It’s that time of year again; time for eerie October nights, spooky ghost stories, scary Halloween costumes, and most importantly, the premiere of the new season of American Horror Story: Coven. The third installment of the anthology series tells the story of the descendants of witches who escaped the famous Salem witch trials and fled to New Orleans. Teenager Zoe Benson discovers that she is one of these descendants and is sent to a school in New Orleans where young witches are taught to protect themselves. Tonight’s episode had a great blend of comical humor and scenes that made your skin crawl; the first horrific scene had my stomach doing somersaults. Here is a list of the best moments of the premiere:
1. Evaissa reunited! – Meeting in a style reminiscent of Romeo + Juliet, Evan and Taissa, a.k.a. Kyle and Zoe, still have that chemistry that made them the star-crossed lovers of the first season. Having just accidentally made her last boyfriend hemorrhage by having sex with him, Zoe is hesitant to begin a new relationship, but seems to be falling for Kyle’s looks and charm. Unfortunately, even more like Romeo and Juliet, one of them is already dead. Poor Kyle was caught in the crossfires of Madison’s rage towards the other drunken frat boys and died in a bus crash. Hopefully these witches can find a way to bring him back, because I don’t think I can make it through AHS without Evan Peters.
2. Emma Roberts- I wasn’t so sure about how I’d like Emma as Madison, a spoiled movie star with telekinetic abilities on the show, but she brought the right amount of witchy sarcasm to bring some humor after gruesome torture scenes. From mocking her classmates and asking Zoe if she “had any clothes that weren’t from the Gap” to asking if Madame LaLaurie’s house was the one “that actor from Face-Off” owned, she was the episode’s much-needed comic relief. The other witch girls were just as entertaining, and I hope the show continues to focus on the dynamics between the four of them.
3. Girl power! – Between Madison and Zoe getting revenge on the frat-boy rapists and Marie Laveau having her comeuppance on Madame LaLaurie, this season has kicked off with the ladies being in charge, and at the head of it all is the Supreme Witch Fiona, played by the multitalented Jessica Lange, who is already facing off with her daughter Cordelia for control of the school. Kathy Bates’ psychotic LaLaurie, who made me want to scream within the first two minutes of the show, also seems like a force to be reckoned with; I bet her and Fiona will come head-to-head as the alpha witches at some point.
Overall tonight was a good way to kick off a chilling new season of American Horror Story, and next week looks even better so don’t forget to tune in Wednesday nights at 10 P.M. on FX!