Freak Show

Starring

Sarah Paulson as Bette and Dot Tattler, Evan Peters as Jimmy Darling, Michael Chiklis as Dell Toledo, Frances Conroy as Gloria Mott, Denis O'Hare as Stanley, Emma Roberts as Maggie Esmerelda, Finn Wittrock as Dandy Mott, with Angela Bassett as Desiree Dupree, Kathy Bates as Ethel Darling and Jessica Lange as Elsa Mars.

Also starring

Naomi Grossman as Pepper, Erika Ervin as Amazon Eve, Mat Fraser as Paul the Illustrated Seal, Jyoyi Amge as Ma Petite, Grace Gummer as Penny, Rose Siggins as Legless Suzi, Drew Rin Varick as Toulouse and Chrissy Matz as Barbara.

Special Guest stars

John Carroll Lynch as Twisty the Clown, Wes Bentley as Edward Mordrake, Danny Huston as Massimo Dolcefino, Matt Bomer as Andy, Lily Rabe as Sister Mary Eunice McKee and Neil Patrick Harris as Chester Creb.

Blaine: I was already liking "Freak Show" during it's first episode because it was showing us a new story and introducing us to new characters.

Plot (Spoiler Alert)

Jupiter, Florida, 1952, a German woman named Elsa Mars meets conjoined twins named Bette and Dot. She offers them to join her Freak Show where they can be with their own kind and not hide in the dark anymore. Bette got tired of staying in a house all her life when she really wanted to go out and see the world, but her mother wouldn't allow her to leave and so she lost control and stabbed her mother to death. At the Freak Show they meet people who are like them. Jimmy Darling, a man born with syndactyly (a condition where two or more digits are fused together) introduces himself to Bette and Dot. He is very kind and makes Dot feel accepted. His mother, Ethel, who is a bearded lady, tries to knock some sense into Dot and lets both her and Bette know how lucky they are that Elsa found them and gave them a home.

Dell Toledo, the strong man and his hermaphrodite wife, Desiree Dupree, a three breasted woman arrive asking for work. A man named Stanley visits the show saying he's a talent scout. What he really wants to do is kill the freaks and sell their body parts to the Museum of Morbid Curiosities. He sends his assistant, Maggie, undercover as a fortune-teller to help him kill the freaks. Elsa doesn't like anyone stealing her spotlight and she doesn't like it when someone gets in the way of her dreams of being famous. And when the twins get in the way she sells them to Dandy Mott, a spoiled, twisted, psychopath millionaire who has it out for them. Jimmy later finds them at Dandy's house and brings them back to the show. Dot lies about Miss Elsa selling them and makes Bette play along.

Dot discovered an article in the paper about separating conjoined twins and she knows there are only two people who have the money for the surgery and that's Elsa and Dandy, but Dandy she felt uncomfortable around, so Elsa is the only one left on the list. Dot promises to keep Elsa's secret unless she gets what she wants. Jimmy grew up without a father figure and he notices how Ethel behaves around Dell and knows how much she hates him. It's clear to him that Dell is his father. Jimmy doesn't really care if Dell wasn't around for him just as long as he finally knows who his father is. Jimmy's words and emotions give Dell a feeling he has never felt before. He starts to realize he loves his son. One of the freaks, Ma Petite, the world's smallest woman, has gone missing and is presumed dead. Ethel overhears Elsa's plan to get rid of the twins and realizes the truth about Elsa. Ethel threatens Elsa, but Elsa throws a knife at her head and ends up killing her. With the help of Stanley, they cover it up with a fake car crash. Jimmy is upset that his mother has passed on and becomes a drunk after the funeral.

As they are waiting for the doctor Bette reminds Dot the good stuff they have been through together, how they make a good team and that if one of them dies during the surgery she hopes it's her, so her sister can live. Dot is moved by Bette's words and realizes that she loves her sister and being split is not the best choice. Jimmy goes to his trailer while he is intoxicated and sees Dot and Bette sitting down on his bed waiting for him. Dot tells Jimmy how sorry she is after hearing the bad news about his mother. She finally comes clean and tells Jimmy she has loved him since they first met and that he gave her the strength to do anything. Jimmy doesn't know what to think because he never knew Dot had those kind of feelings for him. Sadly, Jimmy tells Dot he's in love with Maggie and it breaks her heart. Jimmy then gets arrested for murder, a crime he did not even commit.

