American Horror Story: Freak Show

Plot

The fourth season is set in Jupiter, Florida in 1952 and follows the lives of a troupe of people belonging to one of the last remaining freak shows of its time. Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) is the owner of Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities; and her performers the bearded lady Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates), her lobster-handed son Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters), the strongman Dell Toledo (Michael Chiklis), and his three-breasted hermaphrodite wife Desiree Dupree (Angela Basset), as well as the newly recruited conjoined twin sisters Bette and Dot Tattler (Sarah Paulson).

After their mother is found stabbed to death, Bette and Dot are discovered stabbed themselves at their farmhouse. The news makes headlines, and soon Elsa discovers the twins' existence. Believing the sisters to be her troupe's saviors, she brings them back to camp. They meet their fellow freaks Paul the Illustrated Seal (Mat Fraser) who has seal-like flippers for hands, Amazon Eve (Erika Ervin) who is the largest and strongest woman of the show, and finally the tiny performer from India, Ma Petite (Jyoti Amge) who is the smallest woman in the world. Bette sees the show as their haven but Dot believes that they are being exploited for their appearance. Meanwhile, serial killer Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) is responsible for recent murders and kidnappings that plagued the town.

A detective arrives at the freak show to arrest Bette and Dot for the recent string of murders. After calling them all freaks and threatening to drive them out of town, Jimmy kills the detective and the freaks dispose of his body. After a performance, which was bought out by a wealthy widow named Gloria Mott (Frances Conroy) and her emotionally stunted son Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock), Dandy demands to buy the twins, offering Elsa $15,000, but she declines. Enraged by his boring life, Dandy sets out to join the freak show, but Jimmy turns him down. Hoping to cheer her son up, Gloria finds Twisty on the side of the road and brings him home to surprise Dandy, not knowing that he is a meg. Dandy searches inside his bag and finds a severed head, causing Twisty to knock Dandy out and run away. Dandy follows him back to an abandoned school bus in the middle of the woods, where he discovers a kidnapped woman and boy, and realizes the two can work together.

New to the troupe are Dell and his wife Desiree, who fled Chicago after Dell murdered a man having sex with Desiree. Elsa allows him to be the show's bodyguard, but he soon becomes more than she can handle after he degrades her and beats up Jimmy for taking the freaks out in public to a diner. Ethel is less than happy about Dell's arrival; it is revealed that he and Ethel were once married, and after trying to kill his own son Jimmy, Ethel made him leave. When she learns that her liver is failing, Ethel makes Dell promise to look after Jimmy when she dies, though he is never to tell him of his true lineage.

Con artists Stanley (Denis O'Hare) and Maggie Esmerelda (Emma Roberts) set their eyes on Elsa's troupe, hoping to make some money by selling the freak's corpses to a museum. Posing as a fortune teller, Maggie joins the troupe and soon falls for Jimmy. On Halloween, Ethel tells the urban legend of Edward Mordrake (Wes Bentley), a man born with a face on the back of his head, who, if summoned on Halloween, will take a freak to Hell with him. Elsa performs on Halloween night, unknowingly summoning Mordrake; who goes around camp learning the sad tales of its performers. Coming to Elsa's tent, she reveals her past life in Germany, where she worked as a dominatrix. She reveals that she was a victim of Hans Grüper, also known as Dr. Arthur Arden (James Cromwell), who amputated her legs while filming a snuff film. Mordrake is about to choose Elsa to take to Hell, but he hears music and realizes Elsa is not the one. Jimmy and Maggie try to rescue the kidnapped children after discovering Twisty's hideout, but Dandy knocks them out and he and Twisty put on a show for the kids. The pair soon escape and Mordrake visits Twisty, asking to learn his tale. He learns that Twisty worked as a clown at a freak show, and after two dwarves convinced him the police were after him for molesting children, Twisty made a failed suicide attempt, that left his jaw blown off. After revealing his misdeeds, Mordrake kills Twisty.

Now that his mentor is dead, Dandy gets more curious about killing and starts by killing his maid Dora (Patti LaBelle), soon followed by a prostitute named Andy (Matt Bomer). Dora's daughter Regina Ross (Gabourey Sidibe) later visits Mott Manor looking for her mother. Gloria asks Dandy to see a therapist but he refuses to go anymore after the first visit. Gloria attempts to end the madness, but Dandy steals her gun, shoots her in the head and bathes in her blood. Stanley pressures Maggie to murder Jimmy and Ma Petite, but when she cannot go through with either one, he turns to Dell. After he blackmails him with the knowledge of his homosexual tendencies, Dell kills Ma Petite.

