Review: American Horror Story: Coven "Head"

Non Spoiler Review:

Head addresses Hank's backstory and the true nature of his mission with Marie and marriage to Delia. The head in question is Delphine, and Queenie opts to take her under her care and teach her a lesson. Meanwhile, Myrtle schemes to bring the coven back into order, starting with the council and Delia. Nan struggles to remain at Luke's bedside despite his mother.

Who knew that a decapitated Kathy Bates would be so much fun? Her scenes were the funniest of the season so far, and provided a great contrast to the darker elements of the episode. 

Head was one of the best, culminating in what was generally expected, but promising an exciting conclusion to the season when the story resumes in the new year.

Spoilers Now!

In 1991, a young Hank is taken into the woods by his witch hunter father. They've been hunters for generations, his dad explains as they load the rifle. They proceed deeper into the trees until his father flushes out a woman who falls in front of Hank. Hank is told to put her down, and as she begs for her life he can't bring himself to kill her, allowing her time to cast fire against his father before she collapses. As he puts out his burning jacket, the older man reminds his son never to forget what they are.

Fiona visits Marie's salon with the box, asking to talk. Marie reluctantly agrees, and in the back Fiona finds the decapitated body of Delphine standing in the cage. Marie chastises Fiona for using Delphine as a bargaining chip. Fiona wants to talk terms, but Marie laughs at the prospect they can mend the truce. Delphine pipes up from inside the box that Fiona is insane. Fiona wants to stop the petty quarrelling given the witch hunters that attacked the night before. Witch hunters are white women's worry, Marie counters. She also knows Fiona has cancer and can't protect her own. Fiona tells Queenie to go burn the box with Delphine's head, so she takes it away, and Fiona leaves.

Myrtle wants to ensure Delia has no doubts that she had anything to do with the acid attack. Delia never doubted her, she assures her.

In Atlanta, Hank visits the Delphi Trust, home of the witch hunters, to see his father. They're not happy with his progress in New Orleans and especially not that he allied himself with the voodoo queen. He should not take initiative, they remind him as he's only to gather intelligence. That's why he's married to Cordelia. Hank tells him he's more capable than he thinks. But his father already knows about the fire starter he killed, which they had to clean up after, and which ended the lives of a maid and desk clerk as a result. The hunt isn't only about the kill—they only strike when the time is right, and they need Hank back in the house. The acid attack on Delia was authorized by them to ensure she needed Hank. But someday she will need to be put down.

Myrtle entertains the council, who have returned after her surprising phone call and have regrets about the misunderstanding that led to her burning. And they want to hear all about Misty Day. Myrtle explains she has power, compassion and uniqueness. As Pembrooke toasts her she begins to choke on the meal, and she and Quentin are paralyzed. Myrtle chastises them for wanting to eliminate her so they could dominate the council. But she brought them there to help Cordelia—and proceeds to remove an eye from each with the melonballer. With that and her magic, Delia can see again.

Fiona arrives home shocked to find her daughter healed, and Myrtle thanks her for sending her to the flames to bring her clarity. She also cut up the bodies of the council and disposed of them. The two trade accusations of murder and Fiona threatens her with permanent exile. Delia reminds Myrtle she needs to treat her mother as the supreme and her mother needs to stop accusing Myrtle. The real danger is outside. She also realizes that her gift has vanished with the return of her sight.

At the hospital Zoe and Madison find Nan who has been sitting outside of Luke's room. His mother won't let her see him. Luke remains in a coma with Joan at his side. She's furious when the girls enter. However Nan can hear him in her mind. Luke tells Nan information to verify that he's communicating with her so Joan acquiesces and sings to her son with Nan at her side. 

Queenie keeps Delphine's head and brings her home, giving her Roots to watch. She vows to educate her about her people. 

In his hotel room Hank suddenly feels the torture of Marie's magic while her emissary arrives to demand the heads of the white witches. She wants them dead that night or he'll die. Hank is left alone and loads up his weapons.

Delia teaches Misty about herbs, including one that banishes evil that she should use only in extreme circumstances. After Misty leaves, Delia finds Hank behind her. He's astonished to see her sight is back. She won't have any of his affection despite his desire to get back in her good graces. Misty returns, and Hank remembers her—he's the one who tried to kill her at the cabin. He refuses to leave the house but Delia advises him she's filing for divorce. Upstairs Hank leaves with a box of his stuff, but is stopped by Fiona's new menacing guard dog. She explains they needed some protection. The dog leads Fiona to Zoe's room where she finds Kyle. She tells him to leave but Kyle just breaks the dog's neck.

At the hospital Joan suddenly sees Nan as a miracle for giving her a ray of hope. Nan then explains that Luke is telling her God is judging Joan for what she did to his father. His father's death was no accident. In a flashback, he was stung by a swarm of bees, put there by Joan who knew he was allergic. She killed him because he was leaving her. Joan turns on Nan and tells her it's all been a dark trick, sending her away. 

The girls come home to find a far more cogent Kyle playing gin with Fiona. She took the liberty of sprucing him up. He's not all there but he's okay. They need a new guard dog, one who will attack on command, Fiona explains. 

After watching all of Roots, Delphine gloats she kept her eyes shut the whole time. Queenie decides to play her civil rights music instead and joins Marie downstairs as Hank walks in and begins to shooting. He shoots Queenie in the stomach and proceeds into Marie's chamber. Queenie struggles to grab a gun and crawls after. Marie comes out and Hank shoots her in the arm, and is about to finish the job when Queenie puts the gun in her own mouth and shoots. Hank's head blows off. Upstairs Delphine finds herself touched by the images of the civil rights movement.

Hank's father gets the photos of his son's body. Luke wakes up from his coma with his mother at his side. But all he can say is she murdered his father. Joan tells him to go back to sleep and puts a pillow over his face. At the school, Fiona goes to answer the door and finds Marie Laveau. She welcomes her inside and shuts the door.

The Verdict:
Head was a great episode, balancing the ominous nature of the revelation of the witch hunter threat against some hilarious Kathy Bates moments. Meanwhile, Myrtle, Delia and Fiona all shone with some great scenes.

I doubt Queenie is dead, especially with the likes of Misty Day nearby to solve the problem. If she manages not to survive this, Ryan Murphy has some 'splainin' to do given all the resurrected characters currently running around.

The approach to returning Delia's eyesight was especially novel, but I wonder just what purpose the council serves if Myrtle can off them with no consequence...it all seems very much like the True Blood Authority (meaning, it lacks any authority whatsoever aside from dramatic purpose).

Again, the Luke situation is feeling very tacked on. I have no idea how this will tie into the big storyline, unless his family turns out to have some sort of association with either party. Right now it's a distraction from the main action.

Next episode—Marie and Fiona working together against the witch hunters? Yes please.

Revew: American Horror Story: Coven "The Sacred Taking"

Non Spoiler Review:

Misty Day appears at the school, bringing a resurrected Myrtle eager to exact revenge on Fiona. With the coven in chaos, Delia decides on an ancient ritual to reveal the identity of the supreme. Meanwhile, Delphine realizes being immortal doesn't necessarily mean she's invulnerable to Marie's torture.

Sacred Taking was an enjoyable episode steeped in ritual and some further hints at the backstory of the witches. Luke and his mother remain a confusing and weak storyline, though, so hopefully this does go somewhere (and doesn't fizzle out like the aliens from last season). 

The season is speeding by, but the series continues at a brisk pace, advancing a lot of plot as far as bringing the various players together for the final act of the season.

Spoilers Now!

Queenie wanders through a sketchy area of town and dispatches with a would be attacker using her magic. Zoe and Madison arrive, wanting her back in the coven even though admitting it's a mess right now. Queenie doesn't believe their spiel, nor the idea that a new supreme is rising, and proceeds to kill the attacker and gut him. As they watch in horror, she explains he raped three girls. Marie needs a dark heart for a spell, and she plans to give it to her. She rips his heart out. Voodoo and witchcraft—war is coming, and they're going to lose, Queenie tells them.

