Meadow's Fate On 'AHS: Cult' Remains A Mystery

The third episode of American Horror Story: Cult ended in bloodshed and screaming (which is really par for the course), but kept things ambiguous when it came to the fate of its victim. Meadow Wilton disappeared from her home, leaving behind an incriminating puddle of blood in her bed — and a mystery. So what happened to Meadow on AHS: Cult? Was she murdered? Kidnapped? Did she fake her own death Gone Girl-style? Unfortunately, there weren't any answers to be found in "Neighbors From Hell," though that doesn't mean there were no hints about what might have happened to her.

The episode provided a look beneath the surface at Meadow and her husband Harrison. Their first episode presented them as a quirky but not necessarily evil couple, though it did feel obvious that the Wiltons were hiding something. Episode 3 delved below the surface as both halves of the couple sat down for a truth-telling session with cult leader Kai that revealed how they really felt about their marriage. Meadow is straight and Harrison is gay, but they chose to honor a pact from their high school days that if neither was married by a certain time, they'd marry each other. While they may have appeared fine with this arrangement early on, the cracks started showing up fast. And that could have something to do with Meadow's disappearance.

While sitting down with Kai for some linked-pinky honesty, both Meadow and Harrison claimed that they had regrets about their decision to marry. Though it may have been a step they took to avoid loneliness, it seems to be having the opposite effect. Meadow was afraid that she was going to die unloved, and she suspected that Harrison was going to turn against her because of his new close relationship with Detective Samuels. Harrison, meanwhile, considered marrying Meadow to be his biggest regret. Then, when pressed by Kai, he admitted that he wanted her dead.

The confessions the Wiltons made to Kai might be helpful in figuring out what happened to her. It's all conjecture, ultimately, but there are a few possibilities one can extrapolate from the scenes where they shared their true feelings. The most obvious assumption is that Harrison did indeed kill her, whether egged on by Kai or not, to free himself from their marriage. But Harrison was angry and confused by her disappearance in a way that did not seem like an act — and he would also be the prime suspect, so he probably didn't set himself up to be arrested for murder. If Harrison killed Meadow, he would have hidden it better.

American Horror Story likes to go for the more convoluted solution over the simplest one time and time again, so there must be something else going on here. During Meadow's talk with Kai, he encouraged her to stop apologizing for things and start blaming everyone else in the world for her problems. He told her to make the world wrong so that she could prove she wasn't nothing. Meadow may have taken a leaf from the book of Amazing Amy and set up her own murder to get back at Harrison for seeming to betray her.

Harrison was asleep when Meadow vanished, so all she had to do was leave behind some blood and let him take the fall as the last person to see her alive. The circumstances looked incredibly suspicious for him. But while he was being corralled by the cops, Harrison himself made a Gone Girl reference that may have been a little hint to the audience that something else was going on. The two most obvious theories about Meadow's disappearance could be wrong.

Harrison immediately turned the blame on Ally, who had threatened to kill the Wiltons in Episode 3 if they kept messing with her family. All of the Wilton marriage drama could be a red herring to distract from their framing of Ally for Meadow's murder; it would be the latest in an escalating series of horrors visited upon Ally by the Wiltons.

Viewers may not know what happened to Meadow yet, but the possibilities are endless.

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