After an auspicious start to the current season of AHS: Freak Show with last week’s bewildering premiere, this week starts with a perfect bang, starting with the sun rising to minor piano keys over the raggedy river-bed littered with tents and weathered paths that make up the freakshow community. The opening follows a toy shop employee from the diner to work, while the freak show is being interrogated by more detectives, and builds to the scariest murder so far (in the toy store decked out for Halloween). It’s a perfect beginning to the episode, succinctly setting up the whole plot along the way, cutting back and forth in near real time between the concurrent events in town, and on the town’s swampy outskirts. From this opening we know to expect that Elsa will discover multiple threats (from within and without her freakshow) to her wrenching crawl back into the spotlight; Twisty having more needs than we imagined and more fucked-up tricks to show us; and the police targeting the freaks, “out for blood” after the disappearance of one of their own, and because the freaks are obvious suspects when freakish things happen in a small conservative town.
The catch is that Jimmy is guilty of the murder of a detective, however influenced by a lifetime of discrimination and phobia, somewhat rationalizing the police’s desire for vengeance. But admitting to it will also make it easy to blame them for Twisty’s murders, and assuage the fears of Jupiter in one stroke. Jimmy and Amazon Eve, with the assistance of the painted man with the small arms, feel regret for their actions, but justify them as survival- they couldn’t let him take away Dot and Bette and they couldn’t let him frame them for the murders in town.
Meanwhile, we get an unsettling glimpse of the twisted mother and son from last week, in their home environment. It has all the trappings of a demented Wes Anderson film-the elegance and finery of their affluence-laden dining room, painstakingly symmetrical mise-en-scene, but with an eery silence so that every small sound stands out, including the flicking of the son’s thumb off his fork. The maid brings in dinner, which overgrown child Dandy Mott (Finn Wittlock) declares boring even though he asked for it. Boring is death to this guy, who looks like Darren Criss’ older brother-the one the family just doesn’t speak about anymore… We learn that he’s (to me) obviously gay and is so spoiled as to have no boundaries whatsoever. Again, his name is Dandy Mott. He drinks cognac from a bottle- not the cognac bottle mind you, but from a personalized crystal baby bottle. He wants to be a “thespian,” which his mother thinks is beneath the dignity of their old-money family history; he thinks girls “smell of cows,” and that “babies are the most boring of all” therefore cutting her off at the I want grandchildren speech she was trying to finish.
It seems they have moved recently, and her precious offspring isn’t settling in well. I think the reasons for the exit from their previous residence had less to do with boredom and more with the mysterious death of a girl he was disastrously set up with. As he storms off in anger, the maid (who has had it up to here with this bullshit) tells mommy dearest Gloria that she found more parts, teeth and fur behind the shed and that the neighbors have been looking for their cat, and that people are disappearing again around this deranged son. Miss Mott writes this off as an understandable side effect of his boredom in a new town, a condition that apparently accounts for psychotic behavior with these people. Which perfectly explains her later run-in with Twisty.
At the freak tent commune, a new trailer pulls up and draws Big Ethel the bearded lady’s attention…she knows who this is. Again the score’s minor key tells us the wrong animal may be on its way into this zoo. It turns out to be two more of the regular characters we haven’t met yet- the man-and-wife team of Del Toledo (Michael Chiklis) the “Stupendous Strong Man,” and “Desiree,” (Angela Basset) the three-breasted hermaphrodite, fresh from their previous engagement with another circus in Chicago. Hers look more real than that fake viral sensation who claimed to have had surgery to add a third. The AHS danger theme plays again as Elsa seems to know why they have left Chicago. In flashback we see that Desiree had her own side business using all her genitals to exploit gay men’s fear, offering straight sex with a woman (yet using her “extra bit of business” to make them cum) and an illusory transformation to heterosexuality/normality. Del walks in on of these sessions and snaps the man’s neck. Desiree says there’s no murder with no body, and Chicago police won’t chase anyone for “a poof’s death,” rationalizing Del’s actions because they (gay people) are “lower than us freaks.” This is the show’s most forthright acknowledgement so far of the connections between the phobia that makes queer people outcasts, and that which taunts the performers in the freak show.
Cut to the best fusion of high comedy/horror of the first two episodes: when Rich Mama Mott tries to rectify her son’s “despondent” boredom by getting him a performer for hire, and drives by Twisty walking alone on a country road. There is possibly more lurking story-wise in Gloria Mott, for a disturbed past must surely lie behind this woman’s façade. Frances Conroy perfectly plays this demented matriarch’s delirious, out-of-touch personality as she persists in trying to get Twisty’s services. She’s like an aged, deranged madcap heiress, mentally withered by too many years of strong martini’s and soothing syrups to see clearly any longer. How else could she possibly look at Twisty and call out “Excuse me? Clooown? Do you do private parties?” This moment is hysterically funny, and it creates simultaneous fright because you are aware of Twisty’s penchant for bloody murder, making the heart drop into your belly as it laughs. She does in the end convince him to come with her, with her hope that “maybe you could cheer him up?” This seems to bring on that softened expression again in Twisty’s eyes, contrasting sharply with his monstrous fake grin and human scalp headpiece.
