The best bits of "Taboo" (BBC/FX)

BBC's new historical drama is full of fun, if you can get past the mumbling and murky plotting. Steven ("Peaky Blinders") Knight turns his attention to Regency England.

• Tom Hardy cutting through the streets of London in stovepipe hat and billowing greatcoat.
• Jonathan Pryce tapping his cane ominously in the East India Company board room.
• The Machiavellian Solomon Coop (Jason Watkins) has a great catchphrase: "Always assume I know".
• Gout ridden Prince Regent (heavily padded Mark Gatiss) surrounded by stuffed zebra and legless giraffe.
• Atticus's (Stephen Graham - remember Al Capone in "Boardwalk Empire"?) compass rose skull tattoo
• The always-good-value David Hayman (in any scene).
• Michael Kelly (Doug Stamper from "House Of Cards").
• The intriguing relationship between Delaney and his school chum/EIC spy
• Chemistry lessons with manure-munching Mr Cholmondeley (Tom Hollander; he played the slimy Lance in "The Night Manager").
• Delaney's constant companion, his mini-scythe - it slices, dices, slashed - the perfect kitchen tool.
• Amazing night photography.
• Street scenes - looks like a movie budget
• Lush musical score.

"American Horror Story Coven " FX, 9 cool things about Episode 9, "Head" Plus a cool cameo in Episode 10

9 cool things about Episode 9:

• The Herschell Gordon Lewis inspired gore fest dinner party with Myrtle's melon balls.
• Kathy Bates' talking head (shades of 80's cult horror "Reanimator") being re-educated, watching Queenie's "Roots"/Civil Rights movie marathon.
• Nan's nifty clairvoyance with comatose Luke
• Patti LuPone gets to sing (even though it is only "Just a closer walk with thee")
• The tantalising thought of an alliance between Fiona and Marie Laveau against the boys of Delphi.
• Hank getting the voodoo doll treatment.
• The final scene: hair salon massacre/LaLaurie's 'conversion' with moving anthem "Oh Freedom". 
• Howard Deutch ("Pretty in Pink") directed the episode.
• Frances Conroy's campy Myrtle continues to chew up the scenery (contrast her work in "Six Feet Under).

Just when you thought AHS couldn't get any better, we get Stevie Nicks as Fiona bestie in Episode 10. She even sings "Rhiannon" at the piano and gives some twirling lessons to the swamp witch (Lily Rabe). Lily Rabe is starting to steal scenes (a tough gig with Lange and Bassett). She is stunning as the swamp witch, such a jump from the mad nun in Series 2.

Also the mice in the maze scene/raid on Delphi was inspired.

"American Horror Story Coven" FX Series 3, Episode 7 "The Dead"

Brad Falchuk wrote this episode, and it shows. Punchy dialogue. Emma Roberts' soliloquy on her self-involved generation and her inability to feel is a stunner. Falchuk, the new Adam Sorkin (10 years age difference).
Scariest thing in this episode is hearing Toto in the opening frat boy/tattoo parlour scene.
Kyle (Evan Peters) as Frankenboy is always fun. Having a threesome (2 out of 3 being reanimated) has obviously banished memories of creepy mom. The scenes with Jessica Lange and Danny Huston (Axeman) sizzled.
Other good stuff: Spalding's enchanted tongue and the flashbacks of young Fiona.
Two weeks to wait to find out Madame LaLaurie's fate. Such a great character can't be killed off yet. I haven't researched the real Delphine LaLaurie, will wait until the end of the series.
I'm over 'Riff-Raff'/Spalding, though.

"American Horror Story: Coven" FX Series 3, Episode 5 "Burn, Witch, Burn!" review

13 cool things about this episode:

• The bitchy banter between Fiona and her no-good son-in-law.
• Zombie siege (Nice prosthetic, dude, comments one hapless neighbour, soon to be disemboweled)
• Taissa Farmiga doing some fancy chainsaw work.  
• Zombie bonfire in the back yard... more cedar chips please.
• Poignant stillborn baby scene (Fiona Goode does good)
• Atmospheric hospital lighting (shades of ITV's "Whitechapel" possessed police station)
• Surreal witch burning setting 
• Use of Dr John's R&B "Right Place, Wrong Time"
• The Veronica Lake, "I Married A Witch" reference (forerunner of TV's "Bewitched")
• Spaulding playing with one of  his dollies.... a bit too roughly... Snap.
• The continuing bonding of Queenie with LaLaurie.
• Angela Bassett's levitation bit.
• How Fiona is always 3 steps ahead of everyone else, this time using Queenie to trap Myrtle. Fiona tempting Queenie with the promise of being the first black Supreme (hang on, make that the fourth). 

