AMERICAN HORROR STORY RECAP AND REVIEW OF ‘EDWARD MORDRAKE, PART 1′

Legion contributor Anastasia Washington is recapping and reviewing American Horror Story: Freak Show for us this season. Follow her on Twitter @AnastasiaW.

American Horror Story celebrates Halloween and introduces some new characters along the macabre trail.

Times are rough for those in the freak show business, and the American Morbidity Museum is feeling the pinch. More and more, consumers seem to be more interested in things on television then the oddities they may see in places like this. Enter Double-Harvard-Degree-Dr. Mansfield and his lovely assistant Ms. Rothschild trying to pawn off a self-made creation as a Sasquatch fetus. They are quickly found out as frauds, but desperation causes the curator to tempt their talents to find her some new exhibit items. Perhaps they can travel to Florida for one of the only remaining freak shows, and come up with something.

Apparently in Florida, the theme is clowns. Another reason I will only visit Florida and never live there. It’s Halloween, and trick or treating is in full gear. With so many clowns, the killer clown seems to fit right in — if you are oblivious. Ethel (Kathy Bates) is having a horrible Halloween. She has just found out she has as little as six months to live due to cirrhosis of the liver. The only positive thing to happen to her seems to be that she has finally been shown some kindness as the Doctor comforts her. After such a day Ethel really needs to drink, which just happens to be a huge no-no with her current condition. So she immediately pours herself a few.

Halloween is a day off for the freak show, as freaks are forbidden to perform because of curse. The holiday is cursed because of Edward Mordrake, a noble Brit that happens to have a face on the back of his head with a strong and evil personality. Naturally Mordrake was driven insane by the constant chatter, and ends up in an asylum. Escaping, he flees to a freak show and performs amazing music before taking every cast member’s life and then his own. Since this tragedy it has been said that any freak that performs on Halloween will be visited by Mordrake and killed.

Meanwhile, the Dr. Mansfield and Ms. Rothschild have hatched a plan. Rothschild will join the carnival under the guise of being a psychic and collect an artifact to sell. She impressively tells Elsa that she knows her career was stolen by non-other than Marlene Dietrich, but that her career is not over. In fact someone will come soon to change her fate.

Dreams are a prominent theme in this episode. Dot has one of her own, and it doesn’t have room for her sister. She dreams of a surgery ripping them a part, and their psychic connection means that Bette has the same exact dream or nightmare in her case. There’s trouble in paradise with the strong-man and the three-boobed wonder. He just can’t seem to perform in the bedroom, and this causes a fight which leads to him pouring his heart out to Ethel. In her sullen state, she wants the strong-man to watch over their boy should something happen to her. They reminisce for a while how things could have been different.

Stage rehearsal is cancelled due to it being Halloween, but Dot isn’t taking that very well. She’s a headliner and the show needs work. It is decided they will rehearse after all, when who should show up but Mr. Mordrake himself. Elsa is on a high so she nails a performance of “Gods and Monsters.”

Mordrake begins his rounds of haunting with Ethel. She’s in a talkative and tells him her tale. Ethel used to be a hot performer until meeting the strong-man who encourages her to take a less successful path. Her worst shame though, comes when we found out, while broke and pregnant, the strong-man sold tickets to the birth of their son. For this shame she is released from Mordrake and he seeks a new victim.

Meanwhile brat boy didn’t like his Woody Woodpecker costume. Instead, he dons a clown mask and is running around crazy imitating his new bestie, killer clown. The killer clown is busy though. He’s abducted one more victim, an obnoxious teenage boy. See Mom? Killer Clowns are real!

Next week is part two of the Halloween Episode, and I’m pretty sure carnage is coming our way just in time for my favorite Holiday.