TV Review: American Horror Story: Freak Show: Season 4, Episode 3

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

EPISODE: "EDWARD MORDRAKE: PART 1"

THE SCOOP: As Halloween looms, the freakish carnie-curios aren't too keen on performing for the masses. Meanwhile, Jimmy sparks a flame with a mysterious new "fortuneteller" just as his mother Ethel sustains a devastating medical blow.

The Following May Contain Minor-To-Major Spoilers. If You've Not Seen This Episode, It Might be Wisest To Stop Reading Here!

THE SKINNY: Ahh, the annual Halloween episode! Quite the tangy treat for us indeed, as American Horror Story: Freak Show is dishing out a double-dose of goodies between now and next week, with last night's "EDWARD MORDRAKE: PART 1" I suppose serving as a candied appetizer. So, how'd it go down the old gullet? How are you digesting the long-held carnie superstition about not performing on Halloween? And the hellish cursed said to be unleashed if broken? Or what about the show's kickoff, with the introduction of the great Celia Weston and Denis O'Hare at the American Morbidity Museum? Did you fall for their easy con involving Emma Roberts' new character, Mystic Maggie Esmerelda? Well you shouldn't have, as it turns out she's nothing more than sly coquettish grifter out for self. But when Jimmy lays eyes on her, dude can't help but spring a long-bone in his shorts (aren't Peters and Roberts dating in real life?). He's putty in her hands already…as he completely gobbles up her bullshit about being a traveling soothsayer. As did a ripped-out-of-her-skull on opium Elsa in a one-on-one interview. Goddamn I wanna party itwh Jessica Lange!

Other goings on this episode include Ethel learning she has a fatal dose of cirrhosis, with only a short time to live. She's keen on finding long-term guidance for her son Jimmy before she goes, and it's then confirmed to us that Del is indeed his father (though Jimmy isn't yet aware). Del and Ethel share a nice riverside scene, if a bit weepy, directly following a hilarious exchange where Del suffers a bout of erectile dysfunction when his he-she girlfriend offers a dry jerk-job. She storms off in a huff looking for a stiff boner, which made me chuckle quite a bit. Then of course there's the titular two-faced Edward Mordrake (Wes Bentley), a dapper English chap who, after a ghastly flashback intro early on, is summoned later in the episode. But not for harm, at least not yet, he apparently came to pay Ethel a visit and offer her a sort of solace for her past transgressions. But will she still die soon? Will Mordrake's accursed arrival turn the tide and do her in before her illness?

Moving around the camp, we find Bette and Dot wracked by tormenting nightmares of being surgically separated. In fact, that one dream sequence probably spilled the most blood in the entire episode (hopefully the carnage candy really gets served up next week). When they awoke, Dot promised Bette she'd find the means of going through with the procedure, much to the horror of Bette. Not sure where this angle is going, but I will say, in the beginning I thought Sarah Paulson would have more to work with in her dual roles. As it is, it's becoming clear she's hampered by physical limitations and is sort of marginalized as such. Still early, but she's better than what she's shown so far in Freakshow. Other than that, the freaks visit Meep's grave and say a few kind words as they avow to avoid partaking in Halloween festivities. Wait, how then did Mordrake become summoned?

Outside the camp, Dandy throws a hissy-fit when his mom gets him a Howdy Doody costume for Halloween. He cuts it up and makes his own creepy clown costume out of it. Then, in a nice HALLOWEEN, Carpenter-style homage (masked POV), he threatens Dora with a butcher knife, she calls his bluff, he huffs out. As the episode leaves off for a promising continuation next week, Dandy reunites with our creepy-killer-clown, who not only went out an abducted his own teenage captive on Halloween night, but still has the two children caged-up in his filthy broken-down school-bus. Like I said – and want to echo again because it's so far my favorite subplot of the young new season – let's hope the real goodies are handed out next week on Hallow's triple Eve!

Alas, once is an accident, twice a coincidence, and thrice a pattern. Sadly, it looks as if this lame-ass karaoke motif is here to stay this season, serving as a major centerpiece for the actual Freakshow itself. Look, I love Jessica Lange and will always go to bat for her being the reason I watch this show in the first place, but nothing about dressing her up like a 1984 Madonna and having her faux-croon onstage is flattering, entertaining, or even embarrassing enough to be, god forbid, scary. So I really wish they'd do away with the unneeded Glee B-sides in a quick hurry, as I'm pretty much digging everything else about the freakshow so far.

KILL OF THE WEEK: Gonna have to go with the ONLY kill of the week. In the flashback sequence, we see our man Mordrake pick up a sharp object from his prison cell and swiftly slice the edge across an officer's throat, where a thick stream of blood leaked rapidly onto the floor.

BLOOD & GORE:

• Gnarly throat slashing
• Surgical saw blood-spray as Bette and Dot have a nightmare

WTF CHARACTER MOMENT: Oh I don't know, could it be when Stanley gets his sleazy motel freak on with a gay prostitute decked out in Viking garb? No? How about when he slides down his own shorts, much to the shock and awe of his hunky suitor? Holy! Stan's either packing a huger hog this side of Dirk Diggler, or, more suitably, has some kind of gnarly disfiguration going on downstairs. Either way, between that and his crummy little mustache, Stan's the f*cking man!

MOST BIZARRE SCENE: Has to be that eerily shot black and white, ERASERHEAD like flashback of Edward Mordrake, the two-faced crazy that the Freakshow superstition derives from. The sleek, almost German impressionist silent film style, with the disturbing visual of a man with a smaller demonic face on the back of his head, really stood out to me.