'American Horror Story' Recap: 'The Replacements'

Well that was just about everything we could expect from American Horror Story: Coven on Wednesday night. Of course the mother had an incestuous relationship with her son. Naturally, someone was going to have sex with the Minotaur. (I thought the sex with the Minotaur would come a little later, but I keep forgetting this show doesn't live in the 24-episodes-a-season world like most network TV shows. Things move much quicker in AHS.) If incest and minotaur sex wasn't enough for you, Madison (Emma Roberts) met her death by Fiona (Jessica Lange) in the same fashion as Anna-Leigh (Christine Ebersole), the previous reigning Supreme, did in 1971. A death, however, is not death on this show, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see Madison come back very soon.

Most of the main characters on the show continue to be somewhat transparent. I haven't said much about Cordelia (Sarah Paulson) yet, and I've concluded that she's probably the most mysterious one out of the group. Her mother has an insatiable thirst for power. Cordelia is dragged in to this war with the Coven and Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett). We haven't seen much of this so far, but I can't help but feel she's hanging between the good and evil within herself. When will it be Cordelia time to get what she wants?

Evan Peters continues to get his script in the form of a text message, but we (albeit disgustingly) see some background story on his character and at least get the understanding why he'll be an angry zombie for the rest of the season.

So I thought about this week's score, and here I am moving it up a full two letters from last week's D. I've stated before that this season has been nothing like previous seasons and that elements of the show have been missing. But if there's one thing the show has been good at, it's leaving a lasting impression that, most importantly, keeps me coming back every week at 10 p.m. So it's difficult to keep talking about the downward spiral of a show without sounding hypocritical (or at least feeling that way). I still can't say much about plot development, but if there's one thing that's been consistent, it's the shock value that has always been part of the American Horror Story formula. This season, it's these key moments that the story is built around. It seems a little backwards, doesn't it? I envision the team of writers in conjunction with Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy sitting in a room saying, "A mom has sex with her son. The Minotaur has sex with Precious. Let's build from there." It's unconventional to see something that's appears to be all over the place, but I'll be back again next week if only to see how they continue to raise the bar on crazy.

Popculturology Score: B