Ryder McEntyre, Campus Carrier Graphics Editor

It’s the show that everyone loves to fear. Every Wednesday night, we brace ourselves for another round of ridiculous scares and insane plot twists that almost happen for the sake of happening.

“American Horror Story: Coven (AHS)” is halfway through its third season, and Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk keep redefining how to completely horrify us. It’s hard to say how this season is doing in comparison to its previous seasons because, as we all know, each season is a different subject matter, a different location, and a different time period. However, it’s safe to say that so far, “AHS: Coven” has given us an entirely new definition of horror. Now we are reaching the mid-season mark of season 3, and Coven has seemed less scary, and more shocking and repulsive than previous seasons, making it arguably more horrifying.

Fiona Goode is played by Jessica Lange who is, as always, a force to be reckoned with in the show, and as Supreme of the coven, she is at times the strongest and at other times the weakest character in the cast. From the very first episode of Coven, we see her dealing with her aging body and suffering health while trying to reestablish control over the shrinking coven. Like Lange’s previous roles in past seasons, she is largely defined by her vices and somewhat unpredictable temper. In short, Fiona Goode is so, so excellently terrible and frightening and identifiable to anyone who has ever drunkenly smoked a Pall Mall while setting someone on fire from thirty feet away.

This season, so far, has been more overtly about race and feminist politics than anything else. It’s an interesting plot move, creating a group of persecuted individuals – witches, mostly female – who take in someone who historically, has been a persecutor – African Americans This group is represented by the singular magical force opposing the Coven: Marie Laveau’s voodoo crew. Laveau, played flawlessly by Angela Bassett, is supposed to be the villain of the show, but her actions against the coven are not unjustified. She’s one of the more redeemable characters in the show, as she is merely defending herself and taking out understandable revenge on Delphine, Goode, and Co.

Cordelia Foxx, played by veritable emotional powerhouse Sarah Paulson, is possibly the weakest of the adults in the show, and as headmistress of Miss Robicheaux’s school, it’s no wonder the young coven is dropping like flies. Her power seems to be completely useless. She cannot even make a baby with her husband, even with the help of dark magic. Luckily for her, she gets acid thrown at her face by a hooded figure and she ‘unlocks’ the power of second sight. This gives her the ability to see her husband for who he really is and confirms Fiona’s suspicions that he is a total dirtbag who kills people he meets from dumb, highly specific forums in random hotel rooms. I thought that this second sight ability was kind of a cliche and predictable plotline, but it did reveal to us that Hank is a witchhunter working for Marie Laveau, so it was kind of prudent.

Then, to top it all off, there are the tween witches. The arguably most-primary character of the show, Zoe Benson, as played by AHS alumni Taissa Farmiga, is stumbling through her new life in New Orleans and cannot seem to do anything right. Benson’s curiously strong and often misled moral compass makes her almost insufferable when she flippantly agrees to resurrect her “boyfriend” of one night and then let him loose on his creepy mother and the general public. She better start winning soon or I’ll lose any interest I have left in her character’s development.

Emma Roberts, honestly one of the more controversial casting choices for the show, has been a pleasant surprise so far and when she was unceremoniously disposed of, I was fairly upset. Not because her character, the incredibly obnoxious Madison Montgomery, is in anyway redeeming, but Roberts’ performance is actually spot on, and I found she fit nicely into the role. I was literally standing up without realizing it after she flipped that fraternity bus as if she’s been flipping busses her entire life.

Lily Rabe’s character Misty Day, on the other hand, is incredibly detached from the main plot, and I really hope to see her enter the the Coven sooner rather than later. Mostly because I’m ready for Stevie Nix to be blaring at Miss Robicheaux’s academy 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but partly because her power is arguably the most interesting to control. If she can revive basically anyone and is on the Coven’s side, how will that change the witches’ chance of survival?