TV Recap – American Horror Story: Freakshow ‘Edward Mordrake (Part 1)’
3 min read
American Horror Story looked back on old superstitions and legends this week. ‘Edward Mordrake’ is a two part Halloween themed episode of Freakshow, and by Halloween themed I mean that this episode takes place at this certain time of year; the show is creepy enough on its own every other week that it would be almost impossible to create an even more over-the-top Halloween episode.
This week we were introduced to the legend of Edward Mordrake when Bette and Dot wish to hold a Halloween show in honour of Meep. The siamese twins are told that no carney folk perform on Halloween, or they risk summoning Mordrake. This figure (portrayed fantastically by The Hunger Games‘ Wes Bentley) is so frightening because he has a second demonic face on the back of his head, which leads the aristocratic Edward to do unspeakable things. One Halloween ‘the face’ told Mordrake to murder his travelling troupe, and the rest is history. Fans pointed out on social media that Mordrake and his second head looked a lot like Professor Quirrell and Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone – these guys were not wrong!
The freakshow also gained another ‘member’ this week, when con artist Maggie (Emma Roberts) turns up posing as a fortune teller. Yet she’s working alongside old Stanley (Dennis O’Hare) to ultimately kill some of the freaks and earn money from selling their body organs as freakish artifacts. Maggie has an easy target convincing Elsa she’s the real deal; promises of fame, stardom and an elegant stranger quickly placate Elsa and send her running to practice her act. Unbenownst to Elsa, even practising on Halloween will summon Edward Mordrake…. But hey, we all make mistakes.
Ethel is picked as Mordrake’s unfortunate victim, although she doesn’t really mind. This is because earlier in the day she found out she’s dying from cirrhosis of the liver and may only have six months to live. The way the writers have handled character development and backstories for so many characters has been fantastic so far; let’s hope they can keep this up with such a huge cast over the next 10 weeks. After questioning Ethel, where we learn why she hates Dell so much, Mordrake decides that Ethel isn’t quite right for his spiritual troupe of demonic carney folks.
In other news, the bromance between Dandy and Twisty the Clown is alive and well; Dandy even makes himself a clown costume for Halloween to look more like his role model. You have to love Dora the maid, who stares down Dandy even as he’s holding a knife and threatening to kill her. Let’s be honest: Dora NEEDS to have more screentime. So Dandy goes out trick or treating, and decides to end his night with the murder of one of his kidnapped children. He might have almost suceeded, if Twisty hadn’t shown up. Yet the audience got the feeling that Dandy ran scared from the caravan because Twisty may not have approved of this killing – is there trouble in paradise for these two already? You also have to hand it to Twisty: why abduct the little girl who is terrified of clowns, when you can abduct her brother who mocked all clowns instead? Only time will tell what Twisty had in store for this new victim.
But this was only part 1 of the Halloween-themed episode, with a ‘To Be Continued’ popping up at the end to tease us all for an entire week.
Who will be Edward Mordrake’s victim? (Apparently it’s the freak with the purest heart.. hmmm…)
What will dynamic duo Dandy and Twisty do with this latest victim/why do they do these things at all?
Also, during this season will we see Bette undergo surgery to separate herself from Dot like she so dreams of? (My theory is that Bette will try to kill/decapitate Dot herself….)
Comment with your predictions on the answers to these questions and other ideas about what will happen next week in Part 2!
