American Horror Story: Roanoke - Chapter 5
It has some fun back story involving an aristocrat with "family money" spent buying art and moving to "the deep woods of North Carolina" where he builds the house of the first four chapters so he could be far from Philadelphia and the social circles and parties he was not a fan of due to social anxiety issues. Edward Mott and his Colonial home, with slaves and servants who follow his every outburst and whim (including one who is his lover and right hand man), as The Butcher (Bates), her son (Bentley), and The Lost Colony once again emerge to reclaim their land and sacrifice the intruder in their midst is the entire first half. It gave Peters, yet again, a very flashy part as Mott, having a fit over his paintings being destroyed, incorrectly blaming his servants (and dropping them in a cellar because he thought one of them was responsible), and later pulled from his bed, impaled with a stake, and burned on an open fire by The Butcher and her flock. His helping Matt, Flora, and Shelby with an underground escape made sense...and offered a superbly creepy image of his white face (often ghost like) and nearly hysterical eyes, very much a ghoul who just wants his peace and quiet, in this dark tunnel.
The second half gets us back to poor Shelby and Matt trying to figure out how to get Flora out alive and Lee getting a ride by the sheriff near the house in Roanoke. The escape thanks to Mott's underground doesn't last long thanks to the Polks (with Frances Conroy once again freaking me the fuck out as Mama with her desire for "sweet meat", while poor O'Hare is plopped on a table with parts of him cut away, begging to die, later getting his face smashed in by a hammer for having "bad meat") kidnapping them. Even a second escape attempt, thanks to a shotgun blast to the driver, doesn't last long, with Conroy making sure The Butcher isn't denied her sacrifice...it takes the son telling his mother that innocent blood will no longer be accepted. Lee arriving by car to come to the rescue, and Matt, Shelby, and Flora being freed by Mott, the entire climax is full of suspense, action, and a happy ending, even though Shelby's shin was shattered at the request of Mama Polk in revenge for the death of her son.
This season of American Horror Story--or at the least the first five chapters--was certainly visceral, bloody, and potent in its violence. You might could stop right here and feel as if the season was complete. Granted, Murphy and Falchuk have quite a bit of story left to tell.
I don't want to leave out a homage to Japanese horror in the early 2000s with an Onyro emerging to snatch Flora when Matt and Shelby are looking to retreat their home...it does give The Grudge and Ju-On a run for their money. 4/5
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