THE KEEP UP: AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN – EPISODE 5
EPISODE 5 – BURN, WITCH. BURN!
This show isn’t normally linear, but this season has been, for the most part anyway. We pick up with a quick flashback to All Hallow’s Eve back in 1833, with LaLaurie tormenting a potential suitor for her eldest daughter, and then flat out torturing her own daughters. Cut to Halloween night, where we left off last week, the zombies are on the property, and they mean business. I would also like to mention these are the best zombies I’ve seen in quite some time, not to mention they are very Romero-esque in terms of behavior. Last week when the zombies were being teased, I was expecting to see Fiona let all hell break loose in order to keep the zombies away, but instead we get Zoe wielding a chainsaw. I already have a crush on the Farmiga sisters (Vera from Bates Motel), but this elevated my liking of Taissa over Vera.
It was already pretty obvious that Cordelia would be blind from the acid being thrown in her face, and this assumption was confirmed as Fiona talks with her doctor. I’m expecting Fiona, or someone to give her eyesight again, but for time being, she is in the hospital for the duration of the episode. One of the best moments of this episode is when Cordelia’s husband comes to visit, with Fiona still present. The exchange between these two is great, and they obviously aren’t too fond of each other. Fiona knows that he is a scumbag, but I doubt she knows the truth of just what a low life he actually is. The hospital where she is being treated gave off some really weird vibes, everything looks really old and something just seemed to be “off”. After leaving Cordelia’s room, Fiona wanders around the floor and comes across some strange things, including a woman, whom just had a stillborn. In a random act of kindness, Fiona brings the baby back to life, then leaves.
Back at the house, the girls are still fending off the zombies, three of which are LaLaurie’s daughters, and one of them gets inside. She doesn’t get a chance to do much damage, but we get to see Queenie trying to take her down by inflicting damage to her own body, since she is a human voodoo doll. These zombies can’t be “killed”, but since Marie is controlling them, she can choose to leave the zombie’s body, therefore rendering them “dead” again, at least that’s how I interpreted things. Zoe, still outside going ape shit on the zombies, has killed all but one, just as her chainsaw stalls, she falls back and the zombie approaches, she says something under her breath (sounded like “be in your nature”) which kicks Marie out of the zombie’s body. When Marie awakes from her trance, she is stunned at the power displayed by whoever did that to her. This almost confirms my theory of Zoe being the new Supreme. Fiona finally comes back to the house, and is pleased with Zoe’s ability to protect the coven in the way she did. As they burn the bodies, LaLaurie and Fiona have a moment of compassion for one another. They both came to terms with the fact they weren’t good mothers to their daughters.
The council shows up at the house yet again, these visits are never good, and are getting worse each time. The purpose of this meeting is again to drill Fiona about everything bad happening to the coven since her arrival. But things quickly are turned around on Myrtle, as Fiona uses Queenie to help frame her for the assault on Cordelia. With Fiona presenting “proof” to the other two council members, the decision is made to burn Myrtle at the stake. The entire sequence of walking her to the stake, tying her up, pouring gas on her, and lighting her up was handled very well. The girls weren’t expecting for Fiona to actually go through with the process, so I couldn’t help but fell bad for Myrtle, she didn’t even do anything wrong! We already knew Fiona will do anything to keep her previous actions secret, and this just further proves that point. After the girls leave, however, Misty shows up and approaches the burnt body of Myrtle, and as she does her thing, her eyes open as she is brought back to life.
Some other happenings in the house include Spalding still holding on to Madison’s body, which is now decomposing. Then we have Kyle, who last week, took off in a stumbling fit. We don’t know where he is, and no one is even talking about his in this episode. I’m not too sure what the point is of his character, because he hasn’t served any purpose. With that being said was yet another solid episode, I can’t really find anything to complain about because everything from the pacing to the characters is spot on. with the exception for Kyle, who has nothing to do.
EPISODE RATING – A
BAT-SHIT CRAZY RATING – B