As season 6 takes us into the past, My Roanoke Nightmare’s future becomes more unpredictable.
Still from Episode 3 of American Horror Story: Roanoke. Image via FX.
Is Shelby a witch?
A question that’s been raising more and more speculation in the fan community as the season progresses, the idea that Shelby could be more than she leads on is intriguing to say the least. As we’ve questioned before, it’s hard to tell whether we should trust our protagonists- especially Shelby, who’s so often reporting back on terrifying things only she’s witnessed. And with this season’s increasingly apparent ties to the supernatural- we’ve got mediums, ghostly sacrificial bonfires, and return visits from long-dead colonials- it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to assume that Shelby herself is wrapped up in all of this. Could she be misleading Matt, Lee, and us with her innocent, shaking-in-my-Ugg-boots act? Is she the perpetrator of the inexplicable horror that surrounds her family? Or is she just as much of a victim as the rest of them? Only time, and maybe an overpriced psychic medium, will tell.
Still from Episode 3 of American Horror Story: Roanoke. Image via FX.
Are the seasons directly connected, or just vaguely related?
More and more small similarities to previous seasons seem to be popping up each week, but lately, it seems impossible to pretend that Roanoke isn’t going to function as the hub that connects all 6 seasons. So then the question becomes not “Are they related?” but “Are we reading too much into each tiny throwback and similarity?” The pigs appear in season 1. The screaming of “Croatoan!” to ward off evil spirits was employed by characters in the first season. Leslie Jordan’s Cricket the Medium claims to be from New Orleans- a city in which an entire season ALSO CO-STARRING LESLIE JORDAN played out. It’s a lot, and knowing Ryan Murphy, it’s all intentional. But just how intentional, and in what way these connections will function to further the story this season (and maybe retroactively effect previous seasons), we’ll have to wait and see.
Still from Episode 3 of American Horror Story: Roanoke. Image via FX.
When is the twist coming?
This season’s unique structure serves a narrative purpose, surely. But there’s no denying or escaping the inevitable: something WEIRD is going on with this docu-style filming. In last week’s episode, we went as far behind the scenes as we have so far, when Lee asked the crew to stop filming and we got a glimpse of the studio in which the “real” (kind of?? maybe??) half of My Roanoke Nightmare takes place. But it was just for a moment, until Lee regained composure, and the typical talking head returned. Ummm…what??? It seems like, at this point, we’re all just waiting for the truth to be revealed about the show-within-a-show and who these characters really are. And just when we thought we miiiight be getting somewhere? Things just return to normal. Seeing as this is only Chapter 3, we’ve got time, for sure. But knowing that something huge HAS to be coming? Torture. Pure, AHS-style torture.
Next: American Horror Story S6E3 Recap: Chapter 3
Watch AHS: My Roanoke Nightmare Wednesdays at 10PM E.T. on FX.