'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Review/Recap: "Edward Mordrake: Part 1"
Hannah Hunt ‘16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
With Halloween quickly approaching, Freak Show has given its fans a two part Halloween episode. And here’s what we got from the first installment titled “Edward Mordrake: Part 1”: more characters and more plot lines that had us wishing we didn’t have to wait a week for part two.
The con duo Maggie Esmerelda (Emma Roberts) and Stanley (Denis O’Hare) have arrived and we quickly learn the two are after Bette and Dot (Sarah Paulson) for similar reasons that Elsa (Jessica Lange) was originally. All they see when they look at the twins are dollar signs. Posing as a fortune teller and answering to Stanley, Maggie infiltrates Elsa’s world via false fortune telling powers. Dot already doesn’t like her while the rest of the freaks have been easily fooled by her ways. Since the audience knows what the freaks don’t know about her, its safe to assume they have feelings similar to Dot’s. Stanley however, is still a mystery. Other than keeping tabs on Maggie and one interesting and somewhat misplaced scene involving a viking in the bedroom, not too much has been revealed about him. Considering what has been presented so far though, it will probably be freaky.
Homages and interesting new characters aside, what really drove this episode was Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates). Ethel has been established as a prominent cast member among the freaks. Previously in the season, she played a large role in integrating Bette and Dot into their new home and is the confidant of Elsa. That said, it came as quite a shock to learn in this episode that due to her past alcoholism, the cirrhosis of her liver gives her less than a year to live. American Horror Story delved into the personal story of one of its freaks set away from Elsa’s Cabinet of Curiosities.
From the tale of Ethel Darling, the show created an engaging and emotional story. The most human moment thus far came in the form of the scene with Ethel and her doctor. In tears, Ethel reveals this is the first time someone has treated her like a real human being. This is also the first time the show really pulled at its core message of: “freaks are people too”. Before this, the rally cries and shouting of Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters) had been the only other time it was touched on. Seeing one of the freaks really open up and being presented with their full story was captivating. It made this episode powerful, both narratively and overall. Hopefully all of the freaks will get a chance to tell their story in this way.
No Freak Show episode would really be complete without any noise from Twisty the clown. This episode concluded with the killer clown and his new partner Dandy (Finn Wittrock) adding “more fun” to their lives. To them, this fun came in a sick and twisted true American Horror Story fashion: a third prisoner. After this development, “to be continued” was the last thing anyone would want to see on their screen.
More important moments that need to be mentioned from “Edward Mordrake: Part 1” is Elsa’s majestic performance of Lana Del Rey’s “Gods and Monsters” (currently number one on iTunes’ top soundtrack singles) and that, thankfully, the body count at the end of the episode was zero (RIP Meep).
Overall Episode Grade: A