(warning, as River Song would say: Spoilers!)
Everyone’s favorite dose of TV psycho-terror is back! Fresh off its campy third season (#covenforlife), Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story anthology has swooped back in for its long anticipated return to the spotlight. And what an entrance it is making.
Set in 1950s Jupiter, Florida, AHS season four centers on Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) a German ex-pat and carnival owner who spends her time recruiting “freaks” from around the country to perform in her struggling show. Featuring AHS favorites Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Frances McConroy, and former season three cast members Kathy Bates and Angela Basset, as well as several others, American Horror Story Freak-Show has been the most hyped show of the fall.
This premiere was marked on my calendar for goodness sake! Nothing, be it poor wifi, midterms, homework, or anything else as pesky or mundane, was going to keep me from watching.
Did it live up to the hype? In my opinion, yes, but certainly not in the way I thought it would. Here are some of the show’s highlights:
Characters
First off, the carnival performers themselves. Ma Petite (Jyote Amge), Paul the Illustrated Seal (Matt Fraser), legless Suzy (Rose Siggins), Amazon Eve (Erika Ervin), and Pepper (Naomi Grossman), star as some of the performers of Elsa Mar’s “Cabinet of Curiosities.” Their performances were rock solid. (Special thanks to Amge and Lange’s relationship). Their relationship to the townspeople was pretty realistic to what you would imagine that of carnival performers in the 1950’s. People disdain their presence, they are blamed for crimes committed in town, and repeatedly verbally abused. Ryan Murphy wrote in a realistic reaction to the attitudes they face from Jupiter’s residents. I just wish they’d gotten more screen time. I know there’s an entire season ahead, but I still would have liked a better introduction to their personalities.
Plot
First thing I want to say: Freak-Show is basically an Anti-Coven. Theirs is little to no supernatural horror and the premiere’s buildup is slower. Even the sets feel like a polar opposite; the colors are bright reds and blues, as opposed to the eternal gray featured in Coven. Ryan Murphy said in interviews that the show would definitely involve fewer supernatural elements (in that case, please don’t kill Evan Peters, please!!!) and it is already demonstrated in the show. It relies more on the terror and strangeness found in humanity itself. While the change is a little unsettling, I have a feeling it’s going to make for an interesting premise.
Jessica Lange
The AHS matriarch herself, Jessica Lange, nails it as Elsa. Her character is presented as much more benign than the majority of her AHS roles. This is the one time I feel that one of Lange’s characters leans slightly more towards the “good” side of the AHS moral ambiguity spectrum. She’s no saint though; she has her share of selfish reasons to keep the freak show running and, as the episode reveal demonstrated, she’s not that much different from her beloved performers. However, the way she sees them as a family is very touching. Major points to Lange for her rendition of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars.” By far the the most bizarre and magnificent thing I’ve seen on television so far.
Jimmy Darling
His character’s last name ends in Darling, I could stop right there and provide no further explanation. However, since I get an excuse to fan girl about the divine perfection that is Evan Peters, I might as well elaborate on his character. Peters plays Jimmy Darling, a freak show performer known as “lobster boy” due to his severe syndactyly. He, unlike Elsa Mars, sees carnie life is a dreary, and is angered by the abysmal treatment and oppression he receives at Jupiter’s hands, and everyone else’s, for that matter. His confrontation with a sinister police officer proves he is no angel, and he is more than willing to engage in a bloody fight for a better life.
You know what… it’s Evan Peters. Here’s another gif.
Bette and Dot
Sarah Paulson steals the show for interpreting not one, but TWO complex characters. Paulson portrays conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tatler, and she is hands down the winner of AHS’s “Most Morally Ambiguous Character” prize (sorry Lange, the twins have you beat). Bette is imaginative…a little too imaginative…with dreams of Hollywood grandeur, while Dot is dour and serious. They’re on the run after they murder their mother and are suspected of several other killings in the neighborhood, so Lange takes them up as performers in order to boost the freakshow’s flimsy prospects. Paulson’s acting is nothing short of remarkable, and you have to love how Bette says “Glorious technicolor.”
Twisty the Clown
The following gif sums up my reaction:
I cannot get over how horrifying that thing was. It was pure terror; from the costume to his tricks to every single second that thing was on screen. John Carrol Lynch portrays arguably the most terrifying clown in history, a clown on a serious killing spree. What’s even creepier is when he tries to “act like a clown;” there is just something so psychotic about his genuine desire to both entertain and terify at the same time.
Overall, pretty good premiere. I would have liked a little more horror written in and at times felt it went a little slow, but overall, worth it. Wednesday nights at 10:00pm have now become sacred, and I’m definately looking forward to the rest of the season!
Follow the HCND Pinterest account, pin with us, and remember to keep posted with HCND on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!