Overhearing Elsa's plans to help get rid of the twins with Stanley, Ethel confronts Elsa, accusing her of killing anyone who steals her spotlight. Ethel shoots Elsa in her wooden leg, finding out her secret. However, Elsa throws a dagger through Ethel's eye, killing her. After she and Stanley make her death look like a suicide, Jimmy sinks into a drunken despair over his mother's death. Dandy visits the Tupperware party women and kills them all, framing Jimmy for the crime. Elsa prepares for her move to Hollywood after Stanley promises her a career in television, but when Dell tells her of Stanley convincing Jimmy to sell his hands to afford bail, she realizes he is not to be trusted. Traveling salesman and magician Chester Creb (Neil Patrick Harris) visits the freak show with his ventriloquist dummy, Marjorie, falling in love with the twins. Elsa sells the show to Chester to go with Stanley to Hollywood.

Dell tries to commit suicide by hanging himself but is saved by Desiree. When he admits to murdering Ma Petite to Desiree, Elsa shoots Dell in the head and kills him. During a feast to welcome the new owner, the freaks reveal they know of Stanley's true intentions, after Maggie confesses to Desiree. Desiree kills the curator of the museum and gives her head to Stanley. Stanley is chased around camp by the freaks, who later turn him into their own version of Meep. The next day, the troupe is rehearsing under Chester but Bette and Dot refuse to be his assistants and leave. Maggie volunteers, however, Chester hallucinates and sees Maggie as his wives who criticize him; he saws Maggie in half, killing her. He then chases Marjorie into his caravan and kills her also, believing Marjorie caused the hallucination. Chester leaves the freak show and turns himself in to the police. After careful consideration, the troupe believes Stanley's word and they plan to kill Elsa the same night. Before they can, Elsa is warned by Bette and Dot that she will be killed next, so Elsa sells the show to Dandy and moves to Hollywood.

The freaks quit and turn on Dandy which causes him to go on a killing spree. Desiree survives by hiding during the rampage while Jimmy is away from the grounds, and Bette and Dot are tied up in his tent. Jimmy comes back to see the corpses of his family in the performing tent, and finds that Desiree is the only survivor. The twins marry Dandy back at his mansion, but is revealed to be an act of vengeance, as Desiree drugs Dandy at dinner. He awakens to find himself chained in Hardeen Houdini's (Harry Houdini's brother) Chinese torture tank, and drowns while the remaining freaks watch.

In 1960, Elsa is now a household name with her very own TV show and multiple hit songs, yet she is not entirely happy with her life. When asked to perform for Halloween, Elsa refuses and meets with her old flame Massimo Dolcefino (Danny Huston). Massimo refuses to run away with her and tells her that he is dying. That night, the president of WBN tells Elsa that a copy of her snuff film has surfaced and her involvement with a freak show whose members (she is shocked to hear) were all murdered has been discovered, and this will ruin her career and marriage. She agrees to perform on Halloween, summoning Edward Mordrake and his troupe, who kills her. During the telecast, Desiree is married with two children, and a pregnant Bette and Dot are happily married to Jimmy. Instead of taking her to Hell, Mordrake banishes Elsa to a reincarnation of her freak show, where all of her deceased freaks now reside and she finally finds happiness with her true family.

Main

Special guest stars

Recurring

Guest stars

Development

In November, 2013, FX announced that the show had been renewed for a fourth season. Series co-creator Ryan Murphy hinted that clues about the fourth season would be hidden in the final episodes of the third season. In March, 2014, the season was revealed to be set at a carnival, according to co-executive producer/writer Douglas Petrie. It was also revealed that Lange will be playing a role similar to Marlene Dietrich. Murphy revealed that the season will take place in 1950, adding: "If you look historically what happened in the year 1950, there's some more clues in that year. It's a period piece. We try and do the opposite of what we've done before. Jessica Lange has already started practicing her German accent so I'm very excited!" Murphy indicated that this season draws inspiration from Tod Browning's Freaks and Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls. This season features the largest set ever constructed for American Horror Story, with Murphy stating: "We had to build an entire city. We built an entire huge compound and then we had to build the interior of all those buildings on set. It's all period. And it's all based on [production designer] Mark Worthington's immaculate research."