Dandy framed Jimmy and bribed the detective officer so he could get him out of the way. Stanley visits Jimmy while he's in jail and offers to get him a good lawyer in exchange for his hands. Jimmy feels he has no choice. Maggie comes clean to Desiree and confesses what she and Stanley have been doing. She shows her Ma Petite's dead body in a glass jar at the museum. Amazon Eve, the tall woman, and Dell brake down the police truck so they can free Jimmy and get him somewhere safe. Miss Elsa is planning on leaving the show and move to Hollywood to pursue her dream. She sells the show to a salesman named Chester, who's head is a little damaged after being in the war. He entertains people with his magic and his dummy, Marjorie.

The twins find Chester attractive and seduce him to sleep with them. Dandy becomes jealous once he finds out and hires a private detective to gather any information there is on Chester. While Chester was in the war, his wife, Lucy, fell in love with a woman named Alice. Chester went insane and murdered both of them and imagined Marjorie doing it. Maggie shows Ma Petite's dead body to Elsa and she puts a bullet into Dell's head after she finds out it that it was he who smothered her. Dell was being blackmailed by Stanley knowing the truth that he was hanging out in a gay bar. The freaks have a feast to say goodbye to Miss Elsa and welcome their new owner, Chester. Elsa asks Chester if he could step out while they give Stanley a gift. Stanley opens his gift and inside is the severed head of Lillian Hemmings, the Museum's curator. Miss Elsa and the freaks reveal that they know Stanley's secret. Elsa injures him by putting a knife in his left leg and then Stanley reveals that Elsa killed Ethel, but all the freaks do is just stare at him with vengeful looks. They chase Stanley around with their weapons. The freaks mutilate Stanley by taking his arms and legs off.

The next day Elsa and Maggie visit Jimmy in his hiding place. Elsa tells Jimmy that Dell is dead. Jimmy isn't happy that Elsa killed him even though he knows the truth why she did it. Jimmy is also upset the he has no hands, but Elsa knows someone who can help with that. Elsa worked as a dominatrix in a German brothel and in 1932 her legs were cut off with a chainsaw while participating and drugged in a snuff film. She was taken to a doctor named Massimo Dolcefino, who crafted her wooden legs. Elsa is a freak as much as everyone else. Maggie wants to make things right between her and everyone else.

Dandy pays a visit to Bette and Dot and informs them about their new boyfriend, Chester. They think it's bull shit at first, but then they read the report he left behind. The freaks go over what Stanley said about Elsa killing Ethel and feel it to be true and they want justice. At rehearsal Chester wants to re-enact the sawing in half trick with Bette and Dot, but they refuse to, so Maggie volunteers instead. Chester's head plays tricks with and he sees the faces of the women he killed. Chester puts handcuffs on Maggie's feet and she is confused because she doesn't know how she's going to get her feet out. Chester is beginning to scare her. She screams as he is really sawing her in half. Chester blames Marjorie for making him do it. He is really losing his mind and believes he is murdering Marjorie. He turns himself into the police.

Meanwhile back at the show, the twins warn Elsa about the attack the freaks are planning on her. She leaves before the freaks show up. She sells the show to Dandy. Massimo gives Jimmy his new hands and Jimmy is grateful to him. Dandy goes berserk and kills everyone at the freak show. He leaves the twins alive because he's in love with them and plans to marry them. Desiree survives Dandy by hiding, but she is in fear and is crushed after what Dandy has done. Jimmy shows up during the night and finds all the freaks dead. Desiree and Jimmy make a plan for revenge and the twins get involved after they spot Jimmy in Dandy's yard. Dandy gets drugged and wakes up chained to a glass box. Standing outside the box is Desiree, Jimmy, Bette and Dot. Dandy wanted to be apart of the show and now they are giving him his first and finally performance of his life. They fill the box with water and watch Dandy slowly drown to his death.

