In Its Riskiest Season, 'American Horror Story: Roanoke' Delivers

For all the dildo drill bit demons, breast milk-drinking maniacs, freaky rubber men, killer Santas and Minotaur sex scenes, the sixth installment of "American Horror Story" has been the anthology series' riskiest season to date.

Leading up to Season Six, co-creator and showrunner Ryan Murphy and the FX marketing team kept quiet about its theme - something that's usually revealed several months before the start of any "AHS" season. Instead of spilling the beans, FX released a number of teaser trailers, which drew on various horror tropes (vampires, zombies, mutants, oh my!). Presented as clues to the upcoming season, all but one of the clips were red herrings.

Debuting on Sept. 14, (a month earlier than the usual "AHS" premiere date), fans found out together that Season 6 of "AHS" would be centered around the mystery of the Roanoke colony, also known as the Lost Colony - the 16th century colony that was settled on an island off current day North Carolina that vanished without a trace.

What made "AHS: Roanoke" so thrilling is its framing device: "AHS: Roanoke" is a show within a show. Presented as "My Roanoke Nightmare," the series is setup like a cheesy paranormal investigation basic cable show where Shelby (Lily Rabe) and husband Matt (Andre Holland) tell a horrifying story about a haunted house they bought, which is plagued with freaky local hillbillies, the ghosts of the Lost Colony and those who were murdered by them. We see their story, which is reenacted by actors, play out on the show. Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr. play Shelby and Matt while Angela Bassett plays Matt's sister Lee. Kathy Bates, Evan Peters and Lady Gaga each play a different ghoul haunting Shelby, Matt and Lee.

Watching "My Roanoke Nightmare" for the first time was thrilling; not knowing what to expect for the sixth season of "AHS" added an extra level of intrigue and excitement. Written by Murphy and co-creator Brad Falchuk, the premiere episode laid the groundwork for the rest of the season. It felt small, almost like a play, with a core cast of characters with developed personalities and motives. "Chapter 1" was restrained -- even refined -- but still delivered the spooks and scares without going overboard. "American Horror Story" finally returned to its roots: horror and storytelling.

Over the last six episodes, "AHS: Roanoke" managed to avoid falling into the trappings of past "AHS" seasons. Character motivations were spelled out while riffing on classic horror tropes: Why not just move out of a terrifying haunted house? "We're not letting those ghosts take our home!" Things didn't get overly complicated and "AHS: Roanoke" featured fantastic performances from the cast.

At some point early on this season, Murphy let it be known that there was a game-changing twist in store, which would happen in the sixth episode. Fans of "AHS," which has built up a pretty big following over the years and remains one of FX's most watched shows, spent the last few weeks speculating and coming up with theories as to what will happen on "Chapter 6."

Online discussion is a large part of what makes a hit TV show in 2016. HBO's latest success, "Westworld," is built on a number of mysteries, allowing people to flock to Reddit and other fandom message boards/social media to share their fan theories. It's no different with "AHS." Ever since Murphy let the cat out of the bag about the impending twist, fans have been clamoring online with what they think will happen to Shelby, Matt, Lee and the rest of the "My Roanoke Nightmare" crew.

The shoe dropped Wednesday and "Chapter 6," wonderfully directed by Bassett, shifted gears from a cheesy paranormal reality show to a "Real World"-type show (that we see with found footage) called "Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell." We're told "My Roanoke Nightmare" was a huge hit - think double the popularity of "Game of Thrones" or "The Walking Dead." Its cast has become superstars and smarmy TV producer Sydney (Cheyenne Jackson) managed to convince its core crew, including the real life Matt and Shelby, to return to the haunted home for three nights during the blood moon -- the time of the year the alleged haunting takes place.

That the show would switch to another reality TV style program was among the fan theories, which ranged from the bizarre to the intriguing. But Murphy would have been better off had he stuck to his original game plan with this season: keeping quiet.

Not knowing what to expect is part of the fun of any show but especially with "AHS," which relies on unexpected turns and OMG-twists. Warning viewers to expect something at a specific moment may hype them up and drive online chatter but it can also let fans down: Nothing is scarier than your own imagination or the unknown. Expecting the unexpected is always more enthralling than expecting.

"Chapter 6" was ultimately a successful episode, however. Reviews and recaps were mostly very positive, lauding the change with its framing device. The episode was funny (seeing a deranged Kathy Bates slashing people on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as The Butcher was hilarious) and offered some genuine terrifying jump scares.

Still, it appears as though Murphy and Co. cannot contain themselves when it comes to teasing the surprises "AHS: Roanoke" contains. In "Chapter 6" a title card appeared, saying that "Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell" never actually aired (what we are seeing is found footage) because all but one of the people involved in the show were killed. Knowing this takes away a lot of suspense from the back half of "AHS: Roanoke." Sure, we know some characters are going to be offed - this is "AHS" after all. But giving away this specific information adds nothing to the viewing experience; no one likes to be spoiled.

On top of that, Murphy has been giving away a lot of the secrets in the "AHS" universe. Murphy recently spoke to E! News about the series and the story's headline reads: "'American Horror Story: Roanoke': Ryan Murphy Reveals Who Not to Trust.'"

I won't read the interview but I think I already know who not to trust. And he's not even on the show.