Thursday, October 17, 2013

American Horror Story: Coven - 3x02 Boy Parts

By s. Thursday, October 17, 2013

This week's Coven is still spellbinding - despite lacking an ending to the episode that would really excite you and rehashing some old and been-there-done-that American Horror Story themes, the episode was fantastic. We got two people coming back from the dead, more excellent song choices and a terrific showdown scene between Fiona and Marie Laveau.

The episode begins with two crocodile hunters getting killed by crocodile...who was brought back to life by none other than charming Misty Day (Lily Rabe, quietly stealing show from everyone, same like in previous seasons). It turns out that Misty is a big fan of Steve Nicks and nature and she has been hanging out in the swamps.
Meanwhile, back in witches' school Zoe is still mourning the loss of Kyle, to Madison's annoyance. Fiona on the other hand is harbouring Madame LaLaurie in her room, hoping that she will reveal how is it that she is immortal. Cordelia is unaware of any of that. She is like the worst headmistress ever.

Cops show up to question Zoe and Madison about the bus accident. Madison, being a movie star, was seen there and the cops think the girls tempered with the bus. Madison plays it cool while Zoe has a meltdown and screams about rape, telekinesis and witches.
Not that the cops should think there is something to it but a crazy rambling, but Fiona shows up, throwing delightful line about her being in charge everywhere, spits in the glasses with water, makes cops drink it and they forget all about the girls and what Zoe said. But Fiona is pissed off and she tells Madison and Zoe to get their shit together because the only person they should be afraid of is her.

After all of that Madison figures it's a terrific idea to bring Kyle back to life. Sure, what a marvelous plan. She brings Zoe to surprisingly unguarded morgue and she tells her the master plan - they will assemble the parts they like and attach them to Kyle's head. Apparently she stole piece of paper with spell written on it that will bring Kyle back. She is doing that because she is grateful to Zoe for punishing the guy who raped her.
Zoe, surprisingly, jumps right in. I understand teenage infatuation and all of that, but seriously. Can't she just find...another dude who will flirt with her at the party? All of that aside, the girls do the ritual, which brought lovely Practical Magic to mind. Unfortunately after that Kyle still looks dead, Madison leaves and Zoe stays behind to say her final goodbye.

When a guard shows up and discovers Zoe, Kyle suddenly comes back to life and strangles the guard. Zoe takes him away in a car and suddenly Misty appears, apparently sensing Zoe's magic and being drawn to it. Kyle is freaking out during all of that. And who could blame him.
Meanwhile, LaLaurie tells Fiona how Marie Laveau punished her. After she woke up, having drunk the potion Marie gave her, LaLaurie discovered Marie and a group of men with her, standing outside her house. They have hung her daughters and husband. Marie explains to LaLaurie how she has something planned for her that is worse than death. She is now immortal thanks to the potion she drank and she is going to be locked up in a coffin, for all eternity to suffer for what she did.

Fiona is still intrigued by all of that, in her relentless pursuit of eternal youth. So the next time we see her she is in the hair salon, when suddenly Laveau herself enters and tells everyone to leave her with Fiona. Apparently she is immortal too and she owns the place.
This was hands down the best part of the episode - the showdown between Laveau and Fiona was super fun to watch and to have Angela Bassett and Jessica Lange in one scene, while they are playing enemies, is a real treat.

Fiona informs Laveau that she knows her identity. Laveau tells Fiona that she too knows who Fiona is - we get a glimpse of the fight between voodoo priestesses and the witches from their conversation. The talk is not very pleasant but these two are real divas and neither of them wants to relinquish control. Fiona tells Laveau that she wants to be immortal too. Laveau laughs at that telling Fiona no money can buy her that and she is not going to grant her wish. Fiona says she will, because she has something Laveau wants. She doesn't reveal that it is LaLaurie, though.
In this episode we also got to know Cordelia a little more. Turns out Cordelia is married and her husband and her are trying to have a baby. They keep going to the doctor but nothing is happening. Her husband finally convinces Cordelia to use the magic to help them. Cordelia is hesitant, as apparently the magic involving life or death is dangerous. Nonetheless, she goes through with it and we were treated with freaky ritual/sex scene involving a circle of fire, blood and snakes. Oh and Cordelia's eyes turned black at one point. This can't be good.

