There’s no question that American Horror Story has become something of a television institution. After all, there were probably few who thought that a campy horror show would have enough staying power to last for almost a decade, but it’s still around, examining the darker parts of the human psyche. While the seasons sometimes vary substantially in terms of quality, Roanoke was one of the more focused ones, with fewer episodes and fewer distracting storylines.
However, there were still a few loose ends to this season that left some viewers scratching their heads and wondering what, exactly, the writers were thinking when they put this one together.
Denis O’Hare’s Character
Denis O’Hare is a truly fantastic actor, and it’s always a pleasure to see him, whatever show he happens to appear in. After having pretty significant roles in the previous two seasons, he’s sort of shuffled to the side in this one, only appearing very briefly. While there were probably some good reasons for this creative choice, it does seem like a bit of a missed opportunity to make better use of his considerable acting talents.
The Lack Of A Credit Sequence
One of the best things about this series has always been the opening credit sequence. Even when the rest of a season might not be scary, there is always something viscerally disturbing about the visuals that open up each episode. For some reason, however, they decided to eschew this convention with this particular season, preferring a pretty simple title card (that changes slightly throughout the season). Even now that the season is long over, this still seems like a puzzling creative decision.
The “Pig Boys”
It’s a pretty common opinion that this series tends to wander off in narrative directions that ultimately don’t have much of a payoff. While this season manages to avoid that for the most part, there is a puzzling inclusion of two young boys nuzzling at a sow.
They belong to the vicious Polk family and are taken away by the authorities, but they don’t seem to have any other narrative purpose other than to disturb the viewer and make them wonder anew at the disturbing nature of the hillbilly family.
The Teeth
Okay, even in a show that works overtime to disturb the viewer, this seems a bit excessive. After all, isn’t the idea of teeth randomly raining down from the sky one of the most horrifying things a person can imagine? However, it’s not the fact that it’s excessive that is really the problem; it’s that there doesn’t really seem to be any sort of satisfactory explanation for why this occurs. What’s more, it doesn’t seem to have any bearing on what happens in the rest of the season.
Scathach
Ryan Murphy is one of those people who seems to be inspired by the people that he casts in his shows, and it’s not hard to see why he would feel inspired by someone like Lady Gaga. After her stellar performance in the previous season, it makes sense that she would appear in this one. However, her character-supposedly one of the Druids-makes no sense either historically or narratively, and it seems like a bit of stunt casting rather than a strong story choice.
The Casting Of The Real Thomasin
Kathy Bates has been with the show off and on since she appeared as a malevolent murderess in the third season, and she’s similarly great in this season as the woman cast to play the murderous colonist Thomasin. However, the real puzzler comes from the casting of the real Thomasin, who is someone who doesn’t really have the towering charisma and presence of Bates.
This seems like a rather strange choice, since one would assume that the person cast to play the real colonist should have been someone with more screen presence.
Piggy Man
This series seems to be obsessed with the figure of the Piggy Man, a figure with murderous proclivities (and that is, of course, a pig head on a human body). It’s a fascinating figure, to be sure, and truly horrifying to witness when he makes his appearance on the screen. However, it’s another of those things that seems to just be there for the purpose of causing the audience to feel uncomfortable, without a lot of narrative motivation.
Were The Killer Sisters Really Necessary?
Though this season is pretty narratively tight, it does have a few backstories that seem superfluous. In one notable example, this season includes a pair of sisters who ran a nursing home out of the haunted house. This is strange for two reasons. First, does this season really need another set of strange characters who kill people? Relatedly, what are the odds that they would be able to make this sort of nursing arrangement work out in the middle of nowhere?
Shelby’s Psychotic Break
The main couple that is the center of this season, Matt and Shelby, are truly dysfunctional, and neither of them seems willing or able to confront the real problems in their marriage. When Matt finally accepts that’s in love with the devil Druid lady, he decides to have sex with her and Shelby, apparently suffering a psychotic break, bludgeons him to death. It’s a neat bit of drama and horror, but it doesn’t really make sense in terms of her character.
The Wasting Of Finn Witrock
The casting of Finn Witrock in the previous two seasons was an inspired choice. He has the sort of movie-star good looks that make him a very interesting character, and he has quite a bit of talent as well. Unfortunately, for some reason the show decided to basically waste him this season, casting him as one of the Polk family. It’s rather a come-down from his appearances in previous seasons, and it one can’t help but think it’s rather nonsensical to waste him in such a fashion.