BWW Discussion: The Curtain Comes Down on AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW

It's been a long and winding road for the freaks in this season's AMERICAN HORROR STORY. Death, betrayal, sass, and some good, old-fashioned blood baths (literally and figuratively) sprinkled in for good measure made for quite a show. This season (like every other season) may have divided some viewers regarding whether it was spectacular or just spectacularly bad, but one thing's for certain: there's a lot to discuss. My fellow recapper and TV-obsessed friend Kara McCoy and I did just that. Join us, but beware: spoilers abound!

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Kara: Overall, I think the season finale wrapped up everything that needed wrapping up. Y'know, ding dong, Dandy's dead, and Elsa's...er..also dead...? And in...freak heaven...? So the two big story lines of the season got tied up in neat little bows, for the most part. That being said, I have mixed feelings about the season in general...Like every season of American Horror Story, there were bits of it I loved and bits of I didn't love as much.

Courtney: Agreed. This season, though, at least for me, wasn't the worst (sorry, Coven). Sometimes I think when they throw so many characters at you throughout a season, the individual storylines can get a bit neglected, but hey, they tried? Let's just face it: nothing's going to live up to that first season.

Kara: Yeah, that's exactly it, they throw a lot of things in, maybe too many things, so a lot can get lost in the shuffle...In fact, sometimes it's so hard for me to keep track of the things that DO actually happen. Like wait, who killed Dell? What happened to Denis O'Hare again?

Courtney: Exactly! I think that's what separates the first season from...well, every other season, really: it was confined to a fairly small space with a set number of characters, more or less.

Kara: Yes, Murder House was so microcosmic...Gah, I miss it.

Courtney: t's almost frustrating, though, because there were some great characters this season, and I wish we could've known more about them! But let's turn for a moment to the characters we DID get to know and love. Let's start with Dandy. Because he's awesome.

Dandy Mott

Kara: YEAH, LET'S REALLY TALK ABOUT DANDY. Where do I even begin. How Finn Wittrock didn't just instantly become the new IT thing after this season is beyond me. I mean, with that smile alone, he could take over the world. What a scene stealer. And y'know, I remember before the season even started, all anyone could talk about was Twisty the Clown...To think that the scariest thing about Freak Show would end up being just a bored rich boy. I LOVED that. Although it would've been nice to see Twisty stick around a little longer, if only because John Carroll Lynch's performance was just amazing.

But Dandy was just on a whole other level of crazy. Like, he was downright terrifying. I mean, who bathes in their mother's blood?! I bet that would have grossed even Twisty out.

Courtney: TWISTY!!! We got to see him again for a little bit, though, so that was nice! But yeah, DANDY!!! He is easily one of my favorite AHS characters ever. He's terrible. And awesome. You knew things were going to go DOWN when the freaks pinned him down. He had a little "Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!" moment there, and it was ON. I mean come on, he went on a murderous, gun-slinging rampage whilst humming a merry tune! Who DOES that?! Dandy. That's who.

Kara: Actually, wow, can we talk about the final Dandy rampage? Because that, to me, was the scariest sequence of the entire season. It reminded me a lot of that scene in Murder House, when Tate/Evan Peters attacks his high school. I remember watching that for the first time and being genuinely scared. I guess for all of it's zaniness and supernatural-ness (definitely not a word, oh well), AMERICAN HORROR STORY is the most frightening when it's the most real. Dandy may have been over the top, but in that moment, he was just a guy with a gun. A crazy guy with a gun, and that is just terrifying. And the way the shot it, it was so tense and dragged out, like I felt like it went on forever. And when Angela Bassett was hiding in the closet, don't even get me started.

All that being said though, I was like...weirdly sad when he died.

Courtney: It was a perfect sequence, and I think it had every element in it that had been missing from much of AHS since the first season. It was flawless. Flawless! And don't worry, I was sad about that, too. Actually, I'm glad you brought that up, because that scene was also perfect. Sticking him in a glass tank and watching him drown until he died? Talk about the perfect metaphor for his entire existence on this show.