Bedridden Fiona muses over the cancer that has infected her spine and she laments the loss of her beauty. Delia has no sympathy for her, so she's sought solace in Axeman. But she doesn't want him watching her decay. She just needs to figure out which of the girls is coming into the supreme.

Luke's dealing with his mother's outrage with the girl's next door over his wounds from Halloween. She insists he must cleanse himself and gives him an enema (!) to clean him from the inside out. At the school Nan can sense she's hurting him, but Delia orders her to sit down and lectures the girls that no one else can slip through the cracks. Queenie is now dead to her. And they have one shot to kill Fiona.

Delia remains unaware Spalding is dead and Zoe goes to answer the door to find Misty, who declares she's in danger. Myrtle had woken from her healing slumber and warned Misty an assassin was circling the cabin. Misty leaped for cover as a gunman fired inside and the two of them hid in the swamps. Delia asks who is there and takes Misty's hand, getting a vision of her burning and resurrection. She welcomes her into the coven. Misty then asks if her friend can stay and leads them to the greenhouse where they find Myrtle. Delia is elated to find her again and warns her the coven has fallen on hard times. Myrtle declares Misty Day is the next supreme.

Zoe and Madison have been sharing Kyle. Zoe wants him to relearn things so he can have a life while Maddie is not so forward thinking. They have a busy night ahead of him so she leaves him with his lesson. Myrtle and Delia are performing a ceremony called the sacred taking to learn the identity of the supreme. Myrtle is certain of Misty's credentials. Misty doesn't want to be the supreme, but Delia warns her no one gets to choose. 

They join hands, and Delia explains the ritual has been invoked three times in their history—the first was the Salem witch trials when the coven fled south. The supreme was too weak to make the journey so invoked the sacred taking. She took her own life to allow a new supreme to arise to lead them. 

Fiona is sick and delirious. She wanders out of her bathroom to find Maddie dancing there, taunting her that she'll soon be moving into her room. Fiona asks who brought her back, but Maddie says she brought herself back. And they're going to burn her at the stake. She can leave the world that way, or take an overdose of her pills and go to sleep. Maddie leaves and Fiona throws the pills away, but finds Myrtle there.

Myrtle explains she's been resurrected by Madison. Fiona plans to depart the country and wants to leave with the man she's found. Myrtle reminds her she just has two choices and Fiona's dream is just a nasty trick—she'll die alone and disappointed. 

Downstairs the girls await the results of their spell, and when Nan wonders if she could be the next supreme all of them insult her with their silence. She leaves and goes next door, breaking inside to find Luke. She hears his muffled moans and opens the door to the closet to find him tied up inside.

Myrtle continues her temptation, but Fiona won't lament over past regrets. She knows when the party's over and has accepted her fate. She asks her to look after her Delia. Then she takes the pills and asks Myrtle to ensure they hang her portrait in the place she chose and lies on the bed. Myrtle leaves her to die. 

Fiona hears Spalding telling her to wake up. He only has voice in the spirit world now, but sees everything. He offers her a medicine, but she refuses, saying she's finally doing something good for the coven. He tells her she's giving up and has been tricked. He won't permit it. Madison is not the next supreme. She was brought back by another witch. He gives her the medicine that makes her throw up the pills. 

Meanwhile, Queenie goes to see Delphine in her cage, giving her some take out. All they've been doing is bleeding her, she explains, when Queenie asks if she's been fed. She asks what she did to deserve the betrayal. Marie comes in and berates Queenie for feeding her, sending her away. Marie tells Delphine it gives her great pleasure just to know she's in a cage. Delphine taunts her—she can't kill her because she can't die. She suggests Marie throw her back in the box because she's had enough of the world. The natural order will be restored in a century. Marie warns her she has more choices than that and cuts off Delphine's hand. 

Nan leads Luke downstairs but he warns her they can't go next door. His mother finds them, and gets on the phone to the police. He tells her they're leaving and she can't stop them. That's when someone shoots both her and Luke.

The girls wait downstairs as Myrtle plays the piano. But Misty feels no signs of something changing. Fiona arrives, explaining that the signs of the supreme were a migraine for her and asks to talk to the gifted swamp witch. 

Alerted to the commotion next door, Misty heads over where the paramedics take Luke away. Fiona glamors the officer, explaining the mother is dead and they're waiting on the coroner. She suggests Misty use her talent on the woman. The rest of the girls watch the scene from outside. Delia senses something, finds a bullet and has a vision of Hank. Misty lays her hands on Luke's mother and raises her from the dead.

Zoe returns to her room and Kyle, and explains they're under attack. Kyle speaks—he says this road goes two ways. He loves her. She loves him too. And Maddie listens in.

In the morning Fiona joins her daughter for coffee. Delia demands they not play games. They both know she orchestrated the spell the night before. Fiona compliments her on demonstrating real grit and finally she has hope for the coven. And she's proud of her daughter. Fiona notices the silver bullet Delia found. Fiona senses it's blessed—meaning witch hunters. Delia realizes they need her mother now more than ever. Fiona goes outside and finds a large box on the porch. She brings it inside and opens it up with Delia. It's Delphine's head. Her eyes open and she mouth's help.

The Verdict:

Another action-packed episode even if Jessica Lange's fate was never in doubt. I do wonder what will happen with the Axeman, or if he's simply been left as a loose end to the storyline. Perhaps he may be of help in the coming war with the witch hunters.

The Luke storyline was the weakest and most erratic—his mother's abrupt turn into full blown crazy didn't really feel organic, nor did the sudden closet rescue and shooting. The cut from that to the paramedics seemed like a poor edit. And I won't even go into the comet enema...which surely raises the bar for most disturbing scene of the season.

All the pieces seem to be moving into place for a more unified coven to face their greater threat—Kyle, Misty and Myrtle are all under one roof now. That may mean an alliance with Marie might be close at hand, as well. I could see the series ending with a true peace and unification between the two factions.

Review: American Horror Story: Coven "The Dead"

Non Spoiler Review:

The Dead returns the focus to Kyle as he begins to reconstruct his memories and is reintroduced to Maddie, who herself is coming to terms with her return from the dead. Queenie begins to doubt her place among the Salem witches. Fiona's past catches up to her at the school, while she finds herself drawn to the Axeman.

The Dead was a mixed bag, still setting up new pieces in the storyline for future pay off. The Kyle subplot looks like it's finally getting somewhere and Marie returns to prominence, as well. It just felt a bit off and unexciting, but nothing surprising as American Horror Story tends to suffer from these lulls here and there between major developments.

Spoilers Now!

In a flashback to Kyle when he was still alive and hanging with his friends at the tattoo parlor, Kyle has big plans to make something of his life. He wants to be an engineer to insure disasters like Katrina never happen again, and he doesn't want a tattoo that's going to make someone judge him. In the present, chained up in the greenhouse, he's horrified to find his ankle has his frat brother's tattoo. Zoe arrives, holding a gun behind her back.

Zoe explains he knows how this has to end and she should have let him go. The only way she knows to fix it is to kill him. Unfortunately Kyle grabs the gun and puts it in his mouth. Zoe struggles with him and it fires through the ceiling, and she break down, admitting she doesn't want him to die.

Meanwhile, Madison, who has been numb to the world all her life, wants to be able to feel something. That includes taking any poison she can find, to no effect. Even fire doesn't hurt her now, and she can eat all she wants.

Delphine finds Queenie in the kitchen so they go to the drive-thru and enjoy a late night snack. While discussing their odd situations, Delphine suggests the other girls will never see Queenie as her sister because she's black.

