As she gets bigger and bigger, she feels less and less at home, missing the family she built.
She achieves the Hollywood fame she desires, and finds it’s far less than she wishes for. It may not be the ideal existence for most of us, nor even what many of them thought they wanted in life, but it’s what these people end up valuing most, enhanced by perfect circumstances and surrounded by beloved family.Įven Elsa (Jessica Lange) gets to go there, despite her sins. The freaks who are killed, and not just in the season finale, are reunited in an eternal caravan, performing nightly for packed houses.
“Curtain Call” toys with an afterlife, though, a specific fulfillment of the wishes of those who died. One might think that being slain by a madman is not a happy ending, and I mentioned in the opening that the ending is satisfying. He does horrific things, though, and like a diseased dog, the most merciful thing is to put him down, which our heroes do. He’s deeply damaged, far from emotionless, desperate to find acceptance. The more he tries to carve out his place and hone his talents, the worse he does. Even as he dramatically dies, drowning in Houdini’s water escape tank, we see the pain and anger in his eyes. Wittrock’s performance in American Horror Story: Freak Show is nothing short of amazing. Thankfully, four survive long enough to punish Dandy. They quit, prompting him to go on a killing spree and murder almost every performer left. But the freaks, who have suffered enough, don’t put up with his gruff for long. This continues right on through to the end.Īs “Curtain Call” opens, the freak show has been sold to Dandy (Finn Wittrock), the biggest beast of the year. The story tears down prejudice among those who watch, building sympathy for the outcasts. Those with the deformities are the persecuted, and the ones to root for. It is the people outside of the carnival that are the problem. Right away this year, American Horror Story: Freak Show made us care about the freaks. Mixing tears and joy in moving pathos, “Curtain Call” is the ending fans deserve. The fourth season of FX’s American Horror Story, subtitled Freak Show, concluded this week with “Curtain Call.” Perhaps the most satisfying season finale of the show yet, capping a season which, in my opinion, tied with the first for best of the series, it gave almost everyone who deserved it a happy ending.