https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/09/american-horror-story-is-at-the-end-of-its-wits/570142/

"FX has hyped Apocalypse as the ultimate treat for Story fans, promising to bring back characters from the first season (set in a house haunted by hot ghosts) and the third (about a coven of sassy witches)," says Spencer Kornhaber. "Those earlier installments did indeed provide the scary, silly, and moving highlights of a franchise whose eternally promising conceit has been undermined by sloppy tonal shifts and plotting. The Apocalypse premiere can barely muster even the baseline bonkers, though: Forgoing the directive to terrify, it relies on first-draft camp comedy. Most troubling is that by wiping the Earth and heading below ground, (Ryan) Murphy and (Brad) Falchuk are betting they can construct a coherent new world according to their tastes and imagination. But eight seasons in, their stores of those resources appear as barren as California in nuclear winter."

ALSO:

Apocalypse premieres to more than 3 million viewers, down from last season's premiere (https://www.thewrap.com/american-horror-story-apocalypse-premiere-ratings-ahs-season-8-viewers/)
American Horror Story ditched the seriousness of Cult for the campy fun of Apocalypse (https://www.thewrap.com/american-horror-story-apocalypse-premiere-ratings-ahs-season-8-viewers/)
This was one of the strongest premieres in American Horror Story history (https://www.indiewire.com/2018/09/ahs-apocalypse-review-season-8-american-horror-story-fx-1202003279/)
Nothing in the premiere was even remotely scary or shocking (https://nerdist.com/american-horror-story-apocalypse-premiere-review/)
Apocalypse has perhaps the most visually beguiling set-up of any in the anthology so far (https://nerdist.com/american-horror-story-apocalypse-premiere-review/)
The premiere's first moments redeemed the aimless, camping next 45 minutes (https://variety.com/2018/tv/reviews/american-horror-story-apocalypse-review-1202939709/)