"American Horror Story: Coven" FX TV series, Episode 4, "Fearful Pranks Ensue"

Loads of "fearful pranks" and surprise visits tonight.
A fun visit from the Council of Witchcraft, featuring Quentin (think Truman Capote + Karen Walker's nemesis from "Will & Grace"). Check out Frances Conroy's (Myrtle Snow) funky red wig.
We get 18th century zombies in a cool trick-or-treat final scene.
Another fascinating character, Spalding, the servant who has tea parties with his little dollies (and one big doll) and builds one mean bonfire tableau in the front garden. Oh, and we discover the secret of his missing tongue. Erk.
I love the way the writers of "American Horror Story" like to hop back in time - 1961, 1971 in this episode.
What is the story with Hank? A sleaze, as well as a travelling killer.
Where has poor blood-spattered Kyle loped off to?

Trivia: Writer/co-producer of AHS, Jennifer Salt was lead actress in the cult TV horror movie "Gargoyles" (1972). Well worth a look.

"American Horror Story: Coven" FX TV Series 3, Episode 3 "The Replacements", mini-spoilers

Lots of flashy camera angles and flashing knives this week. Mare Winningham (remember "St Elmo's Fire"?) has some disturbing scenes as Kyle's (Franken-boy) incestuous mother. Joan Ramsey (Patti LuPone), the new bible-bashing neighbour, gets a housewarming gift (lemon cake and blazing curtains).
There is an amusing scene with Madame LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) watching (with disbelief and disgust) black President Obama on "the magic box". Queenie has a moonlit tryst with LaLaurie's ex-slave (Minotaur-boy).
Body count tonight : 3 (2 mothers and a teen witch). Didn't see that last one coming. New rug, please.
This show is overwrought with a capital "O" - and O, so good.

"American Horror Story: Coven" FX TV series Episode 2 "Boy Parts"

With tongue firmly in the cheek, more fun in New Orleans. Alligators getting revenge on bayou hunters, build-your-own-boyfriend in the morgue, Stevie Nicks is a witch, a Witch Vs Voodoo Priestess showdown in the beauty parlour and "Sabrina, The Teenage Cracker".
Lots of boy parts in the morgue but the girls have the best parts in this show.
This series provides the opportunity for 'older' actresses to really strut their stuff. Jessica Lange has the juiciest lines, though. Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett have delicious roles too. It's like "Dynasty" goes to Salem. So far these first two episodes have rated far better than the earlier series.
Next week, Patti LuPone!

"American Horror Story: Coven" FX, Series 3, Episode 1 "Bitchcraft"

Campy fun, stellar cast, stylish direction, pushing all the right buttons.

What a masterstroke enlisting Kathy Bates into the proceedings. Gorgeous art direction, atmospheric New Orleans locales, familiar faces from the other two series (Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Frances Conroy), Jessica Lange (out of the nun's habit but looking great in black) chewing up the scenery again, bitchy dialogue, a Minotaur, albino Men in Black, an exclusive boarding school (think "Charmed" goes to Mean Girls' Hogwarts), even a Nicholas Cage reference.

The opening episode had enough plot for three eps. This series is going to be stronger than the last because of the likable characters. We only get a glimpse of Frances Conroy as the intriguing Myrtle Snow escorting Zoe with her band of albinos.

The four young witches are played by Taissa Farmiga (Vera's little sis), Emma Roberts as the dodgy movie star, Gabourey Sidibe ("Precious") and Jamie Brewer (Addie from Series 1).

Looking forward to seeing Patti LuPone and more of Voodoo Queen, Angela Bassett in the next episode.

"Da Vinci's Demons" Starz/FX TV series Episode 1 "The Hanged Man" review

The viewer is assaulted by the sight of "Downtown Abbey's Earl of Grantham" (Hugh Bonneville) naked, urinating after bedding a young man. Later on we hear the honeyed words, "F*ck me again, Leonardo!" You know this is not The History Channel.
This is going to be a rollicking romp, full of sex and slashing, political intrigue, colourful vistas, more bonking, a mysterious fraternity, myriad conspiracies and naughty popes.
David S. Goyer is the creator (writer of "The Dark Knight" and soon to be released "Man of Steel"). He directs this episode also. English seems to be the default accent in this series. Tom Riley plays the title character like Errol Flynn in his swashbuckling heyday. Add a touch of arrogant Sherlock from "Elementary". Both gents like a bit of illicit drugs also.
When the mascaraed Turk spouts "Time is a river .... a circle" I thought I was listening to the hokey "Lost Horizon" from 1972. I like Da Vinci's friends, young Nico (test pilot in Leo's man-kite was a  funny scene) and the worldly Zoroaster (Greg Chillin - he certainly was chillin') as the procurer of corpses. It's "Plebs" goes Renaissance.
I thought Leonardo played with the other team. He wasn't showing those tendencies in this episode (apart from a vague comment about an attractive male model. Homosexuality seems to be de rigueur for the elite (the pissing Duke of Milan, the venal Pope).
For all its silliness, there is an inspired scene when starlings are released from a market cage so Leonardo can observe and sketch their flight. This was a beautifully realised scene. I watched open mouthed.
The series may never top this one minute wondrous gem.
Next week: more bums, boobs, bonking, buggery, bashings and betrayal?
Well, it beats The History Channel.