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American Horror Story: Roanoke’s Five WTF Moments: Finn Wittrock as a Sex-Starved Cannibal Hillbilly

Let’s be honest: After the Wednesday, November 2, episode of American Horror Story, it’s a struggle to pick just five moments that made us go “WTF?!” AHS pulled out all the stops with its latest dispatch from Roanoke in a barn burner of an episode directed by Sons of Anarchy alum Gwyneth Horder-Payton. From survival sex and pickled people parts to a surprise arrival and a huge reveal, chapter 8 of this found-footage horrorfest was full of big moments.

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Polk family traditions

The holidays are coming, and it’s a perfect time for sharing family stories over a nice, warm meal! So naturally, AHS delved this week into the origins of the Polk family’s proud tradition of people-eating. After cutting off the ear of Lee (Adina Porter) and dropping it into a vinegar brine (a Christmas treat for the Polk kiddos, apparently), Jether Polk — played by a completely unrecognizable Finn Wittrock — explained to Lee why they butcher their victims alive rather than just killing them in one go: “Fear and exhaustion gives the jerky a delicious tang.”

Shelby’s suicide

After a terrifying pursuit from the basement to the master bathroom — the Chens, the murder nurses and Piggy Man all put in an appearance — a devastated and hopeless Shelby (Lily Rabe) had a quiet moment to contemplate how she’d just murdered her husband … and decided to do the ghosts’ job for them, slitting her own throat.

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Unless she shows up as a new spook in the Roanoke mansion, this will be the last we’ve seen of her.

Mason’s murderer revealed!

Between all the slashing, cannibalism and decapitated pig heads, we’d almost forgotten that there was still an unsolved mystery at the heart of American Horror Story: Roanoke — the identity of Mason Harris’ murderer. Everyone thought it was Lee — and as it turned out, everyone was right!

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In a videotaped message to Flora before what she assumed would be her death, Lee admitted that she killed Mason. (The reveal was a decision she’d later come to regret, but we’ll get to that in a second.)

Jether’s unhappy ending

Lesson learned: Don’t make your deathbed confession of murder until you’re 100 percent sure you’re not gonna survive. As it turned out, Jether Polk was a little bit lonely and a lot dumb — enough to loosen Lee’s restraints in order to get busy with her. Lee wasted no time twisting that situation to her advantage, and it was hello and goodbye to Jether. Seducing your would-be murderer is the oldest trick in the book, but ahhh, such a classic.

It’s raining Piggy Men!

In the last scene of the episode, the remaining survivors numbered three: Monet (Angela Bassett) had escaped into the woods, while Lee and Audrey (Sarah Paulson) managed to stay alive in the house until sunrise. But when they tried to walk out the front door, they were confronted by Surprise No. 1: a horrifying shirtless specter with a pig’s head. Surprise #2: He whipped it off to reveal a familiar face underneath. Wes Bentley, what are you doing here?

Tell Us: What did you think of Finn Wittrock’s brief pop-in?

American Horror Story: Roanoke airs on FX Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET. 

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