American Horror Story Freak Show, S4E9: Tupperware Party Massacre
Original Airdate: December 10, 2014
Recap by Sarabeth Pollock, @SarabethPollock
After last week’s kill-off-a-character-palooza, tonight’s episode didn’t leave us wanting.
Maggie is doing a reading with Dandy. He says that he has been having trouble with the fairer sex lately, and Maggie correctly surmises that he’s worried that the one who took care of him won’t be there anymore, and that he’ll be caught. We see a flashback to when the Avon lady comes calling to the Mott Residence. Dandy welcomes her inside, and Miss Pink Suit thinks she has hit the jackpot, but she has no idea that Dandy is walking behind her with a candlestick. He knocks her out, and when we see her next he is in the playroom humming “If You’re Happy and You Know It” while the decapitated body of the Avon lady is on the ground. He’s sewing her head to his mother’s body so that they can be his version of the Tattler Twins…and his own puppet. Maggie assures him that the future is clear and his indiscretions will be forgotten. He slams a hundred dollar bill onto the table, and tells her that it would be a shame for her talents to go to waste. Maggie has no idea who he is, of course, because she’s not a real psychic.
Jimmy is feeding Imma. She says she’s too good for him. Eve and Paul watch in disgust as Jimmy, who is totally smashed, tells her that she needs to keep eating. Suddenly Jimmy hears a familiar whistle, and he rushes out of the tent to find Dandy walking away. Dandy easily dodges him, showing his disdain for such a waste of life. Jimmy accuses Dandy of being the other clown and of stealing the twins, but no one takes him seriously because he’s so drunk. Eve and Paul walk away when Jimmy takes a swing at Dandy and falls to the ground. Dandy bends down and tells Jimmy that Jimmy ruined his chance at happiness and that he is Jimmy’s god. As his god, he wants Jimmy to suffer. And suffer he will.
Stanley and Elsa find the twins in a hotel room. Stanley says that a mob is outside and that they cut off Ethel’s head. In reality, Elsa found Ethel’s note after she died and Ethel had hid the twins in West Palm Beach. She left instructions for Jimmy to find them. The twins don’t know what really happened to Ethel, of course, and so they cautiously believe them. However, you can see that they’re still suspicious, especially when Elsa says they found the surgeon who separated the other set of twins and he wants to meet with them.
Back at the camp, Desiree and Maggie are on a search. They run into Angus T. Jefferson, and Maggie threatens to give him a black eye if he doesn’t leave Desiree alone. Desiree sends Maggie ahead, and she tells Angus that he had better behave. She returns to Maggie, who is in one of the tents, and explains that Angus is her lover. They hear a noise and find Jimmy screwing Imma. He’s still drunk, and when Imma tells Jimmy not to worry about Maggie, she says that Jimmy will screw anything right now because he’s drunk. Jimmy seems more concerned that he didn’t get off as planned. He tells Maggie to leave because he prefers Imma, but when Maggie leaves, he doesn’t want her to go. Maggie tells Imma that she might as well be a sock, which upsets her. Unfortunately, Jimmy doesn’t come to her defense. He’s too busy puking.
Local Jupiter ladies are discussing the benefits of oral sex. It tastes like salty skin, the woman tells her friends. And it worked, because she was given a brand new stove for her efforts. Another woman comes out of the bedroom. Apparently, Jimmy missed and didn’t give her an orgasm because he’s so drunk. He stumbles out looking for the next client, and then he sees a vision of his mother telling him that she’s rolling in her grave. She gave birth to him in an orchard and worked so hard to make sure he had everything in life, but he’s wasting his life away. And she wasted her life on another drunk, like his father. The other women nod in agreement. Jimmy comes to his senses and realizes he has been burying his face in the lap of one of the women, not his mother. They order him to leave, and no sooner is he gone is there a knock on the door. It’s Dandy, looking dapper as ever. He charms the lady of the house and tells her that his car broke down. Might he use the phone?
Stanley’s car drives out to the shack. He and Elsa have set up a little room for them to “protect” them, and it will also be a good place for them to meet the doctor. Bette freaks out at the sight of the table. We see Stanley telling Elsa that he knows someone who knows the doctor, and that by giving Bette and Dot the chance for the surgery, they will get what they want, though they’ll die in the process, and that will clear the way for Elsa to take center stage. The more Stanley talks, the less Bette wants with the surgery, but her sister silences her, telling her that she wants to be a normal woman. Stanley agrees and says the doctor can split them right down the middle. He and Elsa take their leave, leaving the twins in the dark shed.
The Tupperware woman’s husband is home, complaining about his wife’s friends’ cars blocking the driveway. But they aren’t in the living room, even though the music is playing, the pink Christmas tree is still lit, and the Tupperware is all over. No, he wanders out to the pool room and finds the women floating in a pool full of blood. He screams.
