American Horror Story : Coven - Episode 3.09 - Head - Review : Seeing Red

   American Horror Story served us its winter finale last Wednesday, and it was delicious ! It was exactly what you can expect from AHS : surprising deaths, plot twists, shocking revelations and funny and smart dialogues. It’s hard to pick a favorite moment in this excellent episode, but as always, Jessica Lange and Frances Conroy are the best and Myrtle was definitely the highlight of “Head”. She is now a total psycho, as Ryan Murphy stated “a psycho in Dior”, and I absolutely love this new face of Myrtle.
   Anyways, let’s review this bloody winter finale !

   After last week’s attack at Joan’s, Fiona decided to visit Marie at her salon. She offered her not a truce, but an alliance so they could fight the witch hunters. Quite a surprising move for Fiona, she is clearly becoming a better Supreme… or at least, she is trying. Of course, Marie declined her offer, in a very arrogant way (that she will regret later). She is not afraid of witch hunters, because Hank is working for her, and mostly she thinks she is stronger than white witches.
   Fiona brought back Delphine’s head, Marie is keeping her headless body in her cage but she is done with Delphine, and she ordered Queenie to get rid of the head… But what Queenie has in mind is so much better.
   By the way, I love Kathy Bates so much, I think I like Madame LaLaurie more now she is just a head. Her eyes are so powerfull. With no body, no attitude, only with her eyes and her voice, Kathy Bates gives so more life and depth to Delphine.

    Myrtle and Cordelia are reunited at the Academy. We got to see the first time they met, when Fiona sent her young daughter to the Academy. It was really touching what she said to Myrtle : “Will you be my mother now ?”. It showed how Delia felt abandonned since her youth and that Myrtle is a better mother for Cordelia that Fiona would ever be. Myrtle is so saddened by Cordelia’s blindess she takes matter into her own hands to help her… and get her revenge at the same time. Remember the Council sentenced her to death, so when she invited them for dinner, they thought she was forgiving them. How wrong they were. Myrtle is back from the dead and now she is really crazy, she used a watermelon spoon to remove one each of their eyes. I will never use that kind of spoon anymore. It was so funny, the way she talked and moved and yet totally disgusting to actually see the eyes being removed (at least one of them). And after that, in quite a Dexter-y way, she cut them into pieces and burnt them with acid. That’s a sweet vengeance. So Cordelia can see again now ! Congrats Myrtle ! But she has lost her visions. Well, you can’t have it all girl.
   When Fiona walked in and found her daughter and Myrtle, she was quite upset. Again, Myrtle acted as a better mother than her. She found a way to help Delia whereas Fiona did nothing. Of course, Fiona and Myrtle are still going at each other. I loved that scene so much. Jessica Lange and Frances Conroy are even better when they are in the same scene. I love how they are threatening themselves. Luckily, Cordelia is stronger now and she knows when to set up : Fiona is the Supreme, Myrtle needs to respect that and Fiona needs to start acting like it.
  Also, Cordelia found a new ally in the Academy : Misty Day. She is really in admiration for Delia and her knowledge in witchcraft and plants. I really like seeing them bond. It was nice, and maybe because of last season and Sarah Paulson playing a lesbian, I kinda felt some connection and sexual tension between them. They could be a great couple, very powerful, and Misty Day would be so much better than Hank.
   Speaking of Hank, when he arrived in the Greenhouse, Delia sent him off. She already filed for divorce, so it’s time to pack and go Hank. Good riddance. On his way out, he met up with the Academy’s new security guard : a dog. Fiona’s dog actually and surprisingly. Poor dog found FrankenKyle in his room, but when he hugged him, FrankenKyle tragically broke its neck. Ah, boys… Fiona is not that touched by her pet’s demise and she made herself a new pet : FrankenKyle. He is now a bit better than before, not a genius but he can talk and most of all, he can protect the witches.

   So Zoe and Maddison were reunited with her pet boy when they got back to the Academy. Because before that, they actually spent the day at the hospital, wearing funny hairy hats and smoking cigarettes. They accompanied Nan to visit her lover, Luke (who is still in coma after last week’ shooting). First, Joan did not want them in his room but when she realized Nan was really a clairvoyant, she saw the girls as a gift from God to keep her connected to her son. I must say it was quite touching and well acted. I have always loved Nan, she is so pure and her gift is usefull. And seeing Joan in so much pain and despair, I kinda forgot how bitchy she was before.
   But then, Luke made a shocking revelation though Nan’s mouth : God exists (!!!) and he knows everything because he can see everything, including when Joan murdered her husband, Luke’s father. He was leaving her for another woman, so she killed him. Crazy bitch ! I’ve never thought she could commit a sin. Nan left the room, which was quite stupid I must say, what happened after was no surprise, I’ve seen it coming : Joan killed her son, suffocating him with a pillow. Goodbye Luke ! I hope Nan will avenge his death and Joan will stay dead.

