American Horror Story: Roanoke episode 7 review: Having a Negan moment

*WARNING: SPOILERS FOR AMERICAN HORROR STORY SEASON 6, EPISODE 7*

'Tis the season for people's faces to get smashed in with blunt objects. Obviously, there's no way American Horror Story could have so neatly timed this piece of televisual genius - unless we really do want to roll with the theory that Ryan Murphy is an evil wizard - but the fact we got our very own Negan moment was just the icing on the insanity cake that was episode 7.

Audrey Tindall (Sarah Paulson) has so far been right about the real Shelby (Lily Rabe) being largely "fiery and pathetic", but that was before she went insane and took a pipe to her husband Matt (André Holland); leaving behind a mess of face pulp and regret after discovering that the real reason he'd returned to the Roanoke house was to be with Scathach.

No one on this cursed planet could possibly have been expecting things to unfold quite like this; plus, we're opening up a whole bunch of doors when it comes to the house's tendency to drive its inhabitants to bloodshed, which could potentially prove explosive down the line - what exactly is the reason Agnes Mary Winstead (Kathy Bates) was driven to such depths of insanity by playing the Butcher?

Episode 7 proved that we're in for a wild, bloody ride from here on out. I'm going to go ahead and say this has been the best episode of the series by far thanks to its uninhibited sense of carnage firing narrative at a rocket pace; remember when this show was mainly Shelby creeping around yelling her husband's name? Oh, how times have changed.

Shelby's Negan moment aside, we weren't short on bloodshed elsewhere. Clinging nicely to horror logic, Rory (Evan Peters)'s death from last week was neatly followed up by the deadly departure of the second most asshole-ish character on the show, Sydney (Cheyenne Jackson). "Who in America is not coming back after they see that?" Sydney chimes about Rory's murder, continuing his character's meta-existence on the show and confirming that, yes, if you kill off Evan Peters on American Horror Story you have certainly got our undivided attention - and impotent rage.

One of the most compelling decisions of this post-twist narrative is Agnes' Butcher delusions; adding this secondary layer of threat has meant the show can play more coy with Roanoke's actual ghosts, and it's also allowed us a little more time with Bates' fabulous performance (and THAT accent). Indeed, this week's stand out dramatic moment certainly belongs to Bates: in a monologue to camera in which she slips back and forth between the Butcher and Agnes.

Wounded by Lee (Adina Porter) and her handy firearm, the pain seems to strike a sudden vulnerability within such a cold-blooded murderer. "It was my destiny. They chose me. I was the fan favorite. All my life people have underestimated me. They only booked me for three episodes, but I got five, because the fans wanted me," Agnes rather pathetically offers.

Now, Agnes starts to make sense. She clings to The Butcher because it's only in The Butcher that she ever found a sense of purpose. And, with that sudden understanding, Agnes finds her end by the hands of her own maker. Yes, the real Butcher (Susan Berger) has made her presence known; looking like Queen Elizabeth I has rolled in a pigsty and landing her knife right in the middle of poor Agnes' skull.

So, that's Sydney, Matt, and Agnes as the main victims of this week's shenanigans; yet, things are looking pretty shady for Audrey, Lee, and Monet (Angela Bassett) too. Navigating the woods under the Blood Moon while on the search for medical care for Shelby after she's struck in the back by Agnes' knife (Shelby's got a whole bunch of problems this week), they've been kidnapped by the real Polk family.

These Polks seem to be avid pot growers, but also don't seem to have shed their cannibal ways; Mama Polk (Robin Weigert) is seen getting Lee's poor leg all seasoned up for tasting, right before that same leg gets all stabbed with a carving fork. The re-introduction of the Polk family also lets Ryan Murphy troll fans once more by introducing a regular actor in a totally-blink-and-you'll-miss-it role.

Finn Wittrock is not back as Dandy Mott, nor is he re-treading the family tree by playing Edward Philippe Mott. That would both make sense, and has been something the fans have been desperate for ever since the name Mott was first dropped; automatically meaning Murphy was going to do whatever the most opposite of that was and watch as everyone started tearing their hair out and screaming.

Dandy's perfectly coiffeured curls are nowhere to be seen; replaced by an awkward, uneven bowl cut glimpsed ever so briefly on one of the Polk boys. Yes, Finn Wittrock is playing a cannibal hillbilly.

Now, Murphy has stated that Wittrock's character is the "most f*cked up character of all time". That's some pretty big talk. I'm not even sure how you could top Dandy Mott as the most f*cked up Finn Wittrock character of all time, considering he did kill his own mother and attach an Avon Lady's head to her so he could have his very own Siamese twin corpse puppet.

Episode 8's trailer does seem to be hinting Wittrock's going to have his big moment next week, with plenty of tortures both physical and psychological in store for Lee; though I wouldn't be surprised if there's something of a twist waiting in the wings for his character.

Also teased were both the "real" iterations of Scathach and Edward Phillippe Mott, seen so briefly it's actually pretty much impossible to tell who's actually playing them. I'd be inclined to think that Taissa Farmiga is playing Scathach and Matt Bomer is playing Mott, since they're the remaining promised cast members yet to turn up and that Mott ghost is clearly rocking a jawline for days.

That said, I'm sort of beyond making predictions at this point. As with Wittrock's reveal and Peters' double death, it's clear this season is out to deliberately disrupt and defy all fan expectations; which, in a TV landscape where Jon Snow not being dead was meant to be some earth-shakingly shocking twist, makes American Horror Story one of the most genuinely surprising things on TV of late.

I did confess last week that Roanoke's BIG TWIST felt a little too much like cynical tactical work on Ryan Murphy's part, in his effort to keep audiences from dropping off mid-season. My opinion there hasn't necessarily changed, but this week's approach felt so playful in its teasing that it feels like - instead of trying to justify its approach - Roanoke has fully embraced its audience-baiting shamelessness.

Let the beautifully exasperating madness continue.