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While we were left with many questions about the new home Shelby and Matt purchased in the season premiere, including those people in pilgrim garb and the two nurses seen casually strolling through the hallway, Chapter 2 gave us quite a lot of information, and introduced Lee’s young daughter into the mix.
When we last saw “Shelby,” she had just seen a horrific ritual/punishment/sacrifice carried out by a group of people in what looked like pilgrim garb, led by Miss Kathy Bates herself with a freakish, demonic Lady Gaga by her side. Wes Bentley was also present. The man being burned alive had already had his hands removed for theft, and the ceremony was complete with a pig’s head placed over his own. So we may assume (or not) that the pig man we’ve seen on video is the spirit of that man since this place is lousy with ghosts and spirits. Or not. One can never tell with American Horror Story.
Of course after Shelby passed out in the middle of the road right in front of Lee’s car, no one could find any evidence of such a ritual but at least Matt is being supportive, so much so that he’s even willing to sell the house now. But Shelby will have none of it. She’s not going to let the local inbreds drive them from their home (or their life savings). Shelby is suddenly a changed woman, willing to traipse through the woods now in the middle of the night with a baseball bat after hearing strange pig-like noises. Turns out there was a pig running around, and another bizarre site with a giant version of the stick figures found in the house. And this time the police actually saw it. But are the interested in actually doing anything, or are they a part of whatever is going on?
Unfortunately for Matt, he’s now been a witness to ghostly activity in the house, spying those two nurses again. But what do nurses have to do with pilgrims? Turns out this house not only sits on land from where the Roanoke colony mysteriously disappeared, but the house is full of evil itself, a literal Murder House (or “Murder House 2” if you prefer). Seems the nurses had been accused of murdering patients in a local hospital, but before anything could come of the charges they left and opened up their own elder care facility in the house. Matt saw the spirits murder an old woman and paint an M on the wall with her blood. The residents of the facility were admitted only by the first letters of their names, including U, R, D and E. Every time they killed someone, they painted the letter on the wall to spell out MURDER.
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But they never completed their task, failing to get that final R before authorities caught wind of wrong-doings at the house. But the women fled, leaving behind a house full of mouldering corpses and more than enough bad juju to keep those spirits trapped within those walls. And even though the wall had been papered over (apparently with Con-Tact Paper because no wallpaper will peel off that easily!), Matt discovered the writing on the wall, verifying the story. Interestingly, they learned all this after discovering a hidden underground shelter where Matt and Shelby found a TV and videocamera and a tape featuring the same man who was seen on the tape Shelby and Lee watched while locked in the basement, Dr. Elias Cunningham. Did Cunningham set up the TV in the basement? It’s unclear exactly when he made these tapes and where he is.
But things took a serious turn for Lee after she brought her daughter Flora to visit. During her time, Flora kept having conversations with a “girl in funny clothes” that only she could see. Lee thought maybe the stress of the divorce was affecting her child, but after Flora said her friend Prescilla would make a bonnet for her and then Lee found a bonnet by a shattered flower vase she began to get worried. It only got worse when her ex came to pick up Flora and they found her in a closet talking to herself. Flora said the girl she was talking to disappeared when they opened the door, and she was offering her favorite doll to her so she didn’t kill everyone, saving Flora for last. That was all the ex needed to hear before removing Flora from the situation and threatening to sue for sole custody.
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To compound matters, Lee feared that she would never be able to see Flora again, so she borrowed the girl without her father’s consent (after falling off the wagon and seeing the nurses with her own eyes, standing at the foot of her bed), not sure if she was going to try to keep her daughter or just keep her until she had to give her up. Shelby actually helped calm the situation by suggesting not involving the police so as not to traumatize the girl, but he was coming for her. Except she’s gone again, no sign of her in the house, no sign of her outside except for her yellow hoodie … at the top of a 20 foot tree. How it got there and where Flora is is still a mystery to be solved.
The second episode of American Horror Story: Roanoke delivered again with its still perfect re-creation of a TV docuseries. This week added a little “found footage” into the mix with Dr. Cunningham’s video which was executed to perfection. The story has drawn me in so much that I have to keep reminding myself that what we’re seeing are actually re-enactments of the events Shelby, Matt and Lee are relating but one still has to wonder what other surprises the writers and producers have in store for us this season, including a Roanoke connection to Dandy Mott’s family (from season four’s Freak Show), and a startling twist in episode six.
What do you think of the new season? Are you engaged or bored by the reality show format? Is the rug about to be pulled from under our feet? Sound off in the comments below!
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