At the same time Dandy has gone back to the freak show and begged to be included in their act somewhere, proclaiming he knows he belongs there. When Jimmy asks him what he does, he (of course) admits he has no special trick, other than knowing the “entire Cole Porter canon” by heart. Murphy and co. is generalizing perhaps, but this character trait, to me, makes him more obviously gay. When Jimmy yells at him to leave, and tells him he’d give anything to have his privileged life and be able to touch a woman like he can (lol), Little Lord Fauntleroy’s demonic twin stomps away back home, where his mother presents Twisty as a present, to assuage his boredom and sadness. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing when Frances Conroy brings her son to the playroom to meet his new friend, and seeing Twisty’s face before she merrily exclaims “I’ll leave you two alone to play!” and closes the door behind her, blissfully unaware of the immense danger she just put her son in. In a way it makes perfect sense, as these three people are the biggest freaks in town.
The son figures this out after boring Twisty with a puppet show (commemorating his experience of watching the first week of The King and I‘s premiere run on Broadway) and pokes around in his bag, only to receive a comically efficient bowling pin shot to the back of his head, like a cue stick hitting a billiards ball, when something inside makes his eyes wide with excitement. But like a classic crazy, Dandy gets right up as if totally uninjured and follows Twisty back to the bramble-laden trailer in the woods where his kidnap victims have worked a board with a nail out of their cage to attack their captor with.
Again, despite The Man Who Laughs smile he wears over his mouth, Twisty’s eyes seem to communicate a more longing emotion, as if he wants really to be a good clown who makes people happy, but has somehow learned to interpret this in a shockingly violent, psychotic way. He presents the wind-up robot to the little boy, miming it’s arm movements in an attempt at pleasant buffoonery. Given that there is quite obviously little whimsy to be found in this situation, they naturally respond with nervous bewilderment. Since the robot didn’t work Twisty goes to the only other clown shtick he knows…and pulls from his bag the toy shop employee’s severed head (which he has kept from the opening scene). FINALLY the girl does what she should have done the moment she saw this guy-she pummels him with the piece of wood and they GTFO of that trailer. In the process, Twisty’s mouth-mask falls away.
THIS is the throw your popcorn in the air, scream out loud at the screen moment we’ve been waiting for. We realize the fake smile he wears is not just an over-the-top addition to his creepy look. It actually has a purpose, and it makes us prefer the mask that hides a putrid black hole with nothing but a few random jagged bits of enamel that he has where a mouth should be. Was there a tongue in there?? Were those all that’s left of his teeth? What the hell happened to him and when??? Sadly, the little boy is too slow in his getaway, as he’s caught by Twisty. Dandy catches the girl, and brings her back to the trailer as an offering to the clown, whom the rich kid says “should do a better job of confinement,” a remark that signifies we have much more to learn about this Glee reject gone berserk.
Back at the “freakshow” Elsa explains the addition of Del to the family as one of necessity. A strong protective male presence for the show wouldn’t go amiss right now. Considering what “normal” people are capable of in Jupiter, this is most likely the best idea anyone has ever had in the horror genre. But her decision to hire Del for the job will have unintended consequences. Big Ethel knows he does not take kindly to “freaks” as Jimmy is his son, and in flashback we see that Del tried to kill Jimmy as a baby until Ethel pulled a shotgun on him and forced him to leave. Ethel confronts him now that he has inserted himself back into her life, which (predictably) goes poorly. He claims he is the new boss at the show and immediately demeans and threatens her. He shows remorse for his asshole-ism once she’s gone, but it does not deter him from his desperate need to physically intimidate and control others. The strong man instantly proves himself problematic.
Back to Dot and Bette who are showing Elsa what they can do for the show. Bette is the one who wants to perform, but unfortunately there is a massive hole in the bucket she had planned to carry a tune in. Elsa can’t bear to listen to the atonal din of Bette’s voice, but says it doesn’t matter what they do anyways. Desiree, playing piano for this musical interlude, points out that as headliners shouldn’t they be good? Elsa with immediate matter-of-factness admits to her troupe that Dot and Bette are only there to open the act. Just having two heads is enough to fill the seats for her own performance, so who cares that the “Siamese Sisters” are not talented-which a series of close-ups suggests that the other freaks seem ever so slightly taken aback to hear.
Jimmy insists that Dot give it a try. Even though Bette says she doesn’t have any talent, Dot’s rendition of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” casts an enchanting spell over the whole scene, as everyone looks on in wonder, while Elsa appears concerned. Del busts in and breaks the spell by ordering everyone to prepare for a matinee show, as if he is the boss and not afraid to use his physical strength to menace his new co-workers into doing what he says. Elsa dislikes this idea, as their entertainment is dependent on the darkness, with all its unknowns, to bring people to the freak show, and recognizes that Del “will be a problem.”
