'American Horror Story: Roanoke' Episode 3 Review

The search for Lee's daughter, Flora, is in full swing, as we see the police involved in the investigation of her disappearance. Matt, Shelby and Lee discover mutilated pig remains along with doll parts from Flora's doll and happen upon a barn, where two feral children are found. It's revealed that they were left behind from the hillbilly family, who have disappeared.

Lee's ex, Mason, comes back, and after days of agony, begins to accuse Lee of hiding Flora. Mason is later found by the police, his body hung and burned in the style we've seen of others in the woods. Matt's security footage reveals Lee to have left for 4 hours during the night, matching with Mason's murder timeframe. Matt and Shelby keep this information to themselves.

A psychic named Cricket arrives to offer his help in finding Flora. After initial doubt, Cricket earns the trust of the family, as Lee has paid him the $25,000 he demanded for his services. Cricket discovers the malevolent spirit of a woman named Thomasin White (Kathy Bates), also called The Butcher. We get her backstory, as she was the wife of the leader of the Roanoke colony, and had dealings with a woods witch after being left to die at the treason of her fellow colonists and son. She exacts her revenge, killing a few of the men responsible but spares her son. Cricket appears to make a deal with White, saying the family will leave the house in exchange for the return of Flora. Lee also tells her the they'll burn the house down, telling Shelby she got Matt's permission to do so.

The craziest part of the episode came when Matt was seen by Shelby having sex with what looked to be the same witch that Thomasin encountered hundreds of years prior. Matt has no recollection of the events, but Shelby isn't buying it. Fueled by anger over the fornication and deceit about burning the house down, Shelby has alerted the police to Lee's possible involvement in Mason's murder, as she is arrested.

I really enjoyed this episode, as we're getting more information about the supernatural forces we're seeing. Kathy Bates is always a very creepy character in all of her appearances of AHS, and she really ramps it up as The Butcher thus far. The whole Roanoke/Croatoan angle is something that has always interested me, and it's really great to have it depicted this season. I'm a sucker for "histories mysteries" and this one is right up my alley. Shelby's actions could see the end of her marriage to Matt, as it seems like they may not end up together, going off of the narrations by their "real versions" of their characters. They never appear together on screen, leading me to believe they may be divorced.