There was a slight lull in the grotesquerie trajectory in this fourth episode of American Horror Story, but it was not without – gasp – real plot development and some genuine surprises.
The show opened with a flashback to Marie’s 1950’s, when she avenged the hanging of a boy by releasing some confederate and flapper zombies. Y’all, Marie Laveaux’s zombies give zero shits about your bullets in their head, because this magic is Voodoo royalty. The zombies rip the boy’s killers limb from limb while bullets zip through like flies.
Upon our return to present day Dirty American Hogwarts, Not-Filch is having a tea party with his dollies. Go ahead and read that again. I’ll wait. This was a far more effective shock than any of the stunts pulled last week, and caused a genuine ick to rise to my face. He’s pulled away from midnight tea (which, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m pretty sure is not a thing) to dispose of Madison Montgomery’s corpse. His allegiance to and worship of Fiona becomes more and more evident, and he does her bidding without hesitation.
Meanwhile the Black Widow has to stop Kylenstein from cracking his own head open and he escapes, and whatever I really don’t even care about this plotline right now. Nan summons the coven Council because she can no longer hear Madison which ended up being delightful. The council consists of a Fiona fan, a neutral party, and … Myrtle Snow, who hates Fiona and for forty years has been out to prove Fiona’s devilry. No dice just yet, but in her attempts we got a couple reveals; I’m sure all of us were certain that Fiona had removed Not-Filch’s tongue, but in fact he did it himself. We also learned that Madison was not the Supreme in waiting, so now Fiona has a new quest.
And we definitely need to talk about Cordelia’s husband. I have to ask though, why does there have to be a deviant man every season? Like, violent and rapey kind of deviant? It’s a bit old. While he is out of town on business, he has violent sex with and then murders an internet fling. Despite my usual issues with the show, I’m pretty sure this has a point. And since he used a gun to unceremoniously end the girl’s life, I’m betting this has more to do with Voodoo than kicks.
And we’re back to Voodoo and Marie. When Fiona violates the decades old truce between Marie and the Salem witches by pulling a Godfather and sending Marie the still blinking severed head of her Minotaur, Marie declares war. And here’s where it gets awesome. Go ahead and read that again. I’ll wait.
The show used foreshadowing. Correctly. Several characters accused Cordelia of being blind, and in her final shot of the episode a hooded figure threw a mason jar of an acidic liquid into her eyes. The implications of course are that her eyes are now burned out, but from clips from next week’s episode there might be even more to the mutilation. Also my money is on Myrtle as the culprit.
After Spalding’s second interrogation by the council, he returns to his tea party. After he puts on his own nightgown (whatever), he picks out something special for his newest dolly: Madison’s corpse. Ew.
But the best – the perfect tie to make the episode come full circle and leave a great cliffhanger for the next episode – was Marie’s first act of war. She performed another zombie ritual and sent a yard full of corpses to Dirty American Hogwarts on Beggars’ Night. The first to show up were of course Delphine’s dead, rotted daughters. The camera pans to a neighborhood’s worth of animated corpses who can’t be killed by traditional methods swarming on the school. Cliffhanger! Continuity! Say what?!!?
No, of course the show is not completely redeemed, but this is the most I have enjoyed an episode this season. I still require a lot more Angela Bassett. Regarding the Supreme in waiting mystery, the easy guess is Zoe, but let’s not rule out swamp dwelling Misty Day. Oh my god. You guys. WHAT IF STEVIE NICKS IS THE NEW SUPREME.
And in a brilliant coincidence, the clock strikes 12 as I prepare to publish my review. From all of us here at BSR!, happy Hallowe’en! I’m going to curl up with a candle and a cat and watch “The Worst Witch” to balance out all this deviance.