White House.
4) Beverly asks Ally to kill her.
Beverly isn't coping with life inside the cult anymore, especially since Kai murdered his own siblings and proved no one is safe. However, Ally convinces Beverly to hang tight and toe Kai's line a little longer. Presumably, Ally's master plan to destroy the cult from the inside is about to come to fruition.
5) Ally tells Kai Speed Wagon was the mole.
At the end of the previous episode, Ally discovered that cult member Speed Wagon was wearing a wire. In this episode, we find out he was merely recording evidence for local police, and Ally tells Kai that she murdered him. But Kai is devastated to realize he killed his own sister for nothing. Ally consoles him, saying, "Be the man that she wanted you to be... You can finish what you both started."
6) Ally is working with the FBI.
As the male cult members prepare for the "night of one hundred Tates," Ally leaves the house, saying that she's going for snacks. Instead, she walks straight to an FBI undercover van and tells them to move in on the house immediately.
Ally later explains, "The FBI came to see me when I was in the psychiatric ward. They had their suspicions about Kai back then, after the assassination attempt... I became invaluable to the FBI, and in return, I got immunity."
7) There's a massive shootout before the night gets started and Kai is arrested.
As he's dragged from the house by the FBI, Kai screams at Ally, "I'll kill you!" Beverly is understandably ecstatic that Kai has had his comeuppance.
8) Ally has fans since "escaping from that cult."
Since Kai's arrest, Ally has reopened The Butchery without Ivy, and it's doing incredibly well. A customer tells her, "I think you're one of the most inspiring women of our time." She asks if she can take a picture with Ally, but she declines. Ally is trying to sidestep the attention she's received from bringing down the cult. She wants to live a normal life.
9) Beverly visits The Butchery and tells Ally she's surprised she wasn't arrested.
Beverly got away with all of the murders she committed with the cult, and Ally explains why: "Beverly, you didn't fit the profile. A black woman in a cult of angry white nationalists." Neither Beverly nor Ally are held accountable for any of the cult's actions.
10) Beverly wants to know if Ally killed Ivy.
Beverly tells Ally, "You do know, Kai took credit for every murder except Ivy's. He says you did that." But Ally sticks to her story that Kai killed Ivy. She doesn't own up to the killing. I, on the other hand, have to own up to being wrong in thinking Ivy was still alive.
11) Ally has a new girlfriend called Erica.
And Erica is completely enamored with Ally, telling Beverly, "She is a legit feminist icon. Tell her please." Like Ivy, Erica is an amazing chef and now works at The Butchery.
12) Ally tells Kai he isn't Ozzy's father.
Kai calls Ally after receiving proof from her that he isn't Ozzy's father after all. Kai says this was a mistake, as Ozzy was only thing keeping Ally alive. He threatens to murder Ally as soon as he's free.
13) Ally announces she's running for Senator in Michigan.
This was, of course, the role Kai desperately wanted to claim. Since Ally has become infamous for "escaping" from the cult, she has a strong platform on which to run. She announces she wants to bring down the entire two-party system. Kai sees her on TV announcing her run and is livid.
However, Ally is inextricably linked to Kai, and Beverly tells her, "You'll always be seen as his victim." Ally hates this. She wants to break free from the hold he's had over her.
14) Kai murders his latest recruit and cuts off his face.
Before he kills the poor guy, Kai makes him get identical tattoos. This way, when prison guards find the body, they'll believe it's Kai, giving him the perfect chance to escape. As usual, Kai tells the recruit he's dying for the cause before slicing his face clean off.
15) Kai escapes from prison.
Kai has a prison guard in his pocket and gets her help to escape. She's his accomplice in cutting off the other prisoner's face, despite her objections to the violence. She gives Kai a guard uniform to wear so he can just walk out of the jail.
16) Kai crashes Ally's first TV debate and tries to kill her.
Kai appears in the audience to ask a question, delivering a speech that's a little too close to home for comfort:
"You're the spark to start the fire I built. You're not a hero. You're a symbol. One I created. Killing people doesn't get the men hard and the ladies wet anymore. But Americans lose their ever-loving shit when you destroy their symbols: statues, flags, pledges of allegiance, twenty dollar bills, white Jesus, and Merry fucking Christmas. You come for any of that stuff, you've got rioting in the streets, and domination of the news cycle for weeks. You symbolize the hope that women one day will win an argument with their husbands. That they won't be catcalled when they walk down the streets. That their bosses won't talk about their tits anymore. That they'll make just as much money as men make. That the fight is winnable. When I kill you, they'll see that there is no hope."
Given a gun by the female prison officer he recruited, he holds it up to Ally's face and pulls the trigger. However, it's not loaded.
17) The prison guard was really working with Ally.
As Ally tells Kai, "You were wrong. There is something more dangerous in this world than a humiliated man. A nasty woman." Which is a bit tacky, but we get the point. Ally and the prison guard were working together to take down Kai.
19) Beverly kills Kai.
She shoots him in the head with glee.
19) Ally puts on the green velvet hood.
Bebe Babbit, who was Valerie Solanis' girlfriend, and a member of SCUM, might be dead (Ally shot her), but Ally is carrying on her legacy. In the final seconds of the finale, Ally is announced as the new Senator, and we see her put a green velvet hood over her head. She tells Ozzy she's going to meet some powerful women. Ally has become the cult leader Bebe wanted her to be. Kai's purpose, as instructed by Bebe, is complete: he made a woman angry enough that she brought Valerie Solanas's legacy to life.
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