AHS Season 10: Why Finn Wittrock’s Harry Is The Real Villain Of Red Tide
Warning: SPOILERS ahead for American Horror Story season 10, episode 5, "Gaslight."
American Horror Story season 10 proved Finn Wittrock's Harry Gardner is the real villain of Red Tide during the penultimate episode. Red Tide serves as the first half of the milestone season, which will be followed up with a new story titled Death Valley. While the tale set in Provincetown seemed to make Harry and his family the victim of an addiction plaguing the sleepy offseason beach town, it turns out Harry had the villainous mentality inside of him all along.
When the Gardner family relocated to Provincetown for the winter, Harry was adamant that it would also do good for his pregnant wife, Doris (Lily Rabe), and young daughter, Alma (Ryan Kiera Armstrong). Harry hoped a change of scenery would unlock his writer's block, allowing him to work on his TV scripts in a last-ditch effort to resurrect his career. Instead, the desperate husband and father found success after taking a special black pill that allowed him to reach the full potential of his talents. Unfortunately, it also made him reliant on the blood of the living, essentially turning Harry into a vampire. Still, that transformation didn't result in Harry becoming a ruthless killer. He attempted to kill only those he felt deserved punishment and made an effort to shield the truth from Doris and Alma.
Allowing Alma to take a magical black pill that turns people into vampires was a major slip-up for Harry, but he at least acknowledged that there were rules that came with the new power. However, the protection of his family continued to wane after Doris gave birth to their son. Not only did Harry barely punish Alma for feasting on the blood of her baby brother, but he gaslit his own wife, convincing her that her own sanity was the problem. Even after Harry and Alma came clean about the pills and blood, Doris was led to believe she was the problem for not following their ploy for greatness. While Belle Noir (Frances Conroy), Austin Sommers (Evan Peters), and other pill-takers seemed to be pulling the strings in town with ultimate power, Harry emerged as the true villain in "Gaslight." Aside from doing exactly what the episode title suggests, Harry's treatment of his wife after she took a pill was absolutely inexcusable.
It was horrible enough that Alma and Ursula (Leslie Grossman) cooked up a plan to force Doris into taking a pill, knowing full well it would result in her becoming a pale person, but Harry's reaction to the event showed his true colors. After locking his wife in the bathroom as she transformed into a vampire-like creature, Harry tried to justify his actions. He claimed her new fate was probably better than what would have happened to the woman following an inevitable divorce. Harry mentioned how his future success would be soul-crushing for his wife, insinuating Doris roaming around as a flesh-eating monster was a better outcome for her. This train of thought proved Harry never truly cared about the wellbeing of his wife and family as he always had his sights set on bettering his career and status as a writer.
Harry's focus on his career, no matter what it takes, doesn't bode well for Alma and his newborn son. If he was willing to throw away his wife, there's no telling what he could do to his children. Had he really wanted to protect his family, he would have kept Alma away from the black pills and made sure his son was nowhere near Provincetown, a location with bloodthirsty residents who target babies. Though Harry may show signs of being a caring father, he already did enough damage in American Horror Story season 10 to give him the title of the Red Tide villain.