American Horror Story Freak Show Recaps:
Episode 4x02 “Monsters and Matinees”
This week is very much focused on Jimmy and his issues, especially as Dell moves into the roost as the new head cock. I’m really not kidding. It feels like an apt comparison as Jimmy has been sort of the big brother/man of the show in order to support and care for his mother and the other performers. With Dell’s arrival as well as Elsa’s initial turn to him for support, we see that there’s a power dynamic shift and that’s where this story lies.
Oh, there are on murdering clowns and dead cats, too…
So the episode opens with everyone gathered around the commissary tent to have breakfast. Then new cops arrive because they know that the detective for last week has gone missing. The performers put up a good show of posturing and swearing they’ve not seen anything and Elsa points out that everyone always suspects her monsters first (her words, not mine). Of course, in this case, this is what has happened, but I see Elsa’s point: that no matter where they’ve gone, they’re always assumed to be criminals due to their deformities. After all, while Jimmy did kill the detective last week and Bette murdered her mother, the serial killings are still solely the work of the clown killer.
Then we see people in the diner focused on the radio news broadcast about the serial killing clown and his four victims (we know it’s the clown but the radio is talking about a “mysterious” killer). We then follow that to the local toy store where the radio is on but the shop assistant returns with coffee to find that the boss is missing. This cannot and does not end well and, eventually, Clownie murders him brutally and leaves his head on display on the shelf for children to see.
Back at the freak show, Jimmy, the Amazon, and the Tattoed Man are all talking and Jimmy is expressing his guilt. He knows, after all, what it’s like to grow up without a father and he’s upset that the detective had a family as revealed to them by his comrades who visited earlier. He still believes that people wouldn’t think that they’re violent monsters if they actually knew them, “…they’d see we’re regular people…no better, no worse.”
With Glory and Dandy… Well, they’re as pleasant as ever. Dandy is throwing a fit about the escargot he’s served as well as how bored he is, that he’s “turning to dust” in his mansion. Dora the maid is completely unimpressed. She is the only one in the house who stands up to Dandy and will even mention how he “works her last nerve,” and also is living in the reality of who and what Dandy is. Gloria is clearly scared and ignoring it all to keep him “happy,” but Dora’s the one talking about having found cat’s teeth and other things in the shed. Clearly, Dandy is murdering small animals and waiting, frankly, to graduate to humans.
In the freak show, the next day, Dot and Bette are told that they have to “sing for their supper” and that everyone will participate in the show by Ethel. Dot doesn’t want to be on display like that and often pushes back against both Ethel and Elsa’s authority. Bette isn’t averse at all and clearly dreams of being a star in her own right. She’s the one who wanted to be free in the first place and who also liked Hollywood and movies, probably more than her sister. Meanwhile, newcomers Dell and Desiree breeze into town. They put up a good front of being expert showmen and valuable (Desiree is an hermaphrodite with, although she identifies as female, both sex organs, as well as three breasts).
However, even Elsa can see through them. The circuit is small and this Fraulein knows that Dell is on the run for murdering a man who was having sex with Desiree (who had been, ahem, doing things on the side). Desperate, they offer to do anything and Dell takes demotion from strong man to just barker and show advertiser.
Gloria is out driving and looking for Dandy after he stormed off, fuming over escargot. While she meets and brings home Clownie to entertain Dandy, she doesn’t find her son. Dandy, meanwhile, is trying to beg Jimmy to let him in. Jimmy says that he wishes he could be like Dandy and he doesn’t know how lucky he is. Dandy retorts that he’s one of the freaks on the inside and being in the show is all he ever wants. Jimmy still sends him away and Dandy has a meltdown in his own car, beating the steering wheel and screaming “I HATE YOU!” over and over. For what it’s worth, I think that Dandy’s right about being far more warped mentally than most of the performers are physically.
By a lot!
Ethel goes to Dell’s trailer and, through quick flashbacks of Dell trying to hurt a crying baby and a much younger bearded lady/Ethel, we learn that they were together previously. He promised her they’d settle down and move to the suburbs but he never meant it. He said that men always say whatever they can to get women to do things for them and that he never meant it. Ethel’s bitter and angry but she says that the best thing he can do for Jimmy is never tell him that he’s actually Jimmy’s father.
Later, Bette is trying to sing while Desiree accompanies and she’s terrible, tone deaf and just unpleasant. Dot, however, after coaching from Jimmy, who says “Just sing to me,” gives a great rendition of “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” Now we know that we officially have the world’s oddest love triangle because Bette is upset and Dot’s dewy-eyed. Elsa is about as angry because she realizes Dot’s legitimate talent and threat to her spot as top dog. She’s further frustrated by Dell taking command of the way the show is run. There’s a curfew? So what? He’s advertising a matinee (with Elsa at bottom billing with Meep, by the way). Elsa is furious saying that “matinees are kiddie shows” and that at night, “darkness moves in and speaks mysteries of the unknown…”
Dell leaves after getting his way and being verbally threatening to Jimmy.
Elsa realizes how foolish a deal she’s made and what Ethel was warning her about by noting “That man is going to be a problem.” (No duh.)
Back at Che Dandy (or the home of Buffalo Bill, Jr.), the clown is eerily silent as Dandy has a puppet show and says that he loves puppets and that really the clown is a puppet for him too because he’s a person doing what Dandy wants and following his wishes. That says A LOT about Dandy’s view (and probably, by proxy, the wealthy, white class in this universe) on people “lesser” than him by virtue of deformities, skin color (like Dora) or poverty level. Anyway, in the best scene ever, the clown eventually grows bored and hits Dandy with a mallet, knocking him out.
