American Horror Story: Coven 3.08 Review: Working Together

Anyone that has yet to watch last night’s episode of American Horror Story: Coven, titled ‘The Sacred Taking’, that is what I suggest you go and do now, before proceeding ahead. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

There are so many sides to this series this season, it’s almost difficult to keep track. You’ve got the witches that everyone is – or at least I am – rooting for, then you’ve got the voodoo side where I only really like Marie Laveau, and then there’s Cordelia’s husband who is a witch hunter. Okay, so there are only three sides, but there are a lot of characters that go back and forth between them all. One of which is the witch/voodoo crossover kind of character Queenie. She’s one character I really can’t stand this season, a) because she’s grotesquely large, b) because she’s so damned whiny, and c) because she’s this selfish, oh woe is me kind of character that thinks she deserves more than everyone else – those kinds of characters really piss me off.

This episode, for the most part, really worked for me this week. We finally got to see most of our witch characters (including Misty Day) work together for once. I really enjoyed seeing the coven work together to bring Fiona down, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing all of them work together against the Voodoo priestesses. And I’m especially glad Fiona didn’t go all raging Supreme on them all for trying to take her down.

All in all, aside from a few choice cinematographic shots, this was a very well done, well-written episode. Despite how much I don’t like Queenie, I still really enjoyed the opening scene, and the storytelling that it brought with it. Seeing Kyle’s face light up with amazement when Zoe covered his ears with the headphones was beautiful, as well as when he managed to tell her he loved her, which also brought wonderful storytelling with it as Madison listened in, in tears. This episode had a great use of red, as Madison wore that colour dress to facilitate Fiona’s killing herself. Such a shocking use of the colour against the mostly black and white of that scene. This episode really had a lot going for it, despite it, or this season, living up to the Horror in its title.

My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Maybe it’s a good thing you’re blind as a butter knife.” – Myrtle Snow relates to Cordelia.

“God knows it’s not getting any action from you, grandma.” – Madison remarks, regarding Fiona’s bed.

“I’m going to bring marshmallows and graham crackers to make smores.” – Madison explains what she’ll do when they bring Fiona to be burned for her crimes of killing another witch.

My apologies for not posting this yesterday, but here it is now. I’m off to watch The Vampire Diaries now, and afterwards Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Crazy Ones. Stay tuned.

Sleepy Hollow 1.09 Review: Family Lineage

For all those that have yet to watch last night’s episode of Sleepy Hollow, entitled ‘Sanctuary’, this is your last chance to do so before proceeding ahead into spoiler territory. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Now that was an hour chock full of tantalizing and exciting new information. So, Ichabod and Katrina had a son; now that is an intriguingly surprising turn of events that I’m quite happy with. Knowing that now, I’m actually starting to wish we were getting a full twenty-two episode season, rather than the guaranteed thirteen and thirteen. Still, I look forward to how the end of this season is written.

This episode definitely had it’s good and it’s bad. Bad was definitely the shaky, uneven cinematography as well as the terrible lighting that made it far too difficult to orient where everything was. Also, I kind of liked the bodyguard, so it’d have been nice if he hadn’t died, although that’s more my disagreeance with the writing rather than the overall episode. Good was both the segue into the title sequence with Abby’s statement about being in a haunted house, and the perfection that was emotional Crane.

Tom Mison was beyond brilliant in this episode. I mean, honestly, for the tearing up and catching in his stance upon hearing Katrina had been pregnant was absolutely phenomenal. The man made me feel for him in such a real, gritty kind of way. And then to tack on his anger towards the creature that had threatened his wife and child was fantastic, although it could’ve used some instrumentals behind it, little, or some type of noise. Then for him to come out covered in blood was just the cherry on top of the cake, so magnificent. This man deserves an award for merely that emotional moment inside the house as they looked for Lena. Honestly, it was so wonderful.

Otherwise, I am curious to learn more about Irving and his daughter. I’m guessing it has something to do with her being in that wheelchair, but that’s just me assuming. Maybe it was because of a car accident, or the man had someone come after him and his daughter got in the crossfire, I don’t know. The young actress does seem to make the character interesting, so I would like to see her around some more. Also, I find it very interesting that they seem to be pushing Irving and Jenny towards each other. Jenny may not like the guy now, but it’s cliché how often that leads to eventual romance. While she seems like she’s young enough to be his daughter, it might be an interesting pair. But then, any pair is more interesting than those that are delusional enough to think Abby and Ichabod are anything more than just partners. The man is married, for Christ’s sake, stop acting like that doesn’t mean anything, especially now that there was a child involved.

Anyways, for the most part this was a good episode. This series certainly has its pitfalls, but what show doesn’t? I do feel like this series does, at times, take itself too seriously, and also the young woman that plays Abby (whose name currently escapes me, and I don’t feel the need to look up) over exaggerates her expressions, as well as when she speaks, but otherwise this series can be good. For the first two minutes, though, I did think Lena and her bodyguard were better than the leads, but I still love Ichabod.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Best Line:

“You’ve surely come to realize by now, lieutenant, that when the two of us are involved, rarely is a coincidence, a coincidence.” – Ichabod shares his wisdom with Abby.

Okay, I’m off to watch The Blacklist in a minute, so stay tuned.