Thursday, October 10, 2013

'American Horror Story:Coven' 301 "Bitchcraft" Review

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Even though things on American Horror Story:Coven kick off in the past all the way back in 1834 with the introduction of perhaps the most malicious baddie in all three seasons of AHS, the slave-torturing sadist Madame Delphine Lalaurie, it isn’t until the middle of the episode where the true themes of this season emerge and explode on screen. Newly awakened teen witch Zoe Benson (S1 returnee Taissa Farmiga) attends a local frat party with her classmate, witch bitch Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts), and together they experience a real life horror story as Madison is drugged and the frat boys take turns forcing themselves on her. Kyle (Evan Peters), the only pure boy in the fraternity, was downstairs flirting with Zoe unaware of her deadly secret and when he discovered what his brothers were doing, promptly lost his shit and caused them all to head for the hills so they wouldn’t get busted for their crime. As Kyle gets into a fight with the lead frat boy over the assault of Madison, she wanders out of the party in a daze to stand next to Zoe as they watch the bus drive away. Until that is, Madison lifts her hand and uses her telekinetic abilities to flip the bus over in the blink of an eye--killing several and injuring two of its male passengers inside. This is basically what would have happened at Duke if their victim was a witch and it’s the idea of women struggling against oppression that is the impetus of Coven more so than any other series of American Horror Story.



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Sure, you could argue that this was also a theme that was woven through much of the story in last year’s Asylum as the horror trope of final girl became final woman with Lana Winters as sole survivor of the various tribulations thrown her way and you’d be right. But that particular idea took a while to cement itself in the story whereas this year straight from the get-go this is a plot where you could basically replace the word 'witches' with the word 'women' and it would come out the same. The persecution of witches is metaphorically very similar to the various forms of oppression that women face today whether it be the battle for power in the sexual domain, or challenging the expectations of the worth of an aging woman in today’s society. And with this mostly female cast, Ryan Murphy and his team are going to have the perfect canvas on which to paint this often bloody tale of women taking power back in a society that has forever frowned on such a notion.


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Tonight’s concept of age de-powering even the most capable of witches lends itself to why the casting of this series continues to be so clever. How Ryan Murphy continuously hires on excellent actresses that are past what many in Hollywood consider to be their prime in terms of their age not their talent. Jessica Lange’s new character this series, Fiona the Supreme, lives the life of a fading socialite--spending time in Sonoma with celebrities and chasing down her former youth and vitality by funneling her former husband’s inheritance into a research project for a serum to turn back not only the clock but restore her full potential. When David informs Fiona that if her concerns are cosmetic then he could easily refer her to a plastic surgeon, Lange’s scowl burns through the screen like one of her many swiftly-lit cigarettes. Here we have a male character informing a woman that all she needs to feel her old vitality again is a quick nip and tuck. Fiona wants more than the superficial (though to be fair it’s not like she’d turn it down) instead she craves her own youth for the reason of resumed superiority--for her power to be as it once was at its peak. She is appalled at the notion that the only thing an older woman could want to make her feel young again is simply to look that way. Listening to Fiona speak is not unlike hearing the thoughts of Lange’s season one character Constance Langdon. I like to look at Fiona as a far more successful version of Constance albeit one that still has to deal with the fact that the young will always rise above their aging counterparts.


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This patriarchal idea of women losing their worth and desirability at a certain point can also be spotted within Madame LaLaurie’s story. She commits atrocious acts, often for the sake of maintaining her own fading beauty, yet eventually her husband leaves her for another. By the end of the episode, it’s revealed that she was poisoned and buried alive for decades--literally boxed up and put away at a certain point in her life when abandoned by her man. But hers if a far less sympathetic tale than Fiona’s has been so far because there is always a delicious karmic center in the fates of the truly wicked on this show. It’s what makes viewing the less than palatable acts committed by the characters on this show, and tonight had plenty of those, worthwhile ultimately.


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This commitment to comeuppance is part of the reason why Coven can get so very dark and twisted while still retaining a sense of fun. I cheered openly when Zoe took revenge on Brenner as he lay in a hospital bed in critical condition following the bus crash. Not only did a horrific character meet a fate he so richly deserved and in such an ironic way, but here we have the other side of this year’s true story behind Coven--young women accessing their inner strength and taking power that prior generations could only dream of having. Fiona declares to the girls that ‘when witches don’t fight, we burn’ and again just replace witches with women and it works. Zoe Benson and her peculiar but deadly power heralds a character whose sexual awakening also awakened the series of issues that come along with it for all young girls. All the while, her partner Charlie continued to ask Zoe if she was okay or if she was in pain from their encounter. When at the end of it, she was the one who wind up truly being the powerful one instead of the delicate virgin her lover expected.


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There was a character last year on Asylum, Shelley, who was more of a half-assed attempt at what ideas Zoe represents in this first episode alone--sexual liberation and the price to be paid for embracing this within society. It's a very heightened idea of a woman whose sexual power is literally too much for her partners to deal with. Something that to society would be by all accounts a terrible notion and one that required the girl who possesses such power be sent away to learn suppression of that. To fit in with the gender role she’s meant to fall into and just be a normal girl again. Of course, we can all tell that isn’t going to happen when she chooses to use her gift (or curse as she calls it) to impart her own brand of justice. Perhaps Zoe’s found a loophole if they find a way to bring Kyle back--after all necromancy is a gift that these witches could possess from what we saw of poor doomed Misty Day. Technically he’d already be dead so...she could find the physical connection she craves with someone who proved himself worthy of it.


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Much of this episode was an introduction to these new themes and characters, and the ending shot assured that the idea of previous generations feeling threatened by the current generation would remain throughout this year. The current Supreme is losing power and according to Robicheaux Headmistress Cordelia Foxx, every generation receives a new Supreme. I bet it will be Buffy the Vampire Slayer rules (into every generation a Slayer is born but they're only potential slayers until they're activated fully upon death etc) and Fiona will realize that one of her daughter’s new charges is destined to be the one that succeeds her in her queen witch reign. It’s going to be a wicked ride this year as the witches decide whether or not it’s better to take control and fight at the risk of exposure or if they will suppress their nature and try to be as normal as possible. I’m assuming that on this show it’s going to be the latter and all sorts of Hell is going to be unleashed upon the streets of New Orleans. Just take a look at Sarah Paulson’s Cordelia Foxx. She’s prim, proper, and contained but I have a feeling with her mother back in town that things are going to get very deadly indeed. She’s like the Venus fly trap in her botany potion lab--an elegant plant whose main feature is how deadly it can be to the insects that wish to take advantage of it.

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Coven has a bounce in its step despite the disturbing imagery the show excels in, and it has a feel that’s very similar in tone to season one’s Murder House. Which is something that fans of the series will likely be very excited by. And like it says in the song, ‘House of the Rising Sun’ a cover version of which played over many of the Coven promos: ‘...and God, I know I’m one.’

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