If you’re a fan of the TV series American Horror Story, produced by Glee and Scream Queens producers Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy, you probably watched the season six premiere on Wednesday night.
The new series brings back cast members from the previous seasons (Kathy Bates, Lily Rabe, Angela Bassett, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Wes Bentley, and Denis O’Hare to name a few), including some new faces too, such as Cuba Gooding Jr., Andre Holland, and Cheyenne Jackson.
The hype for the season was well executed, considering that there were 20+ teasers, giving viewers subtle hints of the new season's theme.
*SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION*
The new season has a documentary kind of feel. A couple, Shelby and Matt Miller (Lily Rabe and Andre Holland) are recounting their experiences in their new house in North Carolina.
In the beginning, the couple are ecstatic about moving from busy Los Angeles to the countryside. They win their house in an auction between themselves and a trio of ‘hillbillies’. After moving in, the couple begins to witness some eerie occurrences in their new home. Shelby finds herself experiencing the most distress, being taunted by strange visions that she can feel and see for herself; but when she tries to tell her husband Matt about these visions, he is skeptical and does not believe her.
Throughout the course of the episode, the couple continues to talk about the strange occurrences revolving around their house. Each time cutting back to dramatic re-enactments portrayed by actors (Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr.). Matt tells himself that Shelby is only hallucinating and experiencing 'attacks' as a result of her traumatic miscarriage from before their move. He also claims that the perpetrators are the angry hillbillies who didn't win the house in the auction.
Though it has not clicked to Matt quite yet, Shelby is well-aware that there is something very wrong with the house. In an attempt to escape, Shelby flees, taking Matt's car and speeds away. Within a matter of minutes, Shelby ends up hitting a pedestrian head-on, panicking and getting out of her car to check on the person who just flew across the hood of the car. She realizes that it is a woman, and follows her through the woods to check on her, but Shelby loses sight of the woman, as well as the road. She ends up getting lost in the forest, incapable of finding her way back to the car. The episode then ends with Shelby being surrounded by a mob of raggedy people, covered in blood and dirt and wearing old clothes.
As an avid fan of American Horror Story, this season is completely different from the others in the sense that the way it is set up, in a documentary style is new to the anthology. The past seasons were all in real-time events, unlike this one where it has characters reflecting, then having flashbacks and re-enactments. The season's trailers are still a bit vague, and viewers are left wondering how everything will tie all together.
Overall, the new season seems promising, and there is an obvious connection between this season (Roanoke) and Murder House (first season) through two parts: (1) in Murder House, medium Billie Dean Howard mentions the Roanoke colony to Constance and Violet, and (2) one of Ben Harmon's patients tells the story of an urban legend known as Piggy Man, who looks and seems very similar to the person in the pig mask seen in season ?6.
