"The Morning After" is the second episode of Apocalypse. It premiered on September 19, 2018.[1]
Episode Music
Synopsis[]
A new occupant arrives at the Outpost with alarming news, causing a domino effect of lust, betrayal, and self-destruction.[2] Langdon meets the survivors for an inquisition. Strange signs herald something coming. Lovers unite, and loved ones turn on one another. Blood reveals mysterious truths.
Plot[]
Emily prepares for bed, but hears a strange noise: her room is crawling with snakes. Her screams bring The Fist and Mead, the latter of whom rejoices at the new protein, despite the risk of contamination. Over dinner, Emily asks about the newcomer in Venable's office, to which the administrator responds that all questions will be answered in due time. The servants lift the cloches over dinner to reveal the snakes, unexpectedly alive, which slither across the table.
The dinner guests assemble in the library, and Langdon enters. He explains that the other American compounds in New York, West Virginia, and Texas have been overrun and destroyed but there is another outpost called The Sanctuary and that he will be evaluating candidates to take there, and that those not selected will be given suicide vials in case of further incursion. Evie explains that Gallant's volunteering to Langdon's "cooperation" technique is a survival trait.
In Venable's office, Langdon begins questioning Gallant about his sexual orientation and his anger. The questions go deeper, until they resemble confession and Gallant describes a dinner party where Evie tried to set him up with suitors she thought appropriate, which he deliberately ruined. Gallant speculates about Langdon's own sexual orientation, and Langdon suspends the remainder of the conversation, bidding Gallant to leave.
Gallant dreams of pentagrams, and Rubber Man knocks on his door, later Evie observes the two having loud sex. Disturbed, she walks away and visits Mead in her chambers to tells the overseer about her grandson's indiscretions.
Elsewhere, Timothy and Emily wonder about Langdon, and resolve to find out more. The intrepid pair finds Langdon has a functional laptop, and discover inexplicable emails about Venable's administration but are unaware they are being observed by Rubber Man overhead.
Langdon visits Venable to determine why she has been violating protocols and making her own rules. She says she was given secret orders, and he retorts that he drafted all such orders. They square off about who is really in charge of the Outpost and he relays a story about a woman and child covered in lesions from fallout exposure, saying he did not give them the satisfaction of mercy. Venable thinks none of her charges are worthy to move onto the Sanctuary (aside from Dinah, of whom she knows little) and Langdon tells Venable to undress for a physical examination, which she rebuffs. He unzips her blouse to find she suffers from extreme scoliosis, which brings her great pain and shame. She asks if she has passed his test, and he says no but before she can protest they are interrupted by Mead, who is summoning Venable. Mead relays Evie's tale and they suspect Langdon as the suited figure, neither knowing Rubber Man's true nature nor that Langdon overhears their plotting.
Venable interrogates a chained and nearly nude Gallant, while Mead whips him but Venable realizes that Gallant is enjoying being whipped, and the women walk away. Langdon enters, and Gallant says that he did not rat him out but Langdon insists he has never entered Gallant's room and that he too thinks that Gallant is pathetic. The Inquisitor tells Gallant that his own grandmother informed on him, and suggests that he should ask her himself as he releases him.
Dinah remarks on the song on the radio ("Time in a Bottle"), and Coco retorts that her own generation had the best of all choices and that nostalgia in the old was only because of lack of options. Gallant confronts Evie about turning him in, and she admits that she intends to be the last survivor as she regrets having to clean up after Gallant for years, and thinks she deserves to live more than he (or anyone else), as she is the living legacy of humanity's culture. He wanted acceptance from her, but she says that's not in her nature.
Timmy and Emily speculate on what Langdon's emails mean and why they were really chosen for survival. They realize that since Venable's rules are irrelevant, nothing is stopping them from having sex, which they do while Rubber Man watches from the shadows.
Gallant broods in the drawing room, and the radio shifts to "Gold Dust Woman". Gallant catches a glimpse of Rubber Man, whom he follows to a bedroom. The two begin to have sex, and Gallant grabs a nearby pair of shears to stab the figure in the chest. Gallant finds he's been discovered by Langdon, but when he looks back at the corpse below him he finds that he has killed his grandmother.
