A school for young witches in New Orleans faces enemies from the outside and the inside.

I assume this was the blandest of the three seasons of American Horror Story for one reason: I had the nerve to finish it. i expected horrible things to happen, and they did, but I didn't stick with it for the thrills, scares, and surprises, No, what I enjoyed was the acting.

Every actor over the age of thirty was terrific, but especially the big three -- Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, and Jessica Lange. Bassett was cold, cruel, regal. Bates made a racist torturer seem pathetic and silly. Lange was the most impressive, as a sick, aging woman whose fear of death had made her rabid.

As for the under thirty crowd, Evans Peters, as a Frankenstein monster, was the most impressive. Gabourey Sidibe improved the most, going from wobbly to solid. Taissa Farmiga and Emma Roberts were pretty and monotonous. ( )