I don’t know that Coven was my favorite season of American Horror Story, but it was certainly the best structured season. (I still think I liked Asylum better, if only because it was was pure, utter insanity.) Granted, it still had its issues (like how at the beginning of the season, Cordelia says that only a very special few witches develop multiple powers, but by the end of the season everyone had a half-dozen powers) but it was far more coherent than any previous season. The characters acted and reacted naturally, based within the rules that this world set up. The story was mostly linear. And the sets were just breathtaking.
I will say that I found the finale to be disappointing. It just fell flat. Much of this season was spent building up the Seven Wonders: how difficult they were, how dangerous they were, how only a select few could ever accomplish them. By my account, only one girl died during the Seven Wonders, and the others didn’t seem to have to try very hard to pass what ended up being more than half of the tasks. I also felt like Marie and Delphine’s storylines were wrapped up too easily. After hundreds of years, all it took was one girl with some legal mumbo-jumbo to void the contract?
Looking to season four, I would love to see something set at a Dustbowl-era carnival, like Carnivale or Freaks. There have been some rumors that that might be the setting - then there have been some saying that won’t be it at all. According to EW.com, Ryan Murphy has said that it will mostly be set in the 1950s, and it will be “bizarre and crazy and gothic.” Jessica Lange will return, and has been “practicing her German accent.”
Based on these vague details, I have two guesses as to what season four will be. One would be to have Lange play a Marlene Dietrich-type starlet and set the action in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Decadent parties, drug-fueled nights, and scandal after scandal. Another, completely different direction, could be to set it just after WWII, and involve hunting Nazis or Nazis that have gone into hiding. And of course, these Nazis would be the occult Nazis, maybe trying to bring back Hitler. I always say, Nazis are the perfect villains.