American Horror Story: Freak Show is the strongest season of the show so far
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Version 0 of 1. SPOILER ALERT: This blog discusses plot points from Freak Show, the fourth season of American Horror Story. Even though it is now halfway through its fourth season, there’s still something of a breath of fresh air about American Horror Story. Okay, it’s fetid, necrotic air filled with screams, dry ice and liberated haemoglobin, but you get the point. It’s the infectious daftness of the whole thing; the claret-hurling ultraviolence; the inability of Jessica Lange to be anything other than an absolute dude even when spouting some truly preposterous nonsense, the reset system at the end of every season – meaning each is its own standalone tale with the cast in different roles. American Horror Story has never become dull because it has never stayed still for long enough. Because each season can be judged on its own merits, and now we’re six episodes into Freak Show (which followed Murder House, Asylum and Coven), it feels as though enough has happened with the story so far to sit back, take stock, and reflect. And I’m going to go out on a limb – a bloodied, crudely dismembered, rotting limb. This series, despite its deliberately lefty-irking title and potentially insensitive subject matter, is by far and away my favourite so far. And I’ve liked them all. I’ve heard from some who say this is their least favourite, and critical reception in the odd esteemed corner of the internet, from Complex to Vulture to the AV Club, agree with this summation. It’s great that a show can divide opinion. It’s also great that we live in a world where people are free to be this incorrect without being hurled into stockades and mocked mercilessly as blithering idiots. Freak Show feels more rounded, complete and assured than the previous three incarnations; the scariest since the first, the silliest since the second and the nastiest behind the ooh-dear-that’s-a-bit-too-nasty-actually third. It feels like they’ve finally nailed the formula they’ve been chasing around like a chicken round a pen for four years. For one thing, the plotting hasn’t been this strong since Murder House. Predictably grim proceedings began with conjoined twins Bette and Dot (series old guard Sarah Paulson, superb as both), whose unique cranial plurality soon came to the attention of Jessica Lange’s freak-show proprietor Elsa Mars. Mars’s emporium of curiosities has been stuffed with intriguing subplots: Evan Peters’ murderous quest for equality, his daddy issues, and his love interest, Maggie, and her formaldehyde-reliant plot with Stanley; Del’s sham marriage; Elsa’s quest for fame, the bubbling tension between her and Kathy Bates’s bearded Ethel. Each prominent character has been given meaty storylines to gorge on, and while some haven’t panned out quite as well as others (Jimmy’s sideline as a sex worker was introduced and wisely dropped, as was an ill-advised plot-strand about drug-induced rape), the web of intrigue that’s been constructed so far doesn’t have any major weaknesses in it at all. They all slot together, suggesting they’ll converge nicely at the conclusion. And by nicely I mean in a furious fountain of unmitigated violence. And then there was Twisty. God, I loved Twisty. I miss him. His all-too-short killing spree and weird little bromance with man-brat Dandy (deliciously petulant newcomer Finn Wittrock) were the high-water marks of the series so far. It was the first time in a long time the show had been genuinely scary. If you’re scared of clowns that is – which, let’s face it, you are. You’re a rational person with an instinct for self-preservation. Seeing poor Twisty offed so limply has been the season’s biggest misstep; the events of the nonsensical, if fun, Edward Mordrake episodes left Freak Show weaker as a whole. Will Twisty return for an undead juggle-death rampage? I hope so. Nevertheless, each subplot this year feels fleshed out and infinitely more satisfying than the scattershot kitchen sinkery of Asylum and Coven, what with their zombies, aliens, demons, mutants and Stevie Nicks-es. There’s no filler in Freak Show. Well, there hasn’t been so far, anyway. Its performances, too, are as strong as ever. Jessica Lange is again some kind of Emmy-attracting whirlwind. Granted, she’s riffing on the same character each season (the singularly driven fading starlet), but the character’s a doozie so it doesn’t really matter. I’m not sold entirely on her accent – she sounds a bit like Joey playing Sigmund Freud in that episode of Friends – but you can forgive her because She Is Lange. Unfortunately Kathy Bates hasn’t had as much to do this year as last (her accent is “Baltimorese”, apparently) but is reliably solid and looks likely to explode in the coming episodes. As mentioned, Sarah Paulson and Finn Wittrock are clearly having a ball. But after Coven utterly wasted him last year (as a monosyllabic Frankenstein’s sex-buffoon) it is Evan Peters who is most impressive, prone to wild fits of rage and quieter emotional meltdowns. He has easily done his best work this season. Though props should also go to Mat Fraser for his sterling work. Hopefully it takes more than a throwing knife hurled by a vengeful sexagenarian to take him down. The remainder of the season could all go horribly wrong of course, and if it does I’ll look like a prize dunce for saying all this. But for now, wheels are in motion and tensions are bubbling over: Elsa is surely about to be outed as the devil woman she truly is, one of the twins looks sure for the chop, Del is on the warpath, and Dandy has just invited Jimmy into his house, which probably won’t end well for anyone. Things seem to be coming to a head nicely. The naysayers are right about one thing. After Freak Show, American Horror could probably do with shaking up the formula slightly to prevent atrophy, though with Lange reportedly hanging up her scowl at the end of the current run its hand may be forced. But if Freak Show can keep its composure – which means no zombies, Nazis, killer Santas or blokes with faces on the backs of their heads – it is well on course to be a riotous season of a show that proudly refuses to give a single hoot. As I said, though, it’s never boring, so it’ll probably drop the ball completely. That would be so American Horror Story. Anyway, what do you think? |