Answering the Most Important Question From the AHS: Cult Finale — What's With the Vitamin A?

In the season seven finale of American Horror Story, cult leader Kai is riling up his minions for "Night of 100 Tates," where they plan to attack pregnant women and murder them and their babies (and the husbands, if they're present). But before turning his evil-doers loose, Kai must make sure they have their kill kits ready.

K-bar, change of clothes, chloroform — check, check, check. And then he pumps them up with a rousing speech:

"The most important thing is not in the kill kit. It's inside you. Are you able and willing to die for our cause?! Are you ready to make history?!?! Fortify yourselves with some vitamin A!!!!" he screams at them.

Wait, what? What does vitamin A have to do with anything?

Well, obviously Kai is just super concerned with the skincare regimen of his followers. Vitamin A is a natural antioxidant, which fights free radical damage and can slow the signs of aging.

JK, JK. Here's what we think is actually going on.

Did your mom or dad ever tell you that eating your carrots would help you see in the dark? That's because carrots are chock-full of vitamin A (in the form of beta carotene), which does improve eye function, specifically night vision.

Now, eating boatloads of carrots will not actually give you magical sight in the darkness, like a superpower or something, but studies have shown that high amounts of vitamin A do lead to better night vision. Furthermore, they also show that in parts of the world where people are vitamin A deficient, supplements of vitamin A have improved citizens' vision. In fact, a deficiency of vitamin A can eventually cause someone's cornea to disappear, rendering them blind. So yes, eat your carrots (and other colorful vegetables) because they really are vital to your health.

Presumably Kai just wants his minions' vision to be in tip-top shape when they go skulking out into the darkness to slaughter 100 innocent pregnant women and their unborn babies. It's always good to be prepared.

As to why Kai's vitamins look like a bowl full of cereal marshmallows, well . . . we're guessing that he grabbed a bottle of Flinstones vitamins and dumped them into a bowl. Believing in the magical powers of vitamin A through Flintstones vitamins sounds exactly like something the deranged cult leader would do.