American Horror Story - 3.06 - The Axeman Cometh - Review

This weeks chapter begins with a flashback, showing the Axeman typing his infamous letter in 1919. To summarize, he tells the people of New Orleans that at 12:15 precisely on the next Tuesday night, he will pass over New Orleans. He says that anyone who has a jazz band playing at the time he plans to arrive, will be spared. Those who refuse to play his favorite type of music that night, are told they will meet the end of his axe. As he reads his letter out loud, so does the headmistress of Robichaux's at that time, Millie, who is played by Grace Gummer, the daughter of Meryl Streep. The witches all begin to wonder how they're going to get a jazz band on such short notice, and another says they can play songs from her record collection. The headmistress doesn't feel they should do anything to placate the killer and the girls strongly disagree. Millie ponders over what to do and gives the girls a pep talk about how powerful they are and that no man should be able to make them cower in their own home.

A woman is telling the Axeman, whom she calls Joe, that she's off in a half an hour and then asks if he can walk her home. He correctly guesses that she's afraid of the Axeman and tells her she has nothing to worry about, that she has rhythm in her soul. He's then seen walking the streets, whistling, while carrying his trumpet/axe case. He continues on until approaching the academy, where classical music is being blasted. He walks through the gate that has been left open slightly and as he enters the dark dwelling, he has his axe prepared. Following the sound of the music, he goes up the steps and into one of the rooms where Millie is sitting, in the dark with tarot cards and candles lit. The Axeman leans down and takes the needle from the record. He gravely whispers that he gave fair warning to Millie. He walks up behind her and as she pulls the last card, which is the death card. He tells her she has no one to blame but herself and Millie immediately blows out the candle. One of the other witches tells the Axeman that the reading was for him and stabs him in the chest with a knife. The rest of the witches all emerge from where they were hiding, come together around him, each one stabbing the Axeman repeatedly.

In present day, Zoe is going through Madison's things. As she's going through them, a glass bottle falls out and rolls into the closet. She goes to get the glass and when she gets into the closet a door opens from behind the clothes. She goes into the cubby and finds old pictures and a spirit board. Zoe gathers the girls to talk about how the academy used to house scores of witches and how over time those numbers have decreased. Nan mentions that Luke is gone and his mother keeps slamming the door in her face and Zoe tells her to focus. Queenie tells Zoe to go to Fiona and she replies how Fiona is busy burning witches. Zoe takes a bottle of alcohol out and pours a shot for each of the girls. She tells the girls Madison wants them to find her and that they have to have each others backs. Nan takes hers quickly and happily while Queenie is doubtful. She tells Zoe that she's had her own back for a long time and she doesn't think she needs help from 'sorority' girls and asks what she even poured them. Zoe corrects her by saying they're a coven not a sorority and she informs her the drink is absinthe, the drink of the divine. She then tells Queenie that they are divine and after a moment of consideration, Queenie takes the shot and Zoe slams hers.

The girls are all sitting around the spirit board. Queenie tells Zoe that she doesn't know anything about them and that they have two stages, contact and release. Queenie tells the girls of her grandmother's bad experience with the board and Zoe cuts her off. She tells Queenie that if they're going to find Madison, she needs to 'witch up.' The girls then place their fingers on the upside down shot glass on top of the board. They begin to ask questions and get responses. They're told they aren't alone, and that they not only died at the academy, they were murdered. They ask who murdered them and they're told they did. They ask if it's Madison and the board replies no. They ask who they are and the glass on the board spells out axeman. Queenie knocks the shot glass off the board and yells for them to stop. She tells Zoe that if survival is so important to her, she better find out who she's speaking to first and blows out the candle.

Fiona is getting a chemo treatment when she begins to hear the thoughts of the other cancer patients around her. She thinks about how she's never had the gift of reading minds and wonders if it's the medication. Fiona is overcome by the thoughts and sadness in the patients heads and rips out her IV and starts to leave. Her doctor stops her and tells her that she hasn't finished her treatment. She tells the doctor it's too noisy in there and he tells her that will go away soon because he put a sedative in her treatment to calm her nerves. Fiona tells him not to patronize her and he politely asks her to finish her treatment. Fiona sits back down and tells him that she's only getting the treatments because her daughter needs her. She asks the doctor if she does everything that they tell her to, if she'll beat the cancer. The doctor tells her that he's chosen an aggressive m of treatment and that they always hope for the best. As he puts the IV back into her, she looks around and says that she's not ready to go quite yet and she wants one more great love affair.

