Tonight, the fourth season of FX’s series American Horror Story rolls into town.  This year’s theme (as each season has an urban legend it follows) is “Freakshow”.  The returning cast will be playing such characters as a three breasted woman (Angela Bassett), the bearded woman (Kathy Bates), lobster boy (Evan Peters), conjoined twins (Sarah Paulson), the strong man (new cast member Michael Clickless), and the mistress of the bigtop (Jessica Lange).

I had high hopes going into this season, as it seems each year starts out extremely strong but loses steam about halfway through, leaving me ultimately disappointed.  For the previous season AHS: Coven, the only things that kept me watching after the mid season point was Jessica Lange’s Emmy winning performance, and the racial tension fueled animosity between Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett.

The “Freakshow” theme of season 4 set in 1952, I hoped, would harken to the good ol’ days of Carnivale and the macabre drama therein.  I am very sorry to report that the season premiere of AHS: Freakshow is rather disappointing.  It is difficult to pinpoint whether this stems from presentation of the characters which would be a directorial thing, or if it’s simply a poorly written script.

The number one thing that I yelled about is the musical number featuring Elsa Mars (Lange’s character).  We find out from the basic backstory that she comes from the cabaret circuit in Dresden, both pre and post WWII.  Her biggest life goal has been to be a star of stage and screen, and her biggest regret is not achieving any manner of celebrity through her performances even though she lives like a top billed starlet.  Her song sequence caused my eye to twitch for any number of reasons, but the BIGGEST of these being the song itself, David Bowie’s 1971 classic, “Life On Mars”.

Yeah, you read that correctly, a show set in 1952 had a musical number featuring a song written in 1971.  And, because we must understand why Elsa has never made it as a performer, the vocal arrangement is atrocious.  I’m honestly hoping Elsa’s “freak” ability is to travel in time or something, because NOTHING explains this song choice.

There is also a dark evil murderous clown named Twisty.  Of course, how can you possibly do a show about a dark carnival sideshow without one of these?

So far, even Kathy Bates isn’t keeping the show interesting for me, and I feel I’ll only be continuing my viewings as a reviewer.  An unimpressed reviewer.  Hopefully, there will be a reversal of the normal flow of the series, and this season will pick up later down the road to finish strongly, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

American Horror Story: Freakshow airs on Wednesday nights on FX.

ABOUT >> Mary Anne Butler
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  • BIO >> Mary Anne Butler (Mab) is a reporter and photographer from San Francisco California. She is a lifelong geek, huge music nerd, occasionally cosplays at conventions, does Renaissance Faires, and in general lives the life of a True Believer. She may be short, but she makes up for it with a loud voice.
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