Eight years pass and Elsa Mars is living her dream with her own tv show and a star on the walk of fame. Her manager asks for a Halloween show, but Elsa won't allow it. All of that is about to go away as a reporter discovers the snuff film from Elsa's past which will destroy her career. She also finds out all the freaks she knew and loved have been dead for a while which is a shock for her. Elsa finally agrees to a Halloween show so her life can end. Performing on Halloween summons Edward Mordrake, a freak with a second face on the back of his head, now a spirit who goes looking for one freak and takes their soul and they become a part of his freak show of spirits. Elsa performing on Halloween would be a suicide.

Edward kills Elsa and banishes her soul to the Freak Show grounds. In there is Ma Petite welcoming Miss Elsa to the show. All of Elsa's deceased freaks are there, including Ethel, who welcomes her back. Elsa has a hard time understanding why she's there after everything she has done. She feels she has to pay for her sins and the mistakes she's made, but where she is there is forgiveness. Elsa is happy to be with her family.

Blaine: Around episode eight I think it was, my mom said this season isn't as good as the others and I kind of agreed with her on that. I really like the first four episodes, but then after that Stanley the con artist had a couple of the performers from the show killed and sold them to a museum. Elsa sold the twins to Dandy the psychopath and lies were growing and growing and nobody was doing a thing about it except for Ethel and she got killed because she was on to the truth about Elsa. All of that concerned me. I feared for the freaks, but I feared more for Bette and Dot because it felt like they were the number 1target and that gave me a nervous feeling inside my chest. What was bothering me was why couldn't Jimmy have warned Bette and Dot that there was a second clown that Halloween night when he saved the children from Twisty the Clown and he feels it could be Dandy. But towards the end of episode nine it was starting to get better again because some truth was finally coming out.

Dot probably felt bad for making Jimmy look like a fool by saying Elsa didn't sell both her and Bette to Dandy. She had mixed feelings at Dandy's house and she knew there was something wrong with Dandy and I would say Jimmy was there to help rescue them. After changing her mind about the surgery, Dot realizes what she really wants is Jimmy. And she feels really sorry for Jimmy after finding out that his mother, Ethel, has been killed and she sees he is looking down in the dumps when he enters his trailer. On episode six when the freaks thought the twins ran off because Elsa told them that, Jimmy said "I guess they were never really happy here". But there was one thing Dot loved about the show and that is Jimmy and him not knowing or realizing that is another thing that was bothering me until I saw the twins in Jimmy's trailer and I said "Yes!!! Finally!"

I was happy that Dot finally admitted her feelings to Jimmy, so that he could know she loves him. I was disappointed that Jimmy told her he loves someone else, even though I knew that was going to happen. It must have been a lot for Jimmy to take in when Dot poured her heart out to him. When Dot and Bette took their robe off and showed their naked body in front of Jimmy, I was like "WOW!" That was the first time I saw Dot truly happy. I mean she would smile from time to time during the season, but she was happy with joy. I had a special feeling inside me as I was watching that scene from when Dot grabbed Jimmy's hand and put it on the side of her face, to her kissing him.

I was wondering what was going to happen with Dot after that, knowing that she couldn't be with the man she loves. "Freak Show" also has a connection to "Asylum" and the character who connects them is Pepper because she is in both of those seasons. On episode 10 it shows Pepper being committed to Briarcliff Manor after her brother in law frames her for killing her sister's baby. Lily Rabe made a special appearance as her character from "Asylum", Sister Mary. I wondered what she would look like as a freak if she was a main cast member this season? After that episode it took a three week break for the Holiday season.

