American Horror Story Freak Show Season 4 Episode # 2 "Massacres and Matinees" - Recap and Review

As readers might remember, at the end of the last episode, Detective Bunch (Dane Rhodes) tried to arrest the Siamese twin sisters, Dot and Bette Tattler (Sarah Paulson). He is killed by Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters) and the rest of the group help Jimmy to bury the body.

Bunch's disappearance does not go unnoticed and compounded wit the series of murders , a curfew is imposed. Local cops check with Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange), since Bunch's last known assignment should have ostensibly led him there.

Concerned by this official scrutiny, Jimmy accompanied with Amazon Eve (Erika Ervin) exhume Bunch's corpse.Amazon retrieves the cop's badge and gives it to Jimmy.

Strongman Dell Toledo (Michael Chiklis) and triple breast hermaphrodite Desiree Dupree (Angela Bassett) are the latest recruits. Dell is a figure from Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates)'s past, having fathered Jimmy Darling.

Dell has just killed someone in Chicago and is desperate to join the group. His physical skills and no-nonsense attitude convince Elsa to make him in change of the security.

Dell proposes to introduce matinee shows, due to the curfew. Despite Elsa's objection, he goes ahead and starts to post  advertisements.

The idealistic Jimmy  tries to get local people familiarized with his friends, in the hope that the town will accept them as one of their own. He takes them to the local diner. The patrons and the diner employees are not comfortable with their presence and quarrel ensues.

Dell observes these developments and orders  the group to leave the diner. He drags jimmy out and roughs him up. He reprimands Jimmy for exposing the group to the town folks, as it would eliminate their curiosity and would impact the ticket sales.

The infuriated Jimmy complains to Elsa and exploits her thirst for fame to get rid of Dell. Jimmy plots to have him arrested for the murder of the local cop, by hiding the cop's batch in Dell's trailer. The shrewd strongman turns the tables on Jimmy by incriminating Meep (Ben Woolf) instead. 

The cops take Meep into custody and the same night return his corpse in a body bag.

In the meantime, the matinee show happens on schedule as Dell had planned. Dot's singing talent proves to be a hit with the audience, much to the chagrin of Elsa. To get even, Elsa visits the sisters in their tent at night time and tries to turn Bette against Dot.

There are two other secondary storylines in the show and both came together nicely to promise a exciting new thread in the future episodes.

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As seen in the previous episode, rich socialite Gloria Mott (Frances Conroy) and her son Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock) tried to purchase the Tattler sisters and failed.

Dandy is one really bored chap. Even the delicious looking Escargot, prepared by their cook, Nora (Patti LaBelle) does not excite him. To get some much needed excitement, Dandy kills the neighbor's cat and dismembers it.

His real intention is to become a thespian. In desperation, he tries to convince Jimmy to join the group. Jimmy turns him down.

Gloria is driving along, when she notices Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) walking along. Twist has been busy himself and has added two more murders to his collection - a toy store owner, Mr. Hainey (Tony Bentley) and his employee.

Gloria enlists Twisty's help to make Dandy happy. Twisty attacks Dandy and returns to his hideout in the woods. His hostages, Bonnie Lipton (Skyler Samuels) and Corey Bachman (Major Dodson) make an escape attempt.

Bonnie runs into Dandy, who has followed Twisty all the way from his house. Instead of saving her, Dandy takes her back to Twisty and advises him to make better restraints for his captives.

The show continues its strong run in the second episode. The acting talents are enhanced by the latest additions -  Michael Chiklis and Angela Bassett. The returning actors are excellent as well.

I personally liked Peter Evans, Sarah Paulson and Jessica Lange. Each is effective in their roles - Evans as the high minded Jimmy, Sarah as the talented & independent minded Dot and not-so-talented & naive Bette, and Lange as the attention craving and jealous Elsa.

As the story moves forward, each actor gets to display their acting chops as their characters face the consequences of their actions. Jimmy is heartbroken to see Meep's dead body as a result of his own scheme to dispose of Dell. Elsa has to come to terms with the rising popularity of Dot among the group and the ticket paying customers.

I also liked the clear contrast between Dell and Jimmy. While Dell is purely motivated by his greed to make money, without any concern about the impact of his actions on the concerned people. Jimmy is more of an idealist and wants his group to be accepted as part of the human society. Both actors deserve credit for bringing out these aspects of their characters well.

The production values are top notch and the recreation of the 1950s has been done with taste and dedication. The sets, the costumes, the props - all combine to create a classic period feel to the happenings onscreen.The music adds to the eerie atmosphere.

Kudos to the cast and crew for delivering such an engrossing episode.

A must watch for fans of Horror.

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Image Sources: Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision, Ryan Murphy Productions, 20th Century Fox Television, FX Network

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The Flash Season 1 Episode 2 "Fastest Man Alive" - Recap and Review

As seen in the previous episode, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) developed superhuman speed as a result of the explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry used his new found powers to stop erring fellow metahuman Clyde Mardon (Chad Rook).

Barry's support team consists of S.T.A.R. Labs CEO Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), tech whiz Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) and bioengineering expert Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker). Other than these three folks, only Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) knows The Flash's secret identity. 

Barry continues to use his metahuman abilities to save people. At the beginning of the the episode, he saves people caught in a fire in a building. But he starts to get exhausted whenever he exercises his superspeed.

Barry works on a robbery that seems to involve more than one perpetrator. But security cameras capture one person only.

Well known philanthropist Simon Stagg (William Sadler) is awarded the “Man of the Year” award. A gang of robbers gatecrash the event. When one of them shoots at the Security Guard (Seth Whittaker), Barry saves his life. But this effort drains all of his strength. 

