If taught us anything on Wednesday (January 22), it’s that hell really is a fast food chicken joint.
At least it is for Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe), who took a brief trip to the afterlife as she sought out Papa Legba (Lance Reddick) for answers in Marie Laveau’s (Angela Bassett) disappearance. In the aptly titled and gratuitously violent “Go To Hell,” we see four characters leave this earth with the prospects for their return looking slim.
The series’ penultimate episode tied up several loose ends and laid the groundwork for next week’s finale, in which the Seven Wonders will be performed and a new Supreme crowned. So who is going into the finale alive, who might we only see in the afterlife, and what exactly are those Seven Wonders we’ve heard so much about? MTV News breaks it down for you in our “AHS: Coven” recap.
The Seven Wonders Are Revealed
“Every generation needs its leader, the Supreme. No simple test could ever determine the sovereign among us. We rely upon seven,” explains an old school witch tutorial. “The ‘Seven Wonders.’ Seven acts of magic so advanced, each pushes the boundaries of craft into art.” They are: telekinesis (to control objects with the mind), concilium (to control someone’s mind), transmutation (transporting oneself to another location), divination (to see the future), vitalum vitalis (to bring a person back from the dead), descensum (to move between life and the afterlife) and pyrokinesis (to control fire with the mind).
“You will perform the Seven Wonders or you will die trying,” Fiona tells Queenie. Apparently, not all witches make it out of the test alive.
The Deaths
Talk about poetic justice — with Marie’s mortality back intact, Queenie seizes the moment to put Delphine LaLaurie out of her own misery, as well. (But not before we see a modernized Kathy Bates hilariously leading a tour group through her character’s home.) Turns out, the duo is forced to spend eternity together in the afterlife.
Delphine’s attic of horrors becomes her own hell as she’s forced to watch Marie torture and kill her daughters day in and day out, while a last-minute crisis of conscience turns the same scenario into Marie’s hell as she’s forced — at Legba’s command — to continually torture and kill young girls who have done her no wrong.
“Go to Hell” offered a less poetic goodbye to Fiona (Jessica Lange) at the hands of the Axeman (Danny Huston), who chops her into pieces and feeds her to the gators. (Not even a swamp witch could bring her back from that fate.) Unfortunately for the Axeman, his plan to kill the rest of the Coven goes awry as the young witches brutally stab him to death over, and over, and over, and over again. Also unfortunate: he’s not likely to be revived anytime soon.
The Return
Luckily for Misty (Lily Rabe), Queenie’s new powers allow her to find the entombed witch lying in her grave — and then to bring her back to life. Looks like Stevie Nicks’ protégé is still in the running for the Supremacy.
While not returning from the dead, Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) does return to the Coven with Kyle (Evan Peters) in tow. The simple life in the sunshine state just wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Burning Questions
How will Spaulding (Denis O’Hare) and his factor into the finale? Neither were seen or addressed in “Go To Hell,” but we can’t imagine last week’s creep-fest was the last we’ll see of them.
Will Stevie Nicks be back for the Seven Wonders? Series co-creator Ryan Murphy said that the singer filmed two episodes, and she did not pop up in this one. Fingers crossed!
Is Fiona really going to miss the Seven Wonders? Her body might be gone, but we can certainly hope for an appearance by her ghost. Anything is possible when it comes to “Coven.”
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