I wasn't too thrilled when they showed the promo for episode eleven because it was introducing Bette and Dot to a new man who I was not to fond of, played by Neil Patrick Harris. It also looked like the season would be going in a new direction. I like the twins and I wanted Dot to be happy and it was hard to think who could be the perfect guy for her besides Jimmy. Sarah Paulson will go back and forth each season from blonde to brown hair. Season one she was blonde, "Asylum" brown, "Coven" blonde again, "Freak Show" brown, but then Bette went blonde by episode seven, so Sarah Paulson was both blonde and brunette. I thought Bette would stay blonde the rest of the season, but apparently she went back to her regular hairdo.

It's amazing how much they put into "Freak Show" one with all the different situations the characters were going through and it was hard to tell if they were going to deal with the two main problems and that was Dandy and Stanley. I asked myself "How is it going to end?" I found it very interesting and humorous when the twins finally got to see what sex feels like.

Maggie ratted Stanley out and knows she loves Jimmy, but he doesn't love her anymore. Chester Creb went insane after Maggie volunteered to do the sawing box trick and ended up really sawing her in half and killing her. The freaks don't care that she is dead because she never fit in and they now know Chester isn't the right person to run the show. I don't really know how Jimmy felt after he got the news that Maggie is dead. I mean I know he was already feeling depressed after everything that has happened before Eve told him the news. He has lost his mother and Dell died after they where just starting to begin a father and son relationship.

Dell is weak and he was blackmailed by Stanley to kill Ma Petite, but he has a conscience and he was starting to feel the love for his son Jimmy for the first time in forever. Jimmy must blame Maggie for Dell's death because she helped Stanley blackmail him and like I said they were starting a father son relationship and he blames Maggie for ruining it. I also think that Jimmy's feelings for her are fating away.

I gasped when Dandy shot Paul in the head and killed him. It was very unexpected for me. He then killed all the other freaks as well. And then I see Sarah Paulson is the damsel in distress. When Desiree told Jimmy that Dandy killed the family of freaks, it must have been very clear to him that Dandy framed him for killing those woman and he was right all along that Dandy was the second clown.

By the end of "Freak Show", there was a huge, huge happy feeling inside me. A lot of the characters were murdered by Dandy during the last episode of the season, which is bad, but four of them (Desiree, Jimmy, Bette and Dot) survived and took care of Dandy by drowning him to his death. After that, they move on with their lives and leave the freak show behind them. These characters have been through so much and then it all comes to an end.

It's eight years later and Desiree now has a loving family. Bette and Dot, but mostly Dot are happily married to Jimmy and are expecting their first child. I felt like Jimmy and Dot deserved each other through the whole season ever sense they first met each other. And the romantic relationships that Jimmy had with Maggie and the twins had with Chester Creb didn't work out for them. Dot goes for sweet guys like Jimmy and Jimmy I feel is the only guy for her. She went over to his trailer to confess she loves him and after she left heartbroken, it probably gave him a lot to think about and her words must have been the nicest thing any woman has ever said to him.

He also must have felt something in that kiss. He became a drunk after his mom passed away and everyone was treating him like he was a wreck, but Dot was the only one who would do anything to make him happy again and she showed a strong feeling for him. Jimmy's feelings for Maggie must have fated away because he realizes her love for him isn't as strong as Dot's and I think he was starting to realize he loves Dot. After they where done with Dandy, Jimmy and Dot must have wanted to start over and interact with each other more now that they have left the freak show behind and are starting a new life together. The romance is what I love the most about the ending of "Freak Show". The ending to "Freak Show" was also saying goodbye to Jessica Lange, since this was her last time on the show.

Blaine: My dad and I are impressed with the work they did for the conjoined twin effect ever since episode one. Playing conjoined twins had to be Sarah Paulson's most challenging role for not just "American Horror Story", but of her career as well because she was playing two characters that share one body. She had to give them different personalities and she had to work with visual effects. I've seen shows like "Game of Thrones" and "The Walking Dead" where the visual effects are amazing, detailed and hard working and the conjoined twin effect on "Freak Show" made number three. I really wanted Sarah Paulson to win an Emmy for this performance and she deserved it after all the work she had to do to bring these two characters to life.

Music