American Horror Story: Apocalypse is finally interesting enough to watch

With mysteries being unraveled and the return of favorite characters, the fourth episode of American Horror Story: Apocalypse was the first enjoyable one of the season.

My opinions of the first three episodes of American Horror Story: Apocalypse were not super high, but, after the fourth episode, I’m willing to keep giving the show a shot. I’ve been a big fan of the show for a while now, and, I was really hoping this season would make up for how strange and poorly crafted Cult was. While the season still has a lot to make up for, Apocalypse is finally getting interesting enough that watching is enjoyable.

While it’s no surprise that this season connects to Coven and Murder House as we’ve had this confirmed for months before the season started, we are also starting to see tie-ins to other seasons like Hotel. The first three episodes barely connected to past seasons at all, except that we know Michael Langdon is the child from the end of Murder House.

Now, however, we have many favorite characters from the past returning to the screen. We saw multiple witches from Coven in this last episode, and we also learned about the brother school of Miss Robichaux’s Academy where the warlocks were trained, Hawthorne School. This school is now Outpost Three.

We learned that female witches are much more powerful, and that the Supreme is always a woman. We also saw that Michael Langdon was trained as a warlock at Hawthorne School. All of this, along with learning more about the fates of Queenie and Madison had me watching with attention for maybe the first time all season.

My main frustration at this point is that it seems like the first three episodes were basically pointless. I feel annoyed I was made to sit through them as it appears their only function was to make me anxious and excited when the Coven returned. It feels like most of the first three episodes could have been condensed into one episode.

Hopefully, Apocalypse will continue to focus on a mix of new and old characters and keep things interesting. It’s still on my list, but I’m going to give the rest of the season the benefit of the doubt.

You can watch American Horror Story: Apocalypse on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX.