“THIS IS THE FINALE OF AMERICAN HORROR STORY?” was the text I received from my sister as the AHS logo filled the screen. It’s probably what most of us were thinking on that Wednesday night; compared to previous 13-episode seasons, the past 10 episodes flew by. Viewers might wonder why Ryan Murphy decided to give us the short end of the stick, but in all actuality, we should probably be grateful. After all, it already feels like a lifetime goes by in every 60-minute segment we watch.

Seriously, let’s recap this past season. First, the original Shelby, Matt and Lee Miller recounted their horrors of moving into the haunted house in the woods where the original lost colony of Roanoke once stood. Portrayed by Audrey Tindall, Dominic Banks and Monet Tumusiime on the show “My Roanoke Nightmare,” the Millers talk about the terror they endured, from finding Lee’s husband dead to a finale during the blood moon that can only be described as crazy. Some people died, some lived—it was a regular AHS season.

Then, a year passes by and the original wife-husband-sister trio return back to the house with their television counterparts for a special reality show segment called “Return to Roanoke: 3 Days in Hell,” which takes place during another blood moon. Sound like a bad idea? Of course. Through found footage in which the show inadvertently warns its audience that only one person will survive, the demonic spirits of the Roanoke colony one by one pick off each member of the house. Nobody is safe; even fan favorite Evan Peters is barely able to make it through two episodes without getting axed.

By the time the blood moon is over, Lee is the lone survivor. Sure, she might have killed a few of her own in a possessed frenzy, and she might have had to take out a couple of deranged hillbillies who tried to eat her, and she may have confessed to killing her own husband — but we all make mistakes.

With everything that’s happened in that house, it’s not like anybody would willingly go back there, right? Wrong. The season finale opens with a flashback, where the cast of the original “My Roanoke Nightmare” is conducting a panel. As the cast jokes around with each other and the audience, it’s eerily reminiscent of real-life panels featuring the AHS cast, and the audience might forget, even if for a second, that they’re watching a show.

However, the feeling doesn’t last long as the flashback ends and news reports and trial footage show Lee getting prosecuted for the murders she committed during the shooting of “Return to Roanoke.” Not only does she get acquitted of those charges, but she is also declared not guilty for the death of her husband, a death she confessed to committing.

After Lee’s trials, she agrees to an exclusive interview with the famous journalist Lana Winters. Yes, the same Lana Winters from season two of AHS is back. So, just to be clear; real-life Sarah Paulson plays Audrey the actress, Shelby, the person Audrey is acting as, and Lana Winters all in one season? Iconic.

Anyway, the two don’t get very far into their interview before the lone hillbilly survivor that Lee failed to kill shows up and guns the place down, knocking out Lana and attempting to kill Lee before she gets away and the interview is cut off. The next thing we know, we’re back at the Roanoke house with a squad of knockoff ghost hunters filming their show “Spirit Chasers” on what happens to be a blood moon.

Yeah, really. If you decide to go back to that house during a blood moon, you deserve everything that’s coming to you.

The crew enters the house in search of some spirits to chase when they run into Lee. Lee, who was told by Lana during their interview that her daughter, Flora, had gone missing, returned to the house to look for her. As shown in “My Roanoke Nightmare,” Flora spent a lot of time with her ghost friend, Priscilla, so Lee assumes that Flora has disappeared to be with her friend. Naturally.

Lee runs through the house to find her daughter as the spirit chasers follow her around before they realize that the lost spirits of the Roanoke colony will actually kill them if they don’t leave. As they try to get out, however, each member of the crew is murdered by the demonic ghosts. Like I said earlier—it’s your own fault.

In a surprising twist, Lee finds Flora, who announces that she wants to die so that she can protect her friend Priscilla from the Butcher, the leader of the lost Roanoke colony. As the only time in the entire season that the scene is filmed in a traditional TV format rather than through “found footage,” Lee offers her own life instead; she will kill herself to protect Priscilla so that Flora can live.

In the next scene, Flora is exiting the house as it bursts into flames and gets into a police car as Lee’s ghost watches over with Priscilla. Flora is the last survivor, not Lee. In the distance, the Butcher and the rest of the Roanoke colony march towards the house, and the episode ends.

Seriously? It’s equal parts amusing and frustrating. Having Lee kill herself to protect Priscilla is a sort of sadistic twist that only Murphy could think up, but what resolution does that offer to the story? The Butcher and the rest of the Roanoke ghosts are still out there; do they get to live on, killing people for all of eternity? Or is there more in store for the Roanoke colony? Knowing Murphy, this is only the beginning of Flora’s and the Butcher’s story, but how long will we have to wait for all the pieces of the puzzle to fit together?

But despite how easy it is to get annoyed, we still come back every time. AHS offers a unique combination of gore and flair that few other television shows have, and what it lacks in tact, it makes up for in drama and suspense. I might have my fair share of critiques, but I will also be sitting at my laptop in anticipation, waiting for the day that Murphy releases the theme for the next season.