American Horror Story: Coven Episodes 8 & 9 Reviews

WARNING: THESE REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THESE EPISODES

            






            




          

            

            Sorry for the huge delay on these reviews, but I have been dealing with finals this past week. The reason I never posted a review for episode eight “The Sacred Taking” is that it was another mediocre episode, like its last one. I started getting tired of the show, so I decided it was not worth doing reviews for. Though, I now have a review for that episode and the next.

            With episode eight, “The Sacred Gathering”, I did enjoy the episode, but it is not particularly good. Though, I do not remember most of my flaws I had after watching the episode. I also do not remember most of what happened in the episode. It was a forgettable experience that was not satisfying to me. I remember that it had unusually bad writing and direction, and that it had an overdramatic score and some stupidity, but I do not remember any examples, except for the conclusion of the episode. When the box is opened and it zooms in on LaLaurie’s head, and then her eyes open, it was, over course, very hilarious due to the stupidity and overdramatic score. Though, I do not remember much else from the episode.

            Now I will get into episode nine, “Head”. It was the first episode of this season so far that I did not like. It begins with a scene that has a father taking is son witch hunting for the first time. It was a weak opening that had laughable attempts at intensity and did not further the plot at all. When the kid is aiming and his father is yelling at him to put the gun down, he does not put it down and shoots randomly. I thought he was scared to do this. They just explained that. Did they not?

            Then, Fiona asks Marie to take sides with her because of the witch hunters. Really, if the writers decide to do that, then what is the point of episodes one through eight? The war between the two witch groups was actually and alright storyline. Now they are just throwing it out the window. It them cuts to Hank at his place where we learn that he is a witch hunter… What is wrong with the writers? Did they get bored with what they already had? Part of why the season has been good until this point is because it is cool to think that witches are just these small little, almost, recluses in society. The show has now turned everything into a huge battle. Introducing an organization of witch hunters into the show is going way too far. This will be the main plot point of the rest of the season and it is so far the weakest of the season. Also, it is completely explained right to the audience who threw the acid in Cordelia’s face. It ruined the suspense and the audience could have just figured it out.

            When it cuts back to the Academy and Myrtle cuts the eyes out of the other two witches, it was going too far. The show needs to set limits for itself. We also did not need Cordelia to get her vision back. I liked it when she was blind.

            A few minutes later, the storyline of Nan with the boy she likes is introduced and the show also introduces some of the stupidest drama I have ever seen in the show. I am tired of this storyline with the neighbors. It adds nothing to the show. Almost any other storyline with these witches would be better. This dialogue is not compelling. The mother is not a strong antagonist at all. The mother also changes her mood about Nan extremely quickly. I thought she was very uptight. I thought that she believed Nan was using “the Devil’s powers” or something like that. Then, all of a sudden, she does not care. That was the weakest element of the episode.

            What is wrong with Queenie? She has gone from being moderately nice to a psycho. But now she is fine with LaLaurie and is just going to torture her with movies. This storyline also added nothing to the episode and was just in the episode to take up time and for us to see Queenie. The only positive about this storyline is that it is not drawn out as much as the one with Nan, Zoe, and Madison is.

            The episode concludes with an action sequence when Hank attacks Marie Laveau. The action sequence was fun, but it had several conveniences, clichés, and Queenie is forced to be stupid. Hank really, really waits to shoot Marie and gives Queenie and enough time to finally use her power to kill him. That really bugged me. And why did Queenie not use her powers earlier?

            This episode, I did somewhat enjoy, but it did have dull moments. It was not a good episode and I hope that the episodes get better when the show comes back in January. As an “I am story”, I will do a review of the first “half” (first nine out of thirteen episodes) soon.