Friday, January 31, 2014

AHS: Coven

burn

On Wednesday, we wear black.

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First of all, I want to point out how very much I loved this show.  I thought it was utterly amazing and had extremely talented people who I really enjoyed watching, especially the three matriarchs.  There were moments that I laughed out loud, giggled, was horribly shocked and cringed! Recipe for a good time.

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I did have some mixed feelings while watching this show.  I identify myself as a witch.  It is a belief system to me.  It is so very hard to ask people who have no idea about any difference between fact and fiction, to understand I am not what is presented in mainstream media.  So in the past, it has upset me when they used the word witch and then have a character who does outrageous things.

I am not a joke.  I am not some circus side-show.  I am not delusional and just "playing" at being a witch.  I believe in God and Goddess and The Fates.  I take my ideas about things seriously, but not too seriously.  And that is where I have found that I can enjoy this show.

I decided that if Christians can have Highway to Heaven and Touched by an Angel, then there is a place for these stories too.  Because we all know those TV shows did not even border on the edge of reality.  They only used a concept and the fiction just spiraled out from there. Okay, same thing with witches.  Got it.  Hope everyone else can grasp the same idea.

So back to the things that I loved about the show!

coven poster

I will start with the matriarchs.  I think Kathy Bates is such an AWESOME actress.  I have loved watching her since the first time I saw her in Misery.  By the way, this was from the hobbling scene which, to this very day after seeing this movie hundreds of times, I have never watched.  I always cover my eyes.

Misery

Ms. Bates has an amazing way of making a most hideous character almost likeable.  I say almost because she has the ability to bring you right to that edge where you could fall over and feel sympathy and then with just a small twist, have you standing straight again.  It feels like listening to an unknown symphony watching her do her craft.  She has such talent, you have no idea that she's even doing it. As Madame Delphine LaLaurie, she did not disappoint.  Horrible woman.  Horrible woman in history.  But Kathy Bates has a way of seeming sympathetic so you want to watch, and yet not really like the woman. I think that's amazing.  Go Kathy Bates!

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Jessica Lange is gorgeous.  And she made Fiona absolutely evil and awe-inspiring.  I was always a little bit envious of her inability to care for others because she just did what she pleased.  It was part of her undoing over all but the ride was fun while it lasted, at least it looked like it was.  Fiona was a tortured soul, but she didn't sit down long enough to acknowledge it.  That would have been weak to Fiona and there is nothing weak on the outside about this character.  She is tough as nails and just as dangerous and deadly if dealt with the wrong way.   At least that is how I viewed her.

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Angela Bassett.  Oh my G O S H!  Can I just say that I loved this woman from this very moment.
waiting

This was Waiting to Exhale.  Loved this character and her evolution.  She started out absolutely knowing things, things she just knew with all of her being, only to change and evolve and learn that things are not always exactly as they seem.  But that's another movie...

Lovely, talented Ms. Bassett plays beautiful Madame Marie Laveau.  This is another part that I have a hard time separating.  Historical Madame Laveau was a beautiful and kind woman, so it is said.  She is very important to many people as a figure for their beliefs to this very day.  I only wish they would have used another name but, they didn't so whatcha gonna do?!

I wish she would have had more screen time.  She was beautiful, strong and had every reason to be pissed off and vengeful.  Oh, and she was.  Maddeningly so.  Another tortured, strong woman with no time to think of her trials and tribulations, just the answers to the problems and her progress forward.  Forward for her was survival.  Such wonderful twists with her story.

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Cordelia is the daughter of Fiona, the Supreme.  She has always been in the shadow of her mother.  Never quite good enough for her mother or herself.  This put a lot of doubt in her and she never reached her potential.  The character of Cordelia is so beautiful, kind and doubting. The one most overlooked.  Watch out for those you think are weak.  And sometimes the weak ones can even surprise themselves
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Cordelia

When I grow up I want to be Myrtle Snow.  She was so magically, amazingly, beautifully ridiculous.  With a hint of insanity and high fashion backed up by an extreme amount of genius and insight.  Myrtle is a matriarch in her own right.  Never reaching her potential, just like Cordelia, because of also being in the shadow of Fiona.  Jealousy and being held down can be the catalysts to all of our failures.  When it comes down to it, I guess we are all always our own worse enemies.

myrtle

This show is filled with such amazingly diverse women.  I was struck by the plain humanity of each one of them.  Fighting their own individual and unique battles.  They are neither good nor evil.  They are women doing what women do.  Humans, doing what humans do.  They are climbing the ladder, raising children, living as an example, living with anger, regret and loss all in a mystical wrapper.  They find strength, honor and courage in their lineage and traditions.  They are inspirational.
And if all this boring information about women I have grown to admire hasn't pushed you over the edge to give this show a chance, maybe this will.

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Yes, that is the beautiful, magnificent and timeless Stevie Nicks.  This lovely lady is in two episodes and her music is throughout.  Yeah, I really liked this show.

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