Casting

Ryan Murphy confirmed that Jessica Lange would be returning for a fourth season, although said to be in a reduced capacity. She portrayed Elsa Mars, the owner of the freak show. In November 2013, Murphy said he approached Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett to return. Bassett later confirmed in an interview with Access Hollywood that she would be indeed coming back. They portrayed Desiree Dupree and Ethel Darling, respectively. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sarah Paulson revealed she would be returning, possibly for a main role, which was later revealed to be the conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler. It was announced at the PaleyFest 2014 that the cast members present at the panel would all be returning for the fourth season in some capacity, including Denis O'Hare (Stanley), Emma Roberts (Maggie Esmerelda), Frances Conroy (Gloria Mott), Evan Peters (Jimmy Darling), and Gabourey Sidibe (Regina Ross). Jamie Brewer was also added to the present roster, although Murphy later indicated Brewer may not appear during the season. She was later confirmed to portray the ventriloquist dummy Marjorie after appearing in a promo for the final episodes. Additionally, Michael Chiklis was announced to play the father of Peters' character and ex-husband of Bates' character, the strongman Dell Toledo. Finn Wittrock was the last lead actor joining the cast. He portrayed the psychopathic Dandy Mott.

In July 2014, TVLine reported that Wes Bentley would appear in the season' two-part Halloween episode as Edward Mordrake. At the Comic-Con 2014, it was announced that John Carroll Lynch would portray one of the central antagonist during the season, Twisty the Clown. In August 2014, Patti LaBelle joined the cast for a four-episode story arc as the mother of Sidibe's character, named Dora, the Motts' housekeeper. Also in August 2014, it was revealed that Matt Bomer would be guest-starring in one episode as Andy, Dell's secret lover. Murphy took to his Twitter account to announce that the world's smallest woman Jyoti Amge has joined the cast as Ma Petite. Murphy had written a role specifically for Coven alum Leslie Jordan, but he was unable to appear on the show due to scheduling conflicts.

In September 2014, it was reported that Asylum alum Naomi Grossman would return to portray Pepper, which marks the first time a character appears in multiple seasons of the series. Lily Rabe also reprised her Asylum character Sister Mary Eunice McKee in the tenth episode, "Orphans". Mare Winningham made an appearance in the same episode, as Pepper's sister Rita. Neil Patrick Harris guest starred in two episodes as Chester, who takes over the freak show when Elsa leaves for Hollywood. Harris' husband, David Burtka, appeared in the season finale as Elsa's husband.

Filming

At Paley Center for Media's 2014 PaleyFest event, Ryan Murphy announced that the season's filming would take place again in New Orleans, Louisiana, although the show's setting is in Jupiter, Florida. The premiere episode was directed by co-creator Murphy, his first effort since the pilot. Principal photography for the season began on July 15, 2014. Production on the season concluded on December 19, 2014.

Marketing

A video released in July 2014, entitled "Fallen Angel", was reported by many news sources to be an official Freak Show trailer. The video – which featured the American Horror Story title card – was later taken down after FX confirmed it was fan-made. Before the debut of the fan-made video, FX had not released any official trailers concerning the upcoming season. The first official teaser was released on August 20, 2014, entitled "Admit One".

As with previous seasons, FX released a series of teaser trailers on the show's YouTube page. FX also used the marketing hashtag #WirSindAlleFreaks in the German language, and its English translation #WeAreAllFreaks.

Reviews

American Horror Story: Freak Show received a Metacritic score of 69 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 79% approval rating with an average rating of 7.7/10 based on 38 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Though it may turn off new viewers unaccustomed to its unabashed weirdness, Freak Show still brings the thrills, thanks to its reliably stylish presentation and game cast."

Awards and nominations

In its fourth season, the series was nominated for 76 awards, 21 of which were won.

Soundtrack

Every cover song used in the season was made available for digital download on services such as iTunes and Amazon.com after the episode in which it appeared aired, except the cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" performed by Jessica Lange at the climax of the season finale "Curtain Call".