Mead intrudes on a sleeping Tim and Emily and drags them away. The young lovers confront Venable about her made-up rules, and she sends them to their punishment. where Mead takes them to a chamber for execution where Tim shoots her in the torso in an escape attempt. She staggers away, revealing a torso full of white fluid and circuitry: Mead is not human.
Featured Characters[]
Walter[]
Walter is a character in Apocalypse portrayed by Jason Michael Snow. Walter was a lawyer when he decided to become "friends" with Evie. One day, Evie invited him and two other men to her house to become suitors for Gallant. When they saw him in "none approval" clothing they decided to leave.
Morris[]
Morris is a character in Apocalypse portrayed by Navaris Darson. Morris is a man who has many pet dogs. One day his "friend" Evie let him come to her house with two other men to be suitors for Gallant. When they saw the "none approval" clothes he was wearing they decided they wanted nothing to do with him.
Mario Vestri[]
Mario Vestri is a character in Apocalypse portrayed by Chris Ferro. Mario was a manager at Pottery Barn when he decided to become "friends" with Evie. One day, Evie invited Mario and two other men to her house to become suitors for Gallant. When they saw Gallant in "none approval clothes" they decided they did not want him.
Quotes[]
- Michael Langdon: "No need for rules anymore, chaos has won."
- Michael Langdon: "If you lie I will know, if you try to trick me I will know."
Notes[]
- FX Networks: Episode recap and reaction.
- This episode's title is a reference to the song that played in the music room during the first episode, "The Morning After" by Maureen McGovern. The song was taken by the refugees as a sign of hope, that they were going to be rescued.
- Riley Schmidt, the stuntman who portrayed Rubber Man, also portrayed the Red Devil and Green Meanie, masked assailants in Scream Queens, another TV series created by Ryan Murphy.
- Emma Roberts and Cheyenne Jackson are credited but do not appear.
- The song "Time in a Bottle" was also featured in X-Men: Days of Future Past, most notably in a sequence involving a character portrayed by Evan Peters.
- According to the dates on Michael Langdon's laptop, this season takes place in October 2021.
- Michael Langdon referred Venable's scoliosis as her "shame". In the first season, Murder House, Michael's grandmother, Constance, used the term to refer to Larry Harvey's burns in the episode Open House.
Cultural References[]
- Hunger Games - Coco likened the Cooperative's methods of evaluation to the Hunger Games.
- The Bachelor - Gallant referred to his grandmother' s lunches as the "suburban gay lunches. The homo version of the Bachelor".
- Scarlett Johansson - Walter, one of Evie's guest, was a lawyer who represented her.
- Natalie Wood - an old acquaintance of Evie Gallant, that she outlived.
- Elvis Presley - Coco mentioned him while arguing with Evie.
- Mad Max - Emily mentioned it while plotting with Timothy.
- Rip Taylor, Larry Kramer, Greg Louganis - Gallant said he was going to scream names of the great gay radicals of the 70s and 80s with every crack of the whip while being tortured by Ms. Mead and Ms. Venable.
- Folsom Street Fair - Gallant mentioned this annual BDSM fair held in San Francisco while being whipped.
- The Hardy Boys - Dinah mentioned this 70s TV series to Coco and Mrs. Gallant, revealing she had the biggest crush on Shaun Cassidy.
- Ten Little Indians - Evie likened the occupants of Outpost 3 to the characters from Agatha Christie's best-selling novel while arguing with her grandson.
Raised Questions[]
- Who's inside the Rubber Man suit? And how was it able to leave the Murder House?
- What is Ms. Miriam Mead?
- Did Ms. Venable really receive orders from The Cooperative or is she making rules on her own?
- If this season takes place in October 2021 (as confirmed by the dates on Michael's laptop), then how can the last episode of Hotel, "Be Our Guest" take place on October 30, 2022?
Gallery[]
Videos[]
References[]
| Murder House | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asylum | |||||||
| Coven | |||||||
| Freak Show | |||||||
| Hotel | |||||||
| Roanoke | |||||||
| Cult | |||||||
| Apocalypse | |||||||
| 1984 | |||||||
| Double Feature |
| ||||||
| NYC | |||||||
| Delicate | |||||||