Another horror filled installment of Matt and Shelby's story (or as I like to call it - 'I Purchased The House From Hell'). This episode progressed the story forward and offered lots of information as well as scares.
We start with Shelby still pissed about Matt having sex with Lady Gaga in the woods. Fun fact, Lady Gaga's character is apparently called Scathach. Matt pleads and begs and promises he doesn't know what Shelby is talking about. He doesn't remember any sex with any woman. Finally, after Matt has a full on breakdown, she relents. She decides he is not culpable even if he was having sex with someone because of all the ghost trickery that has been going on.
Shelby decides a bath is just what is needed after all that drama. I hear you, girl. That and a glass of wine. She opens the shower curtains to discover the pigman waiting inside with a knife. He chases her through the house. All the screaming brings Matt who tackles the pigman creature. Just like in any good horror movie though, the pigman refuses to stay down. They run through the house and just when it looks like they are cornered the pigman is axed in the back by none other than Dr. Elias Cunningham (Denis O'Hare). Not even an impressive stab wound can keep pigman down though so Elias yells Croatoan at him which causes the creature to disappear. Elias promises them that the pigman will be back however. Not very comforting, Elias. Side note - Denis O'Hare is, as always, brilliant in this role
Shelby muses that she thought Elias was insane on the videos they watched, and meeting him in person did nothing to change that impression. Since he used the word Croatoan, Shelby was quick to ask him what it meant. He explains it was a message left for the others to find the Roanoke colony (I assume it was left when they left to go inland so that people, like Tomasyn's husband, could follow). He tells her it is word of dark power and blood magic.
It comes out that Elias kept the house after he left but did not live in it. He kept it so nobody else would be able to purchase it. Sadly, he fell behind on property taxes and it fell into foreclosure and that is how Shelby and Matt ended up at the auction. Matt wants to kick him out, but Elias convinces him that they need him. He fills them in on the backstory of the property. Disappearances and deaths have plagued the land since the 1700s. We get a brief glimpse of one poor family who moved to the USA from Taiwan who ended up dying for nothing more than living in the house.
We also learn who had the house built in the first place and it legit made me gasp out loud and let out a squeal of excitement. Edward Philippe Mott built the house in 1792. He was the first person to disappear. He, more importantly, shares a last name with a previous American Horror Story character - Dandy Mott. This ties this season, loosely anyways, to Freakshow. I am assuming Edward is an ancestor of Dandy's and I wonder if murderous inclinations run in the family. On a personal note, I hope we get to see what happened to Edward and I hope Finn Wittrock plays the role (I miss his face on my television screen very much, Ryan Murphy).
Elias finally brings up the serial killer nurse sisters and Matt is quick to point out that he's seen them. We get a glimpse of what happened to the murderous sisters because they apparently filled Elias in on their fate. Tomasyn offered them up as sacrifice since they wouldn't leave. It was bloody, gross and made me really wish I hadn't decided to have a snack while watching this episode. The Butcher certainly lives up to her nickname. Tomasyn's son, Ambrose (yay, Wes Bentley's character has a name) was certainly quick to help her kill now.
Elias points out that all the disappearances and deaths all take place during the same lunar cycle in October. It lasts six days and is referred to as the blood moon. The moon looks blood drenched and it appears that during this time the ghosts haunting them can actually kill instead of just haunt. My one question is why would you not leave at this point? Seriously. Just leave. Go. However, Matt and Shelby refuse to leave without Flora. Elias tells them Flora is already dead if Tomasyn has her. They point out it was Priscilla that took Flora. Elias tells them that he knows where Priscilla likes to play and takes them there. We learn, from Elias, that the people Tomasyn kills are bound to the land. Again, this is Murder House and Hotel rules. If you die on the land you are doomed to haunt it. Interesting. I hope we eventually find out the source of what causes this.
As they walk in the woods they hear something and it leads them to Scathach who is definitely eyeing up Matt. Shelby is basically like "hell no" and CHASES HER THROUGH THE WOODS. See, I told you Shelby was a bad ass. She'd had enough of Scathach's using her wood goddess/witch ways to seduce Matt and she was not going to take it anymore.
Look at how fierce she looks. I adore this character, and Sarah Paulson is, per usual, amazing. It is one of the more average characters she has played, but she's made her stand out. Of course, Shelby doesn't catch Scathach but she does run into some of Tomasyn's previous victims. They advance on her and she tries to use 'Croatoan' to repel them, but it doesn't work. The lunar cycle has started and that means the spirits can kill. It also drops the veil and allows Shelby and Matt to see what is right in front of them, namely Flora. Elias offers to go speak with Priscilla and ask her to let Flora come home as he knows her. He speaks with Priscilla but is shot with some arrows for his trouble. Poor Elias. I figure he is doomed to join the other spirits haunting the land. That seems a very heartbreaking fate for him. In the chaos Priscilla and Flora slip away.
