 |
| John Carroll Lynch |
Come one, come all to the new weekly TV Recap of American Horror Story: Freak Show in which every Thursday I take a look at the latest happenings in Fraulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities. What will the fourth season of Ryan Murphy's anthology series bring and what will we remember from this delightfully oddball group of characters? Join me as I look at the Top 5 Characters of the week, recap important events, and share overall thoughts on the series as well as any other interesting tidbits worth of mention.
Top 5 Characters of the Week
1. Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates)
 |
| Kathy Bates |
Importance: If there is one character who controlled this episode, it was Ethel. From the moment that she entered the doctor's office to discover that she didn't have long to live to the final moments of the episode, she added an unexpectedly sad and dark aspect to the episode. While she has been a supporting character for most of the episodes, she comes front and center here in the best way possible by parlaying all of the details of her past and how Dell Toldeo (Michael Chiklis) exploited their child. By the end, her imminent death seems even more tragic and harder to accept because she has had a hard life and doesn't deserve this unfortunate circumstance at all.
Best Scene: While in flashback, she tells Edward Mordrake (Wes Bentley) all about how she came to be apart of the freak show group. Listening to Dell didn't help, as she was convinced that high art was her calling before being created into an outcast. Then, the most tragic of moments, Dell holds a spectacle of their son's birth where people come up to watch her giving birth. It was humiliating and Dell's lack of awareness for the sensitive nature of the issue only makes the exploitation more tragic. It also helps to make the Darling family's personal problems make more sense, and that Dell is in fact a major jerk.
 |
| Finn Wittrock |
2. Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock)
Importance: It is strange that Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) did not make this episode's Top 5. While he did a kidnapping, it was all about Dandy's transformation into a killer clown. Well, an antagonistic one at this point. While Twisty is more nuanced and moves quietly, Dandy moves with a loudmouth lunacy that is unpredictable. So what is to make of his character? He is finally taking the profession seriously, though it isn't entirely clear if Twisty and Dandy will be teaming up or if Dandy is just barging into other people's business. Still, from the moment that he screamed "HOWDY DOODY!," he has been a strong force in the episode and one that isn't to be messed with.
Best Scene: The moment where Twisty and Dandy seem like almost the same person. As he enters the bus to antagonize the prisoners, we see his persona for the first time, and it isn't pleasant. He jabs sticks at them and teases them with candy. His voice is very idiosyncratic. He also seems antithetical to Twisty's more tender methods of dealing with captives, which should make for an interesting parallel in the episodes to come. Right now, we have two clowns to worry about, and that is likely to get the professional clowns all annoyed.
 |
| Jessica Lange |
3. Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange)
Importance: The episode features a very taboo subject among the freak crowds. The legend of Edward Mondrake is one that has riddled it impossible for them to perform on Halloween by penalty of potential death. She is in control, forcing everyone to obey her.Despite everything, she decides that that show must go on and performs "Gods and Monsters," which inevitably lures him in.
Best Scene: It could be that Lana Del Rey's music is cinematic unto itself, but the performance that Elsa gives of "Gods and Monsters" is profoundly moving. As Edward shows up, she continues to sing the morose lyrics in the beautiful tones and the haunting scenery of the camp turns into an artistic vision of fear. It may come across more like an atmosphere, but it is shot so beautifully that the unpredictable nature of the moments to follow almost seem hypnotic and beautiful, even if somebody is about to die.
 |
| Emma Roberts |
4. Maggie Esmerelda (Emma Roberts)
Importance: How is it that we're three hours into this American Horror Story season and we're still introducing characters with prominent billing in the credits? This week, the Esmerelda family comes into play as the cons who want to kill freaks and make a profit off of it. Maggie infiltrates the group and wins over everyone by claiming that she is a psychic. She is a little worried about everything because the freaks creep her out, but she must keep going. Nobody suspects a thing yet. Can she keep it up?
Best Scene: It is through the introduction that she seals the deal in ways that Dandy couldn't. She fakes her way through a session with Elsa in which she talks about her becoming a star and performing in front of a large group of people as they applaud for her. It is a moment that she can only sustain improvising for a little while before eventually fainting and realizing that she needs a stronger game. Considering that she needs to bring a freak back for them to sell, who knows exactly what is going to happen. However, the introduction was quite something.
 |
| Wes Bentley |
5. Edward Mondrake
Importance: He is a freak who died and comes back when freaks perform on Halloween. He kills them and makes them part of his troupe. Why is he important? He has a face in the back of his head that drove him crazy, took away business, and wouldn't die. He confronts Ethel at the end to hear her story of why she deserves to live. He doesn't get much to do, but his looming presence throughout the episode makes it particularly haunting and compelling in ways that Twisty has yet to achieve.
Best Scene: As with Ethel, his best scene came when he was talking to her about the birth of her son. It is a sad scene and one that results in some redemption between the two. Not much new to add. However, his introduction is a fantastic homage to German Expressionism and F.W. Murnau with a lot of surreal imagery and excellent use of silent film techniques. It almost makes it seem like the fate of Ethel was locked because of how well she knew the story.
Overall Thoughts
For starters, putting a "To Be Continued" on the end of the episode felt unnecessary. This is one continuing story. It has always been a to be continued case. However, it ends on such a fascinating cliff hanger that you wish that it was next week already. Will Mondrake take Ethel away, or who will the victim be? There's too much to wonder about, including if Twisty and Dandy will team up or just start trying to kill each other.
However, there's nothing like being sideswiped in every way. For starters, the lack of Twisty in the episode was rather impressive, as it was more about Dandy becoming his own killer clown. There's a sense that this is as close to Twisty's origin story as we'll get. I don't even know what will happen, but those two are going to have quite a time together. Still, I loved that there was a Halloween reference at the start of the episode with Twisty. This episode was rich with technical references, and that makes me really excited about the show. While it can seem experimental, it does use them in a grinding way that causes a surreal joy in watching the action unfold. I really am enthralled to notice all of the old references because it makes me feel like these people care about horror as much as I hoped.
Then there's Ethel at the center. Without her tragic story, there wouldn't be much of a reason to even give this episode a good review. Nonetheless, her news of death matched with the tragic flashback added a depressing sense to everything. While the freaks in general have been considered outcasts, there wasn't a downright sense of dread throughout the episode. In fact, a lot of the episode's cues was about tearing apart the innocence and showing the dark truths, including Bette and Dot's (Sarah Paulson) lack of desire to be together. Things are heating up and the horror is feeling more real. If only the series can maintain it, it can easily become one of the greatest things that I have seen this year.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Comments
Post a Comment