‘American Horror Story: Coven’ episode 5 review: The dead never have to die

For us, the clear beauty of “American Horror Story” comes in its imagination, but the place in which that stumbles oftentimes is in the execution. There are characters that we really don’t care for nearly as much as we should, and there is that ever-present question that there is still no real answer to: Who is the person we are supposed to root for here?

We’re a little late in discussing this past episode, but the clear theme to it seemed to be death, and whether or not such things are permanent. On the same hour that we saw Fiona work hard to bring a child back to life that she barely knew, she worked hard to frame a witch on the council to die for crimes that she never committed in the first place. Then, she also convinced Queenie, who at times seems to be nice but quick-tempered, to go along with it. We like what Gabourey Sidibe still does with the role, which is why she remains one of our most interesting characters to watch.

Since much of this episode was almost an action sequence revolving around Marie Laveau and the monstrous creations that she unleashed on the witches, some stories were sidelined. Misty Day, our favorite character on the season right now just from the curiosity point of view, is barely being seen; meanwhile, we had LaLaurie reminding us a few dozen times that she was a terrible mother, which has to be one of the biggest “go figure” comments possibly out there. We would be stunned if there is anyone out there who even thought for a second that she was a good mom, or someone worthy of any respect. (Kathy Bates is killing the role, though.)

The reason we sound like we just bouncing around in this review is just because this season, for whatever reason, seems to be heading to parts unknown. Marie vs. Fiona is the only significant story that we can think of, unless you consider what could happen now that Myrtle Snow is now back alive. We are interested in the show and the performances, but there is almost something that is missing to a certain extent. Maybe it is the humanity of it, or the idea of that this season is really missing a guy like Evan Peters this time around, who is being resorted instead to just having to unleash a series of grunts almost constantly rather than reading any actual lines.

So this was a good episode that teased good things, including Zoe developing more powers. It’s just falling short of being great due to failing to remember that in order for a show to be alive, it needs to have a beating heart. Grade: C+.

Photo: FX