Hey guys! With the new episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show coming out tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to give a recap of the season thus far. Especially because the two week “holiday vacation” from the show felt like an eternity! So let’s dive right into it with the season premiere!

Episode 1 “Monsters Among Us”: Nothing extremely detrimental to the show happened in this episode. It basically set the stage for the rest of the season, introducing us to the freak show troupe, owned by Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange). We meet Twisty the clown who has a love for murdering people by maniacally stabbing them. In this episode he murders a young boys parents and kidnaps the boy. He also murders the boyfriend of a twenty something year old and kidnaps her as well. In the season premiere we also meet Gloria and Dandy Mott who purchase all the seats to one of the freak show performances. Dandy would like to purchase Bette and Dotte the conjoined twins for $15,000 but the girls refuse. (To read a full synopsis on this episode you can check out my full review at https://lifewithlilred.com/2014/10/10/american-horror-story-season-premiere/)

Episode 2 “Massacres and Matinees”:  A lot of really important stuff happened in episode two. We are introduced to Desiree Dupree, a hermaphrodite and her husband, Dell Toledo, the strong man. We learn that Dell is the father of Jimmy Darling and the ex-husband to Ethel Darling. Elsa hired Dell with the intention of him becoming the troupes new powerful male leader. He showcases this authority by beating his son, Jimmy senseless at a local diner when he catches the troupe having an outing there. Dandy and his mother Gloria play a big part in this episode. Massacres and Matinees showed us just how far Gloria would go to please her man child son. While driving down a country road, she notices none other than Twisty ambling about. She invites him to her home to perform for Dandy. While in Dandy’s play room he demands entertainment from the clown. While Twisty is rummaging through a toy box, the curious Dandy tries to look through the bag that Twisty carries with him everywhere he goes. An angry Twisty whacks Dandy over the head with a bowling pin and runs off. In episode two, Twisty’s face under his smiling mask is revealed when his female hostage whacks him over the head with a board, causing his mask to fall. The kidnapped boy and girl run off. The female unfortunately runs straight into Dandy who goes out searching for the clown, she frantically tells him that a clown is going to kill her. A light bulb sparks in Dandy’s head and he hoists the girl on his shoulders sing songing “clown, I have something for you!!” Thus, a new dream team is formed. (The full review can be seen here: https://lifewithlilred.com/2014/10/16/american-horror-story-episode-2/)

Episode 3 “Edward Mordrake”: Oh yes, yes, yes indeed. I loved this episode very much. We are introduced to the con artists Stanley and Maggie who venture to the freak show with the hopes of making some serious cash. Maggie poses as a fortune teller while Stanley pretends to be a talent scout from Hollywood. They were inspired once they were offered a handsome sum of money for the remains of freak show members for the American Morbidity Museum. We learn the legend of Edward Mordrake, a man with a demon on the back of his head. Mordrake is said to come to anyone who is caught rehearsing or performing on Halloween to kill a member of the freak show so they can be in his undead carnie troupe. Mordrake appears after he catches Elsa rehearsing thanks to a fortune that Maggie told her of Elsa becoming famous. Edward then goes from troupe member to member learning their back story, where we learn the tragic tale of Ethel Darling. Twisty kidnaps a new hostage in episode three and Dandy creates his own clown suit to join in on Twisty’s insane fun. (The full review can be seen here, which I highly recommend if you want to learn about Ethel’s past: https://lifewithlilred.com/2014/10/23/american-horror-story-episode-three/)

Episode 4 “Edward Mordrake Pt 2”: This was a good one! We learn the deeply upsetting back stories of Twisty the Clown and Elsa Mars thanks to Edward Mordrake. This episode was definitely a tear jerker! In Twisty, Mordrake finds the newest member to his undead troupe so he kills him and reincarnates him into the man who he used to be before his suicide attempt left his face destroyed. In episode four, Maggie and Jimmy stumble upon Twisty’s camp, thanks to seeing our female hostage escape (again!) only to get caught and carried back to the camp by Twisty. Dandy promptly smacks both intruders on the head so he can use them for his special Halloween performance. He ties Jimmy up and uses Maggie as his assistant in the classic “sawing a body in half” trick. Luckily for Maggie AKA “Tiny Tits” Jimmy gets himself untied, hits Dandy, and saves the day. At this point, the Twisty interaction with Mordrake has happened already, and once Dandy finds his partners dead body, he takes the clown’s mask and places it on his own face. He then makes his way home to be hassled by his arch enemy maid Dora, and slits her throat with a pair of scissors. (The full review can be seen here if you’d like to read about Twisty and Elsa’s back story! https://lifewithlilred.com/2014/10/30/american-horror-story-episode-4/)

Episode 5 “Pink Cupcakes”: A lot of really important stage setters happened in episode five. We learn of Stanley AKA “Mr. Spencer’s” slime ball tactics to try and kill the conjoined twins with poisoned pink frosted cupcakes as a celebration gift for a possible television debut for the girls. Thankfully Dotte slaps the cupcake from her sweet sister’s hand saying that they need to watch their figure if they’re going to be on television. Desiree Dupree’s one hundred percent womanhood is also revealed on this episode, after she has a moment of marital weakness with Jimmy when she can’t find her husband Dell anywhere. A drunk Miss Dupree asks the lobster boy to make her feel again, and his heavy duty fingering causes her to bleed. Dupree is rushed to the doctor, where she learns that this bleeding was actually a miscarriage and that she’s been a woman all along. This is thanks to her body having too much testosterone, thus rapidly producing estrogen to compromise for it. This extra estrogen gave Dupree her third breast and an enlarged clitoris which she thought was a “dang a lang”. Dell Toledo’s homosexuality is introduced in episode five, where we see him at a gay bar with his young lover, Andy. Unfortunately Andy’s AHS debut is short lived, because Dandy kills him later in this episode while on a quest to become the greatest serial killer of all time. One final surprise of Pink Cupcakes is at the end of the episode when a jealous Elsa drops Bette and Dotte off at the Mott residence “I believe I have something you want” Elsa says as she gestures grandly to the girls. (The full review can be seen here at: https://lifewithlilred.com/2014/11/06/american-horror-story-episode-5/)

The reviews for American Horror Story: Freak Show episodes 6-10 will be available later today! Until then, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, leave me a comment and let’s chat! -Sarah