The ninth chapter of AHS: Coven starts with an immensely boring flashback. We see a young Hank with his father camping in the woods talking about witch hunting. The flashback basically gives us nothing besides the fact that their family has hunted witches for generations, which we could have just assumed without a flashback. Daddy Fox flushes out a witch and Hank hesitates to shoot her. The witch shoots a stream of fire at the two and Daddy Fox pushes Hank out of the way, catching his own arm on fire in the process. After his father shoots the witch, Hank starts to apologize and Daddy Fox scolds him and tells him to never forget what they are and to show no mercy.
At Cornrow City, Fiona waltzes in with Delphine's head in tow. Marie asks Fiona tries to broker an alliance with Marie between the Voodoo witches and her Coven. Delphine's head asks if Fiona is insane from her box and Marie says, "What the head said" which is probably one of my favorite quotes from this episode. Fiona stuffs Delphine's mouth with newspaper and tells her to shut up. Fiona tells Marie of the attack the night before by the witch hunters but that there were no casualties as the shooter missed. Marie tells Fiona that it doesn't concern her a bit and that witch hunters are white women's worries. Marie then calls Fiona out for her wig and asks what kind of cancer she has. Needless to say, the two witches do not come to an agreement. Marie tells Queenie to take the head outside and burn it as she never wants to see it again, and says the same goes for Fiona.
At Robichaux's, Cordelia is attempting to make something to eat and knocks the carton of eggs to the floor. Myrtle appears and tries to help Delia clean up, but she insists its her own mess. Myrtle tells Cordelia that she just has to know whether or not she believes Myrtle was the one to cause her blindness. There's brief flashback to when Fiona left Cordelia at the academy and Myrtle greeting her. Young Cordelia is clearly upset and wiping tears away from her face as she asks Myrtle if she will be her mother now. Myrtle tells Cordelia that she's always loved her like a daughter and to hug her and she'll see she wasn't the one behind the attack. Cordelia refuses and says that she doesn't need magic to find out what she already knows, which is that Myrtle would never harm her.
We then get taken to Atlanta, Georgia for a meeting between Hank and his father. Again, in my opinion, another useless scene. Daddy Fox isn't happy with Hank's progress in New Orleans. The only thing revealed is that it was Hank's father behind the attack on Cordelia. Hank mistakenly shows a brief moment of upset that it was his own father who ordered the attack on his wife. His father becomes instantly angry and demands to know if he actually has feelings for Cordelia. Hank robotically spouts out some sort of witch hunters decree to his father's delight. He tells Hank that it must be confusing to pretend to love someone who is your enemy and that eventually Cordelia will have to be put down. To which, I say, Daddy Fox needs to be put down.
Myrtle, meanwhile, has invited Pembrook and Quentin to the academy to discuss the 'misunderstanding' of Myrtle's burning and the witch who brought her back. As Pembrook is beginning a toast to Myrtle, she starts to choke on her words and then stiffens and Quentin goes stiff right beside her. Myrtle tells the two human statues that she had laced the melon balls that they were snacking on with monkswood. She goes on to tell the pair that the herb causes temporary paralysis. She asks them if they're scared and tells them they should be. Myrtle goes a bit mad next. She yells at the two and before we know it, she takes the melon baller and scoops out one of Pembrook's eyes and then does the same to Quentin. Next thing, she's lifting a towel reveal two different eyeballs now in Cordelia's eye sockets. After opening her eyes, Cordelia realizes her sight is back and says, "I can see!"
Fiona arrives back at the academy and sees Myrtle is there with Cordelia. After asking who let the charcoal briquette back in, Fiona looks over and realizes that Cordelia has gotten her sight back. Fiona asks why Myrtle couldn't find two eyes that matched and ponders why they look so familiar. Myrtle tells the women that the donors wish to remain anonymous as the scene cuts to Myrtle madly chopping up the body parts of the former council members and dropping them into a large pot of boiling water. Fiona and Myrtle go back and forth for a bit but Cordelia cuts them off by telling them that they all need to work together now. Cordelia tells the women that the enemy is outside the walls of the academy and not inside. Cordelia is off to get some rest, and as she hugs Myrtle, she comes to the realization that her gift of the second sight is now gone.
