‘American Horror Story: Roanoke’ episode 5 review: Is the nightmare over? Evan Peters arrives

Given that Evan Peters is one of the few actors to appear in every single installment of the “American Horror Story” franchise, it was certainly unusual to wait five episodes in order to meet his character. We do have to admit that the moment we first saw him, we immediately started to hear Mr. March in his voice, even if he was centuries older and not as ruthless and awful as he once was.

What we did learn is that much like Matt and Shelby in the presence, he drew the ire of the Butcher in a big way — something that led to Matt and Shelby doing the right thing and finally trying to contact the police about what went down. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite matter when you had some of the evil guys from the present (plus Frances Conroy) ready and willing to do some serious damage. She did everything in her power to ensure that Shelby couldn’t run this time … and yeah, it was just about as gory as you’d imagine.

Let’s backtrack for a moment on Lee – She was brought in for the murder of Mason, but she repeatedly asserted that she didn’t do it. Eventually, she was let go before seeing a series of messages from Matt, including one that thankfully let her know that Flora was safe. On this show, you have to take your little victories wherever you can. Unfortunately, what she was about to learn was that the child was with Matt and Shelby while they were in the midst of their current torture.

Back to Shelby and Matt – In the forest, Conroy’s character led the two of them to the Butcher once more, and this brings us back to some bad news for Flora: She was about to die at the hands of the Butcher when one of her own turned on her, Peters’ character got involved, Lee came charging in with a car, and effectively, everyone had a chance to escape the weirdness — and this was WEIRD and then some. Everyone managed to escape the situation, and as a result of that, got a chance to stay in a hotel. (Hey, there’s your “Hotel” reference!)

While they were out, Present Shelby made it clear that the nightmares continued. Yet, will they for the show now? It felt like the closing minutes ended the chapter of Matt and Shelby in the wilderness, but there are five more episodes to go…

As a whole, we’d say that this was certainly compelling, but we still wish that the show had stayed a little more grounded that diving into so much weirdness in the past. Grade: B-.

Next week – You can head over here now to score a few more updates regarding precisely what is up next on the show. (Photo: FX.)