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“Replacements” American Horror Story: Coven (Season 3) Episode 3

Fiona worries that a new supreme has risen to take her place.

**CONTENT WARNING: Violence, death, sexual assault, incest**

Synopsis

In the 1970s, a teenage Fiona speaks with the current supreme, Anna Leigh, about how she became the supreme. Anna Leigh mentions that she had to perform some ritual called the seven wonders. Fiona claims she is the new supreme and that Anna Leigh is becoming weaker because she is becoming stronger. Anna Leigh plans to never let Fiona become supreme, so Fiona slits her throat, witnessed by a supportive Spalding.

Hello, is this Pizza Hut? I’ll take the Seven Wonders Supreme!

In the present, Zoe visits Kyle’s mom, Alicia, who has been so consumed with grief that she almost killed herself. Zoe feels bad, so she retrieves Kyle from Misty in order to take him home. His wounds are now faint scars thanks to Misty’s healing mud, but he still doesn’t talk. Misty grows possessive of him, but he pushes her away and leaves with Zoe. Zoe drops him off at home but hides before the mother sees she’s responsible. Alicia is grateful to have Kyle back and calls Zoe to tell her he’s come back. Turns out Alicia is a HUGE perv who regularly molested Kyle, and she begins to do so again. Kyle snaps and bludgeons her to death, which is how Zoe finds her when she comes following the call.

Cordelia hasn’t gotten pregnant from the spell and returns to the doctor, but something from her medical tests makes him tell her she should stop trying to get pregnant. She visits Marie Laveau in desperation, and Laveau leads her on for a while to believe she’ll give her a fertility ritual until eventually laughing in her face and saying she’ll never help the daughter of her rival. Cordelia insists Fiona doesn’t know she’s here, and is shocked that Fiona came by recently.

Fiona makes Madame LaLaurie act as a maid to hide her identity. LaLaurie refuses to serve Queenie, so Fiona declares her Queenie’s personal servant because Fiona can’t stand racism. Queenie enjoys ordering LaLaurie around and figures out her true identity when Bastien tries to attack LaLaurie. Queenie lures Bastien away from the house, then feels bad for him and offers him her virginity.

Nan and Madison welcome the hot new neighbor with cake, but Madison becomes jealous when he seems more interested in Nan. His uber religious mom tries to kick the girls out and Madison flings a knife near her head with magic. As the girls leave, Madison magically sets the curtains on fire. The mom comes to the school later to ask Fiona to keep the girls in line. Fiona is shocked that Madison is able to create fire with her powers now. Under the guise of mentorship, Fiona prods Madison for more powers, which reveals that she can also manipulate people’s will. Fiona admits that she has cancer and will be dead soon, and claims that Madison will be the supreme to replace her. She offers Madison the knife she used on Anna Leigh, insisting Madison kill her to stake her claim. Madison is freaked out and refuses, trying to push the knife away. They struggle with the knife, then it slips and slits Madison’s neck. Again, Spalding witnesses this, and Fiona tells him to bury Madison deep underground.

Someone’s sweet on the new neighbor!

The Students

I get that Zoe was trying to make Alicia feel better, but it probably wasn’t the best idea to just drop him off there, even without knowing how perverted Alicia is. First of all, it’s super obvious that he was stitched together, plus he’s still not totally coherent. But also, what if Alicia told everyone that her son was magically back from the dead? That would raise a lot of attention. 

I don’t believe for a second that Madison was supposed to be the new supreme. A new one is clearly on the rise because Fiona‘s strength is waning, as it should when a new supreme emerges. But there’s no way it was Madison. Zoe is the main character, so it’s most likely to be her, but she still has not shown any signs that she can do more than her original power. 

That scene with Queenie and Bastien was weird. I really don’t get why she wanted to have sex with him.

The Staff

It must have taken courage for Cordelia to go to Laveau for help. I feel bad that Laveau judged her just because of who her mom is, even though Cordelia doesn’t much care for Fiona. 

Queen of Voodoo, forever may ye reign

Fiona is not at all torn up about killing Madison, but I’m pretty sure it was an accident. While her willingness to die was out of character compared to her search for eternal life, she did seem like she was genuinely admitting she was a bad supreme, and she really did offer Madison the knife. 

Misty

Misty seemed sweet before, but I’m concerned about her lashing out at the Coven. She doesn’t believe that Zoe really will come back to visit her, and she’s upset that Zoe took Kyle away. 

Conclusion

Fiona’s story is getting more interesting, and I feel bad for Cordelia. Otherwise I don’t have much to say.

Score: 6/10

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Logan Roden: Logan Roden (they/them), Taryn Belle’s sibling, is a movie and TV reviewer with a degree in film. They are a big horror fan and are working on a series of reviews for the entirety of American Horror Story. As a member of the LGBT+ community, Logan strives to bring their personal perspective to their entrainment reviews.