American Horror Story: Freak Show Discussion

American Horror Story returns, with a murder in a small town in 1952, a freak show, and a pair of sisters brought from “the shadows that had sheltered” them. We get more creepy eye-candy (this season brings the best and most disturbing credit sequence to date), more gosh-aren’t-we-shocking scripting, and a psycho killer clown. But do we have a reason to keep watching?

A side note for possible discussion:

The world has seen many conjoined twins, but the Hensel sisters are unique in being fully-functional human beings sharing their separate heads and hearts on a single body. I wonder how they feel about a self-consciously lurid show (whatever its narrative’s long-term intentions) presenting fictional sisters with these features whose condition induces vomiting in a health-care professional and whose shared identity immediately gets discussed in sexual terms.

2 replies on “American Horror Story: Freak Show Discussion”

  1. I’m not sold yet. I skipped the first season, somewhat enjoyed the second, though the third was OK, but this one … we’ll see. I’ll give it a couple more episodes.

    The wannabe Pennywise is a good angle, but some of the other stuff, *shrug*, I could take it or leave it. Not yet compelled either way.

    • I liked the start and conclusion of the first two seasons (mostly), but was not a fan of the number of subplots and campy developments sandwiched between them. I’m also amazed at the amount of slack this show gets cut for questionably-used, exploitive content simply because it has high production values and (usually) strong actors. I dropped the second season. I only ended up watching it because a marathon coincided with an illness. I didn’t watch the third beyond the first ep; I doubt I’ll return to this one, though I concede the premise is interesting.

      Does anyone else think, based on the season premiere, that Jessica Lange’s heart just isn’t in this anymore?

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