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.
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,
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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