American Horror Story: Roanoke – Chapter 8

By: Kelly Kearney

Story Time With Mama Polk

Chapter Eight of “American Horror Story,” opens with Shelby (Lily Rabe) and Dominic (Cuba Gooding Jr.) traumatized by the hoard of murders that just butchered Agnes (Kathy Bates). They’re watching from the second floor of the house and terrified that they’ll be next on the chopping block. With no other option, they decide make an escape through the tunnels, hoping Edward (Evan Peters) is there to lead them out. Unfortunately, Edward isn’t who greets them – it’s the Taiwanese ceiling crawling Chens.

Over at the Polk farm, Mama Polk (Robin Weigert) has Lee (Adina Porter) tied to a chair in the pot drying room and orders Jether (Finn Wittrock) to start carving Lee up for dinner. While her son is preparing his tools, Mama Polk lets Lee in on a little Polk family history. It seems their cannibalistic diet started in 1929 during the great depression. The Polk’s raised pigs to keep themselves fed throughout the lean times and a group of wandering hobos slaughtered the pigs and ate them. Out of vengeance and starvation, the Polks killed the hobos and fed off their bodies sparking decades of murder that the local police were not only aware of but paid to ignore.

After Mama’s disturbing story time, Jether starts slicing off parts of Lee’s leg while thoughtfully cauterizing her wounds so she doesn’t bleed out. After he skins her thigh and removes her ear (which he explains that pickled ears are a Christmas tradition), Lee starts to come to terms with her looming death. Obviously in pain, Jether offers her what appears to be cocaine which she at first turns down because of her struggle with sobriety but eventually caves in and snorts. High and accepting her fate, she questions why Mama just doesn’t kill her all at once. Why does she torture her a little piece at a time? Jethro says it’s tradition back from when there weren’t any refrigerators to keep meat from spoiling.

Shelby Can’t Go On

Back at the house, Shelby and Dominic try to hide from the Chens when Shelby begins to lose it. She’s lost all hope of ever surviving this nightmare and Dominic pleads with her not to give up. Jokingly, Shelby says, “You’re a really good actor,” and that’s when Piggy man (Marti Matulis) pops out and attacks them. Shelby immediately protects Dominic by stabbing the Piggy Man and then stabbing at the oncoming assault from the Chens. If that’s not bad enough, the giant chandelier in the foyer drops down on top of Shelby’s leg, shattering her ankle. This is the final straw for the heroine. Dominic gets them both to the temporary safety of the bathroom, but Shelby can’t go on. She killed Matt, (Andre Holland) the only man she ever loved, and there is no hope of getting out of this house alive. She picks up a kitchen knife and before Dominic can stop her, she slits her throat.

Over at the Polk farm, Lee asks Jether if she can see Flora (Saniyya Sidney) one last time and he allows her to record a goodbye message. Upset that she will never see her little girl again, Lee confesses to killing Flora’s father! With the truth out and her fate sealed, Lee listens to Jether talk about his dreams of being on TV. He has big hopes of one day being as famous as his kin, the Piggy man. Lee sees her opening and starts to manipulate the simple man by promising him a role in her upcoming TV show. Jether seems taken with Lee and is most likely looking for love outside of Mama’s bed so when Lee comes on to him, Jether is putty in her hands. The former cop asks him to release her hands so she can touch him and that’s when Lee makes her move. In a flurry, the former cop strangles Jether, frees herself, drives a knife into his throat and escapes.

Not the teeth!

While Lee is on the loose, Audrey (Sarah Paulson) and Monet (Angela Bassett) are tied up and at the mercy of Ishmael (Frank Collison) and Lot (Frederick Koehler) Polk. The Polks want revenge on the Miller’s for having their children taken by social services and seem to be confusing the actors with the real people. Audrey tries to convince them that they’re only the actresses, not the actual Shelby and Lee. Monet goes even further when she offers to take them to the actual Matt and Shelby. The dimwitted duo is obviously missing the point because they’re wondering how they can make it rain teeth. The boys need teeth for an offering during the blood moon so they decide to take Monet’s. This is the worst decision ever because Monet fights back, her chair breaks and she escapes leaving Audrey behind. With Monet gone (or I guess Monet’s teeth gone), Mama moves on to Audrey. She’s not happy Monet hurt her son and escaped, but she’s really not happy Audrey spit in her face. Mama rips one of Audrey’s teeth out and that’s when Lee bursts in, knocks Mama Polk out and rescues Audrey who turns around and bludgeons Mama to death.

Lee and Audrey make it back to the house where they find Matt’s bloodied body. Lee is devastated, but there’s not much time for mourning as they must keep moving. The two women lean on each other until they’re inside one of the bedrooms in the house. Audrey tries to comfort Lee as best she can and offers her some pain pills. She heads into the ensuite bathroom and finds a very dead Shelby and Dominic holding a knife. Audrey freaks and has an Emmy worthy meltdown as Lee accuses Dominic of killing Shelby. She doesn’t buy his story about Shelby feeling guilty for killing Matt or her brother’s infidelity. He claims his innocence, but Lee kicks Dominic out of the bedroom and he’s immediately killed by the Piggy man!

We’re going back

Morning comes with a tired but very much alive Audrey and Lee. Audrey’s ready to leave this nightmare behind her, but Lee has other ideas. She wants to go back to the Polk farm and find the recording of their entire ordeal. Audrey is not happy to go digging around the farm where she lost a tooth and was force fed Lee’s leg, but Lee says they must because of what is on the Polk’s recordings. If that tape got out, all anyone would see was Audrey bashing Mama’s head like she’s auditioning for the role of Negan on “The Walking Dead.” Lee wants to sneak in, find the tape and steal their truck leaving this whole mess behind her. While I’m sure Lee is trying to prevent that tape from hurting them, Audrey has no idea about the recording Lee made for Flora. If that got into the wrong hands she would be tried for her ex- husband’s murder. Audrey begrudgingly agrees to go with Lee to save their future reputations and they’re barely out the front door when they run smack into Piggy man…who isn’t Piggy man at all but Dylan (Wes Bentley)? Who is Dylan and how does Audrey know him?