American Horror Story Season 12 Episode 1 Multiply Thy Pain Explained- Theories About Genesis 3:16, Spiders, Vipers, And Cursing Kardashians

American Horror Story has always been divisive. Some seasons have been better received than others, but they have always been unexpected. American Horror Story Season 12 Episode 1 looks to be the same. This time, the blood-tinged lens is pointed at womanhood.

Being a woman is tough. If the now-famous Barbie speech delivered devastatingly by America Ferrara tells us anything, this is a rough Barbie world, and we are just living in it. Be pretty but not too pretty. Be smart but not overly clever. It would be best to be assertive without being aggressive, whatever that means. We should be appreciative but not submissive because we will come for each other if that rule is broken. Wish for things but not too hard and never, ever upstage each other or another man, even unintentionally.

The biggest sins are, of course, not wanting or being unable to conceive a child and aging. It speaks volumes that Emma Roberts’ Anna is played as an aging actress on the backside of her youth and career. I would kill to be as young as Roberts again, and alas, the cycle starts again. Brilliantly American Horror Story Season 12 Delicate Episode 1 explores that treacherous position.

Spoilers for the episode and the book below

Emma Roberts’ Anna Victoria Alcott is desperate for a child and on the verge of achieving career success. The only problem is everyone seems to be gaslighting her, and creepy women lurk everywhere. The cold open begins with her chasing someone out of her bed and apartment, only to discover what appears to be blood covering her nightgown and pristine white carpet. The encounter leaves her shaken and late for an appointment with her fertility specialist despite being convinced her appointment was scheduled for another time. It won’t be her first encounter with shifting appointments and realities.

We next flashback one week to the morning of her first IBF treatment. It’s a painful and unsettling experience that, ultimately, Anna hopes is successful in getting her pregnant. Her male doctor is dismissive and caters to Dex instead of Anna as if she is a child or nothing more than the vessel that carries life. It’s troubling. When beautiful but disturbing and creepy crones begin invading her space, it is cause for alarm. Despite everyone around her assuring her she is overreacting, Anna knows something is terribly wrong.

The problem is poor Anna is plagued by insecurity and has trouble not doubting herself. She feels broken because she hasn’t been able to get pregnant and fears her partner Dex doesn’t love her as much as he did his dead first wife. She is an emerging talent on the edge of superstardom, with an independent horror film getting early positive buzz. Dex seems like a caring partner, but there is something that screams ick about the guy. He’s too quick to dismiss her. Too put together and just too icky. Matt Czuchry plays him to paternalistic perfection. His friends don’t help things when they make comments about his late wife and the current artist he is featuring in his new gallery show. It’s enough to

Genesis 3:16

The opener is everything women have to deal with. Our bodies, capable of miracles, are also forced to do so much. It is the very definition of Genesis 3:16, which is displayed on the place card that introduces the first episode. Our bones soften and stretch and break to accommodate childbirth. It can feel like we are nothing but a carrier for a parasitic monster. If that’s not enough, we are judged for our ability or inability to conceive said monster even though we are only half of the equation, and being a woman shouldn’t be 100% defined by being a mother.

By the way, whether pregnant or having newly given birth, women are judged by their level of thinness immediately. We’ve been considered witches for our seemingly supernatural abilities, and we preen, primp, and torture ourselves to fit the mold we have been cast into. The opening sequence captures all of that in a horrific and terrifying fashion.

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

King James Bible

Genesis 3:16 is about women’s pain and sacrifice and subservience to man. F@#k that noise. I have been married for nearly thirty years to a brilliant man. He is successful, caring, compassionate, and, above all else, not a tyrant. He is my partner, not my ruler, and when I had two children, he marveled at my body’s ability instead of mourning the loss of my svelte figure. Genesis is about the Lord giving and the Lord taking away. You can and are expected to have children, which will result in tremendous pain and always will be controlled by the man who implanted his seed in you. It’s antiquated, obnoxious, and, unfortunately, still a problem.

