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AHS: Delicate Returns With Part 2 — But Who Didn’t Survive the Premiere?

Like an old friend you barely remember, if you ever really knew them at all, American Horror Story returned on Wednesday with the second half of Delicate — which is also a good word to describe the impression this season is likely to leave on its viewers.

Part 2 kicked off with a bit of backstory for Emma Roberts’ Anna, and in true AHS fashion, it was a total bummer. A flashback to White Plains, N.Y. in 1988 introduced us to Anna’s mother (played by a Gummer, if ever we’ve seen one), who died from a pulmonary embolism shortly after she was born. Anna’s mother complained about leg pains and asked to go to the hospital, but her husband was quick to dismiss those concerns. Like mother, like daughter — the Alcotts really just have the absolute worst taste in men.

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And you can file this one under “things that make you go hmmm…”: The friendly nurse who scooped up baby Anna while her father grieved his dying wife was none other than Nicolette, looking suspiciously not-at-all younger than she does in 2024. She even had the same untrustworthy haircut she does in the present, so you know she’s one of the baddies.

Back in the present, newly minted SAG Award nominee Anna continued to lose what little grip remained on her sanity. The poor woman couldn’t even take a dip in the pool without hallucinating a pair of gnarly goats peeping on her from a safe distance. At least we think she hallucinated them; real goats and imaginary goats often look very similar.

Even with a nasty cat scratch on her face to compliment her growing (and possibly evil) pimple, Anna insisted on joining Dex at Sonia’s gallery opening. Naturally, she was on her best behavior from the moment she arrived, making a beeline for Talia just to let that bitch know she’s not getting away with it. What is “it,” you ask? Anna has no idea, but she’s pretty sure it involves spying. Then again, she also thought the paintings were talking to her, so her credibility is about as strong as this season’s overall narrative thread.

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Anna showed a glimmer of good judgment over dinner by trying to quit the industry, but Siobhan made sure to slap that idea right out of her pretty, dumb head. But can Siobhan really be trusted? Not according to Ms. Preecher, who literally slipped Anna a note that said “You can’t trust any of them.” But can we trust her, either? And furthermore, can we trust that this season will reach some sort of point in the few remaining episodes it has left?

And what would American Horror Story be without a few senseless deaths? Hamish was the first to go this week; it was allegedly a suicide, but let’s be honest, this one has Siobhan’s dirty fingerprints all over it. And then the episode ended with Dex discovering his mother’s bloody corpse in his bathtub, accompanied by “I TRIED TO WARN YOU” written in lipstick on a nearby mirror. (RIP x 2!)

What did you think of AHS: Delicate’s return? Grade the premiere of Part 2 below, then drop a comment with your thoughts.

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