Let’s face it: if you liked the first season of American Horror Story, then continued to enjoy the second season … I dunno who I’m talking to. Unless you’re Chuck. Sorry, Chuck. I love you, man, but last season was pretty damned awful, confusing and just downright … bad. It was a far cry from the first self-contained season of the series, which itself wasn’t exactly perfection. However, that first season was good enough to make me look forward to the next which, as I said, fell flat.

This season of American Horror Story takes on yet another different “horror” to follow, this time with witches (which some people think is an overdone subject these days — it’s not like it’s zombies!) Many people were pretty excited for the addition of Kathy Bates to the cast, who we’ve already come to know on the show as being — presumably — a witch, with one hell of a serious past. So far her casting has proven to be right on the mark.

Setting up the flashbacks to long-ago New Orleans — and seeing Bates’ Madame Delphine LaLaurie’s sadistic rituals for eternal youth — was right away a step in the right direction as well. True to the show’s form were cringe-worthy scenes of awfully tortured men, uncomfortable-to-behold (to say the least) gang rape, and blood, blood everywhere — even being painted on faces with a shaving mug and brush. What’s different, though, is how the story is unfolding. Unlike the past two seasons, we seem to be falling right in line with following this group of “special” girls, instead of following different ongoing story lines. That could certainly change as the series continues, but the setup definitely had a different feel to it — it almost felt like Hogwarts for witches … except with torturing and rape and stuff.

Some early predictions I have, though nothing very insightful: Kyle Spencer (Evan Peters) will return due to one of the witches’ being able to bring back the dead (according to IMDb, he’s back later in the season, so the question isn’t “if” it’s “how.”) Also, Zoe Benson (Taissa Farmiga) will likely become a “Supreme” witch at some point, likely by figuring out that every which has this capability, just that they need to know how to release it all. Maybe all the witches have the ability to gain all the powers.

I’m not sure if this season technically makes up for last season, but it’s so far an improvement. If I had one gripe about it, it’d be this: why the hell did Zoe resort to jerking off and fucking a guy in his deathbed to exact her revenge, when holding a pillow over his head or, heck, zipping a knife across his throat would’ve done just fine? I get that it makes his death painful and mysterious to investigators, but … she has to fuck the guy to do it!

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