Long-Awaited ‘Coven’ Reunion Brings Back Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates

What To Know

The witches of Miss Robichaux’s Academy face a new threat after one of their own is murdered.
The coven discovers a connection to the Devil through symbols.
To combat Satan, the witches strike a deal with Papa Legba.

The last three episodes have put Ben (Joey Pollari) through the wringer as he finds himself on the sidelines of a sinister ritual involving the infamous Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short (Mena Suvari), and the mysterious Mr. Nas (Fedor Steer on bad days, and Paul Anthony Kelly on good ones), who shares an adult beverage with him (probably blood). There was a brief romantic reprieve with fellow Flight 13 survivor Ashley (Elle Chapman), who reveals their shared trauma surrounding the number 13, only for Ben to discover a mysterious “6-1-6” branded on his back. Meanwhile, Devil’s Night brings back familiar horrors from the Hotel Cortez, including James Patrick March (Evan Peters) and his murderous serial-killing lackeys, while Cordelia (Sarah Paulson) appears to face the ultimate end thanks to March’s visit to Miss Robichaux’s Academy.

Now where were we…

Episode 7: “The Baddest Witch of Them All” begins right after Supreme Cordelia Goode was murdered by Hotel proprietor James Patrick March. Now, a coven of pissed-off and scared witches ready to raise hell, led by hellcat Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts). First order of business: Dealing with the nasty group of historical maniacs who have breached their hallowed halls.

Madison and Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) carve and roast Jeffrey Dahmer (Seth Gabel), in that order, while Mallory (Billie Lourd) senses the location of the other two. Meanwhile, Coco (Leslie Grossman) and her magical Keto powers of calorie counting and gluten detection sense a paranormal metabolism out of control. Using her powers, Coco plans to send the mystery metabolism into shock with candy, with a helping hand from Queenie’s voodoo powers. “I’ll binge, you purge.” Together, they take down the Zodiac Killer with a sugar spike big enough to send a small town into a candy coma.

Eric Liebowitz/FX

Meanwhile, Mallory takes on the Nightstalker before he can prey on Ophelia (Avantika) by sending him back in time to his old hood at the exact time the good people of Boyle Heights were beating him to death.

Mallory then asks Ophelia to keep the secret of her time-travel power.

It’s just when the ladies have taken down the three kills that they get the biggest shock of all: former Supreme Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange). And she’s looking for her daughter.

Summoned back from hell by her daughter’s spell and angry as hell, she immediately begins to battle March. “I am the baddest witch of them all, and I don’t need to dirty my hands on the likes of you.” To prove her power, she resurrects his historical henchmen and has them butcher him. Then she immediately kills the trio.

Eric Liebowitz/FX

Morwenna (Alex Consani) was unable to resurrect Cordelia, but she wasn’t the baddest witch of them all. Cordelia brings Cordelia back to life, and the two have a short reunion: “You summoned me. You needed me, and I came.” Fiona then informs the witches they need to put the “wicked, wicked” world back together.

Episode 8: “Hell No” begins with some long-awaited mother-daughter bonding time between Cordelia and Fiona, with Fiona showing kindness to her daughter unseen in previous seasons. Fiona feels regret for how she treated her daughter, a lesson she learned in Hell. “After a lifetime of hurting and disappointing you, you conjured me back.” Still weak from being murdered, Fiona imbues her daughter with strength and a promise to help her become a “Supreme for the ages.”

Now they need to find out who wanted them killed. “Someone brought those monsters back from the dead. Find out what they’re made of and you will find their maker.”

To find out what they’re made of, the coven cuts open the Nightstalker, revealing black sludge and a white snake. Cordelia and Fiona recognize the snake as the Devil’s sigil, a symbol dating back to the Garden of Eden. As the duo tries to unravel the riddle before them, old tensions bubble to the surface. Cordelia still harbors resentment toward her mother over their troubled relationship, and her frustration only grows as she struggles to see the dangers ahead and must rely on Fiona for help.

“To deal with the Devil, one must befriend the Devil’s friend,” advises the former Supreme.

Eric Liebowitz/FX

Cordelia enlists Queenie’s help to conjure up the Devil’s BFF, Papa Legba (Orlando Jones). Unfortunately, he’s none too pleased to see her and greets her with a bout of blindness. But Cordelia has a bargaining chip: Fiona’s resurrection. She offers Papa Legba the chance to collect the former Supreme himself, hoping the temptation will lure the Devil’s gatekeeper into the mortal world. And it works.

A raging Papa goes to collect the untethered soul, and he is met with an agreement. Cordelia will destroy the spell that brought Fiona back so no witch can ever use it again, and in return, he helps with their Satan issue. But Papa has a request: He needs his voodoo mama, Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett). He requires her help to defeat Satan, but there is a catch: If one soul goes up from Hell, then another must go down in its place.

Fiona offers to go. She just got back from Hell. For her, hell is a maze of eternal blandness, filled with fragrances of cat piss and built of knotty pine. But Cordelia says no; they need her to deal with Marie. Instead, Queenie offers to go. She can handle the burdens of Hell until they bring Marie back to take her place.

Talking to TV Insider, show creator Ryan Murphy revealed that the “knotty pine” line was a dig at Lange from the first time she said the phrase. “Many, many times in the history of this show, I’ve been called to set because Jessica’s like, ‘I don’t like that, I don’t want to say that.’ ‘Knotty pine’ is a perfect example of that,” said Murphy. “I knew it was good, and she did not like it. She said, ‘OK, I’ll give you one take.’ And she did one take, and that’s the take that’s in the show.”

“She and I laugh now, because she’s like, ‘Why is that a thing?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know, I always thought it would be.’ We recreate that scene and more this season. We do a lot of that this season with our greatest hits, callbacks, and things like that,” explained Murphy.

So, a deal is struck, and suddenly, Queenie is back at Chubbie’s Fried Chicken with an eternal line of customers, serving Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates), who is as demanding as ever, particularly when it comes to her fried poultry. In a moment of revenge, Queenie fries her face, allowing her voodoo powers to work their magic on LaLaurie, giving her a new, crunchy complexion.

And with Queenie in hell, Marie Laveau makes her entrance, still filled with piss and venom when it comes to Fiona. It’s Papa who tells them they need to unite to defeat Satan, or everything they know and love will die. They reach an agreement, and the witches unite to defeat the Devil himself.