Ryan Murphy said that we won't be getting any demon baby or weird pregnancy subplot this season, which is great because that would be a bit of an overkill. Apparently the whole situation with Cordelia wanting a child will be resolved in next week's episode.
The most interesting relationship in the episode for me was between Misty and Zoe. Misty takes Zoe and Kyle to her awesome swamp shack and she puts some stuff on Kyle's wounds to help him heal. Zoe recognizes her as the girl who was burned alive. Misty is very happy to have company and she is clearly interested in Zoe. Also - I love her place. I'd love to live like that. Minus someone else's boyfriend made out of different people's parts. Why? Evan Peters is WAY too young for my taste.

It was also so awesome to see that scene because my favorite two actresses whom I got to know from the show - Lily Rabe and Taissa Farmiga - finally had a scene together. The only thing that can make it better is if Alex Breckenridge (we still don't know who she will be playing this season) joins them and they will all hang out in the swamps.
Anyways, Misty promises Zoe to take care of Kyle and Zoe says she will be back. I really like how Kyle, who is clearly in shock and unable to speak, hang on to Zoe pleadingly so that she wouldn't go. Apparently Kyle will not hurt Zoe - and she is the only one he will protect as she created him. Ah, romantic.

We also got to know a bit about Queenie and Nan. Queenie was sent to the school after a costumer insulted her and she burned his hand with boiling oil. Nan was seen this episode as she is annoyed by the thoughts of LaLaurie she can hear in her head. So Nan releases her, Queenie is confused, LaLaurie yells "out of my way, slave" hits Queenie and runs away.
Fortunately, she didn't manage to run far and Fiona finds her in front of her old house. They have a quick chat. Meanwhile Laveau talks to her boyfriend....The Minotaur. Apparently, she made him immortal too and she has plans for him now.

I really liked the episode. They did go a bit overboard with blurry cinematography trick that was annoying but other than that the episode was packed with lots of cool stuff and still managed to be gripping. I can kinda see where things are headed but there is plenty of mystery - for example what is up with The Minotaur? I mean we only see LaLaurie put bull's head on dude's head. Did she attach it somehow? Interesting mystery this season - as we know who the guy was before but we don't really know how exactly he became a monster.
The acting was top notch here, Peters was quite impressive in his physical performance and Emma Roberts was less annoying this time around. It was also great seeing Sidibe do her thing. Bassett and Lange's scene was the best, though. Another thing - how the hell is Angela Bassett 55 years old? How is this possible? She looks like she was in her early thirties, tops. Funny how she plays an immortal woman on the show. I would not be surprised if it was the case in reality.

Next week - LaLaurie becomes new maid in the school, The Minotaur attacks and religious fanatic targets the Coven.
PREVIOUS RECAPS:

12 comments:

  1. Man, I want the season to end with just Lange and Bassett talking. That scene, these two- oh my.

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  2. Great Review! I loved this episode, once again AHS didn't fail to surprise and please

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  3. Im wondering whether Kyle can now survive sex with Zoe in his new Frankenstein form. Cause i think it would kind of suck for Zoe to go through all that effort o bring him back and still have that problem with him.

    And yes, the showdown between Fiona and Laveau was amazing to watch

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    1. I was making gifs out of the episode and it looks like Kyle's body doesn't have a junk. But maybe they attached it and we just didn't see it because it's so horrible to show a penis on TV for some reason these days :)

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    2. I kind of assumed he did due to Madisions "grower or shower comment". I think because its not on HBO or something like that they can't show penises...but random body parts are a-ok. Censors are silly ;)

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    3. Yeah, he probably has one :) American media are honestly so prudish, even HBO usually just sticks to female nudity from the waist up.

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  4. I'm glad to see Angela Bassett in a prominent role, so is she a regular cast member now? WHOA, some of the pics here convinced me I can't watch this series [runs over & hide]

    Btw, there's a horror flick playing tonight at TCFF that sounds right up your alley called We Are What We Are ;)

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    1. She is a special guest star, but I think she will be present through majority of this season :) Yeah, they weren't shy with showing those hacked body parts :)

      I'll check it out! :)

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  5. I really enjoyed the episode. I'm glad the ratings of the 3rd season of AHS are so high, the series deserves it!

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    1. I'm so glad too, I hope it will have many seasons.

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