A murder house, an insane asylum, a boarding school of witches and now, a circus of freaks. “American Horror Story” is back and better than ever.
After a highly successful season last year, FX renewed the critically acclaimed series on October 8 with “AHS: Freak Show.”
Following “AHS” tradition, its new season is vastly different from the three previous seasons. “Freak Show” takes place in Jupiter, Florida during the early 1950’s and focuses on Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange), a German emigrant who owns one of the last remaining circus “freak shows” in Florida. To save the dying culture of circustry, Mars discovers Bette and Dot Tattler (Sarah Paulson), conjoined twins, and uses them to attract a new crowd to her shows.
Also involved in the circus acts are Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters), a boy with syndactyly, his mother Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates), a bearded lady, as well as a few other “freak” characters. The show even has a special guest, Jyoti Amge, the world’s smallest woman.
Away from the circus scene, a killer clown named Twisty (John Carroll Lynch) finds new ways to terrorize both local teens and members of Elsa’s freak show. Both aspects of “Freak Show” bring on different kinds of terror and will continue to develop the season’s plot.
In general, the first two episodes of “Freak Show” (“Monsters Among Us” and “Massacres and Matinees”) received positive reviews, earning the season an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes thus far.
Being a huge fan of “American Horror Story”, I was absolutely thrilled when October 8 came around. Not much promotion was done for “Freak Show” besides a few disturbing teaser trailers, so the prior anticipation for the new season was that much more intense.
So far, I am very pleased with “Freak Show.” The cast is always full of energy and never fails to put on a believable performance. In addition to the fabulous acting and interesting characters, “Freak Show” brings back a lot of the thrills and disturbing images “AHS” is prominently known for — images not suitable for the weak of heart.
If you’re a fan of nightmares, gore and a juicy plot all wrapped into a stellar TV show, I highly recommend “American Horror Story: Freak Show.”
