Boy Parts

"Boy Parts" is the second episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on October 16, 2013, on the cable network FX. The title is a reference to a line in this episode spoken by Madison Montgomery.

The episode sheds light on how Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) managed to remain alive in the present day, it also reveals the fate of Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett). The character of Misty Day (Lily Rabe) is introduced a little more in-depth than from what was seen in the first episode. Angela Bassett and Gabourey Sidibe guest star as Marie Laveau and Queenie, respectively. This episode is rated TV-MA (LSV).

Plot

1834

Madame LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) awakes after taking the "love potion" from Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett), she goes outside to face Laveau with a lynch mob of dozens of the black slaves she's been abusing for years. Her own husband and three daughters are strung up dead. She explains it wasn't a love potion but an immortality potion she gave LaLaurie. Laveau condemns her to a fate worse than death as the crowd puts her in a wooden box and buries her.

2012

In Detroit, Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) is working at a fried chicken restaurant. An irate customer (Don Mac) berates and insults her over a perceived mistake with his order. After the altercation, Queenie uses her "voodoo doll" ability on the customer, plunging her arm into a deep fryer and severely burning him. At the morning gathering, Queenie explains that Cordelia found her after reading about the incident in the newspaper.

2013

Down on the bayou, two trappers Lee (Kim Collins) and Roy (Matt James) collect an alligator they caught. Back at their camp, they see a blonde woman upset over their dead gators. It's Misty Day (Lily Rabe). She tells them they shouldn't kill things. When one pulls a gun on her, she uses her Necromancy to bring the alligators back to life to seek revenge. The two trappers end up being eaten.

At school, Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) is still upset over the death of Kyle (Evan Peters), but Madison (Emma Roberts) thinks he would have raped her too if given the chance. Cordelia (Sarah Paulson) comes to get Fiona (Jessica Lange) for a morning gathering and notices a foul stench coming from her room. Fiona blocks the door. Inside, she has Madame LaLaurie bound to a chair and gagged. Fiona leaves her there for the moment, but promises to come back. Detective Sanchez (Lance E. Nichols) and Stiles (Sam Malone) interrupt to talk to Madison and Zoe. Some people at the party saw Madison go in the back room with the frat boys, she says they just wanted to get her high. The detectives surprise Zoe by asking about her visit to the hospital to see Brener (Grey Damon), the head rapist, who died right after she visited. They also reveal that they know her boyfriend died the same way. Zoe completely cracks and reveals to the detectives that they're all witches. Cordelia tries to cover by saying Zoe is having a mental breakdown. Fiona then enters and spits in two glasses of water and orders the detectives to drink. One does, the other fights her mind control and starts bleeding from his nose. He finally caves and she asks them to turn over whatever information they've gathered on the girls and never mention it again. Upstairs, Madison and Zoe yell at each other, fearing the trouble they're about to get in. Then Fiona comes in and flings them both against the wall. She tells Zoe she's soft and worries too much what people think of her. Later, Nan (Jamie Brewer) tries to read a book but a loud voice won't leave her alone. She goes up to Fiona's room and unties Madame LaLaurie, telling her she thinks too loud. Queenie comes to investigate and LaLaurie knocks her out with a candlestick.

Zoe and Madison break into the county morgue. Madison says she wants to repay Zoe by bringing Kyle back to life, she stole a spell. Madison opens his body bag and finds he's in pieces. Madison suggests they take the best "boy parts", and attach them to Kyle's head to make the perfect boyfriend. Madison and Zoe stitch together Kyle using new parts. Madison begins the spell and they both breathe in the smoke from her potion. She cuts Zoe's hand to complete the spell from Azazel, Lord of the Underworld. They chant over Kyle's stitched together body. Madison finishes her chanting with "arise!" Nothing happens, so Madison leaves. Zoe stays behind, saying she has to find her phone. When Madison sees a car pull up, she bails on Zoe. Zoe apologizes to Kyle for letting him get in the accident. She leans over Kyle's body and kisses him. A coroner (Ben Matheny) comes into the morgue and finds Zoe, out of nowhere Kyle wakes up. He starts beating the man, until Zoe shouts at him to stop. Zoe drives Kyle home. He's not right, doesn't understand what's going on and cannot speak. Suddenly, Misty pops up from the backseat. Zoe drew her out with her magic. She directs them to her home on the swamp. There, she spackles Kyle together with swamp mud and alligator dung. She explains how Zoe's magic called to her as she listens to "Rhiannon". She explains that she believes Stevie Nicks to be a white witch. Misty offers to heal Kyle and says he'll be right when Zoe comes back.

At a gynecology appointment, Cordelia gets bad news that her fertility drugs aren't working after a year of taking them. Dr. Morrison (James DuMont) suggests in-vitro. Hank (Josh Hamilton), her husband, asks if she wants to keep trying and asks her to use magic, but she doesn't want to become her mother. Fiona goes to a Conrow City to find Marie. Marie recognizes Fiona as a witch. As a practitioner of voodoo, she's no fan of witches. She claims the witches of Salem from whom Fiona is descended got their magic from her ancestor, Tituba. Marie Laveau is supposedly buried in a tomb in St. Louis Cemetery, but Fiona found her in the 9th Ward. Fiona confides that she wants to know her secret to immortality. Marie calls her muscle to toss Fiona out, so Fiona lights her racks of wigs on fire, promising she'll be back. Later that night at the salon, Marie speaks with a shadowy figure and tells him that someone has returned. The figure is revealed to be Bastien (Ameer Baraka), still with the Bull's head on.

In her greenhouse, Cordelia works on her spell. Later, with two giant eggs and a circle of black salt, she and Hank begin her spell, stabbing each other's fingers to draw blood as they smear it over their lips. Then they have sex, surrounded by a ring of fire. The eggs break and snakes slither all over them as they finish.

Fiona talks to Madame LaLaurie, who is shocked to learn she's been in the ground 180 years. Fiona wants to know who did it to her. Fiona doesn't feel much sympathy for her. LaLaurie grieves for her dead children but not her husband, as she was planning on killing him for weeks. She says hell was seeing her daughter's faces endlessly in the box. She asks Fiona if she's a witch, and begs her to kill her. Fiona says she's not sure if she will, they both head back to the school.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Boy Parts" received a 2.5 18–49 ratings share and was watched by 4.51 million viewers.^[1]

Rotten Tomatoes reports a 100% approval rating, based on 14 reviews. The critical consensus reads, ""Boy Parts" is escapist camp and perfect fodder for the enormously talented female cast."^[2] Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B rating for "Boy Parts", stating that the episode was "all good fun".^[3] Matt Fowler from IGN gave the episode a 7.9/10 rating, calling it a good episode, though stating, "I'm still waiting for something truly great to pop out at me in American Horror Story: Coven."^[4]

At Vulture, Rakesh Satyal gave the episode 3 of 5 stars, calling it "a slower episode after the premiere" and criticizing it for "long swaths of exposition." However, Satyal praised Lange, Bates, and Bassett's performances and expressed excitement for the storylines involving Marie Laveau and Kyle.^[5]

The Huffington Post's Chris Jancelewicz criticized the show for "an entire segment...that isn't quite working." He noted an imbalance between "a super-strong older cast knocking it out of the park" and the teenage witch storyline he finds much less interesting, despite strong acting from the younger cast. He also stated that a resurrection plot should "never, ever be included in any movie or TV show ever again." However, Jancelewicz complimented scenes involving Marie, Fiona, LaLaurie, and Misty, and "remain[s] optimistic" about the rest of the season.^[6]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Boy Parts

• "Boy Parts" on IMDb