Zoe and Madison are walking through the halls of the hospital that Luke has been taken to. The girls finally find Nan, sitting outside of Luke's room, where Nan tells them that his mother has refused to let her see Luke. With Zoe and Madison behind her, Nan enters the room and approaches Luke and his mother. Joan immediately tells them to leave and blames them for her death but Nan starts reading Luke's mind and relaying the messages to his mother. Joan, of course, doesn't believe it even after Madison tells the woman that Nan is clairvoyant. She feels the girls are mocking her grief and Madison denies it. Nan tells Joan that Luke likes the song she sang to him and Joan tells Nan that she's lying. Joan says that she didn't sing but was reading to him. Luke appears behind Nan and starts whispering his thoughts to her and Nan relays them to Joan. Nan tells Joan that Luke means the song she sang to him when he was 8 and had broken his arm. Joan is still skeptical and asks how Nan could know that. Madison reminds Joan that Nan is a mind reader and the that they're witches. Zoe starts to lead Nan towards the door and says that Joan doesn't deserve her help. Just as the girls are about to exit the room, Joan begins to sing the song Luke was referring to and the girls stop in their tracks. Joan looks at Nan and holds out her hand for Nan to join her. Joan continues the song tearfully and even hugs Nan at the end.
Queenie has placed Delphine's head on a table in her room and has started a marathon of Roots and other such movies. Delphine states that she just wants to die and Queenie tells her that she'd love to but not before she schools the sadist on the people she tortured. Delphine snaps her eyes shut as Queenie leaves her to it and then launches into her own loud, hilarious version of Dixieland.
Hank is holed up in a motel eating Chinese when suddenly his arm spontaneously slams onto the table and his wrist is gouged open. He then gets thrown to the floor where his body snaps and contorts until one of Marie's thugs bursts in to give her regards. Hank asks what's happening to him and he's told that he's feeling the wrath of broken promises and is asked where the white witches heads are at. Hank says he tried and Marie sticks another pin into the doll she's holding, causing Hank to scream and start bleeding from his stomach. The phone rings and it's Marie, who tells him that he's to kill the witches tonight or else the next needle she uses will put a hole in his heart.
Cordelia and Misty working together is one of the few highlights of this episode. The pair are in the greenhouse and Cordelia is mentoring Misty while Stevie's "Kind of Woman" is playing in the background. Under Cordelia's tutelage, Misty not only brings a dead plant back to life, but makes it flourish with flowers. Misty is delighted and says how cool that was and then the two women engage in just about the cutest double high five ever. As Misty is going to fetch more mud, she tells Cordelia that she's an awesome leader and that she has so much to learn from her. Cordelia corrects Misty by telling her that Fiona is the leader of the Coven. Just as Misty leaves the room, Hank walks in. Cordelia regretfully states that she meant to get the locks changed and Hank realizes that her sight is back. He goes to her and hugs her and Cordelia tells him to let go and outs him as being drunk. Hank says he needed the courage to come back and launches into a lame spiel about how he loves her and wants her back. He asks what it will take for him to be able to come back and Cordelia tells him it'll take more than he's got. Misty walks back in and Hank realizes that she's the swamp witch he attempted to take out and asks her to leave. Cordelia tells her to stay, as they have more important things to concern themselves with. Cordelia reminds Hank that she's already told him how she feels and commands he get his things and go. Hank refuses to leave and shouts that it's still his house. Cordelia declares that she's filing for divorce and orders him to get his things and get out.