Hank calls Delia in the middle of the night wanting to come home. She hangs up, but he promises to see her soon as he sits among an assortment of high powered weapons. Delia gets up and goes in search of Delphine but hears a noise behind her. Madison grabs her before she stumbles on the stairs and Delia gets a flash of her death, including her mother killing her.

Fiona has gone to the Axeman's apartment where he puts on some jazz and gets them a drink. In the bathroom she finds she's starting to lose her hair, but seems to miss the bloodied corpse of the apartment's real owner behind the shower curtain. After a kiss she decides it's a mistake for her and moves to leave. He suggests it's her destiny, but she turns on him. She's a miserable human being, she admits, and he should want nothing to do with her. He offers sex instead of love and manages to seduce her.

In the morning Zoe chains Kyle up in her room and tries to train him to speak. He gets frustrated and Madison comes in, asking who it is. Zoe questions if she remembers it's Kyle given she killed him. Maddie says Delia wants to see her so she'll look after him. When she's gone she asks Kyle if he saw a light when he was dead. She didn't. But they both came back. They're both wondering now if it's been worth the trouble.

Queenie arrives at Marie's salon. She's surprised it took her so long to come see her. Queenie doesn't think the Salem witches like her, but Marie suggests they care plenty. They care about her power, though they'll never be welcome here. Marie reveals they have evil under their roof—she buried Delphine and Fiona dug her up. Queenie doesn't think she's so bad but Marie challenges her to ask her what she's done. If Queenie ever wants to join her, the only price is Madame LaLaurie. As she leaves, she wonder what Marie will do to Delphine. Marie tells her not to worry about that.

Delia confides in Zoe that she sees everything now despite her blindness. The Axeman is a bad spirit that Zoe sent packing, which means she's very powerful and she now has a bulls eye on her back and Fiona is her biggest enemy. She admits her mother has only ever been on her own side. If Fiona concludes Zoe's the supreme, she'll try to kill her, just like she killed Maddie. Fiona is growing weaker but that makes her dangerous. They have to kill her. Zoe returns to her bedroom to find Kyle and Maddie having sex.

Fiona dresses to leave but the Axeman wants her to stay. Fiona suggests the dead body in his bathtub will start stinking up the place. She's no angel either, he says, but she always had someone to tidy up after her. She's called the police and they're on the way, she counters. He knows she'd never do that. She doesn't care to hear anything more about him. He's been watching over her since she was eight, he explains.

In a flashback young Fiona uses her abilities to retaliate against older bully Helen. After Fiona is pushed to the ground it was the Axeman who knocked a shelf down on Helen. Fiona demands to know what he is. He admits he saw her as a daughter at first, but she grew into a fearsome woman and he fell in love. Fiona doesn't believe in ghosts. He just wants to give her pleasure. She tells him to keep his distance and haunt someone else.

Spalding wakes up in his room tied to his bed and Zoe waiting for him, asking how he is. He says he's feeling fine, stunned that he can talk and has his tongue back. She found it in the alcove hidden in a box, still alive because someone enchanted it. He admits it was Myrtle Snow's magic, and that's why he cut it out. She kept it, but Myrtle wasn't powerful enough to restore it. Zoe is. All she wants is the truth, the one thing he can't refuse her. He confesses he didn't kill Maddie and it was Fiona. His family has served the coven for ten generations, he protests. Not anymore, Zoe replies, and stabs him to death.

Queenie goes to Delphine to ask her about the worst thing she ever did. The older woman says the past is best left buried. But Queenie claims she wants to be a true friend and has to see the ugly as well as the good.

Delphine recounts the story of her slave Sally, who gave birth to a baby with a light complexion, obviously her husband's. Delphine decided to make her her new handmaiden to help with her beauty treatments. In her bedroom Delphine explains her own beauty concoction is the only potion that works and asks Sally to guess the ingredients. Sally thinks it's blood. But there's something extra special, Delphine teases, from a boy newly born. She knows who the father is and she needn't bother giving the baby a name. Queenie is mortified and Delphine says she couldn't have a bastard growing up in her house. Sally killed herself the next morning and they buried her with her baby. Delphine points out it was a different time and a different world. She's grateful to have a true friend to guide her.

Zoe showers up to clean off the blood. Madison asks what she's been up to and knows she's upset a little about what happened between her and Kyle. Zoe realizes they can't be together anyway, but Madison suggests otherwise given he's already died once. Being with him is the only thing that made Maddie feel anything, but Zoe doesn't have to give him up either. She takes Zoe to the bedroom where Kyle is sitting and the two welcome her into their bed.

Fiona turns up at the Axeman's bar waiting for him to finish playing. She offers to buy him a drink.

Queenie takes Delphine out to get a new hair style. Delphine is nervous at the prospect, but is excited when they enter the salon, unaware that it's Marie Laveau's, who appears behind her welcoming her back. Delphine tells Queenie she doesn't know what Marie will do to her. But she does, Queenie replies, and Delphine is chained up. Marie suggests Queenie make the first cut and hands her the knife. She'd love to. Afterwards Marie applies the fresh blood to her face. Beautiful, she says.

The Verdict:
The Dead didn't offer anything memorable this week, and played to expectations. Queenie has shifted loyalties to Marie as I thought she would, though how solid that is remains to be seen.

The question of what lies after death continues, and I'm wondering if it will become a major theme as the series progresses. Is there a reason Fiona doesn't believe in ghosts? Is the Axeman more than a ghost? Did the witches do something to him that allow him now to walk the world in a physical form?

While Kyle's storyline hasn't been my favorite, at least there's been advancement on that front. When Zoe indulged in her undead threesome my first reaction was that it was totally out of character. But then I realized it does suit her given she kills everyone she's with. What better sexual companions than two undead ones?

Here's hoping that Spalding breaks the resurrection chain and stays dead.

Review: American Horror Story: Coven "The Axeman Cometh"

Non Spoiler Review:

The Axeman Cometh introduces a new plot and character to the storyline, as a serial killer crosses paths with the school in 1919. In the present, Zoe's plan to consult a Ouija board to contact Maddie yields mixed results. Delia comes home from the hospital but her new found powers strain her marriage to Hank.

Much like the Black Dahlia from season one, Murphy brings in another historical character, the Axeman of New Orleans, and provides another historical flashback to the witch's school. I have no idea how important this character may be to the season, but he does get slipped into the plot to provide the girls some answers and will have an impact on at least next episode.

Though there were the usual weekly twists and surprises, I found this one to be a mixed bag and one of the weaker ones of the season, but it did have to follow the incredible Halloween two-parter. The Axeman Cometh still entertained, and served best as clean up for last week's mayhem.

Spoilers Now!

New Orleans, 1919. A narrator calling himself the Axeman, who has been terrorizing the city, declares his intention to claim other victims. He sends a letter to the newspaper announcing his plan to spare anyone whose house is playing a jazz band (given he has a thing for jazz). The witches at the school read the article and discuss finding some jazz to play to be on the safe side. One bold witch decides they are powerful (as well as suffragettes) and need to take a stand for once.

The axeman is actually a bartender, and as he walks the streets that night he hears plenty of jazz playing—except the witch school, which is blaring opera. He goes inside where one of the witches waits for him reading tarot cards. He tells her he made his intention clear as she pulls the Death card—his card. Then her schoolmates ambush him and stab him to death.

In the present Zoe goes through Maddie's things and a tiny bottle of liquor rolls out into the closet where she finds a hidden door containing an alcove full of old photos and a Ouija board. She shows the school pictures to Queenie and Nan, explaining how the school used to be full of witches a hundred years before, and now their numbers are down to three. She feels Madison wants them to find her—so she pours each of them a drink of absinthe and vows to watch their backs. Queenie is less than enthused, but partakes. They proceed to use the Ouija board despite Queenie's warnings how dangerous it is. 

