October 31, 2013
 
Episode 4: Fearful Pranks Ensue (Aired Oct. 30, 2013)
 
The reason why I love American Horror Story is because it’s one of the few shows that I put away all electronic devices and just sit and watch for 60 minutes. And time flies, just when I can’t get enough, it leaves me hanging until the following week. And I love it!
 
Episode four adds a little more conflict and reveals how Spaulding (Denis O’Hare) lost his tongue, and it’s not what we think! We begin in the 1960s, where Kennedy is president and blacks are being integrated into schools. After a co-worker’s son is killed, Marie Laveau casts a spell, bringing the dead back to life (a la “Thriller”), who go after the killers in a very Walking Dead-esque scene.
 
Back in present day Spaulding cleans up Fiona’s mess, while Fiona finds Queenie bleeding in the greenhouse after the minotaur attacked her. She kills the minotaur and, together with Cordelia, they nurse Queenie back to life. Meanwhile, Nan, fearing that she can’t ‘hear’ Madison anymore summons the Witch Council. They basically put Fiona on trial for Madison’s disappearance. But in these scenes we’re transported back to the history behind Fiona and Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy). The two were archenemies when Fiona killed their supreme. Sure of the truth, Myrtle casts a spell on Spaulding so he can only speak the truth, but the night before his interrogation, he loses his tongue.
 
In the stupid sub-plot that I can’t stand, Zoe is still at Kyle’s house trying to clean up the mess. In some weird urge, it’s alluded that she is going to poison him, but he goes missing from his house.
 
In another sub-plot, we learn that Cordelia’s husband is cheating on her, but he kills who we think is his mistress after a night of crazy sex. Don’t know where that’s going.
 
And finally, summoning up “Thriller” again, Marie, getting revenge for her lover’s death, casts another spell and sends the dead to the academy.
 
I’m not really sure what the sub-plot about Cordelia’s husband means. Clearly, he’s leading some sort of double-life, but I’m curious to see where it goes. They obviously introduced it for a reason. I’d much rather see where that goes, than continue with the Kyle storyline. Right now, I feel like they are wasting Evan Peters’ acting skills by having him be a Frankenstein who just bangs his head against things and grunts. And even though I thought I could give Taissa Farmiga, who plays Zoe, a chance, her character just keeps getting more annoying. I really loved the dynamic between Jessica Lange and Conroy. And I love Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau. That character is so interesting and evil. I just love it.