“American Horror Story:” Season Six Episode Four

“American Horror Story” season six episode four was a whirlwind of death, discovery, and exposition. The episode starts out with Shelby screaming her lungs out at Matt because of the escapade with woodland Lady Gaga that she had witnessed him have in the previous episode. Its no suprise that Matt remebers nothing of his sexaul assualt but its almost funny how quick Shelby goes from raging and betrayed victim to forgiving and understanding housewife.

Shelby can, “see in his eyes that he wasn’t culpable” and while this is probably supposed to show that Matt and Shelby have such a strong bond with each other- it comes off as lazy writing.

After Matt and Shelby reconcile the Pig Man shows up to attack Shelby. I don’t know why but seeing Matt literally jump the Pig Man in order to save Shelby just made me laugh. Maybe because so far the Pig Man has been this elusive and threatening figure in the background and seeing Matt tackle him just feels absurd.

Also what is the purpose of having all these pigs- pigs aren’t relevant to roanoke history, they don’t really symbolize anything. Maybe there’s an actual meaning behind pigs but at this place in the story I don’t see the point. There are so many pig references in the show that it has to mean something- if it doesn’t, then it’s just something stupid that the writers expect the watchers to accept.

Speaking of random people popping up, the Pig Man is banished (for now) by Elias. Elias? Who? That guy from the home videos that Matt and Shelby found in the cellar. I don’t think anybody expected Elias to appear because he looked pretty dead in the basement video that Lee and Shelby found.

This is also the first time that yelling Croatoan at a ghost actually works. Why did it work only with the Pig Man ghost but no one else? No idea, but the immediate threat is gone for now and Elias wants to help. With his help, we learn that every year during the same moon cycle called “the dying grass moon” whoever lives in the house is brutally murdered by the Butcher.

Turns out this house has the world record for people dying in it. Really though, how is it that entire families are able to go missing from this house and no one is suspicious? Anyway, Elias is full of answers and Shelby and Matt barely even question why Elias is so happy to help them. Sadly we don’t get time to actually discover his intentions because in the next scene he’s shot by a dozen arrows and killed.

At least Elias leads Shelby and Matt to Flora before he meet his untimely demise. We find Flora walking, blindfolded, among the ghosts of all the people who have died on the land surrounding the house. Sadly Flora disappears with the rest of the ghost but at least she is safe and sound. For now.

Even though Matt and Shelby have witnessed proof of the fact that if you’re in the house you’re going to die, they decide they can’t leave without Flora. It’s not like they can rent a condo nearby and get Flora without endangering their lives- oh wait they can, they just refuse to leave the house.

This episode has an emerging theme of people trying to help then dying. Cricket, the psychic from the episode before, is here to shed some light on woodlands Lady Gaga. Cricket gets disemboweled shortly after though, in the most bloody and gruesome way- i had no idea intestines were that long.

Towards the end of the episode it’s revealed that the Butcher moved the colony of roanoke to the house and the land around it. They also sacrifice people to Lady Gaga’s gods in exchange for bountiful harvests. We learn that she’s fueled on blood and…sex? Lady Gaga started out as some English girl gone wild but as to how she became so powerful, it is never explained.

The episode ends with Priscilla saving Flora and Matt and Shelby still not leaving the house.

Tune in next Wednesday at 10 p.m. to see the next episode of Season six of “American Horror Story.”