Suddenly, there's a vicious guard dog in the house, snarling and barking at Hank as he tries to leave with his things. Hey, by the way, where is Cordelia's cat been? Fiona makes her way up the stairs and gets the dog to relax. Hank is surprised that there's a dog in the house (as we all were) and Fiona tells him that it's the circle of life, one dog moving out and another one moving in. Fiona tells him that they needed protection. She asks him if he knows why she chose a female guard dog, and after he ignorantly answers with, "Bitches stick together" she makes the bottom of his box fall out. Fiona then goes on to tell him that females are more loyal and aggressive when it comes to protecting their families. Fiona and her new dog are going down the hallway when the dog stops at Zoe and Madison's door. Fiona opens the door to find Kyle and as she tells him he has to leave. As she's turning to leave the room, Kyle kills the dog by accident.
Back at the hospital, Joan is sucking up to Nan as much as possible, but that only lasts for a short while. Nan channels Luke, who is shown standing right behind her. It's revealed that Joan killed her husband by trapping him in his car with a bee, which he was allergic to. Luke's father was having an affair with a woman in Joan's book club and was leaving her. Nan tells Joan that God says she'll pay and Joan snaps right back into psycho mode. Joan tells Nan to leave them alone and even yells at her to get out. The girls all arrive back at the academy to find Fiona sitting at the kitchen table playing cards with Kyle. Fiona tells the girls that she spruced their boy up. The girls ask if Fiona fixed him and she dryly states that he's not all there but he's ok. Fiona declares that they needed a guard dog, one that will attack on command and orders him to deal the cards again.
Queenie returns to find that Delphine has kept her eyes shut the entire time she was gone. Delphine is quite proud of herself, until Queenie puts on a song that her grandmother used to listen to. She tells LaLaurie that if the music doesn't touch her soul, she doesn't have one. Delphine wonders when all this will end and Queenie tells her it will end when she learns something. Downstairs in the shop, Marie has Queenie answering phones and taking appointments. Suddenly the front door is kicked in by Hank and a bloodbath ensues. He shoots Chantile and then fires a shot into Queenie's stomach. Hank goes through the salon firing at whoever crosses his path. Hank pulls out a larger gun as Queenie picks up a gun from the floor and crawls after him. He finally comes across Marie and fires a shot that grazes her arm. Just as he's ready to fire off another shot, Queenie places the gun in her mouth and fires, causing the same effect on Hank, who falls to the ground immediately. While all this is going on, Delphine is still upstairs with the music and actually begins to cry.
The breathing tube is removed from Luke and he comes to. The only words out of his mouth are, "You murdered dad." Joan tells him no and as Luke is crying she quietly advises him to go back to sleep. Luke calms for a moment and Joan takes a pillow and holds it over Luke's face to suffocate him.
There's a loud knock at the front door of the academy and Fiona goes to answer it. She finds Marie there and moves out of the way to allow her entrance with a smirk.
And that's it for Coven in 2013! I certainly hope Coven returns with a bang, as I've found the past few episodes edging on boring and inconsistent. Don't get me wrong there have been great moments here and there, but I can't help but feel that the beginning of this season far exceeds the middle. Last night's episode was, in my opinion, too much Hank. The only real thing that we learned between the flashback and his interactions with his father, is that Daddy Fox ordered the attack on Cordelia. I also found Myrtle killing the Council out of character and quite frankly bizarre. I love Frances Conroy, but I'm liking Myrtle less and less. The scene with her chopping up the body parts is something I had expected from the Axeman, not Myrtle. I still don't get why Fiona insisted that Joan be brought back. I sincerely hope there's a reason because I'm failing to see it. Joan almost had me change my tune with her song to her son, but I knew all along that she was still crazy. I know American Horror Story can be a confusing show to watch, but the storylines have gone all over the place and it's all becoming a bit harder to watch than usual. How long will Delphine's character be just a head? Is Kyle's storyline ever going to go anywhere? Is Queenie dead now or what? There are tons of questions that need answers and I just hope that four episodes will be enough to wrap everything up. Coven returns on January 8th of next year with the Stevie Nicks appearance we've all been dying for. Have a great holiday and as always, feel free to sound off in the comments below!
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