'American Horror Story: Coven' Recap: 'Go to Hell'

A lot of people died this week on American Horror Story: Coven. As the title of the penultimate episode suggested, a few main characters found themselves meeting Papa Legba (Lance Reddick) in Hell to face an eternity of torture from one another — which is really the same thing they were doing to each other in real life. As the story comes to a close, however, the witches of the coven began to convene to prove the Seven Wonders and thus become the next reigning Supreme. With hardly any driving focus for most of the season, I was never really sure what the Seven Wonders were. The beginning of the episode finally made them clear:

1. Telekinesis: The power to control objects with the mind
2. Concilium: The power to control someone's mind
3. Transmutation: The power to transport to another location
4. Divination: The ability to see the future
5. Vitalum Vitalis: The power to bring someone back from the dead
6. Descensum: The ability to move between life and afterlife
7. Pyrokinesis: The ability to create fire

I had thought either Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) or Naan (Jamie Brewer) would be the next Supreme, but with Naan gone, my bet is on Zoe. There were no real hints as to whether or not Zoe would be next in line, however, as all of the witches have demonstrated many of the powers above. As I stated before, many of the characters really aren't likable. Besides Zoe, the only other character that probably deserves to be top witch is Misty (Lily Rabe). She sticks to herself and understands the value of life and the powers that have been given to her. More importantly, she seemingly wants to do good in spite of everyone's growing hatred for her. It was fun watching her kick the shit out of Madison (Emma Roberts) though.

So who died? Queenie, demonstrating "Descensum," brought herself back to her personal Hell when she was working at a fast food chicken restaurant. She encountered Legba, whom she appeared to make a deal with. The end result of this arrangement is the dissolution of Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett) and Madame LaLaurie's (Kathy Bates) immortality. LaLaurie spent the beginning of the episode chopping Laveau into tiny pieces that were spread around town — she went to Hell. When Queenie then found LaLaurie working as a tour guide in her former house, she tried to get her to repent for everything she had done. Naturally, this didn't happen, so Queenie slit her throat in her LaLaurie's own torture chamber (I don't know why LaLaurie found herself alone with Queenie in the same chamber she killed the current tour guide, but questions such as these go without explanation). 

LaLaurie found herself face to face with Laveau in Hell, where she was forced to endure the same torture she put her own victims through. Legba made Laveau do it to her and someone she deems innocent. Most of the torture involved taking a heated rod up the ... you get the idea.

Fiona (Jessica Lange) met her anticlimactic death, as well. With Coredlia (Sarah Paulson) having a vision of Fiona killing everyone in the coven including her, she went to the Axeman (Danny Huston) to warn him of her intention to leave him. Enraged at this betrayal, he tokd his axe and swung it into the center of Cordelia's back as she was going through her full plan to kill everyone and start over alone. The Axeman doesn't last long, however, as he went to the Coven to kill the rest of witches. They debated letting him live, but they decided to stab him repeatedly like his first encounter with the Coven many years ago. (He didn't appear to learn his lesson the first time.)

Kyle and Zoe were on a romantic date in the park when Kyle raged out and killed a homeless man. I guess he doesn't count in the body count, however, since Zoe brought him back to life (using Vitalum Vitalis). Her demonstration of this power convinced Zoe to go back to the Coven.

The episode closed with Cordelia stating the witches will face the test of the Seven Wonders. With Fiona now out of the picture, the Coven must find the one who will be the next reigning Supreme. While I'm excited to see the end of the season, it's hard to determine whether or not it's merely to see how everything wraps up or if it's to end some of the misery of watching a lot of haphazard events thrown together hour after hour each week. Some of the episodes were great — this one being very close to great itself. But for a show that already has an abbreviated season, I expected much more. I gave the episode a higher score this week because of its ability to stay more on track, but this isn't something you should have to ask for in a show that has built a lot of credibility on the numerous accolades it has garnered over the last two seasons.

Popculturology Score: B