Alright, tonight’s American Horror Story: Freak Show episode “Test of Strength” had some shocking turns of events, so let’s get to it. Here’s some of the highlights of tonight’s episode:

Bette and Dotte’s blackmail: The episode started off where last weeks episode left off, with Jimmy Darling at the Motte residence to collect the twins. After some convincing he gets the girls to come back to the freak show. (In this interaction with Dandy, Jimmy begins to suspect him of being the accomplice to Twisty.) All of this has led Jimmy to believe that Elsa sold the twins off for stealing her freak show spotlight which causes him to mouth off to her during his rehearsal of singing Nirvana’s “Come As You Are”. Jimmy then summons the girls forward to give their side of the story of living in the Motte household. Bette begins to speak, but Dotte stops her telepathically and tells the troupe that her and her sister wanted to experience the finer things in life and that Elsa helped make that happen by sending them to live with Dandy. She said that Elsa told her and Bette that they always had a home at the freak show and that they wanted to come home. Of course all of these theatrics came with a price. Bette’s desires in the bribe included getting her hair dyed blonde, having caviar for breakfast, and becoming a comedian. Both girls also agreed on receiving a twenty percent profit from the tickets sold at the box office. Although Dotte told Elsa that she thought it should be fifty. While Miss Bette is getting dolled up for her blonde haired make over, Elsa slips her sister a note. In this letter Elsa explains to Dotte that she could have whatever she wanted for her part in the bribe. Dotte writes back to tell Elsa that she wants to have the separation surgery done by a doctor in Chicago. Despite Elsa granting seemingly everything to the twins, she still has quite a few tricks up her sleeve. We learned while Miss Elsa was dining with Stanley that she would not be opposed to a mercy killing of the girls. Both sleaze bags would reap the benefits of a huge payday for Stanley and to never have to worry about the twins again for Elsa. #SMH Their plan isn’t entirely a secret though, considering Ethel over heard the whole conversation while she approached Elsa’s dining area to serve dessert. We’ll have to wait and see what she does with this information!

Stanley blackmailing Del: Our freak show cast was getting super sketchy tonight because a whole lot of blackmailing was happening! Stanley just so happens to see Del at the gay bar searching for his freshly murdered lover, Andy. As soon as Sleazy Stanley sees Del at the camp grounds, the bribing begins. He threatens to reveal Del’s sexuality to the troupe if he doesn’t murder one of the freak show members. Stanley gives him one day to complete this daunting task. Del’s first murder attempt is committed on Amazon Eve. He sneaks into her trailer in the middle of the night and tries to hold a handkerchief soaked in poison over her face. The Amazon queen is a fighter though and she ends up beating the living fuck out of Del. #YOUGOGIRL!!!! This attempt ended up being an epic failure – not only is Del’s secret possibly going to be revealed, but now the entire troupe hates him even more. Sweet Jimmy tells the ladies of the camp that he’s going to have a man to man talk with Del and they end up at a bar to have a drink. One shot turns into another shot which turns into telling the bar tender to leave the bottle. This leads to a lot of drunken sentimental blabbering and Jimmy getting sick. He runs out of the bar into the alley way to hurl which is when Del takes another stab at murdering a freak. And in case you’ve forgotten, this freak is Del’s SON. Mr. Toledo has a brick in his hand when Jimmy turns around and says something unexpected which majorly throws Del off. Jimmy tells him that he’s always known that he was his father. “I always knew from the way mom hated you.” Jimmy then pleads to his father to admit his paternity. It was insanely heartbreaking but finally Del admits that Jimmy is his son. After this touching moment is shared, Del grows a heart for a bit and has some quality father/son drunky pants time. They approach the camp grounds singing old circus songs and Del tucks his inebriated son into bed. “I’m gonna say something I’ve never said in my whole life,” Jimmy says. “Goodnight, Dad…..can you say goodnight when it’s still morning?” So. Precious.

Penny (orgy girl) and her new makeover: This shit honestly broke my heart. Saying that Miss Penny’s dad is over bearing and over protective is an understatement. He’s basically a Nazi. The sweet girl has been tending to an injured Paul at the freak show and we find her sneaking into her own home to pack up her belongings to live with Paul for good. After a harsh exchanging of words her father introduces an extremely decorated tattoo artist to do a little work on his daughter. While Penny was drugged and unconscious the tattoo artist decorated her face and neck with tattoos that looked like snake scales. Once she woke up her dad forced a mirror into her face to see her new look. “Stick out your tongue,” her dad laughs, “I’ve had it forked!” This man essentially turned his own daughter into a snake. Bastard. The traumatized young lady then goes back to the freak show to be comforted by Paul who only ends up blaming himself for this gruesome assault.

The murder of Ma Petite: Yep. Del needed a victim to prevent Stanley’s blackmail, and it ended up being our sweet tiny princess. Towards the end of the episode we find Del in Ma Petite’s tent with a present. A brand new dress. “Pretty! I can’t wait to try it on!” The sweetheart exclaims. She gets her little self out of bed to put on her lovely new gown. “Zip me!” She says to Del. He tells Ma Petite that she looks “gorgeous. Like a little princess.” She did. She lifts up her arms the way a child does so that she can hug Del. He lifts her up to embrace her and ends up breaking her neck. He whispers “it’s going to be alright” into her ears as he kills her, and when she finally died he said “I’m sorry.” The episode ends with the unveiling of the Ma Petite exhibit at the freak show museum in town. The little princess is wearing her brand new dress in her glass jar.

So there you have it, tonight’s episode in a nut shell! A lot of really sad stuff happened tonight. Ma Petite’s death bummed me out immensely, because I adored her. She was just so precious and it made me very sad to see her body floating around in a jar at the end of the episode. Another thing that really upset me was the facial tattooing of Penny. The fact that her dad seemed to experience pleasure at the sight of his daughter in pain really disturbed me. That’s all I wish to say on that matter. We also learned one final important thing tonight: The Toledo Code: The first minute you let a women tell you what to do is the minute you hand your balls over to her. Words of wisdom right there, folks. -______-

What did you guys like about this episode? What did you hate? Make sure you check back in with me after the two week break on December 3rd for my next episode review! Have any questions on the show or this episode in general? Leave me a comment and let’s chat! Goodnight. -Sarah