Matt and Shelby arrive back at the house to discover Cricket waiting at their door demanding if they are willing to do things his way now. He scolds them for not leaving when he made the deal with Tomasyn. They could have had Flora back already. He tells them that Tomasyn no longer wants to make any deals, so he needs to figure out their weakness to defeat them. He goes to talk to who we assume is Tomasyn but is revealed to be the person who holds the real power - Scathach. He manages to work out that Scathach's weakness is men. As the moon's power grows so does her desire to have sex. She's currently obsessed with Matt, so Cricket offered up Matt as an incentive to get information.
We learn the backstory of what actually happened to the colony. They moved inland, as previously discovered, and they lived in a plentiful bounty of food and good fortune. Tomasyn was sacrificing people to the land which is what they attributed their good fortune to. However, Ambrose was not a fan of all the killing. He felt they were being lead to Satan thanks to the witch from the woods. Tomasyn calls him out for being a hypocrite because he wasn't complaining when he was desperate for food. He admits that this is true, but says he fears the wrath of god now. He tells her that he is going to go wait for his father and have the ships bring them all back home. He basically threatened her with "I am telling Dad on you" which is hilarious. Oh, Ambrose. Tomasyn thinks they are ungrateful brats, and Scathach agrees they are in need of discipline (in the form of bloodshed).
At dinner that night Tomasyn makes a good show of repenting for all the murder and Ambrose is very on board with this. She offers up crab apples (which she calls special fruit) as an olive branch of sorts. Everyone eats one and almost immediately begins to show signs of poisoning. Tomasyn, while they are weak, goes around shedding their blood. She makes good use of her cleaver and it is a bloody massacre. She invokes the blood moon to tie them to her and promises that they will be obedient in the next life in ways they were not in this one. After killing everyone she has Scathach kill her, sealing the fate of the Roanoke colony. Is this why everyone who dies is tied to this land? It sounds like it. This lunar cycle, when they spirits become capable of killing, is the anniversary of this massacre.
Cricket tells them that he knows a way to take Tomasyn and her spirits down. Shelby is a big fan of this plan. He says he has to go pick up some things from his hotel. Apparently Uber picks up this far out as Cricket calls one. If it is seriously this easy to leave, why have they not left already. Anyways, Cricket's Uber driver is hot. He also happens to share a last name with another American Horror Story character, Myrtle Snow (a witch from the Coven season). Are they connected? Unsure, but I don't think anything is a coincidence on this show, so he very well may be related to Myrtle in some way which ties this season to Coven.
Jawline for days, right? Countess would approve for sure. Turns out that Cricket's Uber gets ambushed though and poor Cricket is taken by Tomasyn's gang.
After some fitful rest Matt awakes to find it is dark outside. He hears noises so he goes to investigate. He's lead to the cellar where they had discovered Elias' tapes. Soft candle light is coming from inside as if someone is setting the mood for sexytimes. Matt thinks perhaps Elias has dragged himself back to the cellar so he goes to check. Turns out it is Scathach who definitely wants some sexytimes with Matt. Interview Matt claims he tried to resist but he ends up having sex with her again. He says that she opened herself up to him, and he experienced visions of her story. She was once a English woman who stowed away on a ship. The ship had a lot of men die due to illness and when she was discovered she was blamed and taken into captivity. She was to be burnt at the stake as a witch. She used her charms to enchant a solider and escape from her cell and she massacred all of her captors which basically turned her into whatever she is. In Matt's words the old magic and the new world created something new, something original.
The fourth wall is once again broken as the interviewer asks Matt why he thinks she showed him all of this. He muses that he thinks she just wanted someone to understand her. She wanted him to join her and he says he would have. Matt seems awfully enthralled with her even at this point. I also can confirm that the interviewer is Cheyenne Jackson. It is totally his voice. Still putting my money on Evan being the pigman.
While Matt is busy having sex, Shelby wakes and discovers Tomasyn and the rest of the colonist advancing on the house with torches. Shelby calls for Matt and it breaks him out of the trance he is in. He runs to help Shelby much to Scathach's disappointment. Tomasyn tells them that the land needs fresh blood and is about to kill Flora when Priscilla pushes Flora and tells her to run. Flora runs right to Shelby and Matt who scoop her up. They rush into the house and all Flora can say is "the man" over and over. They ask her what man, but they quickly realize she means Cricket when Shelby sees him through the window. They deduce that this is why Cricket never came back and watch helplessly as Cricket is disemboweled by Ambrose after being cut open by Tomasyn. The most unsettling, most disgusting scene of the episode and my face mirrored Shelby and Matt's horror. The episode ends with Tomasyn signaling that they were next to die.
With all these ties to the previous seasons being revealed I cannot help but get excited about what is to come. I am entirely sure that there is a reason the fourth wall keeps being broken. We will, at some point, see behind of the scenes of this 'documentary'. It is only a matter of time. The question is why that will happen. What purpose could is serve? That is the question and I am very excited to find out.
Until next time .... may all your Uber drivers be hot ones.
