'American Horror Story:Coven' A Brewing Pot of a Premiere

I choose to adapt the writing style of Kevin Yeoman because I thoroughly enjoyed his interesting and unique style of writing. It was one that is much different than mine, as I wanted to challenge myself to learn a new writing style to help improve my own. Kevin offers his readers a easy to understand but nothing short of an intellectual vocabulary. His writing style also offers a less formal way of speaking offering his opinion and sense of sarcasm to his readers. I also enjoyed how he reflects on other films and shows created so he can compare and contrast the different seasons or series produced. I knew it would be a challenge for me to write in such a way but it is one I am really eager to try. 

Here are links to some of his reviews. 

http://screenrant.com/boardwalk-empire-season-4-episode-6-reviews/

http://screenrant.com/breaking-bad-series-finale-review/

http://screenrant.com/under-the-dome-season-1-finale-review/

‘American Horror Story: Coven’ A Brewing Pot of a Premiere 

By Salvatore Vona

As someone who has enjoyed past seasons of the riveting FX series American Horror Story, I must admit that I am once again drawn in by the nail biting story lines of writers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. This mind twisting story shares the secret history of witches and witchcraft in America over the past 300 years and the riotous days of Salem and those who managed to escape are now facing extinction. The story takes place in New Orleans where several main characters attend a school of witchcraft to better learn to control and use their powers, an almost Hogwarts-esq influence if Harry Potter had slit Hermione’s throat half way through the series. This third season has already proven it will not disappoint its fans as it provides enough violence, gore and startling scares to still consider the series aptly named. 

As Coven kicks off it once again introduces many of the same cast members as the prior 2 seasons. Jessica Lange takes on the role of Fiona Goode, the ultimate supreme of all witches who runs the witchcraft institution along side her daughter Cordelia Foxx played by AHS: Asylum star Sarah Paulson. Murphy and Falchuk also bring back past season favorites such as Taissa Farminga, Lily Rabe and the female heart throb Evan Peters. All staring in new roles that bring forward and require the most of their acting talents. But season three does not fall short in providing new Oscar and Golden Globe nominated talents such as Kathy Bates starring as the evil slave torture from the past Madam LaLaurie, Gabourey Sidibe as the troubled young witch Queenie, and Emma Roberts as the rebellious young actress/witch Madison Montgomery. This seasons cast is filled with the same amount of mind twisting story lines and this award winning cast will surely not disappoint. 

Coven begins its premiere episode ‘Bitchcraft’ with a spiral on the kind of cold open that began seasons 1 and 2. But instead of viewing the present day as in AHS: Asylum, we are flashed back to 1834 at the New Orleans home of Madame LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) a wealthy white woman with a affinity for imprisoning and tourturing black slaves for her pleasure, using the blood of her imprisoned foes as a facial remedy to restore her youthful look. The series immediately offering its eager fans the gruesomeness they long awaited .

In its premiere we are also revealed to the introduction of Zoe Benson and her teenaged lover in a intense sexual encounter. Which almost came as a surprise to me and viewers until her lovers head burst with blood across the bedroom floor. Immediately reminding us again that this series was not for the squeamish. But Coven has added or intensified some elements that were not as present and impacting as prior seasons. Season 3 seems to have already provided a more youthful, sexualized, and humorous elements to its early episodes by introducing younger actress’s (the ‘covening’ quadruplet), more sexualized scenes (the alluring sexual murderer of Zoe Benson), and the comic humor of ‘precious’ Gabourey Sidibie (no pun intended). Possibly a tactic provided by the writers to deliver more relatable characters  and scenarios to its majority viewers who appear to be of the young adult demographic.  

The bloody gore and unpredictable story lines of Murphy and Falchuk had me hooked once again on their chock-full of madness. I must admit that I was skeptical that Coven would not deliver the same excitement and thrill that Asylum offered. But I was surely not disappointed. With the first episode leaving me (and I’m sure many others) in anticipation for the next. I could immediately feel that American Horror Story was settling in for another 13 episodes of unpredictable, horrifying, and disturbing imagery.