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This was a thrilling episode for long-time fans of the series. Not only are we getting the ‘Murder House’ and ‘Coven’ mash-up, but this week’s episode tossed in a bit of Season 5’s ‘Hotel’ … sadly without an appearance by Lady Gaga’s The Countess. But how on earth did we get to that place in this story?
When last we left the Apocalypse, Cordelia, Myrtle and Madison had just revived the recently poisoned Dinah, Mallory and Coco. Turns out they are part of the coven — and we get to see a flashback to Mallory demonstrating her exceptional skills in a class taught by Zoe Benson (well, hello Taissa Farmiga!) … and now we know Zoe’s spirit is definitely not inhabiting the body of Mallory. Cordelia had cast a spell on them so that they would not remember their true, witchy identities for their own protection, but with the world gone to hell and the coven the only people who can possibly save what’s left of the planet, it’s time to bring the three women up to speed.
But there’s just one little obstacle and his name his Michael Langdon. The majority of the episode gave us Michael’s backstory, from his teen years when he created and programmed Ms. Mead to be a substitute for his mother figure — whom we assume to be Constance Langdon, but no sight of Jessica Lange as of yet — but we don’t really know how Michael created her. His story took a turn when a butcher gave him and Ms. Mead a hard time one day and suddenly the butcher found himself on the wrong end of five very sharp objects. Although there were no prints on the knives, Michael was the only person present at the time so he got hauled off to jail.
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And that’s when a council of warlocks took notice of him. The head of the council, Ariel (Jon Jon Briones), believed Michael was a powerful warlock, or at least could be once he got his powers under control with the council’s help. It’s the council, and their school for boys … who are warlocks … that inhabited the underground bunker three years prior to the Apocalypse, driven underground by the locals who didn’t much appreciate a group of warlocks in their midst. The other council members (played by Cheyenne Jackson, BD Wong and Billy Porter) were divided on bringing Michael in for training, especially when Ariel declared that his power may be strong enough to succeed the Supreme, which has always been a woman. But after a demonstration of his powers — and then losing control and nearly killing the council — Ariel knew they had to make their move.
Cordelia, Myrtle and Zoe were summoned to a council meeting where Ariel asked Cordelia to administer a test to see if Michael’s powers were indeed strong enough to be the next Supreme. Naturally she objected to a man taking control and refused to administer the test. But Cordelia was also brought to task for ‘abandoning’ one of her own in the Hotel Cortez. If you remember back to Season 5, Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) did pay a visit to the hotel … and was trapped there forever.
The flashback within the flashback allowed Cordelia to reveal to the council how she had gone to the hotel to find Queenie locked in a never-ending game of poker with Mr. March (Evan Peters returning to that role) but never being able to get her past the front door, or any door or window for that matter. Overhearing the conversation, Michael decided to take matters into his own hands and paid a visit to the Cortez. March sensed something in Michael that Cordelia did not have and advised Queenie that it would be best to go with him, leaving poor March to play an eternal game of Solitaire. Michael had one other stop to make and that was retrieving Madison from her own personal hell as a sales clerk in a department store, forced to deal with rude customers and fold towels that she had just folded.
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Cordelia, Myrtle and Zoe were already on their way out of the bunker when Michael, Queenie and Madison approached, sending Cordelia into a dead faint. But that still leaves us with the question of Michael’s true identity. Is he a warlock, or something more? Mead certainly treated him as if he were a bit more demonic than witchy, so there is the very strong possibility that he was just using the warlocks to get his powers under control, and perhaps understand himself a little better, and that he truly is the Anti-Christ.
And what of everyone else who died in the Outpost? Were those first three episodes a complete red herring especially as far as Timothy and Emily and their supposedly superior DNA? And what part will Dinah and Coco play in all of this? It seems that Mallory with her extraordinary powers is being set up to be the next Supreme, but Coco and Dinah don’t really seem to be completely on board with the whole identity protection spell explanation. Dinah is still more focused on who she was before the Apocalypse and Coco just doesn’t want to die again. Unbelievably, there are just six episodes left in the season and there’s a lot of story left to tell, so hopefully this will all come to a satisfying and not rushed conclusion.
What did you think of this episode? Is Michael warlock or son of Satan? Sound off in the comments below!
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