American Horror Story: Freak Show: “Massacres and Matinees”
(Episode 4.02)
Usually the strongest episodes of an American Horror Story season is the premiere and the finale—all of the episodes in between tend to bring the show down. After the fantastic premiere last week of Freak Show, I was expecting the usual dip in quality, especially considering that “Massacres and Matinees” would introduce even more new characters to, possibly, muck up the works, as has happened before. I mean, one minute you’re telling a story about a young witches’ coven, next you’ve got Kathy Bates’ decapitated head spouting off racist remarks. But Freak Show is already standing out from past seasons, gracefully adding new characters that don’t feel so much like crazy additions, but more like perfect new ideas that fit in well.
The two newest additions to Elsa Mars’ Freak Show are Dell Toledo and Desiree Dupree, a married couple who fled Chicago for Elsa’s show. Toledo, played by Michael Chiklis, is a strong man with a stronger temper, who also happens to be Jimmy Darling’s father. Desiree, played by Angela Bassett, is a hermaphrodite with three breasts—and no problem with cheating on her easily angered husband. The two ran from Chicago when Toledo caught his wife cheating on him (attempting to turn a gay man straight), which led to the poor guy’s neck being snapped by Toledo.
In a usual season of American Horror Story, these characters would be introduced just for their weirdness, then later given some connection to the story when it was absolutely needed. But instead, Dell and Desiree are integrated much better than expected. They’re immediately presented as having a past with both Jimmy and Ethel Darling, and by the end of the episode when they make themselves unwelcome, Dell seems like the perfect person to pin the recent murders around town on.
It all seems to be tying together, but there is the possibility that down the line, this could lead to too many characters and too many ideas flying around. For example, “Massacres and Matinees” doesn’t even mention the stark finale of last week’s premiere, with Elsa Mars showing that she has two prosthetic legs. We also don’t get much of the dark underbelly that seems to exist at the Freak Show, what with last week’s rape. However this is slightly hinted at when the show features a scene that is clearly a direct homage to Freaks, with the group around a dinner table screaming “kill the copper!” instead of “one of us!”