Zeitgeisting TV: 'AHS: Freak Show'; Ep8 - 'Blood Bath'

Jason St. Amand (National News Editor):

Before we get into unpacking episode eight of "American Horror Story: Freak Show," I want to throw out this new thing I want to do in Zeitgeisting. I want to give out a gold star to someone in each episode, highlighting who had the best moment(s), and who was, well, the shinning star! You can either agree or disagree and tell me who it should get it.

This week's gold star is going to Angela Bassett's Desiree Dupree. It's like she had a fire lit under her ass and REALLY came alive in "Blood Bath." I feel like Ryan Murphy, who wrote this episode, and company are underutilizing her this time around. I hate when she's ditzy but love that feminist rage she had, creating an alliance with Legless Suzi, Amazon Eve and Penny (now performing under the moniker, Lizard Girl). I love me a good revenge plot, and thought this was the most affective part of the episode.

When I saw the girl gang "simmering the soup" - the tar - I wondered if their revenge act was going to be a shoutout to "Freaks." At first, I thought they were going to turn him into a bird man, but no...Emma Roberts had to step in and be the voice of reason, which I thought was kind of weird.

Anyway, Dupree had some great lines in her anti-man tirade, like "I'm going to cut your dick off and shoot you in the head!" Here's hoping she has a bigger part in the upcoming episodes.

Speaking of good lines, the stand off between Elsa and Ethel was fun. "Death would be preferable to Tampa" was perfect. We learned how Elsa got her legs, from a creepy Geppetto played by Danny Huston of The Axeman fame from "Coven." After having the fight, which started because Ethel has Elsa's number, Elsa threw a dagger into Ethel's eye, preventing the Bearded Lady from carrying out a murder-suicide. We also learn Ethel pretty much was in love with Elsa, which was hinted at in the first episodes.

While I found that scene pretty gripping, and Ethel's death unexpected, I was left cold. I'm not sure why. All the elements in this episode were there: it was creepy, there was actual horror, the writing was good and funny, the acting was spot on and, as usual, everything looked beautiful. But it didn't really come together for me in an emotional way. Maybe I've soured myself on "Freak Show" but I recognize this was a great episode.

I felt the same about the death of Gloria Mott (Francis Conroy). Before watching this episode, I was thinking about Conroy's role: it's kind of thankless; in the past she's been a badass and I just don't think she had much wiggle room as a the timid house mother. I expected her to rise and kill Dandy in the final episodes but I was wrong: After calling Dandy "fragile" and pleading with him to run away to Europe and revealing that Dandy's father is Gloria's second cousin (ew), things came to a head when Dandy had to fulfill his bloodlust and end his mother's nagging with a bullet to the head. Like the offing of Ethel, it was unexpected, but, for me, it felt empty.

Still, this episode had momentum and weight, something missing from the last few episodes. And with just a handful of shows left in the season, "Freak Show" needs to keep up this pace to pull off this season.

OK there's still a lot we need to discuss! Where were the twinnies? Precious is back and she's PISSED! Seal Boy isn't dead! Why is Stanley always around?! And of course, Ima Wiggles!!!!!!!!!

Robert Nesti (Arts and Entertainment editor:

Yes, Ima Wiggles!!! What a great addition. For the always resourceful Fraulein Elsa when one window closes, she opens another; even if she closed that window in the first place by killing Ethel. And I loved she went back to where she found the twins to find Imma Wiggles. That hospital is like a recruitment center for Fraulein Elsa's show!

But where were the twins? I guess the show has long focused on certain characters in each episode at the expense of others, but this year it feels more jarring. Could it because the narratives from week-to-week leave you expecting these characters to always be present? Not sure. But also missing from "Blood Bath" is Paul, who has come into prominence in recent weeks. From the looks of things as seen in the preview, the twins make a return soon enough but things don't look too promising for them. If there's an endangered species on AHS:FS, it's siamese twins. But that's getting ahead of where the show stands today.

No, I think the reason why the show is so emotionally remote this season, despite hitting high marks for tone and acting, is that the writers haven't been able to involve the audience on a personal level. Let's face it: the reason why "Asylum" worked so well is that it hit upon our primal fear of going insane and being placed in an institution like the one depicted there. Or, as it showed, be put there for being gay because that was accepted in the period (1962) when the show took place. That's scary and hits home. "Freak Show" is another matter. We can empathize with Fraulein Elsa's troupe, but really can't identify with them, despite how often someone pulls the outsider card. Is that harsh? I don't know, but I agree that the show is more remote this season than the past.

That said, it is still good melodrama. And I liked how lean and mean the writing was in this episode (by Ryan Murphy). He turned the horror quotient up a notch, even killing off two major characters in unexpected ways. I found it interesting that it took alcohol for Ethel to open up to Fraulein Elsa - if she hadn't started drinking again, I doubt this confrontation would have taken place at all. And that she finally expressed her unrequited love to Fraulein Elsa. Also it was clever how Murphy let the audience know that Ethel did not know that Fraulein Elsa wore prosthetics by having a bullet shoot through her wooden leg. It was a scene filled with revelations.

