American Horror Story, an anthology series, created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk came to us in 2011 with its first season, Murder House. We raved about the performances - especially Jessica Lange - and we fell in love with its dark undertones, traditional horror quirks and our favourite actors and actresses running around killing one another. We loved it. We did. And because we loved it, we ignored its glaring problems: its plot holes and inconsistencies. We continued to ignore this in its second season, Asylum where Lily Rabe stole the show as the devil possessed nun. Now, with Coven, its third season, we expect more. Coven has indeed learnt from the first season's mistakes - the fact that ghosts one minute can leave the house and the next can't, the problematic patient story-line which indicated a murder and was never returned to - but Coven continues to fall short in some capacity. With Coven introducing real life characters, for example, Murphy and Falchuk have set themselves a difficult task. Although we expect it to be gory and funny and wicked, we expect the duo to approach said characters with some caution. Have they? Sort of. In addition, Murphy and Falchuk gave us the best first episode of a season so far, to keep the bar that high would be difficult, yes, but not impossible. Coven sets up some great story-lines in its first epsiodes: Fiona's (Lange) cancer, the introduction of Patti LuPone's crazy religious character, Sarah Paulson's desire to be a mother, the introduction of the Minotour and so on. The fact that these story-lines are given to us in the first couple of episodes of the season, tells us that it's important. American Horror Story is a mini series so there only needs to be a concentration on a certain number of plots. Before the credits role, for example, our last shot is of a human made Minotour by the sadistic serial killer, Delphine LaLaurie, played by Kathy Bates. Important? We think so. Is it? No. These issues filter throughout the season and in their wake have made ten glaring problems for us. Here, in no particular order, they stand:
Thomas Stewart is a graduate from the University of Glamorgan and currently a student on the MA in Writing course at the University of Warwick. He is a Freelance Writer for Mens Fashion Magazine, Make and Believe, Smashpipe and more. As well as writing, he loves horror films, folk music, Raymond Carver, patterned jumpers, Richard Yates, curry, Scarlett Thomas, editing, chick-flicks, watches and biscuits.
