American Horror Story: Coven Episode 6 "The Axeman Cometh" Review

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE

            I am very sorry that I never reviewed last week’s episode, but there were some things that got me away from my reviews, or even watching the episode, and I did not watch it until the Sunday afternoon after it aired. I will just say that I did really enjoy it, but I had several flaws with it. My flaws are that I did not like the directing, it tried too hard to have good drama which caused for some very forced and uninteresting drama, and the action in it went way too far. Though, we did get some cool sequences, we got some cool mythology, we get some events that furthered the plot, we got some really cool and unpredictable twists, and I really like the direction they are going in with the character of Zoe. I give the episode a 7.7/10 and a B+.

            

            Now to get to this episode, I will start with the prologue. I actually think that it was done very well and as it builds up to the axeman killing someone, we get a gritty feel of darkness and fear. Then, we get to see the axeman killing someone, which brings the prologue up to greater heights. Last, we see how he gets killed, in a really cool way.

            Now I will start off with Zoe. She is looking through all of Madison’s belongings, when she finds a secret little place in a clichéd way that really bothered me. But, that gives us a great plot point that is hands down the best plot twist/new storyline we have had all season. I had no idea it was coming, and I loved the direction they took. Then, the three witches find the axeman and the other two want no part in it, but Zoe wants to keep looking. She wants to find Madison. I really enjoyed that section of the episode, but it took a while to get there. Though, I am glad Zoe is getting stronger and not afraid of everything anymore. Then, she finds that Spalding had her and the witches interrogated him. He lied that he killed Madison, and they went on. I could definitely have seen him lying to them, making the episode predictable, but I liked the small adventure they going on to try to find out the truth. Later, she goes over to Misty Day’s place where Kyle has been destroying everything, and brings them both to the house in which she tries to revive Madison. I liked the direction they were going in, and since it is moving and using some plot twists and turns, it was still really enjoyable, but the twists were already starting to tire me. Anyway, they revive Madison, and she gives them no information, because she has no idea what happened. That is expected, but it makes the story of the hunt for Madison in this episode somewhat pointless. But then, we find out that the axeman is attacking Cordelia, and the witches have to stop him. That scene was not intense for me, and here is why: Why are there not any other ghosts from people they had killed? If the axeman can just come back as a ghost, why did he not do that earlier? If he has not been released yet, why is he able to interact fine with things in this world? There are several big plot inconsistencies here that completely ruined that scene. And also, why did they just let him go? He is technically a ghost. I did really enjoy this storyline of the episode, but it had several writing and plot errors and flaws that brought the episode down.

            Now I will get to Fiona’s story. At the beginning, we see her in the hospital being treated for something. But then, she starts reading people’s thoughts, like she is turning back into the supreme again. That is really cool, but confuses me. In the last episode, they hinted at Zoe starting to become the supreme. Why did they do that if Fiona is rising to be the supreme again? Are they just going to ignore Zoe’s small breakthrough and not explore it? Then, nothing really happens to her again until the end of the episode. She had some screen time with Cordelia, but nothing important happened to her then. Anyway, at the very end of the episode, we see the axeman sit next to her at a bar for a good cliffhanger to the next episode. That is basically all I have to say about that. I guess I am still interested in the direction her character is going in, but they are faulting it up a bit.

            Now I will get to Hank (Cordelia’s husband). The first time we see him, he is helping Cordelia get around, because she is now blind. To comment on her being blind, it is actually done very well. The effects for her eyes look great. And, I noticed that she would look where a blind person would look. When she is talking to someone, she looks around where they really are. I really thought that was done well. Though, it got to the point where the episode kept on yelling at you that she is blind. Anyway, she uses her really cool new power to tell what happened with him and the red head, and then wants nothing to do with him. I really like that power, and I really like that they are exploring that plot point. Though, when we find out why he killed the red head, and who he really is when he talks with Marie Laveau. I had no idea that was coming, and we get another fantastic plot twist that changes up the whole story. This episode added great new side stories. Then, the tension is sadly released when she tells him to kill all the witches in Salem. We could have done without that, because we do not need six cliffhangers an episode. The use of cliffhangers has started to make them less powerful. The one with Fiona was necessary. This one was not. Then, I got to thinking: Why has Laveau always wanted the witches in Salem dead? She has no motivation, making her a weak antagonist. Though, I am still very interesting in the characters of Hank and Marie Laveau separately, and their chemistry together.

            Now I will talk about the episode overall. I probably enjoyed this episode the most out of all of the episodes in this season. Though, it had too many plot inconstancies and writing flaws. I really enjoyed almost all of it, but many factors of it break the episode’s own rules. It tries a bit too hard to be clever, but it ends up not being logical and not making sense. The episode was also very fast paced, which was the reason I enjoyed it as much as I did. I really cannot say that the fast pace is a negative to the episode, but it is a really cheap way to keep the audience entertained. Though, this episode was still good.

            On the grading rating system, I give the episode a B.
            On the out-of-10 rating system, I give it a 7.0/10.