WARNING: The following article may contain some AHS spoilers.
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s American Horror Story is well into its third season and I have to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with it so far. FX’s website describes the season as one that, “Tells the secret history of witches and witchcraft in America.” It does just that, while adding zombies, monsters, mythical creatures, and in true American Horror Story fashion, gruesome topics that the viewers can barely stomach into the mix. The season focuses on a witchcraft school in New Orleans, made to teach young witches how to use their powers. The first 4 episodes worked on building up the story while the 5th episode delivered all of the action the viewers have been waiting for. I can’t stop watching though, and here’s why sometimes I adore/loathe AHS: Coven.
Things I Love
The thing I love most about the American Horror Story is the recycling of actors from season to season. This season has not failed to disappoint, as it brought back a cast made up of AHS veterans and new actors that just so happen to tickle my fancy.
1. Queenie: ALL HAIL QUEENIE! My favorite new character definitely has to be Queenie played by Gabourey Sidibe. She’s a witch who is basically a human voodoo doll. All she has to do to use her powers is think about the person she wants to inflict pain on and hurt herself so that they can feel the torture. She explains how she found out about her powers while working in a chicken shop. A customer got angry for getting the wrong amount of chicken. She became frustrated after he argued with her about this so she stared at him and stuck her arm into the deep fryer. Soon his arm started to burn and welt up. She never got charged with the crime because there was no direct evidence of her burning the victim, so instead she got sent to the coven. Queenie definitely has some anger issues, but that’s okay because Gabourey Sidibe portrays them wonderfully. You go Queenie! Keep using those voodoo powers.
2. Fiona Goode: Jessica Lange is the MVP of American Horror Story and she returns this season as Supreme Witch, Fiona Goode. Like in all seasons, I have a love/hate relationship with her character. Excuse my French, but she is a bitch. The way she simply came to be the Supreme proves this. She sliced the throat of the previous Supreme, FYI. She also killed Madison and then burned Myrtle, who was completely innocent, at the stake. But, she can also be kind. She revived a stillborn baby at the hospital (a scene that made me sob) and is now trying to be a good mother to Cordelia. Fiona cares about the Coven even if she has a weird way of showing it.
Another thing I love is this season’s story line of a Voodoo vs. Coven witchcraft rivalry. The season does not directly state when this rivalry started, but I’m guessing it’s sometime after Madame Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) turned Marie Laveau’s (Angela Basset) boyfriend into a Minotaur. Since then, Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen declares her hatred for the “white witches” of the Coven and seeks revenge on all of them. Little does she know, that the Coven now has a black witch. Race has been a big issue in this season. Fiona gets upset that Madame Delphine is a racist and orders her to be Queenie’s personal slave. The witch’s are also divided by color and created a contract so that each group of witches would have their own territories in the town. I really hope the issue of Queenie being part of the Coven is found out by the Voodoo witches in a later episode. It’ll make for some good TV.
Things I Hate
So far the season has killed off two of my favorite characters. Why does American Horror Story always feel the need to kill off so many people? I call these the M&M deaths.
Madison: Emma Roberts was introduced as Madison Montgomery, a teen actress and socialite who suffered from alcohol and drug abuse. She was candid, pretentious and had some of the best one-liners. Unfortunately, Fiona killed her because she was scared that Madison was the new Supreme. Now Emma’s character is stuck in a chest in the creepy servant’s room. I really hope someone decides to bring her back to life, because she left too soon.
Myrtle: Another character that was killed off was Myrtle Snow. Myrtle and Fiona have been long time rivals since they were both young witch’s in the Coven. They fought over the Supreme title, and Myrtle was no fool to Fiona’s sadistic and felonious rise to power. Although Myrtle’s death was cool and symbolized the historic treatment of witch’s in America it was sad to let her go. Now no one will ever stand up to Fiona.
This season also has some characters that I dislike, such as Spalding who is just plain weird. He’s in love with Fiona and cut off his tongue for her, a la Van Gogh. I also hate Kyle’s mom. She’s deeply troubled and I’ll explain why later on this article. Another person I dislike is Madame Delphine LaLaurie. Madame Delphine was a rich woman living in New Orleans who had a “Chamber of Horrors” in the basement of her house. She tortured people for fun, (primarily blacks because she was a racist) made them into weird beast like animals, and used fresh human blood as a facial. She tortured her daughters after she heard them talking badly about her, leaving them in cages for a year and cutting off their legs. She comes back to life and is forced to be a maid for the Coven. In the 5th episode Voodoo Queen Laveau resurrects Madame Delphine’s daughters as zombies. They come after their mother and Madame Delphine tries to apologize to them. In this episode I don’t understand why the creators tried to make the audience feel sympathy towards her character. She sheds her evil ways and cries over how much she loves her daughters. In the end she kills her daughter because she was a crazy zombie, but I don’t understand how this evil woman came upon such a change of heart. Maybe I’m just biased and will never feel sorry for Kathy Bates, because her role in “Misery” scarred me as a child.
The last thing I hate has to be “Frankenkyle.” The amazing Evan Peters returned this season as a frat boy named Kyle. He was killed in the second episode when Madison used her powers to flip over a bus he was riding in. Taissa Farmigia’s character, Zoe, fell in love with him after meeting him for about 15 minutes at the party, and to make it up to her Madison does this weird spell to bring him back to life. The girls go to the morgue where Kyle’s body was and decided to stitch together the best pieces. Here are my problems with this:
1. When Zoe returns Kyle to his mother, his mother rapes him. That’s gross (I could barely watch the scene) and totally unnecessary. I understand that episode’s theme was all about motherhood but I could have done without that scene.
2. Kyle goes missing. I really just want to know where he is. There’s a monster roaming the street. He didn’t choose this lifestyle, and I know he has a heart. I feel bad that he’s been subjected to this life and I just hope that he returns to safety.
3. Give the man some lines, please! Frankenkyle has lost his ability to speak, but I really hope he finds it soon. We need to see more of Frankenkyle.
I can’t get enough of AHS, which is why I’ll keep watching even if it gives me heart palpitations, sweats and nightmares. Thank you Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for being messed up in the head and creating this masterpiece. LONG LIVE THE WITCHES!