American Horror Story: Coven – Episode 10

After learning last week that danger lies not just within the Coven, but from outside, we find Marie seeking support from her enemies within the Coven. In ‘The Magical Delights Of Stevie Nicks’, Misty is the top contender for the position of the new Supreme and Fiona grants her every wish including the cringe-inducing appearance of Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie herself.

Before you can say ‘OH MY GOD STOP WITH THE TWIRLING’, Madison and the other girls are expressing envy of their new contender. ‘That swamp girl can barely spell her name and she gets the keys to the kingdom?’ quips Madison, whose conflict with Zoe is beginning to heat up as she begins to believe she still has a shot at being the next Supreme (who hasn’t Madison?). Deciding to cover her own back, she lures Misty into an open coffin after showing her new powers of resurgence and buries Misty alive. If Fiona is anything to go by, Madison will make an excellent Supreme.

Speaking of potentially evil Supremes, Nan is still concerned over her love interest Luke, the son of the religious fanatic mother Joan who lived next door to the Coven. Nan takes Zoe to the hospital claiming that she can no longer hear Luke’s thoughts and a nurse reveals that he died. Marching to Joan’s house to ask to see Luke’s body, she is heartbroken to learn that Joan has chosen to have her son cremated meaning that even Misty would be unable to bring him back. As an act of vengeance, Nan gives Joan a taste of her own medicine…. or rather her own taste of Dettol as she controls Joan to swallow a bottle of bleach, killing her in the process. Zoe, frightened by Nan’s abilities, drags her away. We’re really starting to see a pattern forming here.

Yet the tedious business of the Supreme is safely set aside for now as we finally get to see some Voodoo magic on the show! My main grievance with Coven has been the lack of magic; and for a show about witches, I’d say that’s a cardinal sin. Whilst I anticipated some influences from Charmed, Buffy or even cult 90s hit The Craft, AHS Coven has really made being a witch seem about as fun as falling head first into a pile of broken glass.

However, Marie’s sacrifice to the terrifying deity Papa Legba (not to be mistaken with World Wrestlings’ Papa Shango) revealed a little more about Marie herself. It appears Marie traded in her own child for her immortality and to survive has been handing over innocent babies to Papa Legba willy-nilly for 300 years. Since in traditional witch folklore, the ultimate sign of devotion to the devil is to sacrifice ones own child, this could spell bad news for our dear Fiona.

Papa Legba was a great and chilling addition to Coven and was played to perfection by Lance Reddick, who you may recall briefly from Lost and sci-fi series Fringe. If we see more of the creepy Papa Legba in the next few episodes, I can die happy.

Whilst Fiona and Marie toy with Delphi Trust, Fiona learns the secrets of Marie’s eternal youth for herself and calls upon Papa Legba to sacrifice her own soul. Yet, the deal cannot be sealed for we discover that Fiona has in fact no soul to give. But of course, Marie has already stolen a baby to give to the Papa as her annual sacrifice. Following Nan’s discovery of the baby, Marie warns Fiona that Nan is trouble and the dastardly pair decide to solve both their problems in one cruel swoop.

Nan’s surprise death by involuntary drowning in the bath-tub may still not have won Fiona her immortality but seeing another witch needlessly go down the pan in a meaningless death (probably to be resurrected at a later date) is beginning to wear thin. Alas, this episode was one of the most intriguing for a while and even ended with Spaulding cradling his own real life baby doll. Creepy, but I still don’t care about the Supreme.