Thursday, November 17, 2016

My Review of American Horror Story: Roanoke: Chapter 10


Written by Ryan Murphy And Brad Falchuk
Directed by Bradley Buecker

Lee: "I did not come here to be put on trial again."
Lana: "Well, why are you here, Lee? Why did you agree to this interview?"

And if the previous nine episodes didn't feel enough of a show within a show, then this week we had a season finale that decided to mash up elements of Making A Murderer, Snapped, Ghost Hunters and a TV special with famous talk show host as 'final girl' Lee Harris had to deal with the world outside of the second worst home in America to live in.

First of all, this episode massively contradicted what we were told a month. It turns out that Return To Roanoke: Three Days In Hell actually did air after all, which means that Lee found herself on trial for multiple murders, including the killing of her own husband. This also resulted in Flora being brought in by the authorities in an attempt to take Lee but the episode really did prove that she was like teflon and she managed to be acquitted of all the murder charges.

With Lee being America's most polarising figure, a familiar face was drafted in give Lee a chance to give her side of the story. Step forward, Lana Winters from the best season of the series - Asylum (Sarah Paulson now technically playing three characters this season), who gave Lee a special to open up more before Lot Polk attempted to kill the both of them on live television.

On the plus side, Lot was killed off instead and both Lana and Lee managed to survive another. I do like the comparisons both women made to each other, even when they also unsettled one another as well. The continuity nods to Lana's story was great and unlike Queenie last season, at least Lana actually survived her appearance this time around. Then again, so did Billie Dean Howard from last season's finale too.

As for Lee, well, she was being accused of kidnapping Flora yet again, only for it to turn out that Flora just wanted to hang out with Priscilla for the rest of eternity.That coupled with a few vacuous Spirit Chasers and another cast member being killed off, Lee then made the decision to sacrifice herself so that Flora would actually leave the deadly house.

I have to admit, it's an interesting way to resolve Lee's storyline and there was something rather cathartic in seeing the house actually burn during the last few moments. This whole season has certainly been a different experience to what we've had before, so the unexpected way of ending things worked enough in it's favourite.

- The opening scene with Trixie Mattel talking to the cast at Paleyfest was delightful and silly, along with the overzealous British fan.
- Denis O'Hare's character was called William Van Henderson while Leslie Jordan's was called ashley Gilbert. We didn't get Matt Bomer after all this season.
- We also never found out what actually happened to Lee's first daughter too. Maybe that was a plot strand the season shouldn't have bothered with.
- Chronology: Months after the events of Chapter 9.

Chapter 10 provided enough of a satisfying conclusion to this season. While we've had shorter episodes (both in order and time), scaled back promotion and cast members, we have however had tighter plotting and less distractions too. I do hope however there is less secrecy surrounding the next season's central theme though.

Rating: 7 out of 10

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