AHS: Freakshow "Monsters Among Us"
Wednesday, October 8, 2014 at 11:34PM 
The shadows that had sheltered me were banished by the blinding light of scrutiny. I knew I was about to enter the gates of hell but like the inescapable pull of gravity there was nothing I could do about it.
Sarah Paulson's opening monologue to the fourth season of American Horror Story: Freakshow is rather how I feel about AHS itself. It's hellish, purposefully, and I feel a gravitational pull to watch even though I never love it. Grande Dame Guignol (also known as Hag Horror), a wonderfully stylized actressy subgenre of horror, was dead until Ryan Murphy revived it but his take on it is way too fused with the Slasher, the grossest and most obvious subgenre of horror that refuses to die.
This first episode of Season 4 begins promisingly enough with a patient average shot length and plentiful mood, though did we have to lift the Under the Skin score wholesale for what appears to be Elsa's (Jessica Lange) actual theme music this season? (I know the world is in love with Jessica Lange right now but Scarlett's ___ might well devour her whole.) Elsa recruits Siamese Sisters (Sarah Paulson as Dot & Bette) who murdered their mother. Meanwhile a scary clown with Leatherface like add-ons to his face (g-ross) in what appears to be a costume that hasn't been washed in years starts stabbing people gruesomely. He doesn't seem to belong to the actual Freakshow. We meet a wide cast of characters but Angela Bassett and her three breasts, Michael Chiklis as the Strong Man and Denis O'Hare as someone are as yet unseen. [More...]
Best Entrance / Exit: Jessica Lange's outfit (very Cruela DeVil) and suitcase (very Satanist). I love that she walks around with a devil symbol on her bags whilst continually protesting that her freakshow is harmless to the local authorities. "My monsters wouldn't hurt a fly!" Later in the episode she exits a diner without paying...
Most Quotable
Oh, my dear. It's on the house. Stars never pay.
-Elsa to a confused waitress.
Episode MVP: Sarah Paulson as Dot (wary, prim, a violent sourpuss) and Bette (trusting, curious, a nervous dreamer). They may be two broadly defined characterization thus far, but it's a treat to see them both at once. DOUBLEPLUSGOOD ACTING.
Movie References: Betty Grable, Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, Alfred Hitchcock, Singin in the Rain (1952), Stage Fright (1950) and Gaslight (1940) and Glorious Technicolor
Was That Really Necessary?: The oddest subplot is Lobster Boy's (Evan Peters) sideline gig. Let's just say it's an absolutely unbelievable subplot (aren't the townsfolk supposed to be scared of the freaks?) just for the excuse to make a dirty joke about the shape of his hands! But we'll accept it since it leads to the most perfectly acted grin while pleasuring a woman with your deformed flippers that has ever been captured on film. Also, the only.
Angling to Be a Regular?: Grace Gummer, who had a tiny part in Coven is back, all mannered bad girl sassy as a "peppermint angel" candy striper "It was either this or reform school". Her name is Penny! Oh Grace, Nobody fucks a Penny! Oh wait, apparently everyone fucked a Penny at the freakshow as Elsa shows her in a film strip. Penny breaks down into a carnal Margaret White confession without the madly-inspired Oscar-nominated commitment.
I liked it. I liked it.
Body Count: Five (four stabbings, one razor slashing). Three different perpetators. I hate this clown character already. (Oh, six actually since Meep eats a bird)
Number of Canted or Oddly Tilted Camera Angles: ∞
Number of Times Lange Whispers Her Line Readings: ∞
Most Fun / Most Promising: Dandy (Finn Witrock) and his mother Gloria (Frances Conroy) arrive toward the end of the episode as the only paying customers. But they're loaded.
Gloria: Do you like your seat Dandy?
Dandy: They're all my seat. I can sit anywhere I like....I like the one you're in.
Honestly I thought this was kind of a dull debut episode until they arrived and brought the right kind of perverse comedy to go with the grotesqueries. Which is why I'm giving Finn Wittrock this episode's...
Best Line Reading:
Freeeeeaaaaks !
-Dandy (Finn Witrock) with pure childish glee
AHS, Finn Wittrock, Jessica Lange, Reviews, Sarah Paulson, TV
Reader Comments (14)
Hmm. I'm cautiously ok with the show so far but I don't want to get too far onboard to have all my hopes nonsensically drugged with Benadryl and cut up into pieces at the last possible minute.
(I really hated Coven.)
Seems interesting enough so far and Frances Conroy looked gorgeous and shat all over Elsa so that's good enough for me.
Needs more knotty pine.
Adam - correct. Perhaps Elsa will break down much further (we can hope)
Derreck - yes that shade was great. "caterwauling"
Jessica Lange singing "Life On Mars" in her best Dietrich voice wearing a sky blue suit with wide lapels while glitter rains down on the stage; that moment is my everything. I will watch it on repeat forever. Set it up on an iPad next to my deathbed. I don't care what happens in the rest of the series, I don't care about Leatherface Clownman, I don't care about Bette and Dot, I don't care about anything except Jessica Lange singing David Bowie.
Great post! I haven't seen the other seasons, but I'm enthralled with this one so far. I'm a fan of Freaks from 1932, and Freakshow definitely gives a grand salute to that movie. Every point you hit is right on target too...MVP especially!
Did I blink and miss Angela Bassett? I didn't see her in the premier :(
Anne Marie: if you haven't already, watch this on repeat forever instead...better dreams afterwards.
David: Bassett was only in the season preview trailer at the end of the episode.
The show is just fantastic and the premiere was really promising. I can't wait for this season. Jessica Lange's final scene was breathtaking.
Evan Peters is on the list of actors who I'd be really curious to see in person. I don't think there's an actor with a bigger range of hotness and notness every time I see photos of him or see him in something. I'd be curious to see what he actually looks like. That's my great contribution to this conversation.
I was intrigued that the clown wasn't working for Elsa. I would've thought he was her hired hand, but my God, was that some scary sh*t he was up to!
I can't even imagine what hell they drudged up for his backstory.
I love the truly creepy opening credits- and the two headed twins reminded me of DePalma's "Sisters".
Anne Marie- Alleluia! LOVE ALL OF IT!!... Can't wait for next week. Now that's what I call Entertainment!!!
What about Kathy Bates? I had no idea what the hell she was trying to do. And I really disliked Lange. I will continue to watch, of course, but as of now, color me underwhelmed.
I love the bag that much that I made the design and put it on a bag so everyone can buy it http://www.redbubble.com/people/xavierboldu/works/12799240-american-horror-story-freak-show