October Reflections: American Horror Story

American Horror Story Coven (Season 3) is slated to start on Wednesday October 9 and I am very much looking forward to it. Witches in New Orléans. How exciting! As part of my October Reflection, I present to you a recap of Season 1, Season 2 and a preview of Season 3 which is looking friggin’ great from the promo videos and photos. For those that don’t know, American Horror Story is an anthology series. Each season features different characters, different locations and different time periods. Several of the same actors have appeared in all or most of the seasons playing different characters. I like this format because I enjoy how you get the whole story from beginning to end in one season. Welcome to the Coven.

Haunted & Haunters: Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton , Taissa Farmiga, Evan Peters, Jessica Lange, Frances Conroy, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, Zachary Quinto, Denis O’Hare

AHS debuted October 5, 2011 opening with a scene of horror set in a gorgeous house in L.A. (although the house was not so pretty in that scene). From here we move to the modern-day and are introduced to the Harmon family: husband Ben, wife Vivian and teen daughter Violet. The family is relocating after Vivian’s tragic and gruesome miscarriage during her 7^th month of pregnancy and shortly afterwards, Ben had an affair with a university student and Viv caught them in the act. One big happy family.

We are soon introduced to the neighbours, Constance and Addy, who are quite the characters. Ben is a psychologist and one of his patients is a troubled teen with thoughts of killing his fellow students at high school, Tate. Tate and Violet connect much to Ben’s extreme disapproval. Throw in the old maid who is damn sexy in Ben’s eyes, the burned man who is blackmailing Ben, Ben’s mistress bitch from Boston and a host of ghosts and many dirty deeds, and you have a very interesting and twisted show. Loved it.

The Inmates: Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Zachary Quinto, Dylan McDermott, Lily Rabe and Frances Conroy, James Cromwell, Joseph Fiennes, Chloë Sevigny, Ian McShane

So after being impressed by a the first season, I anxiously awaited the start of AHS Season 2 which premiered on October 17, 2012 and the first episode was good with the introduction of psycho killer Bloody Face. The episode starts in the present day as a couple honeymoons across the U.S. going to murder sites. We then go back to the 1960’s where the bulk of the season takes place but it does continue to jump from the present to the past as the season progresses. As you can guess the show is set in an Asylum and all of horrors that we have come to expect from such a place are happening here; a mad scientist/doctor experimenting on patients and a cruel nun overlord. But let’s not forget the serial killer Bloody Face, aliens, demons and zombie like creatures haunting the woods around the asylum. Yeah, that is a lot.

Asylum didn’t do much to impress. I liked the Bloody Face story but I felt that there were too many elements and baddies in play to really enjoy the season. It was disappointing but I will not waiver in my interest in American Horror Story. Let’s move past a disappointing Season 2 and approach Season 3 with renewed excitement and anticipation.

Witchy Women (Men): Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Frances Conroy, Sarah Paulson, Taissa Farmiga, Lily Rabe, Denis O’Hare, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Gabourey Sidibe

And here we are, Season 3 starts on October 9. I’ve avoided reading too much about it because I don’t want any spoilers but from what I have heard –there are witches, in New Orléans and I believe it jumps around through time periods. I believe Marie Laveau is a character played by Angela Bassett and the rest of the cast is quite impressive.