On the Wednesday before last, the much anticipated first episode of season six of American Horror Story finally premiered. The series is set up as an anthology, with each season being its own story, independent from the rest of the seasons. The new season, which was kept a secret up until the first episode, something that had not been done before by the creators of the series, was revealed to be a documentary-type show taking its name after the season’s name, My Roanoke Nightmare, based on the Roanoke Colony in North Carolina.

Quickly after talking to a few peers about this season it became clear that not everyone knows about the Roanoke Colony, so a brief explanation to help clear up some confusion is in order.

The Roanoke Colony was a colony founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585 for England under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1587 a colonist named John White sailed back to England from the colony for supplies, leaving behind about 115 colonists. White was unable to return for three years due to the fact that all ships that sailed for England were commandeered for use in the war against Spain and the Spanish Armada.

After returning in 1590, he found the entire colony to have vanished. The people were gone, and several buildings were dismantled. Nothing was a mess and it didn’t look like anyone was forced to leave. Everyone simply disappeared and although we have made many speculations, no one knows for certain what happened to those Roanoke Colonists.

Now, just how vital is this information? Based on the two episodes that have been released so far, not much. There have been several scenes that weren’t really explainable as well as certain allusions but nothing that would really detract from the story if you didn’t have this information. However, in episodes soon to come this information will be helpful, since the whole season is seemingly based on this mysterious colony.

It’s impressive how quickly one feels a connection to the new characters after just two short episodes.They feel familiar and their fear is understandable. Still, that very connection is broken occasionally when the characters make decisions that you can’t see anyone in their right(or wrong) mind making.

The story as a whole has been well written so far, especially considering its unique nature; the story is narrated by two characters, while being simultaneously acted out by those characters, who are being played by a different set of actors. It’s confusing on paper but in practice makes perfect sense.

The most recent episode was ended with an intense cliffhanger, a staple of the show- hopefully it will be resolved by this Wednesday night!