‘American Horror Story: Roanoke’ Season 6: Episode 9 Recap
This week's American Horror Story: Roanoke opens with the introduction of three new characters: three millennial hikers in search of the infamous Roanoke house as a means to up their follower count on Instagram.
While they travel around these deadly woods with adolescent naïveté (and obnoxious GoPro helmets), they're greeted by the figure of a battered woman, who turns out to be Sidney’s (Cheyenne Jackson) assistant — the one who died in the overturned car at the hands of Mister Piggyman. As any normal person would do, the three hikers turn to the cops for help. But the cops deny them, following a long line of fake reports stemming from fans of the Roanoke franchise.
Back in the demon colonial house, Audrey (Sarah Paulson) and Lee (Adina Porter) tell Dylan (Wes Bentley) that while he was away, all of the cast was brutally murdered — and they're all that's left.
Monet (Angela Bassett) is still being held captive by the inbred Polk brothers. And so, Dylan, realizing that he needs to return to his comfy bed at the Motel 6 immediately, conspires with Audrey and Lee to return to the Polk farm to retrieve a truck and attempt to find Monet in hopes that she isn’t dead yet.
As Dylan goes to hot-wire the truck, Audrey finds Monet in shock. As they try to escape from Hillbilly Jackson, Audrey shoots him right in the head — but not before Dylan is attacked at the truck, lasting all of 16 seconds on this consecrated land. A wounded Monet and Audrey run away from the Polk farm, leaving the practically dead Dylan on the ground squirming like a fish out of water, as well as Lee, who is nowhere to be found. While they can’t find Lee just yet, it turns out that Monet was swift and took the camera from the Polk farm — the very camera that contains Lee’s murder confession.
Meanwhile, Lee is struggling to stay alive in the forest, as the woodland witch — AKA the OG Supreme of all the witches, Lady Gaga — finds her and offers her the same deal she offered The Butcher all those episodes ago: eat a heart as sacrifice to forge a Faustian deal that gives her soul away. So, with a couple bites of the vital organ as if it were a Chipotle burrito, Lee becomes a vessel for the Roanoke demons hellbent on purging the land from all the unwanted visitors, starting with the young YouTube hikers from the beginning of the episode.
Lee effectively kills one of them with a swift slit to the throat, as the other two run away.
These two hikers, one of whom is American Horror Story veteran Taissa Farmiga, find salvation in the production trailer where Sidney’s body lies just outside. Seemingly safe, they watch as Lee returns to the house, intent on killing Audrey and Monet. They leave the trailer in hopes of being the heroes to go and save Monet and Audrey from the murderous Lee.
Lee, possessed by the same spirit that seemingly possessed The Butcher, pushes Monet off the balcony. Monet's impaled to death by a wooden spike, Buffy vampire style. Lee then goes after Audrey and they scuffle, but Audrey gets away by stabbing Lee in the leg and running away.
Audrey goes to seek refuge in the underground bunker, but while she is climbing down, Lee chops her in the shoulder and pushes her down into the hole, effectively knocking her out and taking her out of commission.
The hikers watch as the woodland ghosts disembowel Dylan, who somehow stayed alive long enough just to be killed even more brutally the second time around. As they go to escape the murder scene ,which now includes a pile of intestines, they turn to see Lee standing above, ready to kill.
A warning flashes across the screen saying that the following footage was recovered from one of the hiker’s iCloud accounts, deeming the footage raw and exceptionally violent. The two remaining hikers then fall victim to the Roanoke gang, getting speared and offered to the land as sacrifice as they are set ablaze like little Tiki torches on the fourth of July.
The next day, the police seem to have finally woken up, as they finally head to the house to find the bodies of the hikers burnt to death like overcooked marshmallows, plus all the dead bodies littering the house, including Shelby and the rest of the cast of Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell.
They also find Lee who is (seemingly) no longer possessed, passed out on the ground outside the house, delusional and screaming. The cops rescue Lee and place her in the back of the cop car, as she's horribly traumatized.
Audrey, still alive, emerges from the bunker, seeking refuge in the arms of the law. In a final act of salvation, Audrey goes to kill Lee for killing Monet and the others, not understanding that she wasn’t in control, but is gunned down by police before being able to actualize her revenge.
This leaves Lee — husband-killing, pill-popping, heart-eating Lee — as the only survivor to live to tell the tale of what happened at Roanoke.