IN this celebrated golden era of TV, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have become pioneers of out-of-the-box concepts with their hit TV series, American Horror Story.
Instead of developing storylines and characters for extended runs, the creators opted for a miniseries approach, where their narratives had a beginning, middle and end.
And they upped the intrigue by ensuring each series was permeated by a melange of horror, drama and fantasy.
Their left-field approach has not only earned them a gargantuan fan base, it has got Hollywood’s who’s who making appearances.
To date, they have explored the haunting of the Harmon family with Dylan McDermott as the lead in Murder House. Season two, Asylum, shifted to 1964 and was centred on the goings-on at Briarcliff Mental Institution. The Coven was one of the most raved about seasons of the show. Set in New Orleans, it was a modern-day look at the goings-on at an all-girls boarding school of witches.
It looked at power struggles between the supreme and the upstarts as well as delved into threatening outside forces and the past. It covered magic, voodoo, racism, romance and familial bonds. And they threw in a few serial killers.
This time around, Murphy and Falchuk have unleashed their warped imagination.
Freak Show is helmed by Jessica Lange, their lucky mascot, once again. Set in 1952 in the town of Jupiter, Florida, she plays Elsa Mars, owner of one of the few circuses with her “monsters” as the stars. Sarah Paulson, who played her daughter in the previous season, is cast as singing Siamese twins, Bette and Dot Tattler.
Kathy Bates plays the bearded lady Ethel Darling, who is Mars’s tough right hand and also is the mother to Jimmy Darling (Peters). Born with a condition known as syndactyly, he yearns for a normal life. In the meantime, he uses his charm and skills set with his hands for giving women pleasure.
The arrival of Dell Toledo (Michael Chiklis) and his three-breasted wife, Desiree Dupree (Angela Bassett), threatens the stability of the family.
On the flip side, there is a serial killer clown roaming around. And a spoilt-rotten rich kid, Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock), who has his mollycoddling mother, Gloria (Frances Conroy), pander to his every insidious whim.
By the way, Gabourey Sidibe, Patti LaBelle and Emma Roberts are also in this instalment.
On the germination of this disturbing storyline, where the normal human beings are the “evil ones”, Murphy told InsideTV.ew. com:
“It’s something that Jessica had always talked about. She’s a photographer and has always been interested in that world. She’s always interested in the lost, the forgotten and the beautiful survivor of it all. She sent me a book actually. Once I started investigating it, I really loved the idea.”
The idea continued to take shape, also fuelled by his interest in Tod Browning’s Freaks and Carnival of Lost Souls.
In the series, they magnify the cruelty towards these eyesores of society and question who the “real monster” in this bigoted world is.
He added: “Emma is a fortune-teller who’s a complete con artist. Michael is a strong man who is running from the law because of past events. Patti LaBelle plays a friend and co-worker to Franny.”
This season is sans any supernatural element. The style of the shooting is completely different and there is some interesting CGI for Paulson’s character. Once again, there are twists and thrills aplenty in this freak parade. Viewers will finds themselves stupefied.
• American Horror Story: Freak Show airs on Mondays on M-Net Edge (DStv channel 102) at 9pm.