The young witches are researching the Axeman and Zoe summarizes by saying he killed 8 people and was never caught. The girls come to the conclusion that if a woman wouldn't be one of his groupies, he'd kill them. Zoe reminds the other girls that they never got to ask about Madison and Queenie tells her that's a good thing. She tells Zoe that a spirit will tell someone anything in order to be released and that they'll mess with you. Zoe asks if that's why he said that they had killed him and Nan holds up a picture and says that he thinks they're the witches from his time, that murdered him. Zoe believes they need to contact him again to find where Madison is and Queenie immediately tells she won't help her. Zoe looks to Nan who also refuses. Zoe gets irritated at the girls 'pussing out' and states forcefully that if this is all the fight they have left, witches deserve to die and walks out of the room. Zoe then goes straight to the spirit board and asks where Madison is. She gets no answer at first, but she then tells him that she'll give him what he wants if he tells her. Suddenly, the shot glass begins to move and spells out 'attic.' Zoe pulls down the ladder that leads to the attic, also known as, Spalding's tea party room. Zoe makes her way up and in, slowly, and is greeted immediately by the stench of death. She covers her nose with her shirt and continues into the butlers quarters. She sees the trunk holding Madison's body and goes straight to it. She opens it up quickly to see her former room mate. She reels back in horror only to be grabbed by Spalding.

Hank has brought Cordelia back home to the academy and she's using a white cane. The two find Fiona in Cordelia's room. Cordelia takes off her glasses and immediately asks why there are roses in her room. She tells Fiona roses bring in love and romance and she needs chrysanthemums for strength and protections. Hank says out loud that the doctor prescribed bed rest and as he goes to take her arm, she is yet again struck with the horrifying visions of Hank plowing Kaylie. She yanks her arm away and demands to know who the red head is. She asks him if there's anything else he wants to tell her because she's going to see it sooner or later. She tells him that she had to go blind to see things about him she couldn't see before and how it was a cruel cosmic joke. She refers it at a different type of clarity, an absolute clarity that she's never had. She then tells him that he'll be held accountable for every betrayal and as he starts to defend himself, Cordelia smacks his feet with her cane and orders him to leave. He tells her she is his heart and Cordelia uses her mind to swing the door of her room open. Fiona tells him to get out while he still can. He storms out of the room and Cordelia telekinetically shuts the door behind him. Cordelia expresses how she'd like to have sever his arms and throw him out the window. Fiona approaches her daughter and asks if she's gotten the gift of sight. Cordelia nods and tells her mother it comes and goes to which Fiona replies that it's the greatest gift to have, but the hardest to live with. Cordelia is starting to take off her clothes and Fiona goes to help her. As soon as Fiona lays a hand on her daughter, Cordelia is struck with the images of Myrtle being burned alive. Cordelia cries out and asks Fiona why she didn't tell her. Fiona is confused and asks what she's seen and Cordelia shakes her head and replies, "Auntie Myrtle!" Fiona goes on to say she wanted to tell her but she was in so much pain already. Fiona tells Cordelia that Myrtle was burned because she was the one who attacked her. Cordelia says that it can't be and Fiona tells her she's sorry that she had to find out this way. As Cordelia starts to cry and slightly shake, Fiona decides she should let her daughter be alone. She tells Cordelia she'll have Delphine check on her later.

