So, the latest instalment of "American Horror Story" has come to an end - booooooooo! I'm actually pretty gutted, because (and this is a very unpopular opinion) "Freak Show" is my personal favourite of them all. I LOVED the circus theme, I LOVED the new cast members and this season never failed to scare me - Exhibit A: Twisty the Clown. Still makes me shiver. So here are my top ten moments of the series (although, it was hard to whittle it down to ten):-
10. The ghost of Edward Mordrake
One of the main storylines from this series was the legend of Edward Mordrake. Now, apparently this is a real thing but I've never heard of it. Edward Mordrake is a man with a face on the back of his head (COUGH COUGH HARRY POTTER) who apparently went crazy at a freak show and killed all of his fellow freaks. Whenever any freak performs on Halloween night, Edward Mordrake visits them and potentially kills them and makes him join his ghost freak tribe thingy. Sounds weird, but it was particularly creepy because of the excellent Wes Bentley (plays Seneca Crane in The Hunger Games) and the mysterious green fog that appeared whenever he did. Only bad thing about him was that he killed Twisty the Clown, one of the best characters in American Horror Story history.
9. Queen Jessica Lange as Elsa Mars
Now, don't get me wrong, Jessica Lange IS and ALWAYS WILL BE American Horror Story. I have no idea what the next series will be like without her. However, this year, I feel like Elsa Mars was her least appealing character. She was fabulous (that Lana Del Rey cover) but I don't know. It just didn't really do a lot for me. The only reason she's number nine is because of Jessica Lange - one of the best, most underrated actresses of all time. Just I think a lot of American Horror Story fans will agree that Fiona Goode, Sister Jude and Constance were much better characters.
8. Ryan Murphy brings in a bit of "Glee"
Oh, Ryan. If anyone watched "American Horror Story" and "Glee", they would not think it would have been written by the same person. But this season, it got a little bit clearer. From the first episode, there's been random little musical numbers throughout which I have loved (mostly David Bowie songs) e.g. "Life on Mars" and "Heroes", the latter making a perfect final scene. However, my personal favourite was Elsa's Halloween performance "Gods and Monsters" by Lana Del Rey. These songs took many AHS fans back to the legendary moment of "The Name Game" in Season 2.
7. Sarah Paulson's happy ending (again)
For some reason, and nobody has ANY idea why, Sarah Paulson's character ALWAYS has a happy ending. In "Murder House", she survives. In "Asylum", she's the main character - who survives. In "Coven", she becomes the Supreme witch. And same goes for "Freak Show". In fact, her two-headed character Bette and Dot found love with Evan Peters' character and was pregnant at the end of the series - but it's not always a smooth path for Sarah, oh no. For example, being blinded with acid and being tortured in an asylum for being a lesbian. However, Bette and Dot wasn't Sarah's best role but they were pretty amazing. I particularly loved how their extremely different personalities worked so well together - the dumb dreamer and the feisty, upfront one.
6. Evan Peters (of course)
Oh Evan. He seems to get more and more lovely every series. After being particularly overlooked in "Coven" (he only had like eight lines in the whole thing), Jimmy Darling was one of Evan's finest characters. And he lived happily ever after with Bette and Dot - yaaaaay! He was most definitely the hero of "Freak Show". Bravo to you Mr Peters, and those muscles.
5. Dandy Mott (and his buttocks)
And here is the series psycho. We've had Rubber Man, Bloody Face, Papa Legba and now we have Dandy Mott. The only difference is that the Freak Show serial killer is slightly gorgeous. Despite the fact he's lying in a bath in his mother's blood in this photo, something about him is extremely dishy. Dandy is one of my favourite American Horror Story antagonists, played brilliantly by Finn Wittrock. And I thank you especially for that little glimpse of your bare bottom that we got. Definitely one of my highlights (I regret nothing).
4. The most terrifying clown EVER. (Continue at your risk)
Twisty. The. Clown. One thing that TERRIFIED all American Horror Story fans and people everywhere. So much so that the Clowns of the USA group sued American Horror Story for reinforcing a fear of clowns. For me, Twisty's storyline was the most powerful throughout the whole series. In the episode where it describes his life story and how he was incorrectly framed for a crime was quite moving, despite the fact he is ABSOLUTELY SHITTING-MY-PANTS SCARY. However, this makes him one of the most memorable characters and I'm actually quite gutted that he was only in it for four episodes.