First question—are we alone? It moves to no. Did you die here? Yes. Were you murdered? Yes. Who killed you? You did. They ask if this is Madison. No. They ask who it is. Axeman. Queenie puts a stop to it, telling Zoe she best know who she's talking to if she's going to play around with it.

At the hospital Fiona finds herself able to read the minds of those getting chemo with her, something that starts to drive her crazy. She never had the ability before and wonders if it's the medication. The doctor asks her to stay and finish her chemo. He assures her they've chosen an aggressive form of treatment for her. She realizes what she really wants is to belong to somebody.

Investigating the Axeman of New Orleans, Zoe learns he killed eight people and was never caught. Nan explains that his response that we killed him refers to the class of 1919, the year the Axeman disappeared. Nan and Queenie both refuse to continue communicating with him. Zoe is disgusted at their lack of solidarity, so proceeds herself.

She asks where Madison is in exchange for giving him what he wants. He tells her the attic. Zoe goes to investigate, and in Spalding's room is immediately assaulted by the stench. Maddie's decomposing body is in the chest, and Spalding grabs her from behind.

Blind Delia comes home from the hospital with Hank. She's angry she can smell roses. She needs chrysanthemums for strength and protection. Hank touches her again and she gets another vision of the red-haired woman. She demands to know who it is. She had to go blind to see things she couldn't before. Fiona is pleased with their relationship breakdown and laughs she finally has Hank's number. Delia warns him he'll be accountable for all his betrayals and sends him away. 

Fiona explains she's been given the sight, the greatest and hardest gift to live with. When her mother touches her she gets a flash of Myrtle's burning. She's horrified Myrtle is dead and refuses to believe she threw acid in her face. 

Zoe quickly knocks Spalding out with a doll and then Queenie, Zoe and Nan proceed to torture him to confess to the murder. Nan can hear his voice in her head. And he answers yes. He has unique appetites, he reveals. He wonders if they will turn him into the authorities and expose the coven, he adds. Queenie isn't so helpless, and takes a heated spatula and presses it against her face until a welt burns on Spalding's cheek and he passes out. They'll kill him, she says, but Zoe isn't sure he's telling the truth. 

At Misty's cabin, the witch has Myrtle buried in dirt, slowly healing her. Kyle arrives and she cleans him up, but that prompts a flashback of his mother and he freaks out. After breaking a variety of things, including her Stevie Nicks record, Misty is infuriated. Zoe arrives, shocked to find him there. Misty wants him gone, but Zoe says she's taking them both with her as she needs her help.

Hank comes to see Marie, announcing they have a problem. He's angry about the acid attack but Marie assures him she wasn't behind it. She thought she'd hired a professional witch hunter—six years in that house and for nothing. He protests he's killed nine Salem descendants for her (including Cayley, who visited Delia at the school as shown in a flashback). Cayley could start fires with her thoughts. She wasn't open to  Delia's offer and just wanted a good husband. But Marie didn't intend him to play house with Delia. Now Delphine is brought back to life and her Bastian is dead. Marie orders him to bring her the heads of all of them and burn the school to the ground...and she'll let him live.

Zoe takes Kyle and Misty to the greenhouse and chains him up. She shows Misty Maddie's body but she's already rotting and beyond Misty's power. Zoe presses her, providing Maddie's missing arm. Misty concedes and proceeds to do her work. With Zoe's help Maddie begins to revive and scream. Zoe explains everything to Queenie and Nan about their new house guests. Misty wants to be taken home but Zoe offers for her to stay so she has some place to belong. Misty wants to be alone. The school isn't her tribe, and there's bad vibes in the house, she muses.

As Delia takes some pills and gets ready for bed, the Axeman is sitting in the bedroom. I've always hated this room, he says. Delia demands to know who he is. He's been trapped inside the room all these years, until the young witch offered him his release in exchange for a favor. But when the time came for her to release him, she left. He's trapped in there with Delia and refuses to let her out. All she has to do is to sing and dance, he adds.

Maddie slowly regains her senses, but isn't sure how she died and remembers very little. Maddie recalls seeing red, but nothing after that. And there's nothing on the other side, she explains. Just black.

Delia's scream alerts the girls who run up to her room. Zoe says she promised to release him but Delia refuses to allow them. Zoe rushes downstairs to find a spell to make him move on. She pulls out a particular book that calls to her and it flips to the appropriate page. They cast the spell and rush back to Delia's room where she's alone and screaming.

Outside the Axeman walks down the front steps to the gate and starts on his way down the street. At a bar he takes a seat next to Fiona, asking what she's drinking.

The Verdict:

Murphy throws in another historical character with the Axeman, and I wonder how long he'll be wandering around, or how he will be involved with Fiona. What was the true nature of the spell that Zoe (had) selected (for her?). Is there some other twist to it that is yet to come? And is Zoe doing this because she's the supreme or someone else is pulling her strings?

The big revelation this week was Marie and Hank's connection. I was feeling some sympathy for Marie, but it appears she's been working against her truce with Anna for years.

I was surprised to hear the casual line given to Luke, who has been sent home already. Given Fiona's comments last week I assumed he would remain in the house recovering.

My big criticism here is yet another resurrection from the dead. Let's see—Kyle, Delphine, Maddie, Myrtle, and now the Axeman have found their way back to the mortal plane (except poor Bastian) . If death isn't going to stick it's going to be difficult to feel any sense of doom when it comes to character mortality.

To make matters worse, this week was very inconsistent in who can be resurrected—why is Misty leaving Myrtle planted in the ground to heal for so long when Maddie (who has been rotting in the attic and missing a limb, is brought back to life within minutes?). Of course, that might not be Maddie that came back. We definitely need to see some consequences to all this, and maybe that's what Murphy has in mind if some higher power (like the Devil) is going to make its displeasure known with the amount of dead bodies rising at the school.

Some idle thoughts—What's with Fiona's continued Good Samaritan hospital antics? Are they unmotivated acts of kindness or are they more nefarious? And her doctor seemed unusually suspicious, too. Are we to take anything from Maddie's comments that she saw nothing beyond death? 

Review: American Horror Story: Coven "Burn, Witch, Burn!"

Non Spoiler Review:

Burn, Witch, Burn! is a tense and wildly entertaining conclusion to the Halloween arc. A flashback to Delphine's earlier evil ways show that her daughters have much to be aggrieved about when they reappear as part of Marie's undead army. With the school under attack, the girls are left to their own devices while Fiona sees to a severely wounded Delia and the council returns demanding answers.

There's plenty of plot development among the carnage, as well as some interesting twists and turns. While a few plot points were glazed over relatively quickly, Burn, Witch, Burn! was easily the best episode to date. 

Spoilers Now!

New Orleans, 1833. Delphine's Halloween party has her eldest daughter flirting with a new gentleman. To spite her, Delphine invites him to tour her chamber of horrors. The bowl of eyeballs contains actual blood and eyeballs, torn from her slaves. He's not man enough for her chamber of horrors, she laughs. Her daughters later commiserate how they will never have a husband unless they rid themselves of their mother. Delphine learns of this and that night has the three of them dragged from their beds and thrown into the cages in the attic. They protest they were never going to go through with it, but Delphine warns they still only draw breath because she loves their faces. She'll set them free in a year.

In the present, Delphine looks upon the animated corpses of her daughters and slams the door shut, declaring it's too late for all them now. As they bang on the door, Queenie comes down to warn that something's going on outside.

Fiona hears Delia's screams and rushes to her side. She spies the hooded figure leaving. At the hospital the doctor explains sulphuric acid has burned through her optic nerves. They couldn't save her eyesight. After sitting at Delia's bedside, Fiona wanders the hospital until she comes upon the medication room. She finds some pills and washes them down with her flask, and in a fugue spies the hooded figure down the hall. One of the patients tells her she might have well thrown the acid herself. She then finds a woman in her room whose baby was stillborn. Fiona tells her it was a girl and brings it to the mother to hold, despite her protests. She needs to feel safe, Fiona says, urging her to talk to her. Then Fiona lays hands on it and the baby starts breathing. 

