American Horror Story: Apocalypse: Violet and Tate’s relationship is gross

American Horror Story: Apocalypse gave the Tate and Violet storyline a resolution and happy ending, and I don’t get it.

Way back years ago when American Horror Story first started, many fans, especially those in their teen years, were compelled by the relationship between Violet Harmon and Tate Langdon. There was once a time when you could buy shirts at Hot Topic with Tate’s quote “normal people scare me.” The creepy romance definitely appealed to many people, and, as that season went along it made sense for people to be invested in it.

But, then, at the end of Murder House, we learned horrible secrets about Tate, including that he was a school shooter and also that he had raped Vivien Harmon, Violet’s mother.

You would think that those two things combined would definitely have put a stop to this romance both inside the show and outside of it. But, with American Horror Story: Apocalypse, we see this is definitely not the case.

At the end of the last episode, “Return to Murder House,” the pair reunite again and get about as happy of an ending as they could given their circumstances. While through the episode Violet shows that she has refused to talk to Tate in the years since Murder House because of the things he did, Madison Montgomery convinces her that Tate has changed now and that she should go to him. Violet also reveals that she has always loved Tate even though she wishes she didn’t.

Now, I understand that American Horror Story is this creepy, messed up show and that there is often something compelling about twisted, bad characters. Exploring people who are troubled, maybe even evil, in fiction is interesting and can be nuanced. But, I’m just pretty disturbed at the overall romanticization of this couple on the show and outside of it.

Of all the characters from past seasons that could have been focused on to get a happy ending, I’m not sure Tate deserves one. What about Nan from Coven? I’d much rather see her get a return and better ending than someone like Tate.

As far as Violet goes, she does deserve a happier ending seeing that she never did anything evil that warrants her to suffer here. But, at least for me, it’s pretty hard to watch someone just decide she can get over the fact that her boyfriend raped her mother. Pretty sure that should be a deal breaker.

While the Murder House episode this season was fun, and it was great to see Jessica Lange and other returning actors and actresses again, I couldn’t really get too on board because that relationship was meant to be the emotional center and resolution for that season and storyline. I guess I’ll just hold out hope that I don’t ever have to see Tate’s face again and that they focus on Evan Peters’ other roles in the season going forward.

Can someone please explain to me what is so compelling for people about this relationship? I try and try but really don’t get it.