As Halloween rolls around, so do the heads of the dead in American Horror Story: Freak Show, which opened its fourth season on Oct. 8. The story takes place in 1952 in Jupiter, Florida, and revolves around the freak show of oddity connoisseur Elsa Mars.
The premiere episodes mainly focus on Elsa’s newest endeavor for the show, acquiring conjoined twins Bette and Dot in order to advertise a singing act. The story also contains an arbitrary side plot involving a murderous clown who violently stabs his victims to death. The premiere episode, “Monsters Among Us,” was not particularly scary. Rather, the story line works to create strong characters that lay the groundwork for scarier scenes in the future.
Almost all of the characters in Freak Show face some sort of internal conflict. Elsa’s desperate desire for fame and recognition, for example, is quite clear through her selfish acquisition of the conjoined twins which was intended to increase show attendance and showcase her own talent for singing.
The so-called “Siamese Twins” also present a complex conflict of values—Bette’s idealism versus Dot’s pragmatism. Whereas Bette is more cheerful and optimistic, Dot is more wary of joining the freak show. Actress Sarah Paulson expertly portrays the characters, creating two easily distinguishable personalities despite their identical appearance.
But perhaps the most unsettling of the show’s characters is Jimmy Darling, a performer who has syndactyly, a condition in which some fingers are wholly or partially joined. He struggles to form relationships with women, leaving him bitter about the way the world treats him.
While first appearing as a charming young man, Darling is quickly unveiled to be a vengeful individual with a powerful resentment for the word “freaks.” Even though his motives are wrought with vengeance, he also tries to fit in with society, as evidenced by the mittens that he wears in public. Implicit in his hiding is the belief that others will only accept him if he is free of deformities, rather than accepting him for who he truly is.
Like Sarah Paulson, actor Evan Peters also offers a strong performance as Darling—one that enables the subtle cry for acceptance to be heard even in his most intense moments of bitterness.
The most unexpected scenes of the premiere episode were those that featured the creepy clown who stabs people to death. With its deformed face and exaggerated makeup reminiscent of that of the Joker, the clown is quite startling but not scary. Clearly, these clown scenes are building a subplot, but for now, they make the storyline rather choppy with a seemingly forced placement, as if they were added to deliberately make the episode scarier.
The second episode, “Massacres and Matinees,” largely focuses on Dandy Mott—a prim, wealthy young man who is coddled by his mother. Actor Finn Wittrock wonderfully creates an annoying, self-entitled brat who is desperate to find something interesting to kill his boredom. The result is a failed attempt at joining the freak show and his acquaintance with the clown.
The initial episodes of the show establish complex characters who set the foundation for more interesting plots in the future. Despite expectations, the show is not that scary. As a strong opening for the season and with solid character foundation, Freak Show still has potential for creating an interesting story.
