American Horror Stories: Rubber (Wo)man Ending Explained

American Horror Stories season 1’s first two episodes, “Rubber (Wo)man,” bring American Horror Story fans back to the beginning, with a newly terrifying story and sinister ending. The new series is a spinoff to Ryan Murphy’s now 10 season-show American Horror Story. While AHS’s anthology premise featured a new horror plot every season, American Horror Stories presents a new storyline for each episode, excluding the two-part connected premiere.

The two-part episode is essentially a concise version of American Horror Story’s first season, Murder House. Ryan Murphy’s horror anthology career began at Murder House with the sinister spirits and their caged futures, so why not begin the show’s spinoff right where it all started? A few ghosts from the first season, like Beau and Nurse Gloria, return to interact with the newly trapped spirits while the house’s legacy of pulling in and consuming families is maintained.

A few familiar American Horror Story faces return for the first episode, including Matt Bomer as Scarlett’s father, Michael. Most actors featured in the first two episodes are new to the horror anthology scene, though many of the “Rubber (Wo)man” cast and characters have prior industry connections or significant musical careers on Broadway. Here’s a look at American Horror Stories’ premiere episode’s ending and what it all means.

What Happens In Rubber (Wo)man’s Ending

The two-part episode ends with a new era of ghosts killed by one another in Murder House. Michael and Troy have accepted their role as the new father figures to all of the teen girls stuck in the house forever, while Ruby has taken a break in constantly murdering the other ghosts in Murder House. Scarlett has decided she doesn’t want to die yet and would still like to enjoy some time on Earth, though Ruby mentions she still visits every Halloween and calls on the phone often. She now dons the rubber suit outside of the house, murdering those who traumatized the ones she loves. Scarlett’s future is left ambiguous, though it’s obvious she is not done with Murder House. American Horror Story and its new spinoff have now focused three stories on Murder House, so it’s safe to say this is not the last time Ryan Murphy will return audiences to the sinister home.

How Rubber (Wo)man Parallels AHS: Murder House

The two-part premiere episode is filled with references and parallels to the ghosts and family inhabitants from AHS: Murder House, so it’s no surprise the “Rubber (Wo)man” plot takes on an extremely similar trajectory. One of American Horror Stories’ opening scenes is almost an exactly recreated sequence from Murder House. Whereas Ben Harmon originally found the suit and disposed of it in the trash before Tate Langdon (Evan Peters) put it on, Scarlett finds it in her closet and throws it in the trash before it mysteriously shows up the house again. Similarly, in “Rubber (Wo)man Part 2,” Ruby and Scarlett are taking a bath in the tub and are positioned in the same way that Tate and Violet were after Tate dragged her there to make her throw up the pills she took. The dynamic is also similar, considering Scarlett, like Violet, is a new tenant who falls in love with a ghost.

Michael and Troy also share many similarities to Murder House’s residents Chad and Patrick. The latter couple moved into the home to renovate and flip it, which is the former’s mindset, plus turning it into a bigger tourist attraction. Both couples also share similarities in their struggling marriage and sex life and considering Chad bought the Rubber Man suit to spice up their romance, it’s not a coincidence Scarlett figured the suit belonged to her fathers. Patrick, like Troy, was also beginning to have an affair outside of their marriage, though Patrick chose a trainer and Troy engaged with his contractor. The new couple also decides to go to counseling in the same room Ben Harmon conducted his therapy out of in Murder House, though Dr. Grant takes Ben’s place.

Scarlett Reflects Tate’s Psychopathic Tendencies

American Horror Stories’ first episodes keep the veteran viewers guessing which roles the new inhabitants will assume from the old. As Scarlett arrives at Murder House as a new tenant with her fathers, goes to school as a misunderstood kid bullied by popular girls, and walks straight into the same room, it appears she’ll be the new Violet Harmon. Then, as the episode goes on, her homicidal tendencies, general anger, need for counseling at the house, and undertaking of the titular rubber suit persona make her apt for a reincarnation of Tate. By the end, it appears the new Tate is Ruby, while Constance Langdon’s legacy has been transferred to Scarlett.

While AHS: Murder House never showed Tate’s prior relationships with the “Dead Breakfast Club” group he slaughters at school, Scarlett had a clear vendetta against her popular victims. In Murder House’s episode “Halloween: Part 2,” Tate must face his shooting victims on Halloween night when they are able to roam the world free. The group of long-dead teens stalks Tate throughout the night to confront him about how he took their lives and futures from them, some even wanting to exact their own brutal revenge. In Scarlett’s case, the girls she murders are stuck in the house with her and can take their revenge at any time they please, though their regret of death is less apparent when Maya says, “At least we’ll be young and pretty forever.” The girls accept their places as residents of the Murder House, even coming around to Ruby and Scarlett as they sit in the den eating breakfast, gossiping just as before.

What Does The Rubber Woman Mean For Tate?

Tate Langdon was the original Rubber Man, taking the S&M suit from Chad and Patrick and wearing it while murdering the two to change their minds about adopting a baby. Tate’s use of the rubber suit was primarily when he needed to murder or, in Vivien’s case, rape someone to fulfill Nora Montgomery’s wish to have another baby. It’s possible that once Nora could have a baby to look after once Vivien had her twins, Tate had no further use for the suit and waited for someone else to take his place. Since Tate was the original character to retrieve the suit from the trash after Ben threw it away, he was likely the same entity that returned the suit to the house to taunt Scarlett after she tried to toss it.

Tate was a psychopath by all means, but his Rubber Man persona only truly showed when he exacted his crimes to the benefit of the ghostly Nora Montgomery, the only mother he had ever known. Scarlett is clinically identified as a psychopath by her friend Shanti, though her Rubber Woman antics are all her own, taking joy from the murders she commits inside and outside of the house. In this way, Scarlett is the more extreme version of the Rubber Man that truly embodies the passionate brutality that it entails. Tate is presumably returning in American Horror Story: Double Feature. Still, with Scarlett in ownership of the rubber suit and no more need to find a baby for Nora, his days as the Rubber Man are probably over.

What The Ending Of “Rubber Wo(man)” Really Means (& How It Hints At Scarlett’s Future)

By the end of “Rubber (Wo)man Part 2,” Scarlett has essentially taken on the role of Constance from AHS: Murder House. All of Constance’s children and her ex-husband, besides Addy, were murdered in the house, so she holds a close relationship to the property and is a frequent visitor. Jessica Lange’s Constance Langdon, like Scarlett, previously revealed she wasn’t done with her time on Earth, so she didn’t take it upon herself to commit suicide or be murdered to stay in the house with her family. Once the Harmons all died, she took it upon herself to raise Michael before being shattered by another psychopathic child after Tate. Constance eventually killed herself in Murder House between the events of the first and eighth seasons, so she remains for eternity with her children.

Scarlett is seen taking a path where she exacts revenge on those who have wronged her family and friends, still coming back to the Murder House every Halloween for the next few years. It’s not understood exactly what her future path will be, but if she still follows Constance’s path as the living unofficial tenant of the infamous Murder House, once she is ready, Scarlett will likely kill herself in the house as well. While American Horror Stories‘ first season won’t see Scarlett again, it’s possible a future season’s episode will come back to check on the tenants on Murder House and reveal what exactly happened to her.

About The Author

Jordan Williams
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Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies.

Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI’s 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.

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