If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: Three years before the bombs drop, Outpost Three houses the Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men. Its inhabitants, warlocks living in the shadow of Cordelia Goode’s coven, place their hopes on a new, troubled apprentice – Michael Langdon. (FX)
Writer: Tim Minear
Director: Sheree Folkson
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 43mins
Airs: Tuesdays at 10pm on FX Canada (Canada)/FX (United States)
It seemed that last week’s episode would be this season’s best seeing that their Halloween episodes are always one of their strongest. However, that sentiment was quickly forgotten after last night’s episode.
With Could It Be…Satan?, we are transported back three years before the bomb happened specifically focusing on Langdon’s rise to power. In a surprising move, we see the other side of the magic tracks with the Hawthorne School for Boys which foster the talents of Warlocks similarly to that of the Coven with witches in season three. The recruitment of Langdon comes easily as we are shown that something occurred in his past to drive him away from Miriam. We are left to speculate but will hopefully be shown in an episode to come. With Miriam’s parting words, we are able to see that she is still loving towards him which only bolsters the opinion that Langdon is inherently evil, too evil for even the devil mama herself perhaps. Once at school, Langdon quickly shows a proclivity towards magic and exhibits enough skill for the instructors to call upon the Council, comprised of Cordelia the Supreme, Zoe, and Myrtle, who are told that at Hawthorne there is someone who might rival The Supreme fulfilling Hawthorne’s prophecy that one day an Alpha would emerge to bring the warlocks to their rightful place of dominance.
It’s through this Council meeting, we are provided semi-closure with Queenie and her death from AHS: Hotel with a flashback within a flashback (classic Murphy). Cordelia attempted many times to use her powers as The Supreme to rescue Queenie from the Hotel Cortez but was unable to supersede the power that the hotel possessed. Enter Michael Langdon, who succeeded where Cordelia couldn’t by escorting Queenie out of the Hotel Cortez without any issue and most likely because he had some tie-in with the actual beings that powered the Hellmouth the hotel sat upon. He duplicated this by also snatching Madison Montgomery from her own personal hell as an employee in retail who is mistakenly recognized as Lindsay Lohan and is forced to work on a Celine Dion tribute album comprised of deep cuts from her repertoire. Obviously, the sight of the two witches returned from the dead caused Cordelia & Co. to rethink their dismissal of this newly discovered magical talent but that is left to be realized in the episodes to come.
This episode was such a strong entry in the series because instead of attempting to push the story further it instead took a moment to show just how the characters involved reached the point that we see them at now. While not all of the details were shown, enough was given that we can begin to understand just how the world might’ve arrived a nuclear solution. There is very clearly something inside of Langdon that is evil, a presence which he seems unable to control and looks most likely to lead the world to its current state. While it was nice to receive some form of closure as to where Queenie has been these past four years (not so much Madison), this also leaves many many more questions that may not be answered.
Overall, this was a great episode with little to dislike. The structure of the narrative over the hour worked perfectly with the choice to spend the majority of its time in the past rather than in the current timeframe. This is where the more interesting story lies and while they will have to address what is happening between the Coven and Langdon in the future, one hope is that the season spends additional time when both of the Covens were flourishing. Nevertheless, this season is continuing to build upon the momentum of last week’s episode and now this one which gives me hope for what lies ahead.
APOCALYPTIC THOUGHTS:
- Brock is still lurking in the shadows of outpost 3
- James March is officially my favorite AHS character.
- NO ONE should be forced to listen to a Deep Cuts tribute of Celine Dion. NO ONE
- Dinah playing Switzerland was a copout
- The customer believing that Madison had a twin for Parent Trap. Priceless.
- “I’m a Devil Mama.” – Miriam Mead
- Cheyenne Jackson’s hair, more specifically, his hairline…wow!
- Where are Queenie and Zoe now?
- Curious if they’ll dip into the Roanoke season because Lady Gaga was the original Supreme
- How did the rift between the two Covens begin?
- Almost wanted to root against the Coven because of Cordelia’s narrow-mindedness towards the Alpha…almost.
- “Madison Montgomery – still a hoe in the afterlife” This should be her epitaph
Score: 9/10
Trying my best to get all thoughts about TV and Film out of my head and onto the interweb.