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There's only two episodes of
American Horror Story:Coven left and what better time to actually let some of the characters that have had very little to do this season push the story forward? If I had to summarize this episode in a phrase it would be called the 'better late than never Rise of 'Delia'. It also may be the episode that finally puts the LaLaurie story to bed--I'm as big of a Kathy Bates fan as anyone but wow was it ever so out of place in the overall story especially now as this chapter of
AHS comes to an end.
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I've had my fair share of problems with
Coven but tonight's episode did its best to redeem all of these issues. Of course the very act of needing to hurry up and make certain things happen just further illustrates the fact that this season has had more filler in it than the previous two
AHS installments combined. It's a Catch-22, but at least a hell of a lot more happened this week than in last week's incredibly disappointing episode. "Go To Hell" is more than just a catty command, it's where we were actually transported this week as Queenie explored a new power, known colloquially as
descensium. Which following in the tradition of personalized hells, presented itself for to Queenie as the chicken shack she worked at pre-coven. It was wonderful seeing a character that up until now has been extremely underutilized be so proactive in this episode. Queenie took charge and helped rescue/revive Misty Day in addition to finally putting LaLaurie where she belongs--for good hopefully. Her entire storyline would have been better served as something along the lines of last year's Anne Frank story.
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On the surface they're very similar in that they're real historical figures that the team behind
AHS have decided to weave into the fabric of the show and sometimes it works better than others. The reason why using Anne Frank, and Elizabeth Short AKA The Black Dahlia before that, worked is because they didn't pull focus. Every season is of
AHS is an ensemble effort and the characters are treated as such but this time around nearly every single recent appearance of LaLaurie has been shoehorned into the series for no real reason other than the fact that it's amusing to make Kathy Bates say evil awful shit. Her loose connection to the actual witchcraft has always been tenuous and we didn't really need her immortality to bring about Papa Legba's entrance into the story, not when we had Marie--an actual witch--for that. Now it seems that LaLaurie and Marie LaVeau both will suffer for their sins in the hell of their own making and for the sake of the show let's hope that the curtain remains closed on their story. We've certainly had enough of this blatant instance of self-indulgence from the writers.
The other character besides Queenie that finally got the chance to do something was Cordelia. It has been a
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form of hell for Sarah Paulson fans to watch week in and week out this wonderful actress play this wet noodle of a character, especially after her turn as Lana Winters last season. Sure, there have been fits and starts of action from Delia but all of her attempts up until now have led to failures of varying degrees. So to see her stand up and take charge this week definitely illustrated my earlier point about how the show realized that it needs to get on with it already regarding the search for the new Supreme. Which I'm not going to even mention the scene with the Axman and Fiona in this space as I'm reserving my thoughts on that development for a separate post. But it does make one wonder if Delia's sudden rise indicates something big is about to come her way. She's been my pick for the next Supreme for a few weeks now if only so it could justify how awful things have been for her all season long up to this point.
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Even though the cold opening this week, which was perfectly shot, edited, and presented, informed us on the trials of the Seven Wonders there were only a few teases of the girls gaining other powers. But don't get too excited, like Cordelia says to Madison plenty of powers manifest themselves but only one witch will not only possess them all but be able to perform them without losing her own life. Or they'll just all die trying which I'm shocked that Misty's amazing swamp brawl throwdown against Madison didn't severely wound her enough to take her out of the running. Next week, we will have a new Supreme. I hope.
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