TV Recap – American Horror Story: Freakshow ‘Pink Cupcakes’
4 min read
After last week’s mammoth episode of American Horror Story: Freakshow, which largely dealt with backstories and saw the loss of fan favourite Twisty the Clown, this week seemed like a new beginning of sorts. It begun with Gloria wondering why her breakfast hadn’t been made, only to walk into the dining room to find Dora in a pool of her own blood where Dandy left her. Dandy suggests that someone broke into their house, but at least Gloria has the sense to realise it was her sadistic son who did it. Rather than draw attention, she helps cover it up and that’s the end of that. Also, Dandy’s done with the clown costume but is now obssessed with his own body; I didn’t think the dude could get any creepier, but he just did.
Meanwhile, Stanley and Maggie hatch a plan to murder some of the freaks, although Maggie isn’t really okay with this because of her growing feelings for Jimmy. Stanley attempts to draw Elsa close with promises of her own tv show, only for the façade to fall flat when Elsa declares that she will only ever perform in movies. However performing to a packed house that night shows Elsa what people truly think of her act, with the townspeople throwing food and booing her off the stage. She suddenly reconsiders the option of performing on television, and Stanley’s in.
But conjoined twins Bette and Dot are also encouraged with ideas of starring in their own tv show by Stanley. Throughout the episode, Stanley has visions of his ‘trophies’ being displayed in the freaks museum, and I can’t be the only one that thought some of them were real. The idea that he poisoned Dot with a pink cupcake, thus killing both twins, was particuarly convincing. Whilst Stanley failed in his muderous attempts with the pink cupcakes in reality, something tells me he has a many more ideas up his sleeve.
This was a big episode for newcomers Dell and Desiree. Desiree ends up taking a trip to the doctor and discovers she isn’t as much of a freak as she thought; she is 100% woman and can have children, something she’d thought was impossible. When Ethel sees Desiree’s starry eyed gaze at the thought of having children with Dell, she tells her that Dell is Jimmy’s dad and presumably all the other crap he did too. Dell isn’t too happy when his wife lays down the law, so he pays our friendly neighbourhood doctor a visit. Basically if the doctor gives Desiree cosmetic surgery (therefore making her desirable to other men), Dell will go and hurt his grandchildren. It seems that Dell really just wants to keep his wife.
Except that he doesn’t. He’s been sneaking around for years with men, not wanting to admit to anyone (or to himself, obviously) that he’s gay. Dell doesn’t like that his current boyfriend is a prostitute, yet won’t leave Desiree like he told him he would. Considering his actions towards Desiree at the end of the episode, it’s evident that Dell is a much more complex character than we first thought, and he’ll play a big roll in the episodes to come.
But it’s never a good AHS episode without a murder and Dandy is our new resident killer. He picks up Dell’s boy toy, and takes him out to Twisty’s sacred kidnapping/killing grounds. The fact that Dandy asked his victim to strip to his underwear (as well as Dandy doing this himself) was just plain weird. I mean, seriously. However, the scene did offer up some comedy in the fact that Dandy found out it’s more difficult to kill someone than he thought; his victim just kept coming back to life at inopportune moments for Dandy: “Why are you alive? You’re supposed to be dead!” After a chat on the phone reveals that Gloria was a pretty terrible mother it becomes obvious that Dandy’s new hobby is a way to earn her attention, especially when he’s standing in his underwear covered in blood (Seriously, did no one see him walking home?!).
Elsa isn’t happy when she finds out the twins have also been offered their own tv show, and so she comes up with a devious solution. The episode ends with her at Gloria and Dandy’s house, ready to hand the twins over; if you remember episode one, Dandy was fascinated with the twins and wanted to buy them. I’m pretty certain that I and many others sat as the screen turned to black and thought: ‘ohhhh sh*t’.
Other points of interest:
- Jimmy is still feeling guilty over Meep; will he do something he regrets?
- Will Stanley succeed in killing any of the freaks or will Elsa get rid of them all in jealousy first?
- Will the twins end up in Dandy’s clutches? (whatever happens to them, I just want Sarah Paulson to get more screentime!)
As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and predictions in the comments!