Alas, Dandy isn’t dead. He wakes up and follows Clownie back to his layer. I just don’t like Dandy. I get why he exists, I do, but I don’t find the story interesting. I’ve seen spoiled white brat or nascent serial killer a ton. I find Clownie more compelling and Dandy’s scenes make me want to change the channel.
Jimmy has tried to take the freaks to the diner and it’s gone badly, in part because the town in uncomfortable with them, but also because they are rude. The Tattoed Man ends up eating off an abandoned but still full plate. I don’t hold anything against Pepper as she’s microcephalic and couldn’t know better due to her retardation (although I’m sure her shouting also scared customers) but I am saying that the show does a good job of painting the freaks as not one hundred percent noble and just and the town, as we see later, as all evil. That said, I think they might have been able to stay if maybe they hadn’t grabbed food that wasn’t theirs and slapped the waitress’s hand away. The scene further disintegrates when Dell drags Jimmy outside for basically “giving a free show” and beats him up.
Meanwhile, the girl and boy captives of Clownie have escaped and are fleeing. The older, teenage girl thinks she’s made it when Dandy stops her and presents her back to Clownie as a “let’s be friends” offering.
The matinee goes off well… maybe too well. Dot’s singing (rendition or performance) of Fiona Apple’s “Criminal” is a hit and even encourages a mosh pit. Elsa’s more uncomfortable and Bette has some doe-eyed, worried moments on stage. It’s clear that Dot’s not just the star for her curious body type but also because of her talent and it’s going to shake things up.
Police come on a “hot tip” and Jimmy has left it about Dell; Jimmy knows it’s the hottest of tips since he’s set Dell up with a planted badge. Dell’s not an idiot and countered that sabotage by hiding it in Meep the Geek’s (who eats chicken heads and is also most likely intellectually disabled) trailer. The police arrest poor Meep and drag him off. Meep’s also much smaller than most grown men by a lot, almost child-like in proportions, so Jimmy knows how dangerous even jail overnight will be for him. He’s proven right when we follow Meep to booking and everyone begins to surround him, going, “They had fingers ripped off the teenage boy they found. Let’s rip yours off.”
Then they crowd completely around him and the scene fades to black as ominous music crescendos.
Elsa starts her own sabotage plan as well. While the sisters are sleeping, she wakes only Bette and talks about how the performance must have made her feel like “schizer” “sheisse” (German for shit). Anyway, she also notes that Dot’s the jealous one and Bette must never let Dot take what she has or Bette’s so-called spark from her. Elsa also hints that “Dot has a dark soul.” Considering we know from the first episode that Dot stabbed Bette in their home after their mom’s death, that’s pretty freaking likely. Elsa really hammers it all home with Checkov’s Knife, so to speak, and leaving just Bette a knife for protection, while Dot sleeps, unaware.
Finally, Jimmy’s drunk on the stage and that scares Ethel. He’s never drunk before because of her own history of alcohol abuse and struggle to get clean. He’s upset because he couldn’t save Meep or anyone else, He admits he killed the detective, which stuns Ethel, who did not know before. This pity-fest is interrupted with a truck rumbling up and honking. All the freaks rush out and find that there’s a lump wrapped in a tarp.
It’s Meep and the show ends with Jimmy falling to his knees and screaming Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes style over his dead friend’s corpse.
In other words, the tension between the townies and the freaks has just escalated to beyond deadly as now it’s taken one of the freak show’s own…
**
The Good:
- I enjoy Elsa. I think Lange is a delight to watch and her machinations with Bette were skillful and tension filled.
- I like Clownie. I think he’s interesting and terrifying with his deformed smile and filthy outfit. I want to know why he’s doing this.
- Dora has a spine that I think contrasts so heavily with Gloria’s mix of denial and hoping placating (and infantalizing) Dandy will stop the animal murders or more from happening
- The gray areas: Like I said, the freaks aren’t saints. They make social gaffes and mistakes but at the same time they’re not monsters, either. Yes, Jimmy killed the detective but it was in the heat of the moment after being insulted and to protect Dot and Bette and his home. He does feel remorse. So far the freaks are layered and come in grays. I hope the more normal characters become also as interesting.
The Bad:
- This episode is not that interesting to me. I think it drags because I’m not that invested in the pissing match between Dell and Jimmy.
- Similarly, I hate Dandy, so focusing so much on him, his puppet shows, tantrums, and desires does nothing for me.
- Also, I can’t tell if I like that the musical numbers have mainly been anachronistic or not. I get sort of the whole quirkiness of last week and Elsa doing a David Bowie number based around Mars to begin with (her last name and all that) but I don’t know why, this week, we needed a mosh pit? It feels more jarring than avant-garde.
- I felt like the cast has taken a big backseat to Dandy and Dell. And both characters are, so far, such one-dimensional bullies, whom I don’t care for.
The Bechdel:
- We had a few passing scenes. One I didn’t mention earlier was very short, with Ethel asking Elsa why she hired Dell behind Ethel’s back and made HIM in charge of security. Elsa really blew her off and I felt terrible about it. Okay, Elsa uses everyone, but I thought she respected her right-hand woman and her feelings more than the others.
- The scene, however, where Elsa manipulates Bette and starts sowing those seeds to play her against her sister is very brilliant. Again it’s not exactly happy sisterhood female bonding, but I think it shows how tangled everything is, what Elsa will do to “be a star,” and that we’ve got a lot of trouble coming.
**
The Verdict: I gave this a D+
This episode just somehow felt like filler and focused on characters that felt (even if this is episode two) come lately, and not that interesting. I just feel like Dandy and Dell are stereotypes that make me snore and that’s not a good thing this early in the season!