Back in the attic, the girls have placed Madison's corpse on the bed and have Spalding tied to a chair. Queenie, who is looking out the window, tells them all that Fiona is leaving in a taxi. Zoe calls Spalding a 'twisted tea serving necrophiliac and tells him it's time to confess to killing Madison. He looks at her and Zoe asks Nan what he's thinking. Nan tells the girls that he's not scared of children. They call his bluff and we're shown that after he grabbed Zoe, she struck him on the head with one of his dolls and he crumpled to the floor. The girls have been heating up the end of a metal spatula on a counter top burner. Zoe holds it up in front of Spalding and tells him that they're going to ask him questions and he's going to think the answer and Nan will relay the information. She holds the hot spatula to his chest and he wails in pain. Zoe places the utensil back on the burner and Queenie tells him Fiona isn't there to help him and calls him Riff Raff. Zoe asks him again if he killed Madison and he says yes. Zoe asks him why and in a voice over, Spalding says that he is a man of uniquely developed appetite. Nan looks at Zoe and says sex. Zoe asks if she was his first and he tells them yes because he had to have her. In his head, he says that Madison was so beautiful and that the moment they met that he knew that he'd only feel like a man again if he slid himself inside her 'cold stiff unyielding mound.' Nan simply tells the girls that it was his first time. He continues on, mentally stating that they can't do anything now because they'd risk exposing the entire Coven. Queenie kicks the butler and asks Nan what he's thinking and Nan responds by saying that they can't do anything. Queenie says that she can and picks up the burning hot spatula. She first teases Spalding by waving it around by his face before quickly slapping the hot end of the utensil on her own face. He cries out and grunts in pain as his face turns red and begins to sizzle and burn. Queenie chuckles as Spalding's head rolls forward and he slumps down. Zoe tells Queenie to stop and takes the spatula from her. Queenie then says they'll wait until he wakes up to kill him because she wants him to feel it. Zoe shakes her head and tells the girls that they aren't going to kill him. Zoe says that she isn't fully sure that Spalding really killed Madison. Nan starts to interject that he admitted it and Zoe reminds them that he's lived with witches for a long time and knows how to keep a secret and most likely picked up a trick or two. Queenie then wonders who really killed Madison then and Zoe

Misty is now back at her home, tending to her gardens and such. She goes over to a large mound on the property and begins to water it. After a moment, a hand emerges from the mound of dirt and Misty can tell that Myrtle likes her swamp water. Misty tells her to be patient and that it won't be long now. As Misty is packing the dirt back down where Myrtle had raised her hand, another hand appears and reaches for Misty's hair. Misty jumps up and turns around and to her delight finds Kyle. She looks him over and says he looks like he's been rode hard and put away wet and tells him he needs a bath. Misty has Stevie's 'Leather and Lace' playing on her old 8 track tape player as she gives Kyle a bath in a large metal tub in the middle of her shanty. As she starts to try to wash his lower region, Kyle becomes very upset and agitated. He thrashes around in the tub for a moment and Misty helps him stand upright in the tub. She has a towel and holds her hands out for Kyle to get out and he's suddenly reminded of his mother and her violations of him Kyle jumps out of the tub and has a few more visions of his now deceased mother before he grabs a wooden chair and bashes it on the floor, breaking it to pieces. Misty yells for him to stop and he screams right back at her. After she tells him she could be his only friend, he smashes some glass jars and pushes past her to knock more items off tables. Misty grabs a hold of him and asks what is wrong with him and he howls and then rips himself from her embrace. He turns around and grabs the tape player and smashes it to the floor, silencing Stevie. Misty pushes him and asks him why he would do that as she begins to sob and wail. As she starts to gather the pieces of the tapes and player, she looks up at him and calls him a monster. Kyle looks up just as Zoe is walking into Misty's. Kyle runs to her and clutches onto her and sobs. Misty tells Zoe to get Kyle out of her place, telling Zoe that he broke Stevie. Zoe tells Misty she's going to get them both out of there and that she needs her help.

