TV Review: American Horror Story: Freak Show

In this week’s episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show, “Pink Cupcakes,” Stanley (Denis O’Hare) and Maggie (Emma Roberts) put their plan to catch a freak in motion. Dandy’s (Finn Wittrock) bloody mess is discovered by his mother. Elsa (Jessica Lange) gets a taste of reality. A bit of unexpected blood reveals something new about Desiree (Angela Bassett).

The Tattler Twins (Sarah Paulson) are wooed by Stanley with promises of their own television show and pink cupcakes. These cupcakes, however, we specially made by Stanley himself with a little secret ingredient: poison. There is a really upsetting scene where Dot is in bed crying over the dead and rotting Bette that is still attached to her. I wonder if Dot really would be so upset over the loss of Bette after having so many dreams of being separated from her, knowing she would die as a result.

Some unusual bleeding leads Desiree to the doctor where she finds out that she was never actually a man but just had an abnormally long clitoris that resembled a penis. Along with this news, she learned that she was pregnant and miscarried. Earlier in the episode, she had been drinking heavily over the idea that Dell was going to leave her and how she wouldn’t be anything without him. When this news was given to her, Desiree seemed to strengthen a bit as if finding out she was completely female gave her a new burst of confidence.

Dandy and his mother, Gloria (Frances Conroy) find a way to hide Dora’s (Patti LaBelle) corpse. I actually really loved her response to finding Dora’s dead body on the floor. Not only does she know that Dandy did it, she treats him like a child that hurt her feelings when she tells him she doesn’t want to see him for the rest of the day. Dandy will never be more than a child to her.

Gloria reveals that Dandy’s father was also a killer and was hung for his crimes. Apparently homicide runs in the family from years of inbreeding to keep the fortune in the family. She doesn’t even seem slightly ashamed to admit to that revelation. Despite Gloria’s speech, Dandy still argues that he wants to be an actor and that doing so would help him express himself so he wouldn’t need to kill. Then we get a bit of an American Psycho homage in Dandy’s room when he is narrating his exercise and beauty regimen. I really hope other horror fans picked that up.

Matt Bomer (White Collar) makes an appearance as Dell’s secret lover. While Dell is in love with this man, who is a prostitute, the man doesn’t seem to be in love with him back. This is the first time we see any major weakness in Dell. After Dandy has his psychotic way with the prostitute, we can only guess how poorly Dell will react. I found myself shielding my eyes during the stabbing and laughing at the fact that he really just wouldn’t die and it was “upsetting” Dandy.

Elsa’s jealousy over the twins has reached an all-time high. Instead of just accepting that she has no talent, she takes the twins to Dandy, who wanted to buy them in the first place. I’m sure that if Elsa knew he was the killer, it wouldn’t deter her from that plan at all. She doesn’t even realize that the twins had a better chance of disappearing with Stanley than with Dandy who was enamored with them and probably won’t hurt them at all.

I am actually enjoying Dandy’s character. No, he isn’t nearly as terrifying as Twisty (John Caroll Lynch) was but he does add a certain amount of comedy to cut the horror of his bloody habit. Next week should be interesting with the Tattler Twins in his home.

I will admit that I did not expect this week’s episode to be so eventful. In previous seasons there have been a few slower episodes in between the intense ones but this season has been continuously fast paced. I would even go so far as to say that this is the best season since Asylum. There are eight episodes left to shock and awe us. For now, I will just prepare myself for next week.

Rating: 9/10

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Ann Hale is the horror editor for Pop-Break.com and a senior contributing writer, reviewing horror movies and television shows. She is also the American Correspondent for Lovehorror.co.uk. Ann attended East Carolina University, majoring in English Literature. She is a collector of Halloween (the film) memorabilia and is a self-admitted opinionated horror nerd. You can follow her, her collection and her cat, Edward Kittyhands on Twitter and Instagram @Scarletjupiter

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