Nan explains the undead are surrounding the house—she can't hear them in her head. Zoe closes the drapes and secures the house as Luke chides them that it's just a prank. He goes out to handle them. The zombies remain motionless for the moment, until Marie levitates and utters begin. A few trick or treaters who have been complimenting the figures on their prosthetics are abruptly torn to shreds as the zombies become active. Luke is wounded as he tries to flee, but Nan rushes out to rescue him, taking refuge in a car.

Spalding takes Delphine and the still weak Queenie upstairs. Delphine puts Queenie to bed and goes to get ice for her, leaving Spalding to care for her. In the kitchen Delphine finds one of her daughters peering through the window. She unlocks the door and lets her in, declaring how sorry she is for all she did to her, wondering if there is something still inside her that remembers her mother. Delphine promises to make amends. The creature grabs her throat and lifts her off her feet.

Queenie sends Spalding to find out what's keeping Delphine. She hears a commotion in the hall and goes out to find him crawling away from Delphine's zombie daughter. It goes after Queenie, but she stabs her shoulder, inflicting the same wound on the creature. Queenie slashes her throat, but it keeps coming. Finally Delphine appears and impales it with a poker, which seems to kill it. She had a monster for a mother, Delphine confesses. This was the only kindness she ever did for her. She sobs against Queenie's shoulder.

The undead begin to break through the car windows until Zoe distracts them by banging pots, leading them away. She hides in the garden as they pile up against the door in pursuit. Zoe retreats into the greenhouse and finds a chainsaw.

Nan helps Luke out of the car, drawing the attention of the zombies again, who follow them back to the house. Zoe appears with the chainsaw and starts severing heads and bodies, dispatching with all of them, except for one. Cornered, Zoe holds up her hand, utters a word and the creature falls back. Back at the salon, Maria collapses to the floor, declaring there's some real power in that witch house.

Hank shows up in Delia's room after driving all night, finding an angry Fiona waiting. Fiona leaves, vowing that he needs to disappear. Hank promises his wife he'll never go away. As he touches her Delia suddenly wakes up with a vision of him and the red haired woman.

Come morning, Fiona oversees the burning of the undead as Zoe and Nan gather the bodies. Luke is sleeping but isn't well enough to leave. Fiona tells them he can stay until he recovers, and his mother will only call the cops anyhow. Fiona is pleased with Zoe's service to the coven and won't forget it. Delphine joins Fiona at the fire, languishing at the end of her daughters. They deserved a better mother. Fiona knows the feeling. Delphine suggests their shared tragedies can bring them closer together, but Fiona doubts that.

The council shows up, charging Fiona with gross neglect of the coven. The house is under attack by outside forces and her own daughter is in the hospital. They demand her abdication. The council shall oversee the coven until the supreme shows herself. Fiona curses Myrtle for trying to seize power and demands they sit and listen. 

Fiona explains the coven is under attack from inside. She saw the woman in the cloak and it was Myrtle Snow. Myrtle is outraged at the accusation. She loved Cordelia. Fiona implies she murdered Madison, as well. Pembrooke and Quentin are intrigued and want to hear more. Fiona reveals that Myrtle used an alias and has been in town all these weeks planning the coup—and she shows her pictures from Myrtle's hotel room which show a wall of photos of Fiona. Myrtle breaks down, declaring Fiona had to be stopped. But Fiona demands justice and tears off Myrtle's glove, showing an acid scarred hand. The others have no choice—burn her. Myrtle refuses to resist. She's used to being an outcast and will go proudly to the flame.

In the countryside Myrtle is led to her pyre. Zoe can't believe this is actually happening as Myrtle is tied to the stake and doused with gasoline. They watch her go up in flames. 

Fiona continues downing her pills and gets a visit from Queenie, who asks if she helped her frame a guilty woman or an innocent one. During the inquiry it was Queenie who dipped her own hand in acid to cause the wound on Myrtle. No one is innocent, Fiona says. Queenie doesn't know if she can live with it. Fiona teases that her mind is getting stronger and Queenie can rise to heights she can't yet imagine, even the supreme. Queenie likes the idea of that. Fiona asks for her trust and to follow her instruction, and Queenie, tempted with power, promises. 

Meanwhile Spalding sprays copious amounts of air freshener around his room and around the chest holding Madison's body. He tries to lift her out but tears her arm off.

Misty arrives at the site of the burning where feral dogs are eating the body. She lays her hands on the charred remains and Myrtle opens her eyes.

The Verdict:
Burn, Witch, Burn! was lots of fun, right down to the chainsaws cutting a swath through the undead. Myrtle's arc has taken a significant twist, and it appears she and Misty will be conspiring together. Could Myrtle find a kindred spirit in Misty, someone she could groom to be the supreme? Something tells me that Kyle may be making his way back to Misty, as well.

For that matter, how much of Fiona's framing of Myrtle was true and fabricated? Fiona's sudden revelation that she'd been investigating Myrtle's appearance in town all this time seems a bit contrived, so I don't know if the writers will delve further into this or we'll just be left to accept it at face value. Regardless, the council appears to be completely blind and impotent to everything going on.

Zoe still appears to be the too obvious choice for the supreme. Her new spell casting during the zombie attack could be a red herring (she and Madison did swear allegiance to the Devil in their resurrection spell for Kyle, so that definitely has to figure in to what's going on). Is the Devil going to be making an appearance at the school, given Marie detected some heavy duty witchcraft at hand?

Review: American Horror Story: Coven "Fearful Pranks Ensue"

Non Spoiler Review:

Fearful Pranks Ensue continues the tradition of fun American Horror Story Halloween episodes, focusing on the outbreak of hostilities between the school and Marie Laveau. Bastian's attack leaves Queenie at death's door, leading Delia and Fiona to search for answers as Maddie's disappearance draws attention from the witch's council.

Fearful Pranks left the Kyle and Misty plots in favor of witch politics. Angela Bassett continues to shine as the focus shifts to her voodoo magic and much of her past in New Orleans. Frances Conroy's Myrtle Snow finally gets to step into the storyline and the mysterious Spalding receives an equal amount of attention.

I really enjoyed this one, and it was full of interesting twists and turns, and some great new character additions. With the series breaking into high gear and on solid legs, the episode concludes with the usual cliffhanger that promises an exciting conclusion.

Spoilers Now!

In 1961 Henry, a black boy attending an integrated school for the first day, is chased on his bicycle by some men. His mother works in Marie's salon, and they later find him lynched, so Marie sets about on a revenge—summoning some zombies to kill—and dismember—the culprits.

Spalding is enjoying a tea party among his vast doll collection when he's interrupted by voices from downstairs. It's Fiona and Maddie's heated discussion in the gallery where he finds Fiona cutting her throat. As he rolls the girl up in the carpet Fiona muses that Maddie would have made a lousy supreme, and it's her duty to stay vital. She confesses she always enjoyed her little talks with Spalding, particularly since he lost his tongue. 

A broken window sends Fiona outside to investigate, and she finds the doors to Cordelia's lab broken and Queenie bloodied on the floor. Behind them Bastian rises. Later, Fiona gets Cordelia and brings her to Queenie's room where she has the wounded girl. Fiona berates her daughter that she allowed one of their girls to be attacked by Marie Laveau, who obviously sent them some dark art voodoo. Delia retorts that it's Fiona's fault for provoking her. Fiona realizes her daughter was searching for a voodoo fertility spell. Fiona went there to show strength and Delia undermined her, she scolds.

