American Horror Story: Coven 3×07 Review: The Dead

The new episode of American Horror Story: Coven gives us enough to be excited about until it comes back after two weeks. The story arc regarding the fight between the witches of Salem and the Voodoo practitioners picked up some speed, which was much appreciated. This week’s episode also allowed one young witch to shine and the betrayal in the end felt so right!

As the title implies, the episode put some focus on Madison and Kyle. Both of them were brought back from the dead by Zoe. Madison and Kyle are trying to feel alive again. I liked how the show linked pain with being alive. I saw a similar theme in the TV series Heroes with Claire Bennet, aka “The Cheerleader”. The inability to feel pain made her lose touch with her humanity. Madison seems to be experiencing something similar. She tries to fill the emptiness inside of her. She binge eats, burns her hand, and drinks weird concoctions just so she can feel something.

Kyle’s memories seem to be coming back. Though the episode gave some more information about the character, I still can’t see the point of him in the series. Evan Peters had a lot to do in AHS: Asylum and I hope things turn around for him in the future episodes. He just feels like a love interest Zoe can use without killing.

Speaking of Zoe, her character seems to be nearing insanity. Claudia warns her that Fiona killed Madison and will be coming after the young witch next. Zoe understands, but just to make sure she gives Spalding his tongue back to know the truth. She then kills him! Not only that, but Zoe has decided, along with Claudia, that they need to kill Fiona. I can understand where Claudia is coming from, but I never figured Zoe for a murderer!

The rest of the story focused on Queenie and Delphine. Queenie doesn’t feel accepted in the Coven. Delphine says it’s because she’s black. Queenie goes to visit Laveau, and the Voodoo Queen offers her a place if she brings LaLaurie to her. Racism is one of the main themes this season, so Queenie feeling different and betraying Delphine’s trust was understandable. But I wasn’t expecting the twist so soon! The scenes that showed Queenie and Delphine going to eat hamburgers at night; Delphine sharing stories about her past; it made it look as if the two were becoming friends. I have already said that I don’t want any redemption for LaLaurie. The things she has done are awful. What I wasn’t expecting was Queenie deciding to hand her over to Laveau in the end. I don’t feel sorry for either of the immortal women. At first I thought Marie Laveau deserved sympathy, but seeing that she’s been after the witches from the beginning and wants to kill them all has changed my mind.

There were a few things that didn’t make sense. The story about the Axeman being in love with Fiona for years was a good change in the real-life character, but I couldn’t understand why he didn’t try to make her release him. Why did he contact Zoe? It’s not like he wasn’t able to reveal his presence. He did drop a cupboard on one of the witches who hurt Fiona when she was young. And I still can’t understand why Fiona hasn’t been over-protective of Delphine. She knows Laveau is after her. Why hasn’t she tried to figure out the secret to her immortality? Yes, Fiona is going through some personal stuff, but ignoring Delphine when she was the one who dug her up in the first place didn’t feel right to me. A lot of things that happened looked as if the writers did them on purpose just for the sake of plot.

The episode was still enjoyable, and Queenie going over to Laveau’s side was interesting to see. However, I hope the main plot picks up more speed in the coming episodes. I really want to see the plan Zoe and Claudia come up with to take down Fiona, and what Laveau wants to do with Delphine.

What did you think of the episode? Please share in the comments.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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