On Halloween, tensions between Fiona and Marie Laveau reach a new height.
**CONTENT WARNING: Violence, death, disturbing images**
Synopsis
In 1971, one of the hairdressers at Marie Laveau’s salon loses her son, killed by a group of whites men. Laveau casts a spell to revive corpses from the cemetery to attack and slaughter the men responsible.
In the present, Fiona finds Queenie, wounded by the Minotaur, and gets Cordelia’s help healing her. Madame LaLaurie is grateful to Queenie for saving her. Fiona cuts off Bastien’s head and sends it to Laveau.
Zoe frets over Kyle, who is starting to recover some thinking and speaking skills. Regretting that he killed his mom, she considers poisoning him but he wanders away while she’s making a poisoned lunch and blends in with the Halloween crowd.
Cordelia’s husband Hank is on a “business trip,” but really hooking up with a woman he met online. They seem to be hitting it off, but suddenly he pulls out a gun and shoots her in the head.
Myrtle and two other witches show up at the school, summoned by Nan who is worried about Madison since she can’t hear her thoughts anymore. Myrtle has a grudge against Fiona, never trusting her after Anna Leigh’s disappearance. In the past, when Fiona was declared the new supreme, Myrtle cast a spell on Spalding to only speak the truth because he had a meeting the next day with the council. He overheard this and cut out his own tongue because he was (and still is) in love with Fiona. Myrtle can’t make this case stick either, as Cordelia explains Fiona wouldn’t have killed Madison because Madison isn’t the next supreme anyway. Afterwards, Fiona and Cordelia go for drinks at a bar and Fiona tries to pry for Cordelia’s suspicion of who the real next supreme will be. Cordelia goes to the bathroom and throws up, then while washing up, a robed figure splashes a chemical in her face.
Spalding has a creepy doll collection. He was supposed to bury Madison, but instead he keeps her as a new doll.
In retaliation for Bastien, Laveau summons a new round of zombies to haunt the town. Madame LaLaurie’s dead daughters show up at the school’s doorstep.
The Students
Zoe seems to want to correct the decision to bring Kyle back from the dead. It’s probably not the worst idea, but honestly would poison even work on a revived Frankenstein dude?
I’m glad Nan reported Madison’s disappearance. No one else even seemed to notice she was gone.
The Staff
I wonder if Cordelia is pregnant after all. I suppose she could have just been throwing up because she drank too much or something, but it’s such a specific detail to add and often alludes to morning sickness. I wonder who attacked her, and if whatever they used on her will blind her.
Spalding is so creepy! Someone get Madison’s body away from his ASAP! I don’t get what he sees in Fiona, either.
Others
The council included the first male witch of the show, played by Leslie Jordan. And he seems pretty flamboyantly gay. I’m intrigued that this women-dominated field, as established by the show so far, can occasionally have men with magic as well. But this feels a little insulting, showrunner Ryan Murphy! Like he can’t be a witch unless he’s feminine in mannerisms? The show did such a great job in Season 2 with this amazing gay main character, but here it feels like a step backwards into Season 1 territory again where the gay characters were stereotypes. Maybe I’m just reading too much into it.
So, Hank is a problem! First of all, why would you cheat on a witch? Secondly, why did he kill her? There’s got to be more to this.
Zombies
The first season was all about ghosts, so the Halloween episode had ghosts roaming free. This season involves voodoo magic, so it’s fitting that this Halloween we got a zombie invasion. I feel like there was a missed opportunity here, though to reanimate Madison’s body as a zombie.
Conclusion
Okay, this episode was more interesting than the previous ones. There were some shocking moments and I actually started to feel invested, finally. It’s still not perfect but it’s catching my attention.
Score: 7/10
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