I haven’t read it, but a few years ago the Atlanta Center for the Puppetry Arts (yes, there’s such a place) did a production of it that got great reviews.
Note: I actually went to the fair last night and the circus/fair company actually had a freak show. They still do that? Anyway, I could not bring myself to go in. After watching AHS: Freak Show, I just cannot contribute to the exploitation of the “freaks” as it were. Even the two-headed chicken. Just… no.
OTOH, the disc-catching border collies show was amazing.
Good assessment. Some of the other seasons were pretty cheesy, but they had something that made watching them something I couldn’t miss.
This season just seems low stakes to me. It isn’t very dark, I don’t see anyone to root for (maybe lobster boy?) and (as you note) there is no creepy supernatural element (no basement demon, or aliens, or magic).
Dandy and his mom are the most interesting and engaging parts of the show.
I had such high hopes for this season. IMHO, the life went out of the party when Twisty died. I realize the Edward Mordrake episode was a vehicle to get the back story on many of the characters, but damn. Twisty was compelling and interesting.
I think this is Jessica Lange’s last season. I sure hope Ryan Murphy sends her out with a bang. Anything less would be criminal.
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Dandy and his mom are the most interesting and engaging parts of the show.
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I’m not sure which of his characters she played, but Arthur Miller once said that Frances Conroy (Dandy’s mom) was his favorite actress to work with.
I have mixed views. I understand the not wanting to contribute to exploitation, but otoh many (including my father’s cousin Pete) stated it was the best money they ever made. (Pete was a mechanic when he wasn’t exhibiting and actually retired for a time to work on his farm, but when his daughter was born with his condition he went back on the road to earn money for her treatment; one of her children has the same condition [50/50 odds with every birth to an afflicted parent], but none are as severe as Pete was.)
Of tonight’s episode, meh in general, but the actor playing Paul (the “Seal Man”) really is quite good.
The plot still hasn’t kicked in at all and I only watch because of prior seasons and a general love of the freak show setting. Though I’d have stopped if they’d drowned Ma Petite.
I am extremely confused and that could be, in part, because I tend to listen more than actually watch. I might be doing sudoku puzzles or something – TV rarely holds my visual and auditory attention completely. But I re-watched last week’s episode, with my eyes on, and now I’m really confused.
So… are Dot and Bette dead and in the jar for the display show or was that whatshisname’s fantasy for what he wishes he was doing? I can’t tell what is foreshadowing/someone’s bright idea/vision/fantasy vs. what actually happened. Which, I suspect, is the whole point. The Freak Show theme is about creating an illusion that the viewer buys into. So, okay, I’ve mentally paid my $0.50, I walked through the Freak Show… and I still have no clue what’s going on. :o
I’m trying to get this straight. What I think I saw (with my full visual attention this time) was Elsa bringing the twins over to Dandy’s house for a new housekeeper/playmate. While it appears Elsa is deeply jealous of the twins’ talent, I think she actually was just sticking them out of the way of this guy who wants to kill them all. I think she’s on to that dude and she created the illusion they disappeared for their safety. Thus, her meltdown about nobody trusting her.
Who’s with me? What can you straighten out for me?
The twins being dissected and Ma Petite being pickled were both fantasy “cunning little schemes” (that make no sense whatever*) from Denis O’Hare and Emma Roberts’ characters (I haven’t learned their names yet). They haven’t actually been done.
Elsa took the twins to Dandy because they were upstaging her. The only reason she has the freak show is as a hook to get people to watch her, and she needs them out of the way so that she can be a star. (She thinks Denis O’Hare’s character is a TV producer who’s going to give her a series.)
*The reason I say no sense whatever is that even if you take out the ethics of it there’s the “you’d think both would be worth far more dead than alive” aspect- certainly Chang and Eng made a lot more money living than they’ve ever made for the Mutter Museum- plus there’s not the matter of a pesky murder conviction hanging over you.
Thanks, Sampiro. I’m still working with the theory that this season is all about illusion and that things are not as they appear to be. I think your clarification still fits that paradigm.
The fact that Pepper is in this one and was also in the Asylum episode also helps fit. Maybe everybody’s a dream in her pointy little head.
I’m going to have to stop watching this on live broadcast and tape delay it. I’m sick of the regular Jessica Lange musical numbers. She must have demanded that she be allowed to sing one song per episode as a condition for her doing another season. I want to be able to skip past those.
That’s why the DVR is a gift from all the gods. 
Alright, after the ending of last night’s episode, I might continue to DVR the series and binge watch them but no longer plan to watch.
This season is just mean and boring with no supernatural elements or grip other than the “Who are the real freaks?” tripe that wasn’t new when Tod Browning did it so much better 80 years ago or when Victor Hugo did it better yet generations before that.
I thought it was kind of hilarious in a black way when the strong man decided 6’ 8" Amazon Eve would be the freak to take out, and she kicked. his. ass to kingdom come! And I liked Evan Peters singing Nirvana. I like him in this season most of all the seasons. He looks like a 50’s greasy hood, but I like him.
I’m kinda with you, Sampiro.
This is my biggest gripe with the season. It seems like they can’t commit to any actual peril, but play it out and then go “only joking!” The scene with Dot stuck with dead Bette was HORRIFYING! The most horrifying thing I’ve seen in a long long time. And then… nope, only fooling. that was just a fantasy. ugh.
(Not that I’d want to lose the twins this early in the season. (it seemed to early to lose Twisty too!) but I don’t like being jerked around like that…)
Yep. That was the season ender as far as I’m concerned. I haven’t watched an episode since.
Killing Ma Petite is worse, of course, but characters on tv shows have the lifespan of gnats. What the father did to his daughters face was the most messed up thing I’ve seen in a long long time.
I’m really not buying Sleazebag’s extortion of Strongman. He’s willing to kill an innocent Ma Petite to keep a secret till Sleazebag needs another body, but not just kill dude in that abandoned barn? He could tell the freaks what’s going on, they’d all be on his side and he’d be a hero. And why the hell would a guy who grew up in a Lobster family and is currently residing in a freak show care if anyone found out he’s gay? When initially introduced he says of his wife, “She’s got lady parts AND guy parts, ain’t I lucky?” with a smile. He fucked a bearded lady. It’s not like he’s gone out of his way of hiding his predilection so far.
And this society of embalmed freaks. Ok, so they’re nefarious, but the museum is open to the public, it flat out says on the jar her name is Ma Petite. No museum patron is going to connect the dots here?
The proprietress mentioned that freak shows would sell her the bodies of their dead for display; that’s how whatshisname got his murder idea. And it’s not likely someone in the Cabinet of Curiosities would be visiting the museum to connect the murder, nor that anyone outside of the freak show would care that Ma Petite disappeared. No reason those dots would ever get connected.
However, the episodes have continued to decline since Twisty is gone; other than Eve kicking all the butt, it was rather dreary. And I thought there was something off about Evan Peters’ singing Nirvana – flat? slightly off-key?