American Horror Story: Freak Show – “Curtain Call”

First aired January 21st, 2015.

New owner Dandy (played by Finn Wittrock) is furious that nobody bought tickets to the freak show after making himself the headliner. He berates several of the freaks for this so they physically and verbally assault him before quitting.

Dandy gets dressed up and goes on a shooting spree throughout the camp. Desiree (played by Angela Bassett) avoided being found when Amazon Eve (played by Erica Ervin) heroically attacked Dandy before being killed. Jimmy (played by Evan Peters) comes back that night and finds the bodies displayed in the main tent and a distraught Desiree. Bette and Dot (played by Sarah Paulson) also survived and were taken to Dandy’s manor so he could marry Bette. The twins, Desiree and Jimmy drug Dandy and take him back to camp for their revenge. They decide to make Dandy a star after all and his “act” is being chained up inside an inescapable glass box and filling it with water. The three watch and enjoy popcorn as Dandy screams and pleads and finally curses them until the box slowly fills with water and Dandy drowns.

Like I predicted, after just a few minutes Dandy pissed off the entire freak show and they turned on him, although obviously they should have killed him. The massacre was surprising because after these people spent all season being stepped on and abused you’d hope they might get a happy ending. I was really rooting for Eve. She was one of my favorite supporting characters, but at least she went out fighting. True to form, Dandy remained the spoiled brat he always was. Watching Dandy beg for mercy and then childishly rant “I hate you!” as he drowned was hilarious and fitting for him. I couldn’t have been happier the poetic way Dandy was killed, being “part of the show” like he always wanted and finally learning what being a brat gets you.

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Elsa (played by Jessica Lange) spends days camped in a studio lobby trying to meet a network chairman who avoids her. She does meet an executive named Michael (played by David Burtka) who takes a shine to her. Eight years later, in 1960, Elsa has become a renowned television star and married Michael, however their marriage is loveless and Elsa feels completely alone. She hoped to run away with Massimo (played by Danny Huston), but he informed her that he was dying from lung cancer. When old copies of the German video where Elsa’s legs were cut off surface, she realizes her career will also be lost. Elsa decides to “go out with a bang” and perform on Halloween knowing it will summon the spirit of Edward Mordrake (played by Wes Bentley). Elsa hopes her soul will be taken but Edward knows she’s attempting suicide. He kills her but won’t take her soul, claiming she doesn’t belong with them.

Dying in the middle of a performance on live television is definitely the way to go out with a bang. Recapping the major events of Elsa’s fame using black and white news footage was inspired, although I can’t believe she got one of the first stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I figured Elsa’s fame wouldn’t bring her any happiness, that’s rarely the case with that sort of thing. Ending up with no friends and a husband who only uses her for the money and her dominatrix skills was what she deserved. I think Elsa purposely summoned Mordrake because she thought becoming part of his undead troupe would be a way of remaining a performer after death. But getting rejected by Mordrake right after he killed her must have been a real self-esteem blow for Elsa. He collected the souls of performers but, even with Elsa as his only option, he passed.

In the years following the massacre, Desiree is shown married with children while Jimmy is expecting a baby with the twins. As for Elsa, she went to a spiritual freak show greeted by everyone killed by Dandy and Ethel (played by Kathy Bates). Ethel tells Elsa they are to spend their afterlife performing every night for a full house and the episode ends with Elsa facing her audience.  Jimmy, Desiree, Bette and Dot deserved their fates, but I felt Elsa deserved something less happy. I thought that would be Elsa’s version of Hell, working backstage while Ethel was the star of the show. Elsa had her share of blood on her hands and I think her idyllic ending wasn’t fitting with her actions. I would have preferred she answered for them in death.

Quotes & Thoughts

“We’re freaks. You will never be one of us, and you don’t own us. We quit.”

I’m disappointed Stanley (played by Denis O’Hare) didn’t appear. I’ll have to just assume he died somehow.

“Let me tell you this pretty boy: you may look like a motion picture dreamboat, but you are the biggest freak of them all.”

I loved getting to hate Dandy this season, and he turned out to be a great villain after all.

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