Screams echoed down the halls of American University last week during the season premiere of American Horror Story Season 3: Freak Show. What could be more terrifying than a scary clown jumping out of the bushes and murdering your boyfriend?
Maybe a two headed woman that has two different personalities? The writers certainly didn’t hold back this season. Although the beginning of the episode was secretive about some of the more gory details, the twisted anatomies and violence were enough to make you squirm in your seat.
Expectations for this season were high, and despite some awkwardness in the beginning, the episode was delightfully grotesque.
Certain scenes in the beginning, meant to build suspense, felt forced and clunky.The deliberate camera angles only showing one of the conjoined twins two head’s (Bette or Dot) at a time was obvious. It was easy to guess right away what their deformity was but it felt like the director was very sure that the you were quite unaware. The way the shots flipped back and forth between the heads gave the secret away.
The other clunky scene was of the milkman stumbling upon the twins in the dark house. The treatment of the scene was archaic, similar to the original Halloween movie. Perhaps the age-old technique of extreme camera angles and dark lighting was meant to go along with the 50s period, but it came across as weak and artificial. The intense build up was around a topic, the twin’s discovery, that was not fleshed out enough for such suspense. The camerawork does nothing if your audience is still unsure of what is going on, especially if the juicy secret is not revealed in the end which it is not here. The two headed woman isn’t revealed until later.
Despite the clunky beginning, the main characters were so intriguing that they made up for it.
Bette and Dott are fascinating; although seemingly one person, their two personalities are very different. While one sister is outgoing and lively, the other is more reserved and proper. Jimmy Darling, the boy with webbed fingers, is quite charming despite his occupation and disfigurement. Most of all, the ring leader of the freak show, Elsa, is quite well done.
At first she seems odious, trying trick Bett and Dot into joining the troupe, but later, you pity her for having turned to this business because her talent went undiscovered. It’s really that sad but beautiful feature that captures Elsa as well as the whole troupe.
Seeing them go about their daily lives, performing on stage and being berated in the street by teens, gives them this powerful beauty as underdogs. The sexual deviancy shown on Elsa’s film threatens it, but by then the characters, especially Elsa, are too well rounded as humans for it to completely ruin the respect the audience has for them.
Eager for more, we await the rest of the season with high hopes.