At the end of the day, we tune in to AHS to be scared and grossed out in equal measure, and while Roanoke doesn't lead with the grotesque twists of previous seasons, it's full of memorably frightening moments. Remember, this is the season where it rains teeth. That's a level of horror that I quite frankly could have lived without.
In addition to the teeth, we also have serial-killer nurses, the gruesome rampage of The Butcher, the haunting origin story of Piggy Man, and those disturbing hill folk cannibals, the Polks, who eat bits of Lee's leg as she's forced to watch. There's enough nightmare fuel in the season's 10 episodes to keep you awake for at least a month, and that's before we add in the meta horror of the social commentary.
Because of the secrecy surrounding the season when it first aired, it's understandable that the formula-breaking Roanoke initially put people off. However, it's past time that this season got its due. Roanoke is a scary, smart, and well-crafted season of television that deserves to be revisited and appreciated as the most daring instalment of AHS made so far — and with season 10 delayed, there's no better time for a marathon than now.