Kirsty Capes reviews the seventh episode of American Horror Story season 6…
So continues American Horror Story season 6, and the twist has well and truly turned now. After the introduction of a season 2 of ‘My Roanoke Nightmare’, called ‘Return to Roanoke’ last episode, we are now treated to both the cast of the re-enactments and their real-life counterparts re-entering the Roanoke house and experiencing the horrors of the colonists once and for all.
The subversion of the plot and the introduction of a new dimension to the story has certainly refreshed the season, which admittedly dragged prior to season 6 with its show-within-a-show format, which grew tiresome pretty quickly. I’ve been pretty vocal in my previous episode reviews about how I wasn’t fond of the format, and how I thought AHS was recycling old material due to a lack of ideas. I have to say though, episode 6’s big twist has really refreshed the season, breathing new into it and making it far more convoluted than any previous season of AHS.
We now have two versions of every character and a second ‘real-life’ identity for each of the reenactors too. The introduction of these new ‘characters’ has been helpful for the forward movement of the story, and it’s great to see Sarah Paulson to play an uppity British woman Audrey Tindall, and Kathy Bates as Agnes Mary Winstead, the actress who believes she is possessed by the spirit of her character, The Butcher. Everything deliciously convoluted, and the grotesqueness of this season surpasses anything seen so far on the series. It’s even more terrifying now that in the canon of the story, it’s *really* happening, rather than being re-enacted.
I can’t wait for the final three episodes of the season. The twist has completely flipped my opinion and, while I’m still not a huge fan of the colonial ghosts aesthetic, my only real complaint right now is that there is nowhere near enough Lady Gaga. Roll on episode 8…
Kirsty Capes
Originally published October 30, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