The second half of the verse deals with sexuality. Unfairly, the very thing that allows us to conceive is warped into a negative attribute to be boxed and shaped as our man sees fit. It’s belittling at best and sociopathic at worst. In this reality, Anna has no shot at happiness. Women are vipers judging and condemning each other, men are condescending pigs, and the public is impossibly unfair. Such is life as a woman. First and foremost, American Horror Story Delicate is about the horror of being a woman. American Horror Story Season 12 Episode 1 is about the perils of fame, pregnancy, and black widow spiders.

American Horror Story Season 12 Episode 1 Spiders Explained

Spider imagery is everywhere in American Horror Story Season 12 Episode 1. Dex plucks a tiny black spider from Anna’s hair, and Anna seems to pull a spider’s thread from her head. Is she the spider or the fly? We don’t know what exactly is in the medication the doctor has given her, but we can all but guarantee it is preparing her womb to accept something just not what she was hoping for. Spiders lay hundreds of eggs at a time. Maybe Anna will be the vessel for many reincarnated souls. Is it possible that the intruder is trying to help her? Maybe there is more to Dex’s wife’s death? Come into my lair said the spider to the fly. Will Anna give birth to a nest of spiders or reclaim her life and feast on the dead carcass of those who seek to hurt her?

The stages of womanhood

By no mistake, visions of younger, beautiful women and an older one plague Anna. The female fatale, a young, vibrant, and deadly archetype, haunts her. There is a gifted artist her partner is showcasing, another mysterious woman with an obsession for fallen bird nests that follows her everywhere, and an old crone that Anna maybe imagines silencing her. This crone or witch appears at the doctor’s office, in the OR, and at her interview with Andy Cohen. Symbolism is heavy in Anna’s drug-induced hallucination or memory. Women are expected to fit neatly into one of the three boxes without exception. Anna feels pressure to play the part she is expected to while on a personal journey.

The only question at this point is who is friend and who is foe. Is the crone often described as having evil magical powers assisting with Anna’s demise, or is it one of many younger women in her life? Who is the witch, and who is the savior? In the final moments of American Horror Story Season 12 Episode 1, we see it wasn’t blood everywhere, but the red lipstick Anna was given at dinner. Written on her mirror, presumably by the intruder, is a message. ” Don’t Do It, Anna”.

Gaslighting is the name of the game in Delicate. Anna is missing time, and she can’t explain things happening all around her. Dolls move, appointments shift before her eyes, and medications are left out. Do all her career and personal pressures stress her, or is there something more sinister going on? It seems like everyone is gaslighting her. Her partner, publicist, doctor, and even her supposed friends. Could it be the one person who is scaring her is the only one being honest even if they are being very obtuse about it?

The wildest theories about AHS Season 12 Delicate

Anyone who has read the book by Danielle Valentine, Delicate Condition, knows the twist. This is the first time Ryan Murphy has used preexisting material as the basis for the season. It is also the first time he has not acted as a showrunner. In all likelihood, this season will not be a direct translation of the novel and will have twists of its own. What if Dex is trying to reincarnate his dead wife in the new baby? Instead of her friend, the Kim Kardashian character, being the villain, it could be Dex’s artist who looks just like his late wife. Kardashian’s publicist could still be a menace with her backhanded compliments and all-too-pointed comments, but it allows her to be more than a one-dimensional Big Bad. It will also enable Dex to fully participate in the scheme, switching him from simply a toxic male to a monster.

AHS Season 12 feels very feminine. The pressure is real to be everything all the time. Be a mother because that is what you should do, but know you will be judged for choosing parenthood over a career. You are selfish if you make the opposite choice or try to find a balance. It’s tricky waters, and Anna’s journey is just beginning. Maybe the person leaving out medication and moving appointments is trying to save her, not drive her mad. Find all our AHS coverage here.