Kara: Wow. Bleak. But yeah, you're right. Also quick shout out to Sarah Paulson, homegirl really brought it this season.

Courtney: Sarah Paulson has always been great. That whole plotting to kill Dandy act was perfect, too. When they cut to the wedding, at first I was like, "umm...what?" But when they laid it all out, it made perfect sense. It was great. I like that everybody (or everybody that was still alive, at least) had a hand in it. Like a uniting of the freaks! Which brings us to...

The Freaks

Kara: HA! Oh my gosh, that wedding scene, I was squirming enough for the pair of them, especially when Dandy was all, "But surely you'd like to join in our revels? *wink*wink*" to Dot. So creepy. The freak show reunion at the end was a nice touch, uncharacteristically cheerful for this show, even. And I liked the Jimmy, Bette, Dot, and Desiree all got happy endings. Also, Edward Mordrake popping up again at the end...I still can't decide if that whole thing was ridiculous or fantastic, but I'm tempted to go with the latter, because Wes Bentley sailing in like he's the star of an '80s rock video with full on smoke machine is just so fab.

Courtney: Oh no, it was fantastic. A little Rocky Horror "I'm Going Home"-esque, which actually makes it even more fantastic.

Kara: Yes! And goodness knows with that blue eyeshadow at the end, Elsa was given it full on Frank 'N Furter. I guess I'm glad they revisited that Mordrake thing, so it's not like they just forgot it ever even happened, because like we've said, it's easy to forget things with this show.

Courtney: At first I didn't even see the problem with her performing on Halloween (which I guess brings us back to the including-too-many-plot-points bit), but as soon as I did remember, I got simultaneously very excited and very nervous for Elsa.

Elsa Mars

Courtney: I like Elsa! Come to think of it, this was really the first time I actually liked one of Jessica Lange's AHS characters. And by "liked," I mean, sympathized with. Kind of hard to sympathize with the rest of her characters, no?

Kara: Yeah, I think I liked Elsa...but I sort of feel like all of Jessica Lange's characters end up being the same. I know she's said that she's not coming back next season, but there's been talk recently of her changing her mind, and I hope she does, because I'd love to see her do something COMPLETELY different next season. A girl can dream.

Courtney: They do kind of end up being the same, like one lump character or something, but at least she seemed to have (more or less) good intentions throughout the season, unlike most of her other characters. As far as something that strays from the path next season, you're preaching to the choir. I'd LOVE that. Ryan Murphy has a tendency to kind of lose focus and let things slip as seasons progress (I'm lookin' at you, GLEE), and I'd hate for that to happen to AHS. It has a great foundation, but it's time for a change of pace! Bring it on! Mix it up! Let's do this!

Kara: Supposedly next season is going be drastically different, whatever that means, but we'll see.

Quoteable Quotes

Kara: This episode alone had some good ones, almost all by Dandy, okay, all by Dandy.

My personal favorite: "I'M NOT AN ESCAPE ARTIST, I'M A SONG AND DANCE MAN." Sure you are, Dandy. Sure you are.

Courtney: I literally laughed out loud at, "You put something in my bubbly?!" Poor Dandy. Kind of.

Kara: Bubbly. What a charmingly delightful word for such a crazy.

Also, when Dandy called Neil Patrick Harris--who by the way, was fantastic in his little cameo--a "sicko," I practically did a spit-take. The delivery was so perfect. Finn Wittrock really just has my heart forever.

Courtney: NPH is always perfect. Always. I want more dramatic stuff from him. Now. But back to AHS. Good ol' Jimmy Darling got all biblical on Dandy: "The freaks shall inherit the earth." I feel like that could've been the entire season's tagline.

Kara: Yeah really, that should have been on all the posters. Was it? Maybe it was.

And now, one final thought. Forget everything we just talked about, because this is all that really matters: The best character the season, hands down, was Kathy Bates' accent. Thank you, and good night.

What did you think of FREAK SHOW? Was it a box office success, or a complete flop? Let us know! Tweet me @CourtHenley and Kara @i_got_the_tweet. We like to talk (if you can't already tell).

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