Jimmy Darling is not giving up on being accepted as a human being, and to this end he returns to the town diner with the cast of the freak show. Upon seeing his face, the waitress he was flirting with (while wearing gloves) in the first episode lights up… until she notices his hands, and his company. The staff of the diner is noticeably repelled, but they also make an effort to serve them as they would any other customer. It’s an awkward exchange, but despite the tension, it appears the waitresses are taking their orders and planning to serve them, even though the painted man decides to eat another customer’s leftovers from the counter. The premiere’s discussion of the effect of media on the show’s box-office, and more outwardly on those the culture calls “freaks,” carries over here.
The disparity between the visibility (that can help to change the public perception of them as freaks and begin the path to that desired acceptance Jimmy and his friend’s crave) and the rarity/invisibility in everyday life that makes their show an attraction, comes to a head when Del the strong man finds them there. As he is posting notices for the matinee show that he determined would go up without Elsa’s approval outside. He causes a scene in the diner by taking an authoritative tone, again, dumping the leftover plate upside down and calling them freaks as well. He upsets everyone, and causes them to be ejected, making them all feel like less than their “normal” human counterparts than they did before. For a split-second, (this is a recurring theme with Del) he recognizes his own deliberate cruelty, but then ignores this impulse to let his rage and violent tendencies take over. He is trying to resurrect his own career here, like Elsa, and reminds them that if they go out in town, people will have already seen everything and then nobody will pay to see them in the show. Jimmy doesn’t like this, and unfortunately discovers Del’s physical strength as he’s pummeled mercilessly outside.
This scene has a distinct scent of the stories that circulated around the making of Tod Browning’s Freaks, when the cast of real hydrocephalics, amputees and conjoined twins hired for the film ate in the studio commissary and freaked out the glamorous stars shooting various other pictures on the backlot. Sharing space with these people did not sit well with the stars just looking to wolf down lunch before filming another scene, but here they are with potential ticket buyers. So far, Murphy seems to be leaning towards Browning as a greater source of inspiration, as the shot of the freak show cast looks on as Del beats Jimmy, framed by the diner window with the AHS danger theme playing on the soundtrack again. The tone of this moment suggests Del better watch his back. Could he meet the same end that the duplicitous strong man in Browning’s film did (there, the strong man’s fate was left up to our imagination in the final cut, but it is said that Browning’s version of the film had the strong man castrated and mutilated).
Jimmy shows Elsa the poster, and she at first acquiesces that they need to make money, and a matinee won’t be the end of the world. She appreciates having a guard dog-type on the property, but Jimmy takes offense that she doesn’t look to him for this, and presents the badge of the detective he killed to protect the show. She thanks him and apologizes for her lack of faith in him. It’s not until Jimmy points out to Elsa that Del has her billed last with the Geek (a sweet little person whose shtick is biting the heads off of animals), and not as the star, that she finally decides he needs to go.
They clearly plan to frame Del to get rid of him, which Jimmy attempts during Dot and Bette’s performance, where Dot sings lead on Fiona Apple’s “Criminal” and Bette sings harmonies. In keeping with the fantasy time warp Freak Show has made of the inside of the performance tent, Apple’s song has a literal meaning for Dot as eyes Jimmy while she sings (she definitely wants to “be good enough for him,” though it remains to be seen if she truly does want “to suffer for [her] sins” as the song says). A mosh pit forms with all the boys in the audience rushing the stage, and one of the little people band members jumps out to body surf on the crowd. They are a big hit, and Elsa looks both livid and worried that she has no hope of reclaiming her former glory if audiences love the twins more than her. So sure of this is she, that Elsa later wakes Bette while the twins are sleeping, and starts to work on her suggestible temperament to turn her against Dot, using the fact that Dot now has the spotlight Bette always wanted. Driving a wedge between conjoined twins is going to be an interesting subplot, and will give Sarah Paulson even more footage for her Emmy-nominee reel.
After the performance, the police arrive again to search the premises for evidence of the detective’s whereabouts. Elsa does not put up a fuss as now they have a warrant, and she and Jimmy seem to expect them to find something incriminating in Del’s trailer. But Del has already figured out their plan and placed the detective’s badge in the Geek’s living space. The plan backfires, and the police cart off the Geek, even though it seems most inexplicable that this tiny person would have killed and disposed of an overweight detective on his own.
Jimmy is scared for what will happen to the Geek in the jailhouse, where he is too meek and defenseless to survive the treatment in a cell with big rough criminals. The episode ends with certification that Jimmy’s fears were founded, as the Geek cowers in fear when he’s accosted in the cell. The fade to black opens on men who look like the policeman dumping a canvas sack at the freak show tent in darkness and cursing the freaks as they speed off down the dirt road. Jimmy’s primal scream of anguish as they open the sack and discover Geek’s body is a harrowing moment, one that will strengthen the core group’s resolve against the forces seeking to eradicate them. I think the show will really kick into high gear from here.
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