Jessica Lange got to act up a storm in this episode. Her tearful scene at Ethel's grave was nicely juxtaposed with her complicity in setting up what appeared to be a grisly suicide. Lange is wonderful at capturing just how emotionally complex (okay, fucked up) Fraulein Elsa is. On one hand, she's cruel and controlling; on the other, has an emotional connection with her employees. But I guess it comes down to one thing (to paraphrase "Valley of the Dolls"): there's only one star in a Fraulein Elsa freak show and that's Fraulein Elsa!"

Jason St. Amand:

That hospital is full of goodies I guess! I can't wait to see what Wiggles (Chrissy Metz) has to bring to the table.

Paul aka Seal Boy did make a few very brief appearances (he didn't even have a line)...but I guess he's OK and not dead and somehow recovered from a stab wound without the help of a doctor. But yes, things ain't looking too good for the twinnies!

I agree with you w/r/t the primal fear of this season - though I do find I am connecting to "Freak Show" more than I did with "Coven." But maybe it's not just a primal fear thing. I think we both found "Murder House" scary and there are plenty of horror movies that frighten us that could never be real. I think it also has to do with the inconstancies of "Freak Show." It's hard to tell where this season is heading; I often feel there is no direction or end point. And "Freak Show" is doing a juggling act with all the story lines and it's easy to lose track of the different threads, making the overall feel of the season less affective.

"Freak Show" is jumbled and at times and it is ambitious to a fault. "Asylum" did a lot too, but the pieces fit in place; and I think that's where your point comes into play: it was real (for the most part). On "Freak Show" that realness isn't there and some things come off as silly. Like you said, it's harder to relate. I mean, it's sad the world's smallest woman was captured, killed and put in formaldehyde to be displayed but, it doesn't do anything for me on an emotional level. It also doesn't help she was basically used as a human heating pad. Maybe we're just as sociopathic as Dandy. Kidding...sorta.

Yeah, it's pretty clear Ryan Murphy needs to have more involvement with the show. When he's in charge, things work. When he's absent, things fall apart pretty dramatically.

And yes, Lange was great in "Blood Bath." She looked great too, especially when she and Stanley were putting together Ethel's fake suicide (that turban works girl!).

You didn't mention much about Dandy and Gloria and the return of Gabourey Sidibe. There's also the faceless psychiatrist, which i KNOW means something and will reveal itself in the upcoming episodes. I wonder if it was Neil Patrick Harris, who is supposed to be in a few episodes towards the end of the season. I don't know but I think that doctor is going to make a return. Maybe he's the connection between "Freak Show" and "Asylum." Maybe somehow he connects Dandy to the freak troupe and that's where all things go to shit.

Also, what about the gold star? Are you good with giving it to Bassett?

Robert Nesti:

Yes. The Gold Star is a great idea and Bassett was awesome. It was great to see her embrace her inner-feminist, even if she's a homicidal maniac. And wasn't Penny (Grace Gummer) great? Funny how the tattoo her father had put on her is that of Twisty - another smart and scary touch. But that it took so long for Bassett to come into her own in this episode only raises the point that this narrative isn't as well thought out as it should be. We needed to have this moment earlier. Maybe there just isn't enough chemistry between Dell Toledo (Michael Chiklis) and her so that their story line hasn't sparked as it should. But you are right, Bassett came into her own. May she wear that gold star proudly!

Sorry to say goodbye to Ethel (Kathy Bates). If we had been awarding gold stars before she would have received one for her confrontation with Edward Mordrake in Episode 3. It was touching in unexpected ways. Bates has been pretty battered on this show: last season she was buried alive for centuries, then beheaded; this season she took a bullet to the eye and then was beheaded. Wonder if they'll work that violent end in future seasons, but Bates will be missed. As will Frances Conroy as Gloria Mott, Dandy's deluded mom. Sadly, her character wasn't developed as much as it could be and she became the one-note possessive mom; but Conroy brought such a helplessness to the character - that her life was pushed out-of-control by her son's mania - that it had a poignancy. If only they had developed her further. Loved the Christmas tree, though!

But let's hear it for Dandy! His scene with the unseen psychiatrist was genius and who would have thought that his threat about possessing the soul of another by bathing in their blood would come true. That final shot of him in the bathtub even topped last week's when Ma Petite was in the jar! Good catch on the unseen psychiatrist. Initially I thought Dandy was going to have him for lunch or bathwater; that it turns out he uses his mother's blood only made the entire scene even more creepy. It's as if he's attempting to wash the demons brought him because of inbreeding away through bathing in her blood.

The good news is that the show felt more accelerated this episode and was getting its focus. This season is about dreams, delusions and dementia, and these themes are beginning to fall into place. Fraulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities is beginning to come apart due to the mind games the characters are playing with each other. Let's hope Murphy et all keep turning the volume up. Do you wonder if in the next few weeks they're going to link the seasons together? What if Fraulein Elsa decides to head to the nunnery and become Sister Jude from "Asylum?" She would need to lose that German accent, but Jessica Lange seems capable of doing anything.

This story is part of our special report: "Zeitgeisting TV". Want to read more? Here's the full list.