American Horror Story: Freak Show “Edward Mordrake, Pt 2” 

I didn’t think it was possible for American Horror Story to surprise me, but all I can say is, “wow.” After last night’s incredible installment, the game has changed and Twisty is no longer a player. Before we get to Twisty’s demise, let’s discuss the rest of the episode.

Edward Mordrake continued his quest for “the one” by visiting the rest of the freaks. It was great to get some back story on the other characters and not surprisingly, all their pasts are filled with nothing but struggles. Most horrifying of them all belonged to Elsa. I was absolutely stunned to hear about Elsa’s history. She was a dominatrix when she lived in Germany. True to form she says, “Even in that world, I was a star.” However Edward wanted more from her.

Out of all the explanations for Elsa’s lack of lower limbs, snuff films were certainly not on the list. Elsa was drugged and filmed having her legs chainsawed off. What a terrible and painful act of depravity! Edward’s devil face tells him she’s the one, but before he can kill her, he hears music playing somewhere else.

Jimmy and Esmeralda (Maggie) end up stranded on the side of the road where they see Twisty chasing after Bonnie. Being the oh so smart people that they are, they followed them back to the camp where they were knocked out by everyone’s favorite Howdy Doody. Joking, it’s only Dandy!

How creepy was that little private performance Dandy and Twisty were putting on? Just before Dandy can saw Esmeralda in half, Jimmy tackles Dandy and the other captured kids run to get help. Before Twisty was able to get Jimmy, Edward appeared to listen to Twisty’s tale of woe.

I was genuinely stunned by Twisty’s story. Back in the day, he was a normal clown who was a little too simple in the head. The other carnies were cruel and they drove him away with allegations of molestation. He returned to Jupiter where he lived alone in the bus and tried to make toys for kids. After failing at that too, he tried to kill himself with a shotgun in the mouth. Unfortunately, he didn’t succeed and managed to live with his mangled mouth.

I certainly don’t sympathize with him because he killed innocent people, but it adds a whole new level to his character than just being a terror. If anything, he reminds me of Lennie from Of Mice and Men. He just wanted to entertain the children. He didn’t believe he was doing anything wrong. Edward’s devil face was moved and decided he was a pure enough soul to bring back with him. So long Twisty!

However, now we have Dandy to deal with and it’s obvious he’s going to be far worse than Twisty ever was. After losing the kids and having his Halloween ruined, Dandy returned home to find Dora. She scolded him for his costume and got all up in his grill again about how he didn’t scare her. Wrong move Dora! Now that he’s killed Dora, there’s no going back for him and Dandy seems more than okay with that. Finn Wittrock is doing an amazing job playing Dandy. His laugh at the end was genuinely creepy, but I still can’t wait to see what he does next.

Jimmy is now considered the town hero, but he’s not done with the cops just yet. He wants justice for Meep and I hope he gets it. However, I’m sure if felt nice for Jimmy to shake Mike’s dad’s hand. The people of the town are grateful and seem ready to accept the freaks. Elsa is, of course, thrilled that now she can sell out shows, and she’s more than happy when she thinks she’s met a talent scout from Hollywood. Except we know it’s only Stanley aka Long Sword (*wink *wink). Now both con artists have infiltrated the freak show, but I have a feeling Maggie will not go along with Stanley’s plans now that she’s looking at Jimmy with googly eyes.

Questions to Ponder:

– Why would the police lift the town curfew if they know there was a second evil clown on the loose?

– Where was Ethel during all the congratulations for Jimmy?

– Will Maggie turn on Stanley?

– How will Del handle all the praise and attention Jimmy is getting?

American Horror Story: Freak Show airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX.

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