NUMBER 3 WITCH OF ALL TIME: JESSICA LANGE as FIONA GOODE, AHS COVEN

The first time I can remember seeing Jessica Lange was in The Postman Always Rings Twice. As a young teen, the blatant sexual prowess portrayed between her and Jack Nicolson was simply mind blowing. If this was what sex was all about, I had to have some! It was awkward, in your face, gritty, powerful. There is any number of powerful adjectives one could throw in here if inclined to grammatical gymnastics. You get the picture though. All references to Mrs. Robinson from 1967’s classic, The Graduate, aside, at that tender age I would have done Jessica Lange.

Back to the present. Jessica has lead an all-star ensemble cast through three seasons of American Horror Story. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if her character is good or bad. Not since the days of Larry Hagman’s portrayal of J.R. Ewing in Dallas, has an actor played a character that is so reviled, yet be nearly universally loved. Scruples could never get in the way of juicy roles such as these, which would explain her three year run, with talk of a fourth, before she goes her merry way, as she has publically stated.

This year she is once again, the ‘supreme’. Ironically, she is one of the few actresses I know that could steal the show even when she is the show’s main focus! Her delivery of the character, Fiona Goode, is flawless. A powerful leader of a dying witch coven, Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies, Fiona is both strong and diabolical. She doesn’t flinch at killing anyone that stands in her way of achieving the power she so desperately craves. Her antics would rank her with some of the wickedest witches in fictional history. In my Top Ten Witches of All-Time Blog Series she comes in at #3.

There is more to this character, however. Jessica is as talented an actress as there ever was, so being able to flip the script and tug on the hearts of her audience is something she accomplishes effortlessly. Fiona’s character has a soft side after all. Fi as she displays a convincing, yet un-crippling, amount of self-esteem issues. She aging, and in fact dying of cancer. Huge ego hit on both counts. Years of affairs have left her feeling unfulfilled in her love life, with her only choice at present a ghostly axe murderer. Add this to the fact that as a new supreme emerges among the younger coven witches, he powers wane, leaving her quite defenseless as her wasting disease progresses.

Fiona’s answer to this? Dig up a centuries old witch, buried alive while carrying the curse of immortality. The problem is that the person responsible for the curse is equally evil New Orleans Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, who is also an immortal. She also has a profound dislike for witches, white girls and particularly, Fiona.

The biggest sin in the coven is murdering a fellow coven member. Halfway through the season, Fiona has killed three in her attempt to gain and preserve her title of Supreme. First she offed her predecessor Supreme, when she was just a teenager, to take power the old fashioned way: in a coup.

Next, after her daughter brought in perhaps the final class of coven witches, she slashes the throat of the one she first fears to be her replacement, thinking it would restore her power. But, she picked the wrong one.

After that, Fiona executed her longtime rival, Myrtle, by casting blame on her for the murder of the young witch she thought was stealing her powers. Burning Myrtle alive at the stake, Fiona sets an indelible impression on the young members of the coven, who decided to take Fiona on in a high stakes game of chicken. The climatic final episode of the season looks to be extraordinary, if only to see who wins control of the coven, and title of Supreme. I wouldn’t count Fiona out!

Meanwhile, I will be thinking to myself that the 17 year difference between Jessica and myself isn’t as big as it was when I was 15. Yes, I would still do the beautiful Ms. Lange!

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