first of all I really love this season of AHS. I loved it when it first aired, but i don’t think i appreciated the reality TV “campness” of it all back then. Well I just rewatched it and it had me laughing so much, while also creeped out, and slightly disturbed… which means great TV!
My Roanoke Nightmare — Episodes 1-5
love this part. the storyline is actually quite creepy. The reenactment format was a brilliant twist. Overall this stretch of episodes had a more serious tone than the rest of the season, which was a good start to introduce us to the Butcher and the spirits of the land.
Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell — Episodes 6-9
Side note: I’m a huge Big Brother fan, lol. So when episode 6 started off with the producer Sidney pitching a “Big Brother” style reunion at the house, I was hooked. haha. What I found really satisfying is that the AHS writers came up with the affair storyline for Shelby Matt and Dominic (Cuba Gooding Jr), which was a great twist of drama. and Audrey (Sarah Paulson) and Rory (Evan Peters) the actors falling in love on set, with that age difference making Audrey insecure. It was so… classic reality tv drama lol. I also loved the part where they all return to the house, and Shelby/Matt start fighting in front of everyone, and then the actors were like “yep! that’s exactly how I played her!” high-fiving each other 😂
Youtuber Videos, Lee’s Crack’d Episode, Lana Winters Special — Episode 10
We can clearly see the campness being ramped up here lol. This was so funny to me at this point. Just playing on society going insane for some very successful mini-series. Also a nice cameo from Lana Winters.
Complaints Time!
THE CHENS:
The Chens were absolutely the worst part of the entire season. So… they’re chinese so that’s why they were crawling on the walls like spiders? Like the grudge? I saw no need for that and it was soooo distracting every time they were shown. The nurses weren’t necessary either. It’s like they were trying to make a Murder House scenario with the previous murdered tennants as ghosts, but we SO didn’t need that with the Butcher and her people being the main storyline.
Gratuitous and unrealistic camera angles in the “found footage” part of the season:
I love me some big brother, so this is why it annoys me. BB has roughly 100 cameras throughout the house (about the same as what Sidney said in AHS), and many of these cameras are the kind operated by actual camera men (the cameras behind the mirror walls). These are for the shots that are zoomed in and show people’s facial expressions, rather than overview shots of the whole room. Also the smaller hidden cameras are still operated by producers (their direction and zoom). So this doesn’t make as much sense when Agnes comes and kills the producers in the trailers. What bugs me about AHS’s version, is that there were wayyyyy too many angles to be realistic. Prime example is when Audrey is shot by the cops and we get that aerial shot of her laying on the ground— mind you we are still in the “found footage” part of the series. Also the abundance of crystal clear security footage in the Polk’s house. wtf? Then the up-close and personal shot of Agnes getting her head chopped in half by the Butcher. Then in the last episode, last scene, AHS producers completely abandoned the found footage idea for the entire scene between Lee and Flora. That was lazy.
Teens Burned at the Stake scene (too gruesome):
Enough said right? I thought it was a good dark ending to “Three Days in Hell”, but it was sooo graphic. I remember it kind of traumatized me back when it originally aired, and I got the same sick feeling watching it again.
Funny moments:
Lesley Jordan in the uber: “tell me young man, have you ever heard the term.. gay for pay?”
Dominic trying to comfort Shelby in a dire situation: “we are going to get out of this… and i’m going to get my spin-off”
VERDICT:
one of my favorite seasons. The Roanoke storyline was creepy AF. It could have done without the nurses and the Chens, but those creepy colonial spirits and their deranged gruesome ways were already scary enough. Then we combine the campness of reality TV tropes, and this season had a great balance of creepy and funny.
Where do you rank AHS Roanoke? 🪓🐷🦷🍷🔥