Alice Rush reviews the twelfth episode of American Horror Story: Coven…
It’s the penultimate episode of American Horror Story: Coven and the story is gearing towards the discovery of the next Supreme being the climax of the season. I must say as finales go it doesn’t seem to grab me as much as violent devil children (season one) or the resolution of an epic story spanning decades (season two). One of my gripes with this season, which resurfaced during this episode, is the lack of a strong narrative. In these last few episodes there has been more of a clear focus, however for the majority of this season I’ve not been able to shake this feeling of fragmentation. Rather than following Lana through the asylum or following the Harmon family through the murder house, there has been a lack of anyone or anything to follow in Coven, as each of the characters sway in and out of importance, seemingly at the whim of the writers. Sure, Fiona has always been the driving force of the series but she’s not the most stable character to connect with as her moral compass is somewhat skewed. ‘Go To Hell’ attempts to reconcile all of these fragments of the series and unite them under one roof, and it does, at points, really come through.
The episode sets about dealing with the straggling storylines leftover after the elimination of the witch hunter threat. Queenie, after her absence, comes into play more in this episode as she sets about finding Marie, who has gone missing. She even takes a trip to Hell to speak personally with Papa Legba, who shows her Marie being tortured, maimed and seemingly killed by Delphine. Legba explains that the two characters are linked and now that Marie has been sliced up by Delphine, Queenie takes it upon herself to see that the Madame is finished, once and for all. It’s a nice touch that Marie and Delphine’s fates are intertwined and that their stories are ended at the same time. Queenie takes a trip to see Delphine, who is now working in her old house-turned-museum and attempting to rewrite a little of her own history. Offering her a chance of redemption, which she refuses, Queenie stabs her, sending her straight to her own personal Hell which is also inhabited by Marie and the two are forced to spend eternity together in a tortuous scene. Whilst I enjoyed the tying off of their stories together, I couldn’t help but feel a little greedy and wanting a bit more of a send-off for Marie. Though that could just be because Angela Bassett, for me, has given a phenomenal performance throughout the series and her character has been one of my favourites.
Now that those two characters are taken care of, the focus returns to where it started, Miss Robichaux’s Academy. Fiona, sensing the end is near, starts to make plans for her demise, however these plans are seemingly debunked by Delia, who with a regained sight discovers she still intends to murder the Coven and escape with her life (There was a specifically brilliant scene where we enter Delia’s head and see this premonition, with bodies aplenty littering the house and blood all over the floor). Armed with this knowledge, she visits the Axe Man who is distraught to hear of Fiona’s planned betrayal of him. Delia definitely takes charge in this episode, as she also ventures and finds Mistry, bringing her back to the house and letting her lose on Madison, another fantastic scene that sees Madison getting brutally knocked about by a furious Misty. Zoe and Kyle make a predictable return after Zoe resurrected a man during their little trip away and now thinks she’s the next Supreme. It looks like she’s going to have to join a pretty long queue.
The only cliff hanger of this episode that will carry through to the finale next week is the fate of Fiona. Delia sees a vision of the Axe Man killing her, to which she sets the girls lose on him, inviting a fantastically gory and cinematically powerful scene of the witches descending upon and frantically stabbing him, much in the same way that he was originally killed. Though Delia comments that Fiona’s body is slowly rotting in the swamp, as we know from the rest of the series, death doesn’t always mean the end.
The scene is set for the Seven Wonders task next week and the crowning of a new Supreme. At this point it could be any of them, so I’m curious as to what will be revealed. Whilst it’s refreshing to see that the series has a strong focus for once, I am still slightly concerned that it will end with a whimper rather than a bang.
Alice Rush
Originally published January 23, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
