Where does American Horror Story: Roanoke go from here?

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Well that was certainly a kickass episode! It’s interesting reading the comments online from people who either (a) love the season or (b) hate watch and complain that it sucks (I’m pretty sure those people are just trolling for attention). This season definitely does not suck. In fact, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have rejiggered the whole format of the series this season and made it something fresh and new again.

I’d wondered from the beginning if all ten episodes would be Matt, Shelby and Lee recounting their Roanoke nightmare for the “My Roanoke Nightmare” docuseries within the series. This week, it looks like we got an answer to that question … but of course nothing can be certain with this show. Chapter 5 also brought us some familiar faces with appearances from Frances Conroy (!) and Evan Peters (finally) … who most definitely was not the Piggy Man.

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Picking up right where things left off last week, Matt, Shelby and Flora were in imminent danger of being barbecued by The Butcher and friends as it was the night of the Blood Moon. The night also brought more creepy visitors to the house includes some really freaky manifestations of the Japanese girls that tried to run off with Flora. When Shelby found the girl, she had a mysterious hand print seemingly burned into her arm. Could that be important moving forward?

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The episode also took us back to the 1700s, courtesy of real life historian Doris Kearns Goodwin who related the tale of Edward Philippe Mott (Peters) the builder of the home (there was a nice shout out to the last Mott, Dandy, who died in 1952). Mott built the home to escape civilization and planned to live out his days there with his artwork … and his manservant/lover Guinness. But not long after settlling in, Mott was paid a visit on the night of the Blood Moon by The Butcher and her minions (who destroyed all of his priceless art collection). It did not end well for Edward.

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But while Matt and Shelby were being terrorized, Edward appeared to help them get away from the mob though the secret tunnels he had built under the land. Unfortunately, he took them right to the Polk property, and they were none-too-pleased to see them after their feral children had been carted away. This is where we got to meet Mama Polk (Conroy) and, surprisingly, Elias Cunningham was there as well. Most of him. The brothers found him with the sticks poking out of his chest, but his legs and one arm were missing. Turns out Mama likes her some human jerky but Elias was not pleasing to her palate so she bashed his skull in. But she could not kill Matt, Shelby or Flora due to her agreement with The Butcher, who needed their blood to consecrate the land for another year.

We also got to visit Lee this week while she was being interrogated by the police about her ex-husband’s death, but not being able to pin an actual crime on her she was released after 48 hours. Finding several texts from Matt on her phone, most of them frantic gibberish to her, she saw the one she wanted to see — Flora is safe. But not if Lee doesn’t get back to the house because The Butcher has decided that instead of last, Flora will now be the first to die.

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But The Butcher’s son Ambrose finally has an attack of conscience, tired of all the bloodshed for the past 500-plus years, and pulls his mother into the flames. But not wanting to leave a job unfinished, the Piggy Man advances on Flora and BANG!, Lee runs him down with a car. Edward appears again to untie Matt and Shelby (who suffered a shattered ankle at the hands of Mama Polk and a sledgehammer), and the four make their way to safety.

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Real life Shelby explains that she still has a recurring nightmare of The Butcher splitting her skull with the meat cleaver, but she’s happy that she’s alive and will be able to do the things she always wanted to do … like open a yoga studio! And that, it seems is the end of “My Roanoke Nightmare.” But what do the remaining five episodes hold? Hard to tell from the very brief preview that followed the conclusion of the episode. All we got to see was Cheyenne Jackson (finally … although he may have been the voice heard off camera during the interview segments), apparently playing a ghost hunter speaking directly to the camera telling the operator to always keep the camera rolling, no matter what. Will he be investigating the Mott home? Again, hard to tell as where he was did not look like the interior of the house. And with this change in gears, what happens with the actors?