Queenie's heart stops, so Fiona uses her magic to breathe life into her. Queenie starts breathing again, but Delia suggests a hospital. Fiona refuses and advises her the council would question her daughter's competence.

Weary, Fiona returns to her room and tells the cowering Delphine to get out of the closet. Delphine admits Queenie saved her, and the monster was Bastian. Fiona already knows that, but suggests she keep it to herself. It won't be coming back. The next day at the salon Marie receives a very large package and finds a severed bull's head (still blinking) inside.

Kyle, covered in blood, finally speaks to Zoe, saying her name. She apologizes for all that's happened to him and goes to make him some food. She notices some rat poison in the cupboard, something she slips into the bowl, but she returns to find Kyle gone.

It's Halloween, and Delphine warns that spirits will be walking the earth. She comments that Fiona looks beautiful as she prepares to go out. Fiona has no use for Delphine's superstitions. She plans to let the world in tonight.

In the back room Marie prepares to exact revenge, but her coworker warns her not to start a war with the Salem witches. In the previous war Marie made peace and sat across from Anna, both women vowing no more bloodshed and outlining their territories. Marie declares the truce over. 

Hank has taken a job out of town (he's a USDA agent), but in reality he's meeting a new girlfriend he met online—Cayley. After they have sex she admits she really likes him and hopes he doesn't break her heart. He takes out a gun and shoots her in the head (!).

Queenie finally wakes up. As Delia goes to get clean towels Delphine thanks her for saving her life. Nan walks in telling them they're here. Delia goes downstairs to find the council—who only assemble under the gravest of circumstances. It's composed of Myrtle Snow, Quentin and Pembrooke. Myrtle wasn't aware of Queenie's assault, a fact Delia inadvertently reveals. Delia then confesses to going over to Marie Laveau's, which is something else the council didn't know. Fiona arrives and tells her daughter to stop talking. 

Myrtle explains they were summoned by Nan because she can't hear Madison anymore and thinks she's dead. The council begins the inquiry into Madison's disappearance, adding that the guilty party will suffer death by fire. Delia testifies first, unsurprised Madison would stay out all night or run off. The council is curious if she was manifesting new powers before her disappearance, and it's Nan who mentions that she set the neighbour's curtains on fire. The council then interrogates Fiona, and Myrtle berates her way of running things. The supreme is more than a figurehead and must be present, and her absence has not gone unnoticed. So Myrtle wants to know why she's back now, adding that Fiona was present was when Anna went missing, as well.

Flashback to 1971 when young Fiona testified to Anna's disappearance. She tells the council she noticed the supreme took a bottle of wine with her, and they conclude it has something to do with her recent truce with Marie Laveau. They reveal that Fiona is the new supreme and she will soon begin the tests of the seven wonders. Young Myrtle is not happy at all to hear that and believes she murdered Anna. 

Myrtle knows when a lie is being told and goes on to cast a spell. At dinner she confides in her friend that Spalding always cleans up Fiona's messes. She's enchanted his tongue so he's incapable of speaking a lie, and he's been called to testify before the council. That night his screams wake the house and Spalding lies writhing on the floor of the bathroom with his tongue cut out.

In the present, Myrtle warns Fiona she will pay for all the crimes she's been committed. No witch has been tried and burned since 1926, but Myrtle is dying to light the next one. She calls Spalding as their final witness. Myrtle tells him justice is near and all he has to do is write the name of the witch who is responsible for cutting out his tongue. Spalding writes Myrtle's name.

In the flashback, Spalding actually overheard Myrtle talk of the enchantment at dinner. He met with Fiona in the bathroom afterwards and tells her he will speak his final words—He has always loved her. Then he cuts out his own tongue in front of her as she screams.

Myrtle is furious, declaring Fiona's gotten away with two murders. Delia interrupts for her mother's defence, telling them they're wrong. Madison wasn't the next supreme. The hallmark of a supreme is glowing health and Madison had a heart murmur she kept secret. Fiona is the supreme for a reason.

Marie closes shop for the night and begins her ritual—summoning more zombies from their graves. At the school trick or treaters come to the door while the girls debate whether Madison is still alive. Though Nan can't hear her in her head, Zoe still wants to look for her, but Fiona told them all to stay inside for the night. Upstairs, Spalding, wearing a nightgown, chooses a dress that he brings to Maddie's dead body. He has her sitting at his table with a teacup. 

Fiona and Delia enjoy a night out at the bar. Delia wants them to ask each other three honest questions. She wants to know why she hates Hank. Her mother tells her he reeks of bullshit. Delia asks if she killed Madison. Fiona says no. Fiona wants to know who Delia thinks is the next supreme, but her daughter knows she's obsessed because she must feel her powers weakening. Later on Delia's drank too much and throws up in the bar bathroom. As she cleans up a hooded figure comes out of the stall and throws acid in her face.

Luke comes to the door to drop off cookies for Nan, wanting to pay her back for the cake. As Delphine answers the door to more trick or treaters, she finds three corpses standing on the porch. She recognizes her dead daughters. Horrified, she shuts the door as a horde of zombies begins to bear down on the house.

The Verdict:

Fearful Pranks Ensue was a fun and lively episode—Who attacked Delia? What the heck is up with Hank? Will the students be able to defend the school from a zombie attack, including Delphine's daughters? And who is the supreme? Add to that the new war (and historical rivalry) between Marie Laveau and the New Orleans witches, and I'm loving where the series is heading.

Kyle's plot line is the weakest for me at the moment, and thankfully we got just enough of that to further it along a bit in favor of expanded insight into Myrtle and Spalding, supplemented by her cohorts Quentin (the first male witch we've seen) and Pembrooke.

The flashbacks remain a highlight of the series, though much of what we saw here didn't hold many surprises. Spalding's doll collection remains a creepy addition, though, and Maddie's ultimate fate provided a satisfying bit of creepiness.

It was also unexpected to see the young maid from the first season making a (brief) appearance. I don't know what to think of Hank yet, because that was truly a weird development. And it appears he's more than just a crazed killer given the weapon he used on her.

As expected, Delphine is beginning to grow on me, especially now that she's demonstrated she can be grateful to Queenie for saving her life. How she will react fighting off her own daughters next week will be interesting, as well as who among them might exhibit the powers of a supreme.

I'm left wondering what kind of power structure the Salem witches operate under—if the supreme is the best of them, how does the council exert any sort of authority over her? It seems they've allowed Fiona to do whatever she liked as long as she didn't interfere in the school. Hopefully it gets fleshed and doesn't become one of those sketchy hierarchies like we've seen in True Blood. But on a final note, it's curious, given from what we saw of Myrtle's history, that she was there to escort Zoe to the school—might she think Zoe is the chosen one?

Review: American Horror Story: Coven "The Replacements"

Non Spoiler Review:

The Replacements finds Fiona considering her future as the supreme, and who might be the rising star that could displace her. Zoe tries to rectify the Kyle situation by visiting his distraught mother. The girls are intrigued by an attractive new neighbour. Delphine has difficulty adjusting to her new position.

The Replacements wasn't much scary this week, but more than made up for it with disturbing and icky scenes dealing with revelations about Kyle's home life. Who is getting replaced? That would be Fiona, who suddenly realizes her days as the supreme may be numbered. Zoe tries to replace Kyle for his mother. Patti Lupone joins the cast as an extremely religious potential adversary for Fiona. 

This was the weakest of the episodes to date, with two plot developments that could be seen coming right from the start. However, The Replacements was full of snappy one-liners and plenty of dark humour and still offered much to entertain.

Spoilers Now!

