American Horror Story – Fire and Reign

By: Kelly Kearney

The end is coming, but not until the Antichrist gets over his witch obsession. Ever since he learned Cordelia killed Ms. Mead, the son of Satan can’t seem to find it in his cold dead heart to fulfill his fate. With the help of his new friends at the robotics lab, Michael learns that his magic isn’t the most powerful thing about him. His power lies in who he is and the lengths his minions will go to in order to please him.

The World is Falling Apart

Last week our favorite Satan worshipping, cocaine snorting, robotics engineers made Michael (Cody Fern) happy by creating a Mead-bot (Kathy Bates) replacement. This week the robo-dorks, Jeff (Evan Peters) and Mutt (Billy Eichner), are back at it working on killer bots and holding down the fort until the Antichrist can come up with a plan to end the world. The problem is, for an Antichrist, Michael isn’t too creative and he seems to have no clue what comes next. Jeff just isn’t impressed. In fact, humanity as a whole is really starting to irritate him. He goes on a rant about how the internet is slow, people can’t drive and even his coffee tastes like slow drip disappointment. The moppy haired blonde is over this planet and wants it to end as soon as possible. As he’s ranting and throwing his weak coffee against the wall, Mutt tries calming him down by reminding him that it will all be ok now that they found their Antichrist. While the two men argue about whether or not Michael is lame and creatively crippled, Ms. Venable (Sarah Paulson) interrupts to remind them about their meeting with The Cooperative next week. The Cooperative interests Venable and so she asks for more information about the group. The two men hedge around the truth until Venable reminds them of their promise to give her more agency in the company. The robo-dorks blow her off and order her back to work, which consists of hiring prostitutes to accompany them on their next trip. Peeved at how they belittle and disrespect her, Venable decides to quit her job and bail on the two idiots that don’t appreciate her. Both men do not take her seriously, but the confrontation does give Jeff an idea.

Ms. Robichaux’s Academy for girls

At Ms. Robichaux’s, the witches are preparing for the ultimate fight. Mallory (Billie Lourde) is trying and failing to hone her skills with raising the dead, but Cordelia (Sarah Paulson) tells her to give it time. Witchcraft is like a muscle, it has to train and grow with practice. Now that they know Michael’s plans for them, Mallory wonders if she has time to flex her witchy muscle, but Cordelia isn’t worried at all. The Supreme casts a spell to protect the academy, which keeps witches in and everyone, especially Michael, out.

While Cordelia, Myrtle (Frances Conroy) and Mallory discuss their plans the rest of the coven is downstairs practicing their spells. Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) and Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) are in charge and teaching the younger witches how to prepare for the fight ahead when little do they know the enemy is right outside the door. Inside the barrier, Dinah (Adina Porter) uses her voodoo to break Cordelia’s spell and allow Michael and Mead inside the school. Apparently, Michael bribed her by promising an iron clad deal that would keep her talk show on the air for decades to come. Inside the school, nobody is prepared for the hell that the Antichrist is about to unleash. In a matter of seconds, Michael and Mead slaughter and shoot their way through the Coven, leaving bodies littered across every inch of the floor. Upstairs Myrtle, Cordelia and Mallory hear the commotion and know they have to escape before Michael kills them. The women manage to leave out a window and when Michael realizes they’ve fled, he is livid. So much so that he forgoes all apocalyptic plans to concentrate on his revenge. Miriam, who is completely controlled by the robo-dorks at the lab, tries steering Michael’s anger towards a more productive topic of fulfilling his father’s wishes. Unfortunately, Michael has no clue how to do that and after some lame ideas that Miriam shoots down she manages to convince him that his new friends could have the answers to the questions he seeks.

The Illuminati

Back at lab the robo-dorks present Michael with a list of influencers, politicians, one percenters and powerful leaders. Names like Buffet, Putin, Bill Clinton (not Hillary) are all members of something called The Cooperative, which we learn is code name for The Illuminati. Michael doesn’t think they’re serious as he assumed The Illuminati was a hoax. It’s definitely not a hoax and these people sold their soul to his father, so they could control the world – something Mutt and Jeff say could come in handy if he wants to extinguish life on earth. The Illuminati is Michael’s own personal army with access to nuclear weapons and the shields that protect us from them. This, along with a population of self-destructive and self-serving humans, could destroy the world with very little effort from Michael. The Antichrist is intrigued.

