American Horror Story: Coven ‘The Dead’ Recap: ‘Kill Her Once, Kill Her Good, Kill Her Dead’

Everybody’s getting laid this week on American Horror Story plus Madison’s killer is revealed and things are about to get messy for Madame LaLaurie….

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

Unfortunately I missed a week of recaps of American Horror Story: Coven while I was out of town for business, but we’re back with a new look back at the latest episode called ‘The Dead’ where a few back from the grave sorts deal with their own new found mortality while some of the living folks meet their ends.

Let’s dig into this episode to see what happened with who and how!

Madison Is Numb But She Finds a Way to Feel

There was a brilliantly written soliloquy in this episode where the recently brought back from the dead Madison admits that since she’s been reborn she literally can’t feel anything. Oh sure there was this random brown liquid that she though made her nipples tingle, but engulfing the rest did nothing for her. No amount of food made her feel full and no fire on her flesh made her feel pain. She just feels nothingness.

Well that is until she runs into boy-put-back-together-from-random-friend-parts Kyle, who is still having flashes of who and what he used to be. Another fantastic scene this week showed Kyle at a tattoo shop with his fraternity brothers all getting some ink, except he wasn’t partaking in the ritual. See, Kyle had big plans to become an engineer that would eventually work on the levies in New Orleans to make sure that something like Hurricane Katrina would never happen again and he didn’t want to get a random tattoo that would pop up when he was in a business meeting while trying to better the world. It was a beautifully heart felt speech, and just then he notices one of his brothers has a shamrock tattoo on his forearm. A moment later, Kyle awakens and notices that he now has that body part as his arm.

Madison and Kyle decide the best way for dead people to feel is to have sex together, and sure enough there’s a spark. The two hump against a wall and in just the nick of time, Zoe walks in to discover them together. A few scenes later as Zoe exits the shower, Madison is waiting for her. Madison’s message is simple — being with Kyle is the only thing that’s made her feel something since she was resurrected, but because he’s dead he can also have sex with Zoe’s haunted va-jay-jay and nothing bad will happen. So Kyle and Madison invite Zoe into their bed, and I’m pretty sure everyone is going to feel something in that tryst.

Fiona Meet the Axeman

Fiona heads back to the Axeman’s apartment (or as we find out it some other guy’s apartment, he’s now dead laying in the bathtub) where they will share a few romantic moments together. After Fiona discovers her hair is falling out courtesy of her recent chemotherapy session, she tries to bolt but the Axeman is able to coax her into staying and then lure her into his bed.

In the morning, the Axeman reveals that he has been watching over Fiona since she was eight years old since he was a ghost trapped in the academy walls. He saw Fiona as a daughter and then as she grew up, he saw her as something much more (creepy right?). Eventually he wanted her for himself and so now he gets to have her. Fiona is none too pleased at this revelation and makes a move for the door to get away from her decades long ghost stalker.

Cordelia Plots The End for The Supreme

A blind Cordelia is looking for answers in her own academy when she runs into a very much alive Madison, who is roaming the halls late at night. One brush by her skin reveals a vision to Cordelia that it was her mother Fiona that slashed the young witch’s throat, killing her for being suspected of taking on the role as the next Supreme. She reveals this news to Zoe, who also got her own confirmation a little earlier in the episode.

Digging through her secret closet, Zoe happens to find Spalding’s tongue, still very much alive and ready to be reattached. Up to this point no witch had been powerful enough to do it, but Zoe knows the perfect incantation to get this tongue talking. Sure enough, Spalding wakes up as chatty as Silent Bob when he finally speaks, and because his tongue was given back to him by Zoe, she has all the power over his speech. She asks him a few questions — the last of which confirms that it was Fiona that killed Madison. Spalding has now served his purpose so Zoe stabs him to death — and just like the murder house in season one, Spalding will be back as a ghost in later episodes you can count on that.

Back in Cordelia’s room, she confides in Zoe that she may very well be the next Supreme and if that’s the case she’s already in danger from Fiona. The only way to quell these deaths from happening is to finish off the Supreme once and for all.

“We’re going to kill my mother. Kill her once, kill her good, kill her dead,” Cordelia says about her mother.

Needless to say I don’t think Fiona is going to go quietly into that good night.

Queenie Isn’t Feeling the Love

The more and more time Queenie spends around the witches at the academy, the less and less she feels welcomed. Spending some time with Madame LaLaurie doesn’t help because the ageless sociopath turned maid informs Queenie that because she’s ‘black as coal’ her friends will always treat her differently. Queenie and Delphine do share some common interest in food so they saunter off to a local late night fast food restaurant to enjoy some burgers, fries and strawberry turbines while bonding at 3 am.

The only problem is LaLaurie’s words have struck a nerve with Queenie — so she seeks out some people with similar skills and that look more like her. In other words, Queenie pays Marie Laveau a visit. Marie informs Queenie that a voodoo doll like her belongs with a voodoo tribe, and she can have a free pass to join their group if she turns over Madame LaLaurie.

Queenie heads back to the house where she holds another conversation with Madame LaLaurie about the most heinous crime she ever perpetrated. Delphine reveals a big one because her husband once had an affair with a slave that produced a child. As revenge for the bastard child being born under her roof, LaLaurie kills the baby and uses its blood as one of her skin ‘treatments’ and the mother so distraught tosses herself off a balcony where she falls to her death.

Needless to say that’s enough for Queenie to know that LaLaurie could live ten lifetimes and still need to suffer more for the pain she’s inflicted upon the world. A few minutes later and the pair show up at Cornrow City where Marie Laveau is waiting for them. Madame LaLaurie is quickly tied up and caged, and to finish her entry into this coven, Queenie needs to take a bit of blood from Delphine and hand it over to Marie.

Seems Marie is using the same evil concoction that Madame LaLaurie used for all those years to keep her skin as clean and soft as it looked back in the 1800’s.

A couple of quick notes…

— No episode of American Horror Story should be without Lilly Rabe and in this particular season definitely need more Misty Day. Love that character.  On that same note, I’m happy Emma Roberts is back full time as Madison.  The show just isn’t the same without her.

— Also, Cordelia’s husband/witch hunter decides to try and call to patch things up. When she rebuffs him with extreme prejudice, he’s revealed to be sitting along in a room with a Terminator-esque pile of weaponry ready to take down the witches.

Don’t forget American Horror Story: Coven will be off next week for Thanksgiving but it will return in two weeks with a brand new episode leading into the winter cliffhanger before Christmas!