Following on from the blood-drenched previous episode, American Horror Story: Roanoke’s chapter 8 maintains the high death count per episode, but it’s not the evil spirits taking advantage of the ‘blood moon’ this time…
WARNING: spoilers will follow.
Dominic (CUBA GOODING JR) and SHELBY (LILY RABE), having witnessed Agnes’ (Kathy Bates) demise at the hands of the real Butcher, panic at their own impending doom, with Dominic not recognising the similarity of the current situation from that of the scenes he filmed for the original show. Still caught up in the idea that the producers’ are watching and that they might have a way out of this nightmare, Shelby spells it out, “Sidney isn’t coming. Nobody is coming.”. The pair know their only chance to evade the Butcher and her torch-bearing crew is to escape unseen, and so make their way to Edward Mott’s tunnel in the basement. In doing so, Shelby is confronted with her ‘crime of passion’ in the form of the dead body and mass of pulp being the remains of Matt’s head. She doesn’t have long to endure the emotional torture, as the two find the dark and deadly spirits descending on them from all angles; the Chen’s swarm the escape tunnel, Piggyman stalks the house, and the Butcher is bashing down the door.
At the Polk’s farm, perhaps one of the darkest and most excruciating scenes even for American Horror Story, finds Lee (ADINA PORTER) tied up, having to listen to just how the hill-billies plan to keep her alive while they take piece after piece of her flesh to eat, to keep the meat fresh. When she learns about them even reducing her bones down to a broth, she gives in and accepts cocaine to numb her senses. The multiple camera angles from the Polk’s security cameras, along with the hand-held phone camera Jether (FINN WITTROCK) holds, make the scene even more gruesome as shots of Lee’s pickled ear can be seen as these discussions progress. We learn a valuable piece of American Horror Story history in this scene, as the identity and backstory of the Piggyman (who first appeared in series 1) is revealed.
Lee, mutilated and faced with certain death, engages with Jether enough for him to see a picture of her daughter Flora she carries in her pocket, and then give her final testament to his camera. Her confession is the moment we’ve been waiting for, as she finally says, “I want to tell you the truth. I killed daddy.”, and in this moment her fate seems to be sealed as she gives up on any escape. However, survival instinct kicks in yet again when she senses the young Polk’s attraction to her. She lures him in, taking advantage of his naivety to free her hand, and allow her to turn the tables and knocks him out. We see in that moment that Lee doesn’t leave anything to chance, as she turns to stab the incapacitated boy in the head.
Elsewhere on the farm, Audrey (SARAH PAULSON) and Monet (ANGELA BASSETT) are tortured by the Polk men, and we understand the importance of the teeth in both the promos ahead of the series release, and raining from the sky in the story Shelby recounted from their first experiences in the house. Despite not having the same extent of graphic, fast-paced violence and action of the previous episode, the tense nature of this scene still gets the heart racing and has you squirming in your seat.
Monet takes her chance and manages to escape, leaving Audrey to face Mama Polk (ROBIN WEIGERT) alone. Whilst Audrey injects some comedic lines here and there throughout the episode with her narcissistic, and inappropriately-timed gumption – “I paid good money for these teeth” – she still suffers at the hands of the Polk matriarch before Lee can rescue her. In what is quite a shocking turn for Audrey, she takes a hammer from Lee and destroys Mama Polk in a considered and vengeful move, believing the Polk’s to have been behind Rory’s (EVAN PETERS) death.
The women make it back to the farmhouse, which is now mysteriously lacking in the spirits that only recently plagued it, unaware of any of the dark events that have taken place in their absence. Lee is horrified to find her brother’s remains, and on discovering Shelby’s body in the bathroom, fail to believe Dominic’s version of events. Despite his protestations that everything is on camera, the women believe he had a dark hand in what happened, that Shelby could neither murder Matt nor commit suicide, and force him out of the apparently safe bathroom and bedroom and into the main house. Dominic lasts merely seconds before we see him being slaughtered by the Piggyman, as Lee and Audrey listen from the other side of the door. The camera angle adds another nasty dimension, giving the first-hand view of being killed. As Dominic dies outside, Audrey takes a moment to give another of her ‘last words’ to the camera, but this time she’s not addressing her dear, departed Rory, but her ‘fans’. We get a sense of just how shallow she is, and how much fame meant to all these actors, along with the price they’ve paid for it.
Miraculously, the two women make it through the night, but rather than attempt to escape during daylight, Lee insists the pair must return to the Polk farm to retrieve the cameras. We know her real motivation for this, but in the room she convinces Audrey that the cameras have evidence against them both, and that the wrong people could manipulate the footage so people won’t remember the torture they suffered, only the murders they committed. As Lee said to the Polks, they carry the death penalty in North Carolina. The stakes are just as high for Lee to get that footage as to get out of the house, and so they make their way to the front door, only to be confronted by what appears to be the Piggyman yet again…
Episode 8 takes the action down a notch from the previous episode, but starts to reveal so much more about the characters themselves. The moments of horror are more drawn out, than the sudden, swift violence we’ve previously seen, yet the episode still maintains the sense of urgency particularly with scenes at the house and the impending doom expected from the spirits. There are still plenty of deaths – though at this point you’re probably wondering how anyone is actually left – but the darker more disturbing element, is the lack of supernatural forces at play. It’s human nature than is the monster this episode, and despite the odd comedic moments from Audrey – making it about her when they find Shelby’s body: “I feel like a part of me has died” – it really is the most haunting type of horror we’ve seen.
Verdict
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ROANOKE AIRS IN THE UK, FRIDAYS AT 10PM ON FOX