Meanwhile, Cordelia, Mallory, Myrtle and Madison (Emma Roberts) are hiding in Misty’s (Lily Rabe) cabin while she’s off having fun with Stevie Knicks. With the coven diminished to just a handful of witches, Cordelia tries to contact her girls in the afterlife hoping she can raise them from the dead. It isn’t until she fails that Madison spills the full truth about Michael and his abilities. The reason why Cordelia couldn’t breathe life into the girls is because Michael destroyed the very essence of who they were as it seems The Antichrist can obliterate souls out of existence! This information is devastating to Cordelia and she hauls off and slaps Madison for keeping it from her. Without the entire Coven, they can’t win. Myrtle steps in to play referee between the arguing witches by reminding them the true threat is Langdon, not each other. Besides, there’s still hope as they have Mallory and she has an incredible gift. Myrtle thinks the young witch has the gift of renewal – to not only heal something but return it to its youth. It’s a sort of time travel skill that Myrtle thought was just a myth, until she watched Mallory return that dead dear into a youthful breathing fawn. Mallory isn’t just the next Supreme, she might be the only one that can bring the coven back to life.

The House of Romanov

Time traveling is a skill that comes with one serious downfall; all who’ve attempted it have died. Myrtle warns Mallory that this will not be easy and she will have to pass a test to make sure she’s capable of completing the task. Cordelia runs a bath for Mallory while Myrtle tells them the story of the Romanovs.

In 1917, The House of Romanov (Russian Tsars) came to an end when eighteen members were executed in their basement by the Bolsheviks during the revolution. One of those members was Anastasia (Emilia Ares), who just happened to be a witch. Anastasia tried to save her family with a protection spell, but ultimately failed and died alongside her loved ones. Mallory’s test is to go back in time, save the Romanovs and end the Bolshevik uprising without dying! No pressure though Mallory, piece of cake.

Holding a locket belonging to Anastasia, Mallory descends into the murky bath water while the remaining witches chant their time traveling spell. The bath water bubbles black like a boiling cauldron and Mallory materializes in the basement with Anastasia. She immediately explains to the woman who she is and as the Bolsheviks start to fire their weapons, Mallory and Anastasia raise a protective shield. The bullets bounce off their spell and everything seem to be working until the unthinkable happens – the spell breaks and Anastasia is killed just as Mallory gets sucked back into her current reality. The future Supreme failed, but Myrtle is still optimistic. Mallory’s the only one to ever make it back from the past alive.

Later that night, Cordelia thinks Mallory failed because she hasn’t come into her powers as a Supreme. She blames herself because a witch cannot ascend until the current Supreme dies. Cordelia ponders her lineage and questions whether she is more like her mother Fiona (Jessica Lange) than she realized. Fiona would’ve done anything to stay in power, even sacrifice the coven if it meant her survival. Myrtle gives Cordelia the reality check she needs by reminding her that Fiona was selfish and would have never entertained the idea of moving aside to crown her predecessor. Just the fact Cordelia is questioning her own fate is proof she is better than Fiona could ever be. Myrtle manages to convince her “petal” to hold off on dying because she has a plan.

The plan lands both women at the Hawthorne School to ask Ariel (Jon Jon Briones) and his group for help. When they arrive, the warlocks have all been murdered and their body parts arranged in the shape of a pentagram. The entire clan of Warlocks is dead and Michael’s message is loud and clear: he won’t stop until he kills them all.

The Minions

Over at the lab, Ms. Venable is packing her desk as the robo-dorks try and entice her to stay on. Not only did she run this company from its infancy, but now they’re finally offering her a promotion. This peeks her interest and Venable listens to their offer, which begins with a story about the end of the world and The Cooperative’s real identity. Mutt and Jeff ask Venable to run one of the Outposts being built to survive the apocalypse and inform her that only a select few will be chosen to survive. She can make her own rules and run the shelter as she sees fit.

Meanwhile, Michael and Mead arrive (wearing matching leather suits) at The Cooperative’s community and their goth look definitely stands out in a sea of flannel and Patagonia. Mead gives Michael a pep talk to help calm his nerves, reminding him that The Illuminati is his one chance to destroy the world, so don’t screw it up!

Chatting around a long table, the secretive group is all dressed in black and wearing ominous masks, kind of like what you would imagine the lunch room at Anonymous headquarters would look like. All the members stand at attention as Michael announces himself and his true identity. The members immediately sit down and hear the Antichrist’s pitch. The end of the world is coming and as his minions, they will carry it out for their master. At first the group mutters like they’re uneasy with killing all of humanity as well as themselves and who could blame them? They calm down once Michael tells them they will all be safe, along with their families, in underground shelters called Outposts. They will live on to rebuild the human race, along with other worthy billionaires who can pay the one hundred million entrance fee. This seems to delight them which prompts Michael to order the group to turn to page one of his Apocalypse handbook.

Can Cordelia and the coven reverse the carnage Michael unleashed? Its going to be an epic battle between good (Cordelia Goode) and the ultimate evil, but who will reign Supreme? Will the prophecies in Revelations come true or can a group of witches beat fate and restore life to the entire planet? Find out next week, on the season finale of “American Horror Story.”