Did Ryan Murphy realise Roanoke was the best American Horror Story season he'd conceived since Asylum? The finale's return for Asylum's iconic Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson), coming out of retirement to interview Lee, certainly seems to suggest he did.
It's a benchmark moment for the show, and for the actress – Paulson has played Audrey playing Shelby this season, Audrey as herself, and now Lana Winters, making it something of a showcase for the clear fan (and Murphy) favourite.
But it's not just Winters that makes us flashback to season two. "I haven't been this freaked out since we were in that asylum," says Bob Kinnaman, one of the presenters of Spirit Chasers, the final documentary crew to make the journey to Roanoke. Die-hard AHS fans would probably agree with the sentiment.
Spirit Chasers is one of several media outlets who contribute to Chapter 10. We also get a Paleyfest-style panel interview with cast / filmmakers in front of a rabid crowd, YouTube videos, footage from an aborted Lana Winters Show, American Crime Story-style trial footage and 24-hour rolling news coverage of a siege.
The effect is you don't so much feel as you're watching an episode, as you feel like you are channel-hopping in a universe in which these events actually took place.
But, despite the cut-up techniques that form the structure of the episode, the narrative itself is fairly straightforward. We see fan reaction to Lee, the trial for her on-camera murders (her defence? Hallucinogenic 'magic pot'), before a vengeful Polk invades Lana Winters' set to take revenge on Lee for the murder of his family, then it's back to Roanoke for the final act of a season that's kept us captivated.
What to Read Next
As a closer, it's not perfect, mainly because Chapter 10 feels like an episode too far for the season. Roanoke would have almost certainly felt stronger if it had ended last week; Chapter 10 contains one too many returns to that cursed house, with one too many sequences made up of ghosts carrying flaming torches, and, sadly, in the Ghost Chasers, one too many lightly-sketched set of lambs filming their own slaughter.
But we don't want to end the season on such a bum note, especially when there's plenty to celebrate here. As (the still brilliant) Lana Winters tells a hollow-eyed news anchor: "It's always been about Flora."
The story of Lee's love for her daughter, and the lengths she'll go to protect her, has been the spine that's kept Roanoke on its feet, and Chapter 10 concludes that particular plotline extremely satisfyingly, giving Lee and Flora closure, even if the episode's final shot suggests the Butcher's ghosts might yet keep Priscilla's promise to save Flora until last…
As we look forward to the already-commissioned seventh season, let's hope Murphy learns lessons from Roanoke. There's been lots of firsts this year – the show premiered in September for the first time, and that, combined with a brand new Game Of Thrones-style 10-episode run, meant there was no need for a mid-season break this year. All of these elements contributed to making Roanoke the most coherent and enjoyable season since Asylum.
We'd like maybe a little more of that iteration's madness to come back next year, as well as the much-missed title sequence / music, but until then, we'll bid our time by revisiting Roanoke, a show that was born to be binged.
Freelancer writer
Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.
Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.
Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.
His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.
In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.
Jim Carrey once mistook Sam for Johnny Cash, and John Carpenter told him to ‘Keep up the good work.’ He promises to try his best.
