By Price Zimmer ’14 | Entertainment Editor

As the witches of New Orleans head towards mid-season, which has provided an unexpected social commentary, the third season of the anthology series “American Horror Story” has stumbled, having the worst episode yet of  the “Coven” rendition.

What separates “American Horror Story” from most other television shows is that each season is really a mini-series, with entirely different characters and constantly rotating set of actors, making each season its own isolated event. This allows showrunners Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk to provide fresh chills and thrills and never stretch out plot lines or face the oftentimes inevitable drop in quality Television shows go through after four or five years.

This season, titled “American Horror Story: Coven” covers two competing covens of witches, one a school for the “new” (read: created three hundred years ago) type with a super-witch at its forefront and the other is a band of voodoo-practicing earth-magic that features one immortal and powerful witch. Despite the admittedly silly premise the show has thus far been able to deal with some surprisingly heavy issues concerning America and its relationship to the past past, namely: racism and the history of slavery, class, mental illness, fame, abuse in its twisted forms and feminity; quite deep for a horror story.

Another strength the show has consistently had is the quality of the performances meted out across its entire ensemble. The undisputed queen of the show has been Jessica Lange, who has appeared in all three seasons, this time playing the ‘Supreme’ of the witch school, but has consistently provided a twisted yet fully realized evil and believable character.

Other notable actors include Sarah Paulson as Lange’s recently blinded daughter, Taissa Farminga as the troubled newest member of the school, Gabourey Sidibe as a human voodoo doll, and Dennis O’Hare as the mute butler and about a dozen other players who are various stages of creepy, brutal and oftentimes evil. The ebb and flow of these faces that have appeared in various roles throughout the anthology has kept the performances fresh on a consistent level that few shows today enjoy; there simply is not a particularly weak performance to mention.

However, this season in particular has recently hit a major bump-in-rode in the latest and aptly titled episode “The Dead.” Namely, the fact death is common and so easily overcome in this season has made the gruesome nature of witchcraft and the plight of characters, feel insignificant. Quite honestly, it is very hard to feel for these characters when they are constantly being brought back from beyond the grave, the competition between characters carries very little impact when their demises have very little effect on the oft-ridiculous plot.

Yet, it is still a fun show to watch. The ‘horror’ elements have been a little lacking, being more grotesque and leaning too much towards shock-value than suspense and genuine fear, but the magic powers the women display are worth a fair bit of entertainment.

In essence, “American Horror Story” is a show that provides quality entertainment and even some thematic depth, but it is undercut by the nonsensical plot and little emotional investment in the sufferings of the characters.

Grade: C+.