Regina climbs the stairs in the Mott Mansion, searching for her mother. Dandy is preparing a blood bath when she finds him in the playroom. She tells him she has been to the police about her mother, and he casually tells her that he killed her mother. That’s when she sees the blood on the mirror and on the teddy bear. He says he killed her mother weeks ago, and that his mother helped him bury her. Then he killed his mother. Now he’s a big fan of blood baths, and tonight’s bath is courtesy of the women at the Tupperware party. He corners Regina and says that he has finally realized his destiny. He wants her to bathe with him, the way they did when they were kids. He strips off his bathrobe and stands before her, nude, as he proclaims that he is a god among men. Regina doesn’t want to bathe with him; she wants to go home. He is sorely disappointed because he thought she was the only one worth a damn in the house. But he lets her go. He sees himself as being above the law.
In the shed, the twins stare at the operating table. Bette thinks Dot is mad at her. She says she isn’t dim and that she knows that only one of them is going to survive the surgery. Bette is tired of this “arranged marriage.” Dot doesn’t want her sister dead, but she never dreamed one of them could lead a life together. Bette reminds Dot that their mother bought them lace-up shoes, even though she never thought they’d be able to tie them. But they worked at it and made it happen. Bette says that love is about sacrifice. She has the same longings as Dot, but Dot doesn’t think Bette could survive without Dot. Bette agrees that she couldn’t be alone. Bette would want Dot to have a chance at life. She would give her life so that Dot would have one. Dot receives this news in tears and they proclaim their love for each other.
Dell is in his trailer writing a letter to Desiree. He crumples it up and tries again, this time to Jimmy. That one ends up in the trash as well. Later that night, Dell is drinking when Stanley finds him on the road. Stanley says that everything Dell does concerns him, and that he shouldn’t go back to the gay bar because his beloved Andy is gone for good. Stanley whips out his 13 inch penis and shows it to Dell, who calls him a freak. Wait til he’s angry, Stanley quips. He starts working himself, telling Dell to touch it. It will be their secret shame. Dell is fixated. We return to Dell’s trailer where he has finished the letter. A noose is over his shoulder and Ma Petite appears and tells him to sign the letter. As he makes his way to the noose, Ethel appears and chides the “strong man” for being weak. She says she’s there to watch, though she calls him a coward. He can’t take the shame of being what he is anymore. He is a freak, and he doesn’t know how she ever dealt with it. Ethel says that being a freak is who they are, but his pain is on the inside, feeding on him until he rotted. Dell says he doesn’t have the fight left in him. She tells him to step up to the rope and get it done. Slowly he climbs the chair and puts the noose around his neck. The chair breaks and he flounders around violently, blacking out. Desiree appears and cuts him down, cradling him in her arms. He apologizes to her.
Stanley is in a hotel with a young man dressed in a doctor’s coat. He’s clearly not a doctor, judging by the way he takes his coat off to reveal a very find physique. Stanley wants him to run through his lines, but the poor boy is more brawn than brains. There is one line he needs to nail about the Brody twins, and then he will be putting the twins down like a sad puppy. Euthanasia. The kid likes puppies. Stanley tells him it’s time to “suck his cock” and the kid forgets sad puppies.
The doorbell rings at the Mott Manor. Dandy answers it to find Regina and Detective Copeland, the man who investigated the freak show. Dandy tells him that Regina has never lied, and that if she says he killed his mother then she must be dead. As he rants about his money and being a god, the detective pulls out his gun. But Dandy is too smart for that. He tells the detective that he wants him to dig a hole for Regina, because he will pay him a million dollars cash to kill her. He shoots her in the head and asks for a shovel while Dandy looks on with glee.
Jimmy wants to know why Eve and Paul are taking down Ethel’s banner from the show’s entryway. Jimmy is still drunk and he stalks off to his trailer, where he finds the twins waiting for him. Dot tells him that she thought they were going to do something wrong. She thought that being separated would fix the problem, but it was herself. Her sister Bette is not the problem, and now she knows that. Jimmy says that nothing, not even family, stays. Dot takes his hand and places it on her cheek, telling him that she was sorry to hear about his mother, and that he doesn’t have to be alone anymore. She has loved him from the start. They peel off their bathrobe and let it fall, telling him that they are like him, and they want to take his pain away and replace it with love. Bette supports her sister and says they can have their privacy. They kiss him, and he says that while he cares for them, he can’t be with them. He puts their robe back on and says that he’s in love with someone else. “She’s a very lucky girl,” Dot manages before leaving. Jimmy throws his liquor bottle and screams just as the sirens start up.
The police are there to arrest Jimmy for the murder of the Tupperware women. His glove was found at the crime scene. They load him into the car even though Maggie can provide an alibi. They take him away as the freaks watch in silent horror.
As we lead up to the highly anticipated tenth episode, I’d say that this season is getting interesting. Slowly but surely. And Finn Wittrock is a star.
What did you think of tonight’s episode?
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