The Keep Up: American Horror Story S3E01
THE KEEP UP
American Horror Story: Coven
Episode 1 – Bitchcraft
By Steve Wood
This time around, we have witches, not only that, but modern day witches. Think of the movie The Craft, but all the more disturbing. This was a wonderful premier for a show that always keeps you on your toes, and doesn’t mind turning things on its head in the matter of minutes. This particular episode was more of an introductory vehicle for each character, so I will break down exactly what was going on. The following episode recaps/reviews won’t be heavy on the plot.
In a flashback to the 1830’s, we’re introduced to Kathy Bate’s character – Delphine LaLaurie. Not much is known about her except that she keeps slaves in her attic, tortures them, and uses their organs for her own regeneration. We aren’t aware of her age, which comes into play later in the episode.
Cut to modern day, Taissa Farmiga is back this season as Zoe Benson, a witch who doesn’t know she is a witch. Not to break tradition, the first episode of this season is heavy with the sex, but in this case, Zoe’s boyfriend dies while doing the deed; what was referred to as an accident by doctors turns out to be something much, much worse. We get a brief backstory mentioning that the women in her family are subject to strange abilities and she is immediately sent away to New Orleans to attend a “boarding school” which can take better care of her.
Then things start to get interesting.
The Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies is run by Sarah Paulson’s character Cordelia Foxx, a witch whose talents seem to be in alchemy. As the other girls in the house are introduced, a familiar face is present – Gabourey Sidibe as Queenie, better known for the role of Precious. As the girls begin to mingle over dinner, tensions are high between them for various reasons, but we’re also shown the different powers possessed by each girl; Queenie is a “human voodoo doll”, as she can inflict harm to herself, but project it upon others. Madison has telekinesis powers and Nan is a clairvoyant.
Madison and Zoe are attending a frat party, where yet another familiar face appears – Evan Peters as Kyle Spencer, a college kid whom we know literally nothing about, as he is killed off within about 10 minutes. Madison used to be an actress, so people know her face, and she is very confident, or cocky, but she is thrown into what probably would have turned into a gang rape situation if not for Kyle, who breaks it all up. But the damage has been done to Madison, as the college guys retreat in their party bus, we see Madison appear on the street with Zoe and she makes the van flip violently, killing 7 of the 9 guys.
Finally, we have the great Jessica Lange, arguably the best character from the previous two seasons. This time she is Fiona Goode – The Supreme, little is known of that title but she is called this by Cordelia, her daughter. When Fiona comes to the academy, she isn’t welcomed what so ever by Cordelia, in fact, she concocts something that will put her in a coma for weeks, but Fiona recognizes this and tosses it aside. Her intentions at the academy aren’t exactly clear, but she displays her power on Madison when she is questioned as to who she is, and why she is there. What we do know is that a local girl – Lily Rabe’s Misty Day was burned at the stake after being thought to be a witch, and rightfully so. It’s safe to say this character is still alive as she is part of the main cast. The news of this is what brought Fiona to the academy, but we don’t really know why.
Delphine LaLaurie’s home is near the academy, but of course now turned into a tourist attraction as she became infamous for the horrible things she would do to slaves, which as we saw in the cold open included various methods of torture. It turns out that one of Delphine’s latest victims was the lover of Marie Laveau, a “voodoo queen” portrayed by Angela Bassett. When Marie gets word of this, she gets close to Delphine, and eventually poisons her, and kills her. We’re told all of this via flashbacks from the tour guide inside the house; we also learn that Delphine’s body was never found. Outside the house, we see Nan staring at the ground; she says that she can hear the “lady of the house”. Turns out that Delphine was buried alive right there on her own property, and is somehow alive, still conscious actually, and doesn’t look a day older than when she was shown to be poisoned.
The episode concludes with Zoe visiting the hospital to see which 2 guys survived the crash. She is shocked to see that the guy who raped Madison is unconscious in one of the beds. What happens next is the best part of the episode as we finally learn of her power. For some reason, we see Zoe start to give the guy a hand job, and begins to have sex with him, we now understand that it was her vagina that killed her previous lover, as the same thing happens to this poor guy.
With great performances all around, it’s hard to find anything wrong with a show like American Horror Story. I know most people complain that the story jumps around and too many subplots are introduced and not fully fleshed out, but I consider that fun television. Sure, there are a lot of unknowns at this point, but that’s how the previous seasons started as well. What makes this show great is the complete absurdity of its premise each season, witchcraft seems pretty straight forward, but as we saw in the season preview following the episode – we’re in for some surprises. Who would have thought there would be a Frankenstein’s monster subplot? But there is! There also looks to be zombies coming later in the season.
EPISODE RATING – A-
BAT-SHIT CRAZY RATING – B