New Orleans, 1971. A younger Fiona chats with her predecessor Anna, asking when she realized she was the supreme. Anna explains that by the time she was Fiona's age she had already manifested multiple gifts, but the mastery of the seven wonders is what makes one the supreme. Fiona feels she's ready and wants to be tested, but Anna refuses. Fiona then points out that when one supreme begins to flower, the old one fades, and she can see that Anna is already growing older and weaker as she gets stronger. Incensed, Anna declares she's foreseen that Fiona will ruin the coven and vows to make it her mission to ensure she never takes the throne. Fiona cuts her throat, and finds Spalding watching from the doorway. In the present, Fiona muses over Anna's painting in the gallery, considering who might be her successor. She finds Spalding watching and asks if the cat has his tongue.

Zoe visits Kyle's mother, Alicia. The troubled woman asks to share something with her—she had been about to hang herself when Zoe called her and is grateful she came by. Zoe then heads to the cabin where Misty is still listening to Stevie Nicks and Kyle remains in a daze. Misty is pleased to see her and shows her how Kyle's scars have healed. He touches Zoe's hair but says nothing. Zoe needs to take Kyle home given his mother is a wreck but Misty doesn't want either of them to leave. Zoe promises to return, but Misty doesn't believe her. 

Delphine is still adjusting to the modern age, and is mortified that the magic TV box is showing a black president. Fiona inform her she's the new maid, unless she wants to go back in the box. When Delphine brings the girls their food she refuses to tolerate Queenie's backtalk. Instead she tosses her food on the floor. Fiona intervenes before Queenie can attack her and advises her Delphine is now Queenie's personal slave. There's nothing she hates more than a racist, she snaps.

Queenie, Nan and Madison watch some new neighbours move in next door, including the young handsome son unloading the truck. His mother shows up to tell him to put on a shirt. The trio show up at their house with a cake, greeting Luke who lets them in. Madison starts flirting right away, but he isn't as interested in Madison as she'd like him to be. His mother Joan arrives to tell them they're already late for Bible study and will take the cake to share. Madison informs them their religion is a crock, quickly enraging the devout Joan, who grabs her wrist holding the cake knife, which flies into the wall. She orders them out of the house, and as they leave the drapes catch fire, as much to Madison's surprise as the others.

Realizing her beauty is fading, Fiona reluctantly sees a plastic surgeon, insisting on watching the video of how they will cut her up. However when she has her blood work done up the results come as a shock. She's in no condition for any elective surgery and her immune system is in free fall. Meanwhile Delia is back at the doctor following the failure of her alternative methods. The doctor has reviewed her own blood work and breaks the news that she just can't have a baby. 

Zoe drives Kyle back home and leaves him on his mother's porch. Alicia screams and embraces him as she watches from afar. Later, Alicia puts him to bed but asks him how his body can be so different as she saw him in the shower. He looks like someone else and she doesn't understand how that could be. But that doesn't matter, she says, and proceeds to kiss him (!).

Back at the school Fiona is having a drink as Spalding brings in Joan Ramsay from next door. Joan offers her a Bible and isn't sure what her school is but two of her girls invaded her property. Fiona has no patience for Bible thumpers or their hypocrisy towards sex. Joan warns her she'll call the police next time and charge them with assault and arson. That piques Fiona's interest. Madison arrives and mocks Joan, but once she leaves Fiona asks Madison if she has a light. Madison is able to use her new fire abilities to ignite her cigarette. Fiona suggests they talk.

Delia visits Marie's salon with an appointment to consult about her fertility problem. She's led to the backroom where Marie sits on her alligator throne. Delia is well aware of the potions she's capable of and her particular fertility spell that is always successful. But it's no walk in the park, Marie explains, going into detail of the elaborate ritual. It must be during the new moon and will cost $50,000 cash. Delia is committed, but Marie just laughs at her—she has no intention of performing the spell given she's the daughter of her sworn enemy. The damage is already done, Marie explains. Fiona has messed with the wrong witch. Delia didn't know her mother was already there. 

Fiona and Madison have lunch. She asks if Madison has always known she was special. Fiona muses that she has so much to give and so much to teach, regretting being a bad mother to Delia. Madison wants to learn. Self-preservation is the most primal instinct, Fiona explains, and wonders what it will take to make someone disregard that. She gets Madison to enchant a pedestrian to believe he's safe in the street. The man walks out and stops as cars veer around him, but Madison doesn't know if she did that or Fiona. 

Queenie is enjoying Delphine's servitude when the older woman sees something in the window. She's horrified when she realizes it's Bastian, the minotaur. Delphine panics and locks the door and it bangs its head against it, frightening both. Delphine explains who it is and reveals her own identity. Queenie remembers her story from the house tour and is outraged at all the things she's heard about Delphine. Delphine begs her for mercy so Queenie tells her to go hide but first cuts her hand with a knife, taking some blood on a napkin. She goes outside with it. 

Queenie approaches the beast and leads him with the bloody napkin. She tells him he's not a beast. She's been called the same. Both of them deserve love like everyone else. Bastian comes closer and caresses her, then covers her mouth.

Zoe gets a call from Alicia, who explains Kyle is back, but it's not really him. She heads right over. Alicia tells Kyle that Zoe is joining them for dinner. Kyle is sitting on the floor in silence. Alicia admits she's possessive and it's time for Kyle to move on with his life and she's pleased he's met someone like Zoe. But she presses him about his new body. She knows his body, she maintains. No one knows him like she does. Kyle flips out and hits her with a football trophy, then proceeds to beat her to death. Zoe shows up to the dark house for dinner to find the door open and Alicia's body, then faces Kyle covered in blood.

Fiona and Madison play pool at a bar while attracting the attention of several men. Fiona can see herself in Madison's face. As Madison gets drunk, Fiona dumps out her glass, and when they return home and walk through the gallery, she advises Madison to get her portrait painted when she's young. She tells the girl that she is the next supreme, and Fiona's time is up. Madison is killing her—her powers are growing and Fiona is the source. Her life force is pouring out of her into Madison and now Fiona has cancer and will last a year at best. But she maintains she'll go out in style.

Fiona confesses she took her inheritance too soon and squandered it. She was a shitty supreme. Her mentor Anna was majestic and powerful and taught her everything she knew, but she thanked her by cutting her throat. And she's kept the knife, which she takes out. She gives it to a frightened Madison, telling her to kill her for the sake of the coven. A frantic Madison refuses, and Fiona continues to scream at her to do it, then abruptly cuts the younger girl's throat. Spalding watches from the doorway again as Fiona stares at the blood on her hands. He comes in with a handkerchief for her to clean up. Fiona tells him to bury her deep, and adds, "This coven doesn't need a new supreme, it needs a new rug."

The Verdict:

The Replacements delved into the more seedy aspects of matters, with Kyle's home life exposed, and Zoe's best of intentions leading to the inevitable death of Alicia. The same can be said for Madison, who had a target on her back the moment she lit Fiona's cigarette. I do like that the writers toyed with the audience by illiciting so much sympathy in the first scene with Alicia before showing the true horror of what Kyle's life has been like with her as a mother.

The Ramsays will likely shake things up a bit, but whether Joan can be anything more than their nosy neighbour remains to be seen. She's definitely more of a caricature than a character at this point.

Delphine's adjustment to modern life was hilarious, including her mortified first look at Barack Obama. Throwing her in with Queenie made for additional laughs, but I'm not sure if we're going to see any evolution in Delphine's temperament to make her more sympathetic or not. She's a wild card as to where she may end up as the series progresses. As for Queenie, I can see her being drawn over to Marie's side soon enough, unless her dalliance with Bastian puts her on Marie's bad side.

I don't recall Marie having such an over the top accent in the last two weeks, but she certainly got to have a juicy scene here. One wonders if Marie's tribe suffers the same passing of the torch as the Salem witches when it comes to the supreme, and if someone might be out to replace her too. Yet she's apparently immortal, so that may not be the case.

We're left with a few mysteries, such as what the seven wonders might be, and will Delia get to go through with her baby spell by perhaps betraying her mother? With Maddie gone, who is the new supreme-in-waiting? Zoe seems the easy choice, but Misty Day is a possibility.