   Now, let’s discuss the best part of the episode for me (after Myrtle’s dinner) : Queenie and Delphine’s relationship is one of my favorite storyline this year. After Marie’s order to burn Delphine’s head, Queenie decided to do something way better : educate Delphine so she can understand all the harm she done and start regretting it and redeem herself. It was really a beautiful gesture from Queenie. She let Delphine’s head in front of the TV so she had no choice but to watch (even though she closed her eyes) and to listen (no hands to cover her ears ! Haha). The first movie did not work, Queenie moved to a more sentimental moment. The music was really touching, and it did touch my soul too.
   Just when Delphine started crying, being touched by all the infamous things were done to black people only because they were black, Hank decided to put an end to his collaboration with Marie, in a quite shocking way. He is not attacking the Coven but Marie’ salon ! It was a bit surprising, but watching the episode, I kinda guessed it would happen. He loves Cordelia, and after the divorce announcement and the voodoo Marie did on him (I still don’t understand how he can walk and carry a gun after all the blood he lost), he had no choice but to eliminate Marie. He killed a lot of girls, even Queenie got shot in the stomach ! She could have used her power to hurt him, he probably was too quick for her to react. Too bad. But, really, Marie could have try to do something more than just putting her hand in front of Hank’s gun. I was afraid for 2 seconds Marie Laveau would kick the bucket. Luckily, Queenie found some strength to use her power and blew her head off, so Hank’s head blew too. Hank is dead for sure, I’m not sure Queenie can survive to a bullet in her head…. I hope so, I don’t wanna loose her. And we know from this season, when a witch dies, it doesn’t mean she really dead.
   After all that mess, Marie had no choice but to go to Fiona’s mansion. Fiona just opened the door and let her in, not saying a word. Superb Supreme gesture here. She is really growing and becoming a true leader. And, Marie being in the Academy means a lot of Jessica Lange and Angela Bassett sharing scenes ! That is just awesome !

   And now, my least favorite part of the episode : the Corporation. It was revealed that Hank belongs to a witch hunters family. His father is the CEO of Dephi Trust, a corporation killing witches since Salem and now making lots of money. Hank is the looser of the family. In the opening flashback, he hesitated killing a witch, so she burnt his father’s hand. And now, he is still a disappointment to his family. He is sloppy. He was supposed to be the inside man, to follow orders. He took initiatives, when he killed the witch in the motel room and his father had to cover his tracks. Just as Cordelia, Hank has issues with his parents.
   Hank’s father also revealed he is the one behind Cordelia’s acid attack. It was meant to make them stay together, but it did the opposite. Hank did not even told him how wrong they were. Since her attack, Cordelia is stronger and she doesn’t need Hank at all. I’m finding this corporation storyline quite weird, and a bit disappointing. After Hank’s death, it’s sure his father will seek revenge and attack the witches. I’m glad Fiona and Marie are forming an alliance but this common enemy seems a bit weak for them. They are witch hunters, okay but they are only humans so the witches can cast spells on them and destroy them easily. I thought they would fight a supernatural force. For me, it would have been more interesting but we will see what happened when they resume in January 8th !

   Ryan Murphy said it was his favorite episode and I can totally relate to that. The acting is always irreproachable, the direction of this episode was amazing (the shooting at Marie’s was a great piece of television, loved it when everything was red.), and the storylines started since episode 1 all came together. Probably one of the best episode of the season so far !

Spells notes : 
• Where is Fiona’s lover ? He could be a great security guy too.
• Saddest deaths : Queenie ? Hank ? Luke ? Vodoo hair dressers ?
• Who is your favorite from this episode ? Marie, Fiona or Myrtle ? Myrtle all the way for me !
• Was Zoe even in this episode ? She was quite transparent this week. I can not even remember if she spoke more than two words. Maddie was quite useless too, but at least she got to deliver some funny and smart lines.
• Do you think Fiona is trying to be a better Supreme or it's just her survival instinct kickin' in ?

   And you, what did you think of this episode ? Put your spell books down and hit the comments !

Romain Ossust (aka Julian Denton) I'm 27 from France, living near Paris. I love a lot of TV shows, I can not name them all but here the ones that came to my mind : Orphan Black, True Blood, Dexter, Weeds, Person of Interest, Criminal Minds, 24, Ab Fab, Carnivale, Lost, The Americans, American Horror Story, Once Upon A Time, Desperate Housewives, Glee, Ugly Betty, Scandal, The Walking Dead, Raising Hope, Grey’s Anatomy .... Otherwise, I’m also very fond of cats, I own 5 of them. I work as an administrative assistant, in one of the greatest place to work in France. I also enjoy sunbathing, reading and having fun ! I hate doing sports !