‘American Horror Story: Coven’
5 December 2013 ∙ Originally published in The Muse at Dreyfoos
Two years ago, audiences across the country were introduced to the hair-raising terror of “American Horror Story,” a television series built on the premise of using common American fears against the people watching. A year later, audiences were shocked to discover that the second season would feature a partially different cast in a completely different situation, titled “American Horror Story: Asylum.” This year, the new installment in the thriller anthology is “American Horror Story: Coven.”
Aired on the FX network, the series sprang from the most unexpected of places: the mind of “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy. In the first season, audiences were treated to a season full of tense drama set in a haunted house in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles. Mr. Murphy took a typical family through almost every imaginable domestic American horror including rape, infidelity, murder, home invasions, miscarriages and school shootings. While the tortured Harmon family served as the focal point of the show, the true star of the first season of “AHS” was veteran actress Jessica Lange, who played their mysterious and conniving neighbor. The polarizing show sharply divided critics, with some hailing it as a horror masterpiece and others claiming it was too over-the-top.
Deciding to turn the show into an anthology series, Mr. Murphy went with an entirely different concept for the second season, titled “Asylum.” Keeping only few of the original cast members, this season focused on a 1960’s Catholic church-run insane asylum governed by the strict but conflicted Sister Jude (Jessica Lange). In terms of the season’s theme, Mr. Murphy stated he had different goals than last season.
“I guess if the first season was about infidelity, the second season is about sanity,” Mr. Murphy said in an interview with Vulture.com. “What makes someone sane or insane? Sometimes the people you think are insane are actually the most sane of all. It’s fun to write about people who society throws away.”
“Asylum” dealt with issues of religion, mental illness, sexuality, corruption and serial murders, among others. Set in the ‘60s, “Asylum” received much better reviews from critics, most of whom complimented the plot lines and ensemble cast.
Set in a secret New Orleans school for young witches, “American Horror Story: Coven,” the third installment in the series, premiered Oct. 9 to extremely positive reviews. Described by Entertainment Weekly as “a witty critique of our cultural uneasiness with female power,” the season deals with discrimination, voodoo, torture, modern medicine and slavery. Unlike previous seasons, “Coven’” is led by a younger cast, including Emma Roberts, yet includes acclaimed actresses Kathy Bates, Angela Basset and Lange, whose acting in the series has received very positive reviews, including an Emmy for her work in the first season.
Receiving the highest ratings in the series’ history, “Coven” was watched by 5.54 million viewers. If this is any indication of the show’s future, it is more than likely FX will renew the series for another riveting new season. Not since “The Twilight Zone” has a show dealt with as many contemporary fears as this show has. Airing every year around Halloween, “American Horror Story” is the perfect series to prepare you for the scares to come.