Review: American Horror Story: Coven "Boy Parts"

Non Spoiler Review:

Boy Parts finds Zoe's guilt placing the school in danger, while Madison has an idea to pay her back for her kindness. Fiona seeks to learn the newly uncovered LaLaurie's secret to immortality as her daughter embarks on a solution for her own infertility. 

Death and resurrection plays heavily this week in a variety of ways. Fiona continues to search for eternal youth and finds a variety of options open to her if she can just secure them. Madison and Zoe and Delia strive to create life in their own ways. All of these avenues are certain to come with their respective consequences, of course, and it looks like the season will deal with those in short order.

There's nothing really to complain about with Boy Parts, aside from a few twists that could be seen coming. But the series is not really about avoiding expectations, just turning them on their ear. It continues to be a fun watch.

Spoilers Now!

On the swamp two alligator hunters returning to shore find a woman wandering about their camp, declaring it's all wrong. She's none other than the very much alive Misty Day, who warns them not to kill God's creatures. As one man pulls his gun on her, one of the dead alligators comes back to life and bites him, while another drags off his friend.

Delia wakes up the girls for morning gathering. Zoe is still mourning Kyle and feels he wasn't like his frat brothers, despite what Madison says. Madison suggests he was living on borrowed time anyways given Zoe's black widow status.

Fiona has Delphine in her room, bound and gagged, warning her not to scream. She wants to know how she's still alive. But she's called down to the gathering and plans to continue their chat later.

A flashback to 2012 finds Queenie working in a fast food restaurant, where she uses her sympathetic magic to burn the hand of a troublesome customer in hot oil. She didn't get in trouble for it, but the story made the newspaper which led Delia to find her. She since learned she's an heir to Tituba, the first slave to be accused of witchcraft in Salem.

The gathering is interrupted by the police, who have information movie star Madison was at the frat party and was witnessed with the boys. They feel she might be involved in the bus crash. And Zoe was later spotted at the hospital. That boy died after she left. They followed up with her own history and learned another boy died in the same manner. Zoe breaks down under the accusations and confesses the men gang-raped Madison and she can do things with her mind because they're all witches. Delia steps in and explains she's suffered a mental break. Fiona interrupts and sends the girls away, declaring she's in charge. She hands the men a glass of water (which she spits in) and orders them to drink. One of the police fights the compulsion and while Delia urges her mother to stop, Fiona tells her to shut up and cranks up her power until he takes the glass and drinks. Under her command, she orders them to turn over all their information and never to speak of it again.

Fiona walks in on the girls and sends them flying against the walls. She berates both Madison and Zoe for not closing ranks when they were threatened. Zoe is soft, she adds. Even the weakest of their kind are better than the best of them. The only thing they have to be afraid of is her.

Delia is at the hospital with her husband Hank, hoping she's fertile to have a baby. Unfortunately that's not the case. Hank will support her if she wants to go on fertility drugs but doesn't get her desire for it. He's aware of her magic and wonders why she won't use it to help herself. Delia doesn't want to play God.

Fiona brings Delphine some food, though she suspects she must be immortal by now. Delphine tries to come to grips with the knowledge she's been buried for 180 years, realizing she was tricked by Marie Laveau. Once she took the potion she awoke only to find Laveau and the slaves waiting outside for her. Marie showed Delphine the remains of her family—all strung up in the courtyard. Marie then explained she gave her life everlasting in that potion, and had her put in a coffin and buried, damning her to live forever.

Zoe and Madison break into the morgue. Madison plans to pay Zoe back for what she did for her (killing the rapist). She has a spell of resurrection she took from the school. They find the bodies of the crash victims, including Kyle's dismembered parts. Zoe is mortified, but Madison sees potential in mixing and matching the best of the corpses and build her the perfect boyfriend.

The girls sow together the various limbs and perform the ritual, part of which is their declaration of allegiance to the lord of the underworld. After an intense spell casting, the patched up Kyle seems lifeless. Zoe supposes they just aren't powerful enough. Madison heads out to the car while Zoe remains to tell him he's sorry. Someone drives up so Madison leaves her. Zoe kisses Kyle, but she runs off when she hears the door open. The coroner arrives and finds the assembled body, as well as Zoe. Behind him Kyle sits up and proceeds to beat him to death. Zoe calms him down. In the woods, wandering Misty gets a picture of the morgue in her head.

Fiona is getting her hair cut at a black salon when Marie Laveau walks in and tells everyone to go home, as she'll finish this one herself. Both women toy with one another before revealing their true identities. Laveau reminds Fiona everything they got they got from them, and their kind have been at odds for centuries. Tituba learned her secrets from a line of shamans, giving it to the white girls of Salem. Fiona doubts that, but wants what Marie has—what has kept her young. And she has something in exchange. She leaves her with the promise she'll be back.

At the school Nan is overwhelmed by Delphine's voice in her head so goes up to her room and sets her free, telling her to get out. Delphine runs into Queenie, calling her a slave, and knocks her out.

Delia attempts to make a potion to help her conceive while Hank waits impatiently. She creates an elaborate ritual with an egg and proceeds to have sex with him in the magic circle. The egg breaks and a snake emerges.

Zoe flees with Kyle, but he remains unresponsive. Misty pops up in the back seat claiming she drew her out there. She takes them back to the cabin in the swamp and Misty starts using he knowledge to heal Kyle, just as Mother Nature healed her from being burned alive, she explains. Zoe remains on edge, but recognizes her, informing her that everyone thinks her dead. Misty heard the call of Zoe's magic and is pleased she's not alone. She seems to believe Stevie Nicks is a white witch and listens to her music. Zoe has to get back to the school, but Misty wants to keep Kyle with her so she can heal him, and the promise that Zoe will return.

Back at home Marie tells someone he won't believe who is back. They have some business to attend to, and she unchains Bastian, the minotaur. Meanwhile, Fiona finds Delphine sitting on a bench in front of her former home. Fiona suggests she deserved every minute she spent under the dirt if even a few of the rumours about her are true. Delphine doesn't care who thinks she was a monster, but hopes Fiona is a witch so she'll know how to kill her. Fiona won't kill her today, but warns her to behave or it's back in the box. They go home together.

The Verdict:

Boy Parts was another fun, full episode. Kyle's Frankenstein revival wasn't too much of a surprise, and similar to the infantata from season one, but it will likely play out very different. With Misty Day's return, as well, I'm sure the two of them will make quite the pair. Misty seems to be a very important character and a wild card at this point. Given Fiona's quest for immortality, her resurrection powers could prove valuable.

Fiona's exchange with Marie was one of the episode's highlights and I'm anxious to see Kathy Bates enter the fray with the two of them. Marie possesses what Fiona wants—a secret to immortality and youth. And she's also preserved her minotaur lover. I'm under the impression that the bull's head is now his head? If so, did Delphine have some hand in that, because we've not yet seen any indication that Madame LaLaurie possesses any sort of witchcraft.

I wonder how the rivalry will unfold—will each woman go to war with the other? Or will Fiona and Marie team up for their mutual benefit? It looks like Queenie, given her ties to Tituba, could prove a recruit for Marie in the future.

I get the impression Zoe and Madison's cavalier deal with the Devil is going to come back to haunt them soon. And the same can be said for Delia's magical dalliance with Hank. Interesting how at ease her husband is with her true nature.

Like the first episode, I do enjoy how Murphy is playing with the use of magic...nothing too fantastical, but telekinesis, mind control and that sort of thing. The rituals shown this week had enough bizarre mystery to them that they didn't come across as cheesy at all. The history of witchcraft we get here is also novel—the conflict between its African origins and the later evolution of the Salem witches. That raises the question if we'll be seeing some male witches or the like, and how they fit into Murphy's new cosmology.