(SPOILERS AHEAD, so witch your step, Coven fans!)
Season Three, Episode Two: “Boy Parts”
Written by: Tim Minear, Directed by: Michael Rymer
The second installment of Coven is definitely a calmer one, but that doesn’t stop Ryan Murphy from leaving his indelible mark all over it (see the obscure connections to his other works below). This episode further sets up the world of present-day New Orleans. Turns out Lalaurie isn’t the only immortal one lurking in town. And not everyone who died in last week’s episode will remain dead.
Quick Breakdown
We open on an alligator swimming through the swamp with some poachers. At their camp, they find Misty (alive and well after being burned at the stake last week). She’s mad that they’ve been poaching alligators, so she resurrects the “innocent” creatures to let them take their revenge.
At Robichaux’s, Zoe is still mourning the loss of her Romeo, Kyle. Cordelia summons the girls to morning meeting, and Madison is feisty in her underwear. Cordelia seems especially unsettled by Madison’s appearance — could there be some lesbian undertones? (I wouldn’t put it past Murphy.) She also tells her mother to come down for the meeting, but Fiona is busy questioning Lalaurie, whom she’s tied up in her bedroom. Lalaurie, though, is not being helpful and merely screams.
At the meeting, Queenie confesses how she came to be at the school. Last year in Detroit, she was managing a fried chicken restaurant (an allusion to Precious?), where she inflicted frying oil burns on an rude customer. Cordelia saved her from police scrutiny and brought her to the school.
Speaking of police, a detective shows up to question Zoe and Madison, who were at the frat party. Under some mild pressure from the detective, Zoe freaks out and confesses everything. Fiona barges in and uses some magic to make the detectives forget what they’ve learned. She then chastises the girls for being so stupid.
Fiona returns to question Lalaurie. She awoke some hours after taking that “love potion” from Laveau to find a “rabble” of slaves outside her home. They had hung her family in revenge for her malicious acts, but Laveau saved the worst punishment for Lalaurie. The potion gave her immortality, and she would spend it sealed inside an unmarked grave. Fiona definitely loves the idea of immortality.
Having learned that Zoe used her “black widow” skills on Madison’s rapist, she breaks into the morgue with Zoe to bring Kyle back to life. The bus crash left all the boys in pieces, so Madison gleefully proposes they pick all the best parts and make a Frankenboyfriend for Zoe with Kyle’s head on top. They cast a resurrection spell, but nothing seems to happen (except that suddenly Misty is lurking outside). A guard interrupts the girls and Madison flees. Kyle comes to life and kills the guard. Zoe screams a lot.
Maybe Cordelia isn’t a lesbian after all? She has another fertility meeting with her husband, but the doctor says her outlook is bleak. Her husband, Hank (Josh Hamilton), begs her to use magic to conceive. Cordelia relents, and they cast a spell that involves having sex in a ring of fire with snakes crawling around. (I guess snakes and fire are aphrodisiacs for witches.)
Zoe drives Franken-Kyle home, but he’s uncommunicative and seems to be hitting everything he can. Misty pops up in the backseat and urges Zoe to take them to her swamp shack. It seems that the resurrection spell summoned her to their location. While listening to Stevie Nicks (by way of Fleetwood Mac), whom Misty amusingly worships as the white witch, she promises to heal Kyle, telling Zoe to return later.
Fiona makes a trip to the Ninth Ward to “get her hair done” in a “shithole” salon. Laveau, sporting enumerable braids, appears and sends off her clueless stylists. Both women know each other are witches, and they bicker about their heritages. Apparently voodoo magic originated in Africa, but they also knew necromancy, a skill they taught the Salem witches. But the Salem witches looked down on them, believing their power stronger. So Laveau laughs in Fiona’s face when she says she wants immortality. But Fiona says she has the one thing Laveau wants. After Fiona leaves, Laveau goes to her minotaur boyfriend (who also has immortality, it seems) and unshackles him in preparation for retaliation.
At the school, Nan is getting a painful headache from Lalaurie’s loud thoughts. She goes to free her. On her way out, Lalaurie knocks out loud-mouthed Queenie with a hammer. Fiona easily finds her outside her home, and the two bond. Lalaurie wants Fiona to kill her, but Fiona says not yet. Once again, the episode ends with the two of them walking away.
Rating
B
Last week’s episode thrillingly introduced us to the world and characters of Coven. This week’s episode has just begun to set up the story arcs of the season: Cordelia’s pregnancy troubles, Zoe’s Frankenboyfriend troubles, and the dynamics between Fiona-Lalaurie-Laveau. But nothing terribly exciting happened this week (other than seeing Jessica Lange use her magic all over the place).
Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…
Obscure Ryan Murphy Connection #1: The last time he used alligators was in the Nip/Tuck pilot.
The world needs a gif of Jessica Lange slapping Kathy Bates across the face.
“She’s sober.” – Zoe to the investigator, about Madison’s addiction recovery. “Except vodka.” – Madison adds with a smirk.
“I couldn’t toast a piece of bread with the heat they put on you.” – Fiona chastising Zoe after succumbing to the detective’s questioning.
Obscure Ryan Murphy Connection #2: Josh Hamilton looks almost identical to The New Normal’s Justin Bartha.
Obscure Ryan Murphy Connection #3: Misty’s love of Stevie Nicks is reminiscent of the Glee episode “Rumours” in which they covered that Fleetwood Mac album.
Patti LuPone joins the cast next week!