3. Neil Patrick Harris saves the series
I LOVE Neil Patrick Harris. And just when the series got a teeny weeny bit boring, he comes in and saves the day. He played Chester Creb, a former soldier turned magician who came back from the war with a plate on his head. His only friend after killing his wife is a creepy ventriloquist doll (why do they do this to us?!) who he believes killed his wife. After a brief love affair with Bette and Dot and a gruesome murder of Emma Roberts, he flees. But in those two episodes, he really stood out as one of the highlights of this series. His husband David Burtka also played Jessica Lange's future husband in the finale, so the pair just got even cuter by working together on this. Bring on the Oscars.
2. Angela. Fucking. Bassett.
7. Sarah Paulson's happy ending (again)
For some reason, and nobody has ANY idea why, Sarah Paulson's character ALWAYS has a happy ending. In "Murder House", she survives. In "Asylum", she's the main character - who survives. In "Coven", she becomes the Supreme witch. And same goes for "Freak Show". In fact, her two-headed character Bette and Dot found love with Evan Peters' character and was pregnant at the end of the series - but it's not always a smooth path for Sarah, oh no. For example, being blinded with acid and being tortured in an asylum for being a lesbian. However, Bette and Dot wasn't Sarah's best role but they were pretty amazing. I particularly loved how their extremely different personalities worked so well together - the dumb dreamer and the feisty, upfront one.
6. Evan Peters (of course)
Oh Evan. He seems to get more and more lovely every series. After being particularly overlooked in "Coven" (he only had like eight lines in the whole thing), Jimmy Darling was one of Evan's finest characters. And he lived happily ever after with Bette and Dot - yaaaaay! He was most definitely the hero of "Freak Show". Bravo to you Mr Peters, and those muscles.
5. Dandy Mott (and his buttocks)
And here is the series psycho. We've had Rubber Man, Bloody Face, Papa Legba and now we have Dandy Mott. The only difference is that the Freak Show serial killer is slightly gorgeous. Despite the fact he's lying in a bath in his mother's blood in this photo, something about him is extremely dishy. Dandy is one of my favourite American Horror Story antagonists, played brilliantly by Finn Wittrock. And I thank you especially for that little glimpse of your bare bottom that we got. Definitely one of my highlights (I regret nothing).
4. The most terrifying clown EVER. (Continue at your risk)
Twisty. The. Clown. One thing that TERRIFIED all American Horror Story fans and people everywhere. So much so that the Clowns of the USA group sued American Horror Story for reinforcing a fear of clowns. For me, Twisty's storyline was the most powerful throughout the whole series. In the episode where it describes his life story and how he was incorrectly framed for a crime was quite moving, despite the fact he is ABSOLUTELY SHITTING-MY-PANTS SCARY. However, this makes him one of the most memorable characters and I'm actually quite gutted that he was only in it for four episodes.
3. Neil Patrick Harris saves the series
I LOVE Neil Patrick Harris. And just when the series got a teeny weeny bit boring, he comes in and saves the day. He played Chester Creb, a former soldier turned magician who came back from the war with a plate on his head. His only friend after killing his wife is a creepy ventriloquist doll (why do they do this to us?!) who he believes killed his wife. After a brief love affair with Bette and Dot and a gruesome murder of Emma Roberts, he flees. But in those two episodes, he really stood out as one of the highlights of this series. His husband David Burtka also played Jessica Lange's future husband in the finale, so the pair just got even cuter by working together on this. Bring on the Oscars.
2. Angela. Fucking. Bassett.
One of the best American Horror Story decisions since the show began was hiring this goddess. Miss Angela Bassett. She stole the series last year as the Voodoo Queen Marie Leveau and for me, she stole it this year as the three-breasted Desiree Dupree. She was feisty, empowered and she was one of the only survivors of the series, after hiding from Dandy and we see her in the finale married with kids. She truly was incredible in this series, and I'm really surprised no awards came her way. Hats off to you, Angela. I hope she returns for Season Five.
1. American Horror Story IS linked!!!
It was what we've always been waiting for. Every series is completely different, but Ryan Murphy decided to link this one with previous series' and the results didn't disappoint. In the episode "Orphans", we saw Pepper's story - how she ended up in Briarcliff Manor (the asylum in the second series) and it saw the magnificent return of Lily Rabe, who was noticeably missed throughout Freak Show. Another way it linked to Asylum was with Dr Hans Gruper and how he tortured Elsa's old flame Massimo. Dr Hans Gruper was the doctor played by James Cromwell. I don't know about anyone else but when these episodes aired, I screamed with excitement (well not literally, but in my head). I've been waiting four years for links between them and I got what I wanted - hurrah!
So now the theories begin as we wait for the next series... Rumours are that it's something to do with top hats? Or space? That would be interesting...
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