The truth is I had to be coerced into watching this show, mostly because I'm a chicken. I don't like to be afraid. I don't find it thrilling, and I have no desire to be kept up at night.
However, I jumped on the bandwagon and started watching season three of “American Horror Story.” Unlike traditional shows, this FX original has the same cast for each season but brand new characters and completely new storylines each time.
Now that I've reached the halfway mark in this season of “American Horror Story,” I've found I'm being kept up at night, not by fear, but by obsession.
Now, Wednesdays from 10 to 11 p.m. marks the one hour a week that I close my computer, put my phone on silent and often forget to even breathe.
The cast is flawless. You have Jessica Lange as Fiona Goode. Fiona is the coven's "supreme," which basically means she’s in charge. I could go on for another million years about how perfect Lange is in this role, but honestly, you shouldn’t need convincing.
Sarah Paulson plays Cordelia Foxx, Fiona’s sweet, mildmannered daughter who runs the home for young witches that the show is centered around.
Cordelia's saintly personality is tinged with bitterness when having to deal with her mother, and Paulson pulls this off beautifully. Though her character isn't necessarily the most interesting on the show, she is put in some real life situations that help to keep the show somewhat grounded in reality.
Taissa Farmiga plays Zoe Benson, a young witch with newly discovered powers that is shipped off to Cordelia’s home. Unfortunately, I find Farmiga and her character to be somewhat forgettable and boring, which is a little disheartening as they have set her character up to be very important to the plot.
Understandably, we need Zoe's character to bring us into this wonderful world of witches, but once we get there I'm pretty much just always wondering what Lange is doing.
This cast is chock-full of powerhouse women. Angela Bassett as the voodoo queen of New Orleans can’t be ignored no matter how hard you may try. Gabourey Sidibe's character Queenie delivers the best zingers in the show. However, the most dynamic and complex character on the show has to be Kathy Bates as Madame LaLaurie. LaLuarie has done some heinous, indescribably inhumane things that we are reminded of by way of gruesome flashbacks.
She isn't very apologetic for her crimes, yet somehow I find myself feeling sorry for her. She had her very own nightmarish torture chamber, yet when other characters on the show treat her badly or when she is faced with her past, Bates manages to make you feel things for a self-proclaimed monster. She is basically the extreme human version of those Sour Patch Kids commercials, and it’s astounding to watch.
The latest episode was entitled "The Axe Man Cometh," and frankly, it wasn't the season’s best episode so far. It was an episode that was clearly needed to tie up some loose ends and a new character was introduced, but as a whole, the episode wasn't as exciting as previous installments.
The high point of the episode was the very beginning when a group of young witches who used to live in the house stab a serial killer to death ... because of feminism.
This slight lull in the season is probably due to the fact that every episode has something so extreme and shocking in it that they are difficult to top. I'm not concerned though because what makes this show so addicting is the fact that no one is safe and nothing is off limits.
Almost every character on the show has a fascinating plotline.. Mix this with scenes that show real life human atrocities that most shows would never dare to bring up, and you have an oxygen deprived hour of television that isn't to be missed.
