American Horror Story: Roanoke Chapter 8 Recap

The real Butcher has just killed Agnes in front of the house while Dominic and Shelby watched, horrified. With the colonists spreading out across the front yard, their options for escape are severely limited. Shelby leads Dominic into the cellar, past Matt’s body, and into the tunnel. They see something up ahead. Shelby hopes it is Mott’s ghost; he may help them. But it turns out to be an evil spirit crawling along the ceiling. They rush back into the house and try to barricade the doors. It’s not until they get into the kitchen that their barricade holds. Shelby has given up and knows they are going to die there. Dominic insists there must be “rules” they can use; they just have to stick together. Pig man bursts in, followed by the Japanese ceiling crawler, then the nurses. The monsters cause the stairwell chandelier to drop, crushing Shelby’s foot. Dominic helps her up and they run upstairs, locking themselves in the bathroom. Once there, Shelby mourns Matt, and is shocked that she could kill the only man she ever loved. In one swift stroke, she slits her neck. She is dead before Dominic can make it across the room to her.

Over on the Polk property, Mama is sharpening her knife, telling Cain to cut a nice filet off Lee. In the proper, stereotypical villain way, Mama shares the history of the Polks. It was during the Great Depression, 1929, when there was nothing to eat. The Polks found hobos on their land. They had slaughtered the Polk’s last pig, and when the Polks discovered this, they vowed they would never go hungry again. They killed and ate the hobos, finding their “power” and “place” in the world. “We were the first family. We always will be, as long as we keep up tradition.” The police have been in their pockets for years.

Cain flays a big chunk of Lee’s thigh, and cuts her ear off, explaining that that would be saved for Christmas. Lee tries to play on Cain’s sympathies, saying she wants to spend another Christmas with her daughter. Cain reveals that he wanted to be on the TV show, and Lee promises to get him on if he frees her. He doesn’t; instead he reveals the history of Pig Man. After delivering hogs to the World’s Fair in Chicago, Kincaid Polk decided to kill humans and drain them like the butchers do to his pigs. He did this while wearing a pig’s head. This is the long way of saying that Cain isn’t going to free Lee; even he can’t leave.

Cain offers Lee a line of oxy, suggesting she take it before Mama cuts off her shoulder. Lee initially refuses because she is an addict, but after Cain explains why Mama takes piece by piece instead of just killing her is because when the Polks started their cannibalism, there were no iceboxes. This means the meat would stay fresher, longer, if they kept the human alive. Plus, Mama believes that fear and anxiety give the meat a good tang. Lee takes the bump of oxy. Sensing she isn’t going to survive, she has Cain record a video for Flora in which she admits that she was the one who killed Mason.

With the video finished, Cain tries to start cutting up Lee, but he doesn’t want to hurt her. He likes her. He leans in awkwardly and Lee catches on. She wants him to touch her, and she doesn’t balk when he wants to record it to “watch later.” Lee wants to touch him, so he unstraps her. Lee reaches into Cain’s pants – and grabs him by the balls. She strangles him into unconsciousness, then unstraps her feet from the chair. When Cain starts to stir, Lee knives him dead.

Elsewhere on the Polk compound, Audrey is being held with Monet. The Polks blame them for getting their babies taken away, and the pair try to explain that they are actors. The offer to take the Polks to the real Matt and Shelby in exchange for their freedom. They decline. Lot doesn’t have enough teeth for his necklace (which Mama tells him will protect him from the spirits of the Blood Moon), so they decide to take the pearly whites of the actresses, starting with Monet. Lot’s pliers break, as does the chair. When Lot goes to get better pliers, Papa tries to get Monet back on her feet. She knocks him out and tries to untie Audrey but can’t get the binds off. She promises to return for her and takes off. Mama comes in, and Papa tells her “it” ran off. While Papa goes off to find Monet, she turns her attention to Audrey. “My boys want teeth,” she hisses, and rips out one of Audrey’s teeth.

Before she can get to another tooth, Lee shows up and knocks Mama out. She has no trouble undoing Audrey’s binds while Audrey sobs her gratitude. Mama coughs, showing she isn’t dead, and Audrey bashes her head in with a hammer. The pair go back to the house, entering through the tunnel. They pass Matt’s corpse on their way into the house, and Lee momentarily falls apart. Inside, they find the house empty and the chandelier crashed on the ground. The ladies go upstairs and Lee lays down while Audrey digs out some OxyContin for Lee. Audrey goes into the bathroom to get them some water and discovers Shelby, dead on the floor. Audrey loses it in a total actress moment, screaming, “it feels like a part of me is dead!” Dominic finally reveals himself, sitting in the corner, clutching the bloody knife. Neither Audrey nor Lee believe that Shelby killed herself, and they force Dominic into the hall. As they shut the door, Pig Man appears. Audrey has a change of heart, but Lee doesn’t. Dominic is butchered in the hall.

Morning comes. Audrey and Lee have survived the night. But now, Lee wants to go back to the Polk farm. Audrey thinks she is insane, even after Lee points out that her murder of Mama Polk was caught on camera. Audrey doesn’t care if the whole world knows she killed the person who was torturing her. Lee insists that in the wrong hands, it won’t matter. Clearly, she just wants to get back her confession of Mason’s murder. Audrey, reluctantly, agrees to go. They open the front door – and find the Pig Man waiting for them. They hit him over the head, and the Pig Man removes his head, revealing he is Gilliam, the actor that played the Butcher’s son.

Check out the promo for next week’s episode of the FX Networks series!

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