Fearful Pranks Ensue

"Fearful Pranks Ensue"

"Fearful Pranks Ensue" is the fourth episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on October 30, 2013, on the cable network FX.

Plot

1961

With President John F Kennedy in office, racial tensions ride high in New Orleans as new hope for equality arises. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth between the Black folks and White folks in town. As a 15 year old Black boy rides his bike home from school (that has been integrated), three White men follow him, chase him down a narrow alleyway, catch him, and lynching him. Back in Marie Laveau's (Angela Bassett) hair salon, his mother is an optimist proclaiming that with the new President, everything could change. Marie Laveau feels the opposite, writing off her employee as naive. After the boy's mother discovers her dead son's body, her heartbreaking grief is witness by Marie Laveau. In retaliation, back at the salon, Marie Laveau calls upon her powers in a Voodoo ceremony in which the sacrifice of snakes are the focus. With the snake blood, she resurrects the dead and they slaughter the men responsible for the murder of the young Black boy.

1971

Young Fiona Goode is questioned by the previous Witch Council on the disappearance of their supreme, whom Fiona murdered. She is then elected as the new supreme which is shown to be a joy for everyone except for a young Myrtle Snow who plans to get the truth of the disappearance of their former supreme via their very quiet butler, Spalding, through a truth spell. Fiona reads Myrtle's mind over dinner, when she's speaking of the spell and what she has done, to a friend. Chaos ensues when a bunch of the students are screaming and are told to go back to their rooms by the mistress later that night. Spalding is found on the floor with his tongue evidently cut out with Fiona in the bathroom, who exchanges a sinister glare at Myrtle who (looks genuinely terrified.)

It is later revealed that Spalding had overheard Myrtle's conversation at the dinner table and after confessing his love to a young Fiona in the bathroom, cut out his OWN tongue to avoid any talking again.

2013

As Spaulding (Denis O'Hare) prepares for his strange tea party, he hears screaming and fighting. He descends to the foyer where he discovers Fiona (Jessica Lange) and Madison (Emma Roberts) arguing before Fiona slits Madison's throat, apparently killing her. She orders the butler to get rid of the body, and he rolls her up in the rug. Fiona hears loud noises coming from the greenhouse and discovers a bloodied half dead Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) just as the centaur appears behind Fiona.

Cordelia (Sarah Paulson) talks with her boyfriend on the phone, as he is away on a business trip. After hanging up, it is revealed that he is not on a business trip but awaiting his mistress at a hotel. After rough sex with her, he appears to take an interest in soothing her in a calm loving manner. But when she confesses her true feelings for him, he coldly shoots her in the head.

As Marie Laveau and her daughter work, a mysterious package arrives at the salon. At first, Marie Laveau thinks that it hair that was due to arrive later, but when her daughter opens the box, a grisly surprise awaits them. Marie Laveau looks inside, and discovers that Fiona had decapitated the centaur and sent his severed head (still alive) to her. Furious, Marie Laveau prepares for the same Voodoo ceremony that she did in 1961 calling on the dead to exact revenge. As her daughter frantically tries to talk her out of it, reminding her of the truce between the witches made in 1971, Marie Laveau declares that the truce is over.

At Evan's (Evan Peters) home, Zoe (Tessa Farmiga) deals with the bloody mess. As she apologizes for her role in both his death and his resurrection, he appears confused, uncaring, and unimpressed. As she tries to comfort him, he tells her that Evan is gone. Zoe goes to get him some food to calm him, and as she prepares a tuna fish salad, she sees rat poisoning also in the cupboard. She doctors his meal and brings it to him, only to discover that he has escaped the house. Because it is (Halloween), Evan fits in with everyone else dressed in costume.

Meanwhile, back at the Academy, Fiona halls Queenie up into her room and gets Cordelia. The two of them frantically try to save Queenie as she dies. She is quickly resurrected by Fiona as she breathes life back into Queenie. Fiona leaves the room, leaving Cordelia to care for Queenie. After Queenie awakes, Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) appears to thank her for saving her life but Queenie rebuffs her.

The Council of the Witchcraft arrives at the Academy to discuss the disappearance of Madison. At first, Cordelia is confused, admitting to both her knowledge of Queenie's attack and her visit to Marie Laveau. However, they explained that they were summoned by the clairvoyant Nan (Jamie Brewer) who can no longer hear Madison. As they interview all of the witches, Cordelia notices that her rug is gone and Nan confesses that she witnessed Madison alighting the curtains on fire just by looking at them. Alarmed, the Council interrogates Fiona who denies her part in Madison's death while sneering and smiling. After it is revealed that the Council knew that Madison was the supreme apparent, Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy) (head of the Council) loses her temper and screams at Fiona acknowledging that she knows (but can't prove) that she killed the previous supreme, killed Madison, and cut out the butler's tongue. Myrtle then instructs Spaulding to write down who cut out his tongue so that she can punish the person responsible. He does so. After he hands her the paper, Myrtle reads it and sees that he has written her name and not Fiona's. He returns to his room where he selects a dress out of his closet. As he makes his way across the room, a dead Madison is propped up like a doll in one of his chairs. He never buried her.

A deflated Myrtle demands to know what happened to Madison, and reminds Fiona that the punishment for killing another Witch was death by burning at the stake. Cordelia steps in to defend her mother claiming that there was no way Madison could be the next supreme, as supremes had to be superior-- both in skill and in health. She reveals that she saw Madison monitoring her heart defect carefully but she knew Madison had heart murmur. After the Council leaves, Fiona and Cordelia head to the bar to relax. Cordelia takes a bathroom break, but as she leave the bathroom,a hooded figure (dressed in black) appears with what looks like a drink behind her. As Cordelia turns to face the hooded person, they throw the drink (which is acid) at her eyes, severely injuring Cordelia.

Back at the Academy, trick or treaters arrive in numbers, but Marie Laveau's dead have arrived. They surround the house and prepare for an attack as the frightened Delphine LaLaurie, Zoe, and Nan cower inside awaiting for what may ensue.

External links

• "Fearful Pranks Ensue" at IMDb