Zoe chains Kyle to a wall in Cordelia's lab and he begins to freak out, rightfully so. Zoe tells him it's ok and backs away slightly and he calms down a bit. Misty tells Zoe that he likes her and they belong together and Zoe says it's unlikely and that he killed his mother. Zoe uncovers Madison's body and asks Misty what she can do. Misty does a brief examination and tells Zoe she can help her dig a hole because her body is already rotting and missing an arm. Zoe tells Misty she has the arm and she can sew it back on, just like she did to Kyle. Misty scoffs and ask her if she's seen the scar and tries to get Zoe to go find a soft spot in the yard to bury the body. Zoe stops her and tells her that she has the power of resurgence and she has to bring her back. Misty walks past Zoe and slams a jar down on the table and tells her to get her some mud. They attach Madison's arm back to her being and Misty smears the mud all over it. She takes Madison's face in her hands and rests her face against Madison's and breathes. After a moment, she tells Zoe she's going to need her help and that she needs to push on her stomach. Zoe pushes down on Madison's stomach and she starts coughing and blood runs out of her mouth. Misty orders Zoe to keep pushing and goes to help push. The witches push and push until a giant cockroach crawls out of her mouth and she starts screaming. Madison screams and then coughs a couple times and then says she needs a cigarette.

Marie is closing her shop up and leaving when Hank walks up to her briskly and tells her that they have a problem. Settled in her throne, Marie tells Hank that he's taken a big risk by coming to visit her. He counters by telling her she didn't give him much of a choice with the acid attack and how he's made his job more complicated. Marie can't believe he thinks she was part of the attack and tells him if she wanted to blind his wife, she wouldn't have to leave her room. He tells her that Cordelia has developed a second sight and she's starting to see things and goes on to say that they need to do something. Marie retorts that she thought she did already or so she thought by hiring a professional witch hunter. She challenges him with the fact that he's been in that house for six years and has given her nothing. He tells her that he's given her access and that she wanted more than just the witches at the academy, she wanted all the Salem descendants. He tells her that's what he's been giving her.

Then there's a flashback of Kayle visiting with Cordelia at Robichaux's. Kaylie tells Cordelia how she doesn't think that the academy is the place for her. Cordelia tells Kaylie that it's not a nunnery or a jail, but a haven where she can learn more about who and what she is. Kaylie asks Cordelia what she thinks she is and Cordelia tells her she doesn't believe that Kaylie is an arsonist, which is what Kaylie has been charged with...twice. Cordelia then asks her about the incident and we then flashback to Kaylie getting dumped by her then fiance. She demands for a reason and he tells her that something about her just isn't right. He tells her that she makes his friends skin crawl and how his mother thinks he'll regret it if he marries her and he thinks she's right. He apologizes and goes to leave but as he's reaching for the doorknob, his hand is set ablaze. He reels back in horror and looks at Kaylie as the fire continues up his arms as she just stands there and watches. Kaylie tells Cordelia that she doesn't like to talk about the incident. Cordelia tells Kaylie that she has genuine power and that it's nothing to be ashamed of but it is also something that she needs to learn how to control. Kaylie tells Cordelia she just wants to find a husband and have three kids and then we see Hank listening in on their conversation outside in the hallway.

Hank tells Marie that he's taken out nine Salem descendants and that he would never have known about five of them if Cordelia hadn't found them. Marie then quips that she should hire Cordelia and fire him since she's doing all of the work. Marie tells him that they agreed he would clean house and not play house. She tells him that he's in love with that sorry witch and it's made him soft. Marie then goes on about how her enemies are mouthier than ever and digging up her enemies. Finally, Marie orders Hank to go back to the academy and bring her the witches heads. Hank is in disbelief and Marie repeats her order and then adds to burn the house to the ground. She tells him to do it and do it quickly, and she'll let him live.

The girls are all in the kitchen at the academy and Misty is foraging through the cabinets. The girls decide to keep Madison hidden for the time being and Zoe tells the girls she'll do something with Kyle. Misty quickly tells them that she's not taking him because he's a walking tornado. After stuffing more food into her bag, she looks at the girls and asks who's going to take her home. Zoe tells Misty it's late and she should stay and sleep in a real bed for once. Misty tells her no thanks and that she needs to be alone. Zoe says how she thought Misty was looking for her tribe. Misty says she is but they aren't it and she has a really bad vibe from the house and that there is something foul in the house.

