American Horror Story Season 13 Finally Gets Good(e) In Week 3, With Several Long-Overdue Returns

Well, folks, here we are — the third week of "American Horror Story" Season 13 (aka Episodes 7 and 8). As of Thursday's double feature, we're more than halfway through this journey of nightmare and nostalgia, and what a journey it's been so far.

When last we left "AHS: 13," the witches of New Orleans were attempting to summon the spirit of Cordelia's mother Fiona to help them prepare for the trouble ahead. Instead, they received a visit from James Patrick March — now the leader of the "Cortez Devils," a serial killer supergroup that includes Jeffrey Dahmer and Richard Ramirez — who scythed poor Cordelia in the back of the head. 

And things aren't any less crazy in New York, where Mr. Nas (aka Satan) is on the precipice of reaching his full strength. Ben, meanwhile, is on the precipice of losing his mind after discovering "616" branded on his lower back. How did it get there? And why did Mr. Phibes refer to Ben as Mr. Nas' "son"? Let's find out if we'll get our answers this week:

Episode 7 picks up at Miss Robichaux's, where the "Coven" witches are defending themselves against the Cortez Devils. Mallory deduces that Cordelia is too far gone to heal, but she stays by her Supreme's side as Madison, Queenie, and Coco rush upstairs to help the other girls. "No one comes into our house, s**ts on our rug, and gets out alive," Madison declares as she heads into battle.

Madison is eager to take on Dahmer, shocked that Queenie doesn't immediately recognize him. ("What, are you the only person who didn't watch the TV show?" Madison asks, an obvious nod to Ryan Murphy's Netflix series "Monster.") Unfortunately, Dahmer gets the upper hand — er, knife — and stabs poor Madison. "Wow, am I your first girl?" she asks as she loses consciousness. "I hate to say it, but it's kind of an honor."

While Morwena revives Madison, who apparently isn't too far gone, Queenie makes slow, painful work of Dahmer. "This is for them boys in Milwaukee," she tells the serial killer as she begins to eat herself. (Remember: Queenie has mirroring powers, making it a fitting death for Dahmer — though not as fitting as Madison burning his body and using his flaming skull to light her cigarette.)

At this point, the witches are running around like headless chickens, so Madison puts herself in charge of their battle plan. As she reminds everyone, now that Cordelia is dead, someone has to be promoted to Supreme.

Or is she dead? Madison is confident that Morwena can bring Cordelia back, despite the young witch's insistence that she doesn't have that kind of power.

Meanwhile, Mallory faces off against Richard Ramirez, showing him — and reminding the viewers — just how powerful she is. Rather than killing him, Mallory sends him back in time to the very neighborhood he terrorized; he's instantly met with an angry mob who beats him to a bloody pulp. Ophelia is gagged at Mallory's apparent time-traveling abilities, but she promises to keep them a secret from the others.

But our favorite kill of the night, surprisingly, comes courtesy of Coco, who uses her glucose-detecting power to sense that the Zodiac Killer is "two Gummy Bears shy of going into diabetic ketoacidosis." Coupled with Queenie's mirroring power, she's able to eat a piece of chocolate and spike his glucose to the point of killing him. Again.

Then comes the moment we've all been waiting for: the arrival of Fiona. "Cordelia, mother's home!" she says as she steps through the doors of Miss Robichaux's, only to discover her daughter lying dead at the foot of the staircase.

Fiona demands to know who did this to her baby girl, and James Patrick March finally stops playing that gosh darn piano long enough to take the credit for Cordelia's demise. James tries to convince Fiona that they're on the same side, but she's no fool. In her words, she's "the baddest witch of them all," and she proves it by killing James with his own men. At her command, Dahmer, Ramirez, and the Zodiac Killer are brought back from the deader-than-dead and cut James into pieces.

Fiona asks for a moment alone with Cordelia, which she uses to whisper a spell that brings her daughter back to life. "Mother is that you?" Cordelia asks, which is pretty much how we'd imagine anyone would greet Jessica Lange. "You need to gain your strength back," Fiona replies. "We have a lot of work to do. When things fall apart, we must try to put the world back together — this wicked, wicked world."

Cordelia is still curled up in Fiona's lap when we slide into Episode 8, though now in a slightly more glamorous setting, trading the foot of the stairs for a chic couch in the dining room. Fiona recalls how much love Cordelia had for her as a child, and how her poor mothering undid all of that. She can't believe that, after a lifetime of hurting and disappointing Cordelia, she would still summon Fiona for help now.

That said, Fiona is happy to oblige, reminding Cordelia that she is the all-powerful Supreme. She regrets not preparing Cordelia for this sort of danger, and she promises to make Cordelia into "a Supreme for the ages." After that, Fiona clarifies, Cordelia is on her own. For now, she encourages Cordelia to look into the Cortez Devils. "Someone brought those monsters back from the dead," Fiona says. "Find out what they're made of and you will find their maker."

The witches, of course, take these words literally, cutting open one of the serial killers' corpses to look for the magical fingerprint of whoever (*cough* Mr. Nas) revived them. What they find is a serpent, convincing Fiona and Cordelia that the Devil is behind all of this. (Yes! Ladies, we knew you'd get there eventually!) With that information in mind, Fiona tells her daughter that it's time to snake their own way into Satan's inner circle, making friends with one of his besties.

That bestie turns out to be Papa Legba (now played by Orlando Jones, replacing the late Lance Reddick), so Cordelia takes a quick trip to hell so they can catch up. He's furious to learn that Fiona has escaped from the underworld, mostly because it makes him look bad as hell's official gatekeeper, so Cordelia makes him a deal — she'll destroy the spell she used to revive Fiona if he tells them how to defeat Satan.

Unfortunately for Fiona and Cordelia — but mostly Fiona — Papa Legba adds a stipulation to their little plan. "This voodoo daddy cannot help you without his voodoo mama," he says, referring to Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett's "Coven" and "Apocalypse" character).

One witch needs to return to hell to make space for Marie, and Fiona is the first to volunteer, sharing fond memories of her time down below. (Spoiler alert: it's full of knotty pine!) But Fiona is needed to deal with Marie, so Cordelia offers herself up, which is also shot down by Queenie, who steps up as the correct sacrifice.

Queenie's hell — a never-ending shift at Chubbie's Fried Chicken — turns out to be our heaven, especially when Kathy Bates finally shows up, reprising her role as Delphine LaLaurie from "Coven." We didn't realize how much we missed watching Bates and Gabourey Sidibe square off on screen, especially when it involves Queenie using Barack Obama and Beyoncé to confuse Delphine before melting the skin off her face.

Back in the land of the living(ish), Papa Legba revives Marie, who immediately goes at it with Fiona. Papa Legba warns the witches that they're fighting against a common enemy, and their only chance of surviving is working together. "United, we will defeat the Devil himself," Cordelia says, to which Marie enthusiastically replies, "Hell to the motherf***ing yeah!"

Frankly, that last line perfectly sums up how we feel about this third week of episodes. "American Horror Story: 13" got off to a clunky start, with the cameos feeling disjointed and egregious, but Episodes 7 and 8 finally feel like the season we were promised. And next week is giving us Jessica Lange as Sister Jude from "Asylum"? For a show about hell, things sure are looking up.

What did you think of "AHS: 13" Episodes 7 and 8? Were you glad to see Bates and Bassett back in their iconic roles? Drop a comment with your thoughts below.