American Horror Story: Coven ‘Fearful Pranks Ensue’ Recap: Dead Dolls and Zombies Come Calling

Fiona’s under investigation for the disappearance of Madison, we find out Spalding’s creepy obsession and Marie Laveau is out for blood…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

It’s Halloween on American Horror Story and if past seasons of this wildly crazy show are any indicator, some serious stuff is about to go down and it’s going to be disturbing.

Picking up from last week, Fiona is dealing with the fallout from killing Madison after finding out that she was going to be the new Supreme (or was she?) while Kyle is banging his head (literally) following his murderous rampage to kill his mother. Queenie was attacked by the Minotaur sent by Marie Laveau to finish off Madame LaLaurie, and that’s just a taste of what happened in this episode.

Let’s jump right into American Horror Story: Coven episode four — ‘Fearful Pranks Ensue’

ore Problems for Fiona Because She Killed the Wrong Witch

Last week’s episode ended with Fiona slitting Madison’s throat after realizing that she was set to become the new Supreme, thus ending her 40+ year reign as the baddest witch of them all. The crime is wrapped up nicely after Fiona’s pet Spalding disposes of the body (in a most hideous way, we’ll come back to that) and that’s the end of that — except Nan can no longer hear Madison and it disturbs the young clairvoyant so much that she summons the council to appear at the academy.

The council is just what you’d expect — a group of three witches who are the governing body over the rest of the witches. Think the Authority from True Blood, except with a fabulous New York Times best selling gay man as part of the troop. The council is there to see into the disappearance of young Madison and they are grilling anyone and everyone for information.

One of the big revelations made, however, is that the Supreme should have no physical shortcomings as they are ascending to greatness and as it turns out Madison had a weak heart. She had been dealing with palpitations and a heart murmur for years, but hid it away from her friends and family — everyone except head mistress Cordelia. The revelation helps save Fiona from being burned at the stake, but it also opens up an even bigger plot now — who is the next Supreme?

nd You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead…

So part of this council inquiry is led by Myrtle Snow — we met her ever so briefly in the debut when she led Zoe to the school after she killed her boyfriend. Turns out Myrtle was once a student at the academy as well where she attended alongside Fiona in the early 70’s. Myrtle was always the suspicious type and after Anna Lee (the old Supreme) met an unfortunate demise and Fiona was crowned as the new head witch, she just knew that her classmate was responsible for the death.

Myrtle casts a spell on Spalding, who has been a house man for the coven for decades apparently, because he’s Fiona’s right hand and he has to know what she’s up to. Unfortunately just when Myrtle casts the spell with the intention of Spalding spilling his guts the next morning when the council interrogates him about Anna Lee’s death, he turns up in a bathroom with his tongue cut out and now he’s not telling anybody anything.

Myrtle comes back to Spalding in present day with a piece of paper this time to try and get him to give up the goods on Fiona, except he writes down a different name when asked who killed Madison — Spalding writes ‘Myrtle Snow’, which enrages the witch even more. See what we don’t know until this episode is that Spalding is fiercely devoted to the coven, but even more so he’s ferociously devoted to Fiona. He’s going to the grave with her secrets and to ensure that he’s the one that cut out his own tongue to make sure no one is casting any spell on him again.

Fiona’s been leaving a trail of bodies since the 70’s but with Spalding dusting up her every move, it’s hard to say if she’ll ever get found out.

emember Cordelia’s Husband?

He popped up a couple of episodes ago when he was trying to get Cordelia pregnant, but when that didn’t happen he went back on the road for his job. Hank even called his wife in the midst of his business trip to wish her well before a knock on the door stole him away. Turns out there’s a hot red head there waiting for him, and he has to knock the wall loose with some mind rattling sex on the side instead of talk to his witchy wife at home.

After knocking the boots, Hank is meeting with his mistress over a lunch consisting of canned soup and store bought burritos when he reveals he met her through a Thomas Kinkade fan site and just when it looks like he’s found a new lover to replace Cordelia, he whips out a gun with a silencer on it and paints the white room with her brains.

What his role is in the show now becomes a complete mystery, but creator Ryan Murphy did tell EW that he’s some kind of assassin. What that entails for the coven or his role in the show, remains to be seen

n Other Plotlines

— Queenie is saved by Fiona after being attacked by the Minotaur last episode. The bull-headed beast stabbed her in the stomach, but luckily the Supreme was around to save the day. She helps bring Queenie back to life and then beheads the Minotaur for good measure after he tries to attack her as well. The Minotaur’s head is then shipped back to Marie Laveau for safe keeping and that’s gonna stir up even more trouble

— Zoe sees that Kyle is very disturbed after killing his mother as he sits banging his head against the tub in the bathroom, still covered in blood. She decides he needs some food and it looks like she’s going to have him feast on a big bowl of rat poison because it’s clear he’s no longer Kyle and instead some sort of pieced together monster. The only problem is when she comes back with a bowl of ‘Cheerios’, Kyle is gone. The front door is open and doll parts boy is missing

— Nan receives a visit from the next door neighbor boy with some cookies as payback for her delicious cake

— And Spalding’s way of cleaning up Madison? Well he doesn’t bury her in the backyard, but instead strips her down to her bra and panties, puts a scarf over her gaping neck wound and props her up in his bedroom at the academy. See Spalding is a freaky doll collector and she’s his latest prop. Spalding loves to dress up in a nightgown and have midnight tea with his doll collection and he’s just added a human doll to the mix with young Madison. Disturbing doesn’t even begin to describe this dude.

veryone loves zombies!

As if you weren’t getting enough zombies with The Walking Dead, American Horror Story ups the ante this week as we find out that Marie Laveau can summon the dead with a spell she casts. She did it in the 1960’s when a young black boy was lynched after he attended a white school for the first time. She made the dead rise up and kill the boy’s murderers. This time after receiving a box with her lover’s head (the Minotaur) in it, Marie’s had enough of these witchy bitches. The truce (which she signed into with Anna Lee back in the 70’s) is over — the voodoo queen is going after the witches from across town and she’s gonna get medieval on their asses.

She summons the zombies to rise up again, this time a whole bunch of them, and sends them to Mrs. Robichaux’s academy to go after Madame LaLaurie and anyone else who helped sever her lover’s head from his body. The first batch of the undead that come knocking just happen to be Madame LaLaurie’s daughters coming to pay mommy a visit.

In the midst of this happening while Fiona and her daughter are enjoying a little post council meeting drink, Cordelia’s trip to the bathroom ends with a glass full of acid being thrown into her face by a cloaked figure. One has to assume that the person doing the acid tossing has something to do with Marie Laveau, but then again those are the kinds of mysteries that this show thrives on.

And there you have it folks the latest episode of American Horror Story: Cover. Return next week when we review the next episode ‘Burn Witch Burn!’ which debuts on FX next Wednesday night at 10pm ET/PT.