Joe makes Barry promise that he will not use his powers again to stop the bad guys. Barry works on a specially made treadmill to rectify his recent lapses.

The attack on Stagg was an inside job. Stagg's bodyguard is in cahoots with a disgruntled former employee Danton Black (Michael Smith). Danton has a difference of opinion with his accomplice and kills him using his ability to make clones of himself.

Danton's primary target is Stagg. He makes another attempt on his life, right when he is with Detective Joe. Joe is outnumbered by Danton's multiple copies of himself. Hearing about this ongoing assault at the police headquarters, Barry rushes to the rescue. 

Barry does succeed in saving Joe's life, but gets beaten up badly by Danton. He is attended to by Caitlin. Joe realizes that it will take more than just Central City cops to stop Danton. He asks Barry to do his thing. Harrison advises Barry to look for the weakest of the Danton clones and knock him unconscious.

In a side plot, Iris West (Candice Patton) is curious about the “Red Streak” as The Flash is referred to in the media. She creates a news alert for him on her smartphone.

The episode improves on the pilot. The Flash versus Multiplex/Danton Black fight scenes have been executed well.

On the acting front, Jesse L. Martin continues to be the most impressive. He has significant screentime with Grant's Barry Allen. Barry has doubts about his effectiveness as a crime fighter. Being the surrogate father figure, Jesse's Detective Joe encourages him to believe in the impossible and helps him defeat Multiplex.

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Joe also decides to look into the murder of Barry's mother more closely and promises to unravel the mystery behind her death.

Tom Cavanagh shows some range as Harrison Wells begins to show his true character. In the closing scenes, Harrison kills Simon Stagg to prevent him from disclosing/exploiting his knowledge about The Flash.

Rest of the cast are adequate, if not outstanding.

Danton working to cure his wife from a degenerative heart disease reminded me of the origin story of the Batman villain, Mr Freeze/Dr Victor Fries. Dr Fries was also working on his wife's deadly degenerative disease, before he became the supervillain Mr Freeze.

Recommended watch to fans of The Flash/DC Comics.

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Image Sources: Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, CW Television Network

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American Horror Story Freak Show Season 4 Episode # 1 "Monsters Among Us" - Recap

 

The latest season of American Horror Story, the popular horror show (Freak Show) is set in 1952 in Jupiter, Florida. A milk delivery van stops at a farmhouse for delivery. Bill Palmer (Wilson Bradford), the milkman notices that his previous deliveries have not been taken inside. He enters the house and sees the dead body of the elderly Mrs. Eudora Tattler (Ann McKenzie).

He decides to take a closer look and gets more than what he bargained for, when he discovers the Siamese twins, Bette and Dot Tattler (Sarah Paulson). They are admitted to the hospital.

A mysterious stranger, Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) arrives at the hospital and makes enquiries about the twins from a nurse (Kristin Witterschein).

Elsa invites the nurse to visit her show “Fraulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities”. Next we see Elsa in nurse uniform and taking care of the Tattler sisters.

Elsa's business is running out of steam. She is facing pressure from her landlord, Mr. Haddonfield (Thomas Francis Murphy) to vacate. Elsa resorts to various unsavory tactics to extend the lease.

Elsa is looking up to Dot and Bette to salvage her show. Dot is the quiet and serious one. Bette is simple and happy go lucky. Elsa is able to impress Bette but Dot remain suspicious.

At the same time, the always smiling Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) is accumulating his own set of victims. The only difference is that he commits murders before kidnapping his victims.

He start with a young couple,  Troy Miller (Andrew Duplessie) and Madison Sanders (Skyler Samuels) making out near the lake. He repeatedly attacks Troy with a knife. As Madison tries to make her escape, he takes her hostage. Then he kills a couple, Jeffrey and Mildred Bachman (Ramona Tyler) in their home and kidnaps their son, Corey (Major Dodson).

The whole town is shaken up by these series of murders.

Then we meet the stud of Elsa's group, Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters). Despite his deformed hands, Jimmy longs for a regular life and is quick to lose his temper, whenever someone refers to him as a “freak”.

Jimmy uses his physical oddity to provide pleasure to housewives, who seek escape from their boredom. He wants to break away from the group and strike out on his own.

His mother, Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates) is the self-appointed right hand woman to Elsa. She is fiercely protective of her group and strongly believes that the group members need to stand for each other.

Dot and Bette escape from the hospital. Elsa convinces them to join her group, after revealing that she knows that Bette had killed Eudora. During the first performance of the group, patrons Gloria Mott (Frances Conroy), a high brow socialite and her son Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock) are impressed with the Tattler twins.

They even offer to buy the sisters for a hefty sum, but the offer is rejected first by Elsa and then by Dot and Bette themselves. As a parting shot, Gloria makes fun of Elsa's singing, claiming that it was the worst part of the show.

Elsa, who has always harbored dreams of making it big is stung by these remarks. She also becomes resentful of the growing popularity of the Siamese sisters.

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There is also trouble brewing on the horizon for the group as a cop comes looking for Dot and Bette. He suspects them to be responsible for Eudora's murder and intends to arrest them. Jimmy kills him.

The group takes out the cop's corpse to a nearby open area and slice him up. Unknown to them, Twisty the Clown is silently watching the proceedings.

The production values are excellent as is the music and direction.

One of the main reasons I like this show is the fact that there are no youngsters (with raging hormones) running around waiting to be killed in the most horrid ways.

Being set in the 1950s, there is an old school appeal to it and the cast is full of thespians at the top of their game. This is a dream come true for an old school horror fan like me.

A must watch for fans of Horror.

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Image Sources: Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision, Ryan Murphy Productions, 20th Century Fox Television, FX Network

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