Fans Are Loving The Coven Vibes In AHS: NYC Episode 5
This article contains spoilers for "American Horror Story: NYC" Episode 5, "Bad Fortune."
"American Horror Story: Coven" is the third season of FX's long-running anthology horror series. The plot centers around a coven of Salem witches living in New Orleans and fighting for their very survival. Tragically, in order to save themselves from external threats, they have to sacrifice many of their own in order to find their supreme, the only witch with the power to save them all.
On the other hand, the show's 11th season, which is known as "American Horror Story: NYC," has given off a very different vibe so far. It's set in 1980s New York City and hasn't shown a single iota of supernatural activity — at least, not until Episode 5. In this episode, after Fran (Sandra Bernhard) makes the questionable decision to be a fake psychic for quick cash, things start to get a little spooky. Tarot cards magically transform themselves without warning, and journalist Gino (Joe Mantello) gets disturbing visions of what looks like an angel of death coming for his soul. It's quite an unexpected turn of events — and fans who have been loyal to the series since the beginning are eating it up.
Fans love the Coven vibes so much, they want even more throwbacks from previous seasons
On Twitter, @order743_ was so excited about the "Coven" references they saw in the official "American Horror Story" Twitter promo that they were tweeting in all caps three minutes into the episode. @scytheslayr echoed that same sentiment no less than a minute later, proclaiming, "we getting Coven content right now 🤭 #ahsnyc." At the exact same time, @avoidmiles tweeted an almost identical sentiment; but there is no follow-up yet on whether or not the latter Twitter user yelled "jinx!" and condemned the former user to silence until releasing them from the spell by saying their name three times.
Over on Reddit, several users noticed the shadowy homage to the angel of death from Season 2, "American Horror Story: Asylum," in this live episode discussion thread. Many recognized the otherworldly entity Shachath (originally portrayed by Frances Conroy), but users like u/jade242 lamented that they "loved this episode but I'm sad they didn't have Frances back as death 😕." Speaking of AHS characters making a comeback, u/Proof_One_7452 speculated a few months ago — based on the episode title alone — that Maggie Esmerelda (Emma Roberts), another fake psychic in the AHS universe from Season 4, "Freak Show", might have a cameo.
There are still four episodes left, so it's not impossible, but still highly unlikely. Not only has she been off the show since her tumultuous romance with fan-favorite and co-star Evan Peters fizzled out, but without incorporating time travel or necromancy into the plot, there's no way to bring back a character from the 1950s.