The two-part AHS: NYC season finale, which leaped many years into the future to learn the fates of Patrick, Gino (Joe Mantello), and other characters, brought a conclusion to American Horror Story NYC. It was an utterly devastating night of television, one that emphasized the value of awareness, advocacy, and optimism while providing an uncompromising look at the damage caused by the AIDS pandemic. The deaths of some of the most important characters from this season were shown in these last episodes in classic Horror Story form. And while we might never know for sure what Big Daddy stands for, at least we got the dramatic unmasking we were hoping for. tvacute has important details of what we discovered in the two-part AHS: NYC finale “Requiem 1981/1987”:
AHS: NYC Finale Recap: Who died?
Theo’s burial was the first scene in the season finale, but the handsome youngster, who is currently playing with his man-deer siblings in heaven, wasn’t the only one to pass away this year. Theo (Isaac Powell) functioned as the stoic specter entrusted with giving Sam a look into his own terrible destiny when Sam (Zachary Quinto ) collapsed in the middle of Theo’s burial. Sam awoke in his own twisted adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Sam was then taken on a journey through his abusive past by a leather-clad Henry (Denis O’Hare), who made him relive the humiliations he endured at the hands of men like his father and his first boss—men who looked down on him for being gay, despite Sam feeling like the one who “should be feared”—by making him relive those experiences. Then he found himself fleeing Big Daddy on the beaches of Fire Island, where he, at last, decided to stop fleeing and give himself over to the night. (There will be a lot more to that.)
Then, in 1987, we reconnected with Patrick in episode 9, whose health had worsened to include irreversible blindness in addition to other horrifying illnesses. In the hospital, he also experienced a dream-like experience where Barbara (Leslie Grossman), his ex-wife, helped him navigate some of his most formative experiences, for better or worse. generally worse As when he and another officer were discovered kissing and Patrick made the other officer appear to be the victim by throwing him under the bus. Or on a particularly unpleasant hunting trip when Patrick’s father called him “limp-wristed” Barbara compared Patrick to the sentinel that Whitely had made, continuously breaking down and putting himself back together, saying, “The shame, the lies, the violence — it’s a cycle, Patrick.” Patrick passed away with Gino by his side and was welcomed into heaven by Kathy Pizzaz’s tender rendition of Jevetta Steele’s “Calling You.”
Adam (Charlie Carver) arrived at Hannah’s apartment in the final episode 10 to find her being carried out on a stretcher. He was informed by the police that she passed away from “natural causes,” but a coroner’s report would later reveal a more nuanced tale. We resumed with Patrick’s partner, who was luckily using AZT to control his problems. Gino persisted in his attempts despite Big Daddy’s persistent presence. He objected. He spread the message. He put up a valiant fight. 1989, 1990, and 1991 came and went, yet he continued to actively protect his neighborhood. Sadly, the day eventually arrived when Gino was unable to fight. He passed away with Big Daddy watching over him.
AHS: NYC Finale Recap: Who Survived?
Although it would be a stretch to claim that anybody concluded this season happy on American Horror Story, at least these people survived to tell the tale: In conclusion, Patti LuPone’s character Kathy performed her farewell concert and told Adam that, while not knowing the precise cause of her customers’ deaths, it “doesn’t seem safe” there longer. She said, “You are much too young to be worrying about how not to die. Don’t lose sight of how to live.
Gino himself is included on that list in “Requiem 1981/1987 Part Two,” exempt from any visitation by any accusatory ghost from his own past since he was “a decent gay.” Amidst a gathering of mourners, Adam, the last homosexual man left standing (apart from Fran, played by Sandra Bernhard, who we just never see or hear from again after Episode 8), gathers his composure before delivering Gino’s eulogy. The credits start to roll as he inhales deeply.
Adam studied Hannah’s study while grieving Hannah’s untimely passing, which revealed that This condition is sexually transmitted and she thought she acquired it from Adam. He requested his doctor to inform the rest of the medical profession and scheduled a meeting to validate her findings. He also decided to distribute pamphlets urging people to use condoms. He even survived to give a moving eulogy at Gino’s burial, which served as the season’s climax. Although Fran and many other major characters were previously seen with Big Daddy on Fire Island, it’s generally safe to assume that they all lived.
AHS: NYC: Who is Big Daddy?
Big Daddy’s influence permeates the whole two-episode conclusion, even when he isn’t shown on screen, but his name is never truly made known. This appears to support the idea that he never ever existed in actuality. Instead, Big Daddy was a representation of AIDS, homophobia, and death, or even some sort of supernatural creature or something even more intangible (or even a mixture of all three).
When Sam is being pursued by Big Daddy (played by Matthew William Bishop) on the beach in episode nine, that is very definitely suggested. Even though it was probably only a fever dream, Sam appears to be embracing his own death, which took the appearance of a sexy blond twink, based on the way he yields to Daddy. Throughout these last two episodes, Big Daddy made multiple deaths, notably when Patrick was dying in bed and when Adam found Hannah dead in her apartment.
It’s plausible that Big Daddy represents a homosexual, leather-clad Angel of Death, similar to the one we saw earlier in this season during the tarot reading, even if he could be directly to blame for these losses. At Patrick’s funeral ceremony, when Big Daddy frightens Gino, there is a particularly poignant symbolism. It also links in with a previous scene when Adam believes Big Daddy is the one who gave him HIV through unprotected intercourse in Central Park. Vast swathes of nameless men enter a large cemetery that Big Daddy has excavated.
The fear of death associated with AIDS and HIV seems to be represented by Big Daddy, especially when it comes to LGBT individuals who experienced the worst effects of this trauma in the 1980s and 1990s. And for this reason, Big Daddy continues reappearing in Gino’s life and murdering each of his loves one by one. Gino, however, did not give in to this terror. Gino fights him all the way to the finish, safeguarding the town as a whole in the process.