Cordelia has locked herself in her room and slowly makes her way to her bed and sits on it. She fumbles to find her pills, some spilling on the floor, and feels around for her glass of water. After she takes the pills she stands up and takes off her robe and the camera pulls back showing that the Axeman is sitting in her room. Just as Cordelia begins to feel something isn't right, he says, "I always hated this room."

Madison is looking a little better but has blurry vision and doesn't seem to remember much about what happened to her. She asks if she was in a car accident and Zoe gives her a ginger ale for her stomach. Madison takes a couple sips but it comes right back out. Queenie asks if she knows who she is and she does and says that she makes seven million dollars per movie and has two Teen Choice awards. Zoe tells her that she died and they brought her back. When Queenie asks what the last thing she remember is, Madison tells the girls she remembers the color red but after that everything goes dark. Nan asks if Madison saw a bright light and she says no, that there's nothing on the other side and that it's just black...forever.

Cordelia asks who the man is and what he wants. He stands up, axe in hand, and tells her he wants release, as he starts toward her. She tells him she can't do that and he pushes her back up against the wall. He tells Cordelia that the night before a sweet witch offered him release. He lets her go and walks about the room and tells her that she asked a favor of him, and he happily obliged. The Axeman, again getting close to Cordelia, says that when the time came for the girl to ante up, she didn't hold up her end of the bargain. Cordelia tells him that the only way that she can help him is if he lets her out of the room. He denies her and says that nobody is leaving this room. He tells Cordelia that he had a contract and promises were made. He says, while swinging his axe side to side, that all she has to do is sing and dance call the witches who owe him his freedom. He tells her he'll provide the music and the axe flies toward Cordelia, causing her to scream at the top of her lungs.

The girls hear Cordelia screaming and run to her room, to find the door locked. Suddenly jazz music starts to play and Zoe says it's the Axeman. Queenie thinks Zoe released him but Zoe tells her that she told him she would but she didn't and then runs down stairs. In Cordelia's room, he continues to chase her around slamming the axe down into the door and furniture. Zoe runs to the book case and holds her hand up in front of the books. Finally she places a hand on a book and pulls it out, telling the girls that this is it. She places the book down on the table and the pages flip to a certain spell. The girls all hold hands and Zoe recites the incantation and the candles in the room suddenly light up. The girls run to the Cordelia's room immediately after to find her alone screaming under a desk.

The Axeman walks out of the house with his case and into the streets of New Orleans, whistling as he strolls the streets. Fiona is at the bar having a drink and notices that her hair has begun to fall out. Just then, a gentleman sits down next to her and it's none other than the Axeman. He greets Fiona with a suave greeting and asks what she's drinking and she smiles and giggles.

Ok so I had been waiting for this episode for a while now, and I have to say I was slightly disappointed. Now, don't misunderstand me, I still enjoyed the episode and thought it was good. I simply don't feel it was the best episode yet and that's fine. The episode just felt slightly slow for me, despite having some amazing parts. I knew Madison wasn't going to stay dead long, as well as that Hank was hiding something big and foul. I wasn't expecting Kaylie to make another appearance, but I'm glad she did and now that kill makes a lot more sense. What I was expecting, was more from the Axeman. When I say more, I can't place exactly what it was that I was hoping for, but I was hoping for more out of him. I know it's only his first appearance, but you would think that the first would be a bit more memorable. Danny Huston plays the Axeman very well, but as a good friend suggested to me last night, Dylan McDermott would have been an amazing Axeman. I was also unsatisfied with the lack of Delphine this episode. Overall, 'The Axeman Cometh' was a good, solid episode, but not on par with the first five amazing chapters, in my opinion. Chapter 8, 'The Dead', looks to pick up the pace again and I, as always, can't wait. Next week, Queenie goes to Marie Laveau and Cordelia and Fiona discover that Madison is back. Zoe, hiding a gun behind her back, looks as though she's going to 'take care' of Kyle, once and for all, which is something I was expecting to come about. Until next week, pets!

What did you think of 'The Axeman Cometh?' Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below!

Kelly Ann
I am a reviewer for SpoilerTV, reviewing True Blood and American Horror Story. I also enjoy Grey's Anatomy. I also run and or contribute to several True Blood accounts across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.