Yeah, I totally agree with you - For me, in terms of personal preference, I would rank:
1. Asylum
2. Murder House
3. Coven
I really loved Asylum - I went into it expecting a good, solid creepy asylum haunting but was pleasantly surprised that it celebrated so many horror sub-genres - In fact, if I recall, while there is the possession/Satanic theme, there wasn't a ghost/supernatural theme... That caught me off-guard but in a good way - I thought it was infinitely clever how the creators decided to completely deviate from the supernatural themes of the first show and pack in so many other horror themes - Satanic possession, medical experimentation, Nazi horror, aliens, and of course the Human Monster (Bloody Face, racism, torture/sadism) -
High points for me:
- The brilliant mix of sub-genres, as mentioned above
- The incredible cast, especially Jessica Lange as Sister Jude - She was able to capture both a believable threat and also garner sympathy. James Cromwell as Dr. Arthur Arden was a fantastic Monster and I loved his threads with both Chloë Sevigny and Lily Rabe. Oh, and of course Zachary Quinto. I grinned with every scene he was in.
- I LOVED "The Name Game" - Oh how fantastic
- Lana Winters' entire storyline from her entering the asylum, her lover, imprisonment, and her later life as an author.
The lowest point may have been what seemed to be a very fast, expository ending - At the time I wasn't a huge fan but, then again, it did wrap up everything neatly. Sister Jude's departing was oddly touching.
Coven was a bit disorganized for me, tbh - I do think there were too many characters in it to get a real grip on any of them - I liked them all at surface value. Queenie, for example, I thought was under-served and made some questionable decisions in my mind. Emma Roberts was definitely a high point for me, though. There were a lot of elements that I liked about the series, but it didn't always come together. Kathy Bates was great, for example, but I didn't think she was given enough to do. I loved Francis Conroy but her demise seemed odd and unnecessary.
Not a bad season, per se, just really uneven and definitely not as good as I thought the first two seasons were.