Episode Title: "Fearful Pranks Ensue"
Episode Grade: B
I wasn't terribly thrilled with last week's episode of American Horror Story, which I felt relied far too much on blatant, out-of-character stupidity. Objectively, however, a lot of stuff happened, most notably Fiona slashing Madison's throat in an effort to stave off her inevitable death and replacement as Supreme.
"Fearful Pranks Ensue," by contrast, is concerned more with reacting to last week's events, setting up future craziness and letting Jessica Lange chew some scenery. There's not a ton of plot advancement, though there is the usual amount of creepiness.
But it's a fun, tense episode, and damn, do I enjoy watching Jessica Lange do her thing.
As indicated in the second paragraph, "Fearful Pranks Ensue" spends much of its running time dealing with the fallout from Fiona's...pointed disciplinary style. This doesn't really go anywhere, in terms of plot advancement or repercussions; Fiona gets away with her murder.
But it does expose us to part of the larger witch universe, which is something I've been looking forward to since the season premier. The Witches' Council dispatches three representatives to investigate Madison's death, a group headed by one Myrtle Snow, who has a long-lasting feud with Fiona. She also understands quite well what Fiona has done, both to Madison and to the previous Supreme (throat-slashing, in case you forgot).
This particular plot is mainly just a chance to get Frances Conroy (playing Myrtle) and Fiona in a room together and let Conroy's righteous rage bounce off Lange's stony contempt. And it is utterly successful in that goal; there's something undeniably enjoyable about watching Conroy desperately interrogating Lange and coming up short again and again.
The investigation ultimately turns on the butler, Spalding, a greasy-haired chap we've only seen in the background before this episode. He saw Fiona kill the original supreme, then witnessed the aftermath of her murder of Madison. He lost his tongue shortly after Fiona's original murder, and there's every reason to think that Fiona was responsible for this. Myrtle Snow certainly thinks so, as he lost his tongue shortly after Myrtle placed a spell on him requiring him to tell the truth (it's a show with witches, they all went to school together, just go with it).
The reveal that Spalding actually took his own tongue, presumably aware of Myrtle's spell and unwilling to rat on Fiona (he loves her), is deftly handled, and speaks to one of AHS' themes: the depth and desperation of obsession, and the ways in which love and passion can twist into something horrific.
It's a theme that synchronizes well with Conroy's character and her reaction to Spalding's refusal to give up Fiona even when he has the chance: it's a hysterical, over-the-top explosion, the reaction of someone who has been driven for years by a seething desire for vengeance.
In the case of the Coven season, this is a desperation primarily aimed toward some form of preservation. This has taken the form of Fiona's obsession with immortality and Cordelia's quest for a child, not to mention Kathy Bates' unwilling immortality. The characters on this show want to be preserved for the future, whether literally (in Fiona's case) or in a more traditional sense, through the birth of children.
And then there's Spalding, who takes the preservation theme to a new level. Turns out, the butler is holding onto Madison's corpse and turning it into a human doll so she can join the tea party he's been holding with his more traditional dolls.
The other significant plot in "Fearful Pranks Ensue" is also about an explosion of rage, this time from Angela Bassett's Marie Laveau. It turns out, Jessica Lange isn't particularly scared of minotaurs, and after coming across Gabourey Sidibe recovering from her sexual encounter with said minotaur, she dispatches the creature (off-screen, unfortunately) and sends its head to Bassett.
Bassett responds in the only reasonable way: by summoning an army of zombies.
Yes, American Horror Story is engaging in the zombie craze. The context makes this reasonable enough, and the episode ends in nicely creepy fashion, with Laveau's undead host knocking on the witches' door (loudly, but not un-politely). And, hey, zombies are their own form of preservation.
THEMES!
"Fearful Pranks" is fun. That's the takeaway. And after last week's catastrophe, "fun" is a pleasant development. It gives Jessica Lange and Frances Conroy room to work, and it sets the stage for storylines that might actually be worth pursuing.
Notes
- Cordelia's husband, Luke, is cheating on her, which is awful and...oh, wait, he just shot and killed the woman he slept with. OK?
- The episode ends with a black-hooded figure throwing acid in Cordelia's face in a women's room. It's obviously a major development, but I'll be damned if I have coherent thoughts on it right now. One supposes it'll play into Fiona's obsession with eternal beauty in some way.
- FrankenKyle repeatedly slams his head on a toilet, then flees (with impressive stealth) when Zoe leaves to make him lunch. Again, Zoe: not too bright.
- "I've always enjoyed our little talks together, [Spalding]. Especially since you lost your tongue."
- "If [Madison]'s dead, it's probably because she got wasted and offered the Grim Reaper a hand job or something."
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