American Horror Story - Boy Wonder - Review
17 Oct 2018
American Horror Story Reviews SDIt took five long years but a terrible wrong was finally made right in this episode. Yes, fans, the one and only pure, sweet cinnamon role swamp witch Misty Day has come back to us, fully regenerated. This feat was accomplished by the worst person possible, but it doesn't matter. It's done, she's back, and nothing bad better not happen to her again. It probably will, knowing this show. But, at least she got some time this episode to just relax and be serenaded by Stevie Nicks before the next horrible thing befalls her like it did with other characters this episode. Can't have a resurrection without a couple of deaths, right?
After passing out last week, Cordelia has a dream/vision about the apocalypse. She knows it's started by someone, but she can't tell who it is because Michael is all demon-faced in it. She's woken up from this nightmare by Myrtle, Zoe, Queenie, and Madison. The first thing Madison wants to know if anybody knew she was dead. When we last left off of Coven, Madison was murdered in secret while everyone thought she went back to Hollywood. But it turns out they find out she was dead and just didn't do anything about it. Ha.
Cordelia's next step is to talk to Michael and the other warlocks and tell them about the vision. Seemingly fearing for the future and that she's not strong enough to stop it by herself, she agrees to let Michael take the test of the seven wonders. Myrtle is all like, are you crazy? She goes on a rant about the consequences of giving men too much power. But Cordelia says she's afraid that if she doesn't, it will lead to that future. She makes it seem like she's losing her confidence again of her ability to be the right kind of leader. But these girls need her, especially Mallory, Myrtle reminds her. We get another show of how super special powerful Mallory is when she not only brings a deer back to life but also reverses its aging process and turns it back into a little baby deer. Also of note in this scene, Mallory is wearing all white and has a crown of thorns on her head. I'm getting some serious Jesus vibes from it. Are we going to get a daughter of God versus son of Satan showdown? Yes, please.
My second favorite scene in this episode is getting to see Coco's introduction to the school. Girl doesn't want to be a witch and she doesn't want to be there and gives Cordelia all sorts of trouble. But she has power and belongs there. Now, what kind of power does she have? She's a human gluten detector. Ha. Cordelia tries to convince her to stay, even getting Mallory in on the action to show around the woman she'll have to wipe someday soon.
With Cordelia's blessing, Michael gets to perform the seven wonders test. While everyone else is celebratory, John Henry is nervous. He's made even more nervous when he gets a brief glimpse of Michael's demon face. He knows something's wrong. He decides to go to New Orleans and find out for himself what's going on. He tells his Behold, who doesn't believe him. John Henry is alone in his crusade, and we all know how that usually turns out.
On his way, he runs into trouble, or rather trouble runs into him. He meets human Mead at a gas station. She pretends to be some innocent old lady who can't fill her own gas tank. She may not be able to take the gas cap off, but she can totally kill a dude. She cuts his Achilles' tendons (ouch) making him fall, and then slits his throat, and then sets him on fire. Dang, girl. Overkill much?
She meets up with Michael later and tells him she took care of his problem. They talk about their plan to destroy the covens and then the world. The high counselor shows up to the meeting. He was in on killing John Henry. Now, this guy is the kind of leader that is the total opposite of what a leader should be. He cares more about power than he cares about his own coven. He's nothing like Cordelia, who's doing all she can to avoid being a leader like him.
Michael performs the seven wonders old silent film reel style like in Coven. But then, we get to the last test, decesnsum. And here's where the glory happens. Cordelia doesn't want him to go to his hell, she wants him to go Misty's hell and bring her back. The high counselor whines (again), saying it's not fair. Cordelia scolds him like a parent. She reminds him that she outranks him and there's nothing he can do about it, so he should show some respect. But the high counselor's arguments are in vain because Michael is totally on board with showing off and getting Misty.
In hell, Misty is still being forced to dissect live frogs by her teacher. Until the teacher himself gets dissected by Michael. With a hopeful gaze, she asks if he's come to save her. Aww, man. He is, but being the innocent soul that she is, can completely tell that he's evil. But she goes with him anyway. Like a phoenix, she rises from the ashes of her body. Cordelia is so happy to see her, you guys, and Misty's so happy to be back. She's crying, Cordelia's crying, I'm crying.
Later, Misty tells her fellow witches about her experience with Michael and that she thinks he's evil. Then, Cordelia reveals she never intended on letting him ascend to supreme. She knows what's up. She just wanted to know how strong he was and to trick him into giving her an army of witches for the war ahead. Misty's not sure she's up to the task, so Cordelia gives her a gift; Stevie Nicks. Stevie shows up to sing for Misty. She deserves this and the entire world for what she's endured. Everyone enjoys Stevie's singing except for Michael because he's an unfeeling psychopath. Although to be perfectly honest, I'm not a fan of long musical numbers in shows, so this ran on a little too long for me. I'd prefer it if the singing was kept to a minimum so as to not take away from story time.
Cordelia wants to send Madison on a secret mission to find out everything she can about Michael. But, Behold catches them. He wants to go with Madison so he can find out about Michael too. He's concerned about what happened to John Henry. So, their mission, should they choose to accept it (they do), is to find out everything they can about Michael. Their destination? MURDER HOUSE. That's right, folks. Seven years later we're returning to the haunted house that started it all.
This episode had all kinds of fan service in it and I loved it. The war against Michael is building up and getting exciting. But it feels like the first three episodes were completely unnecessary, as if they've just been dropped. Not that I mind the switch over to Coven, I'm just wondering if they should have started out with that and not even bothered with this outpost 3 stuff and those characters.
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