American Horror Story Freak Show S04E04 Recap: Edward Mordrake Pt. 2

The Freak Show remains quiet on Halloween, with Edward Mordrake's eerie green fog accompanies his ghost around as he questions other freaks looking for the one to add to his troupe. So far he has not found the one pure freak to add to his group. He makes them all confess their sin, telling him how they came to be a part of the show. He wants their darkest moments. The woman with no legs stabbed a man she was jealous of, though he had inspired to perform. The microcephalics, Pepper and Salty, dance around innocently, not a care in the world or even notice that Mordrake is watching them. Paul sought solace in the dark, he came during the depression though. People hated his deformity, and he hated them, wanted to make them fear him, so he tattooed his body, but not his handsome face. He could have ruled the world with a different body. None of them are the one he's looking for.

Mordrake pays Elsa a visit. He wishes to see her deformity, but she's not ready to show him it yet, she needs to talk. She thinks him the man that will launch her career, but he bursts her bubble. He calls out her delusion, calling her a waste of air. She tells him to get out, thinking him a fake, but he's very real. His freaks grab hold of her, pulling her prosthetic legs from her body, as she screams that she is not one of them. She pretends to be the zoo keeper of the freaks, but she's very much one of them.

Jimmy and Maggie run out of gas. Maggie thinks it's Jimmy's way of making a move on her, and she lashes out at him, but that's not his intention at all. With the curfew in effect, Jimmy thinks that they should get off the road and hide, but Maggie knows the intentions of men. Jimmy insists that she isn't his type, but she knows that in the dark men are less picky, and doesn't believe him that pretty faces aren't his type. He tells her that she has nothing to worry about from him, she should worry more about the townies, they only tolerate them because their freakishness makes them feel better about themselves. A car approaches, and Maggie follows Jimmy into hiding.

The bratty brother is finally awake in the bus, and he wonders if he's going to die. The picnicing girl has no intention of dying there, and she doesn't think that he will either. The little boy is asleep, weak from hunger. She tries to get the brother to untie her as Twisty returns. He opens the cage, and she makes a move. She shoulders Twisty out of the way, and runs off. The brother sits and cowers with fear as she runs away.

Jimmy and Maggie navigate the shadows trying to make it back to camp. They spot the girl running for her life, with the demented clown on her trail. The pair hides, waiting and watching as the clown takes her down, knocking her out and scoops her up to return her. Jimmy follows the clown to see if he can help the girl, and Maggie has no choice but to tag along.

Elsa rights herself, trying to seduce Mordrake, but he's beyond seduction. He wants her misery only, her pair. 1932 sexual depravity hit all corners. Whatever you wanted you can have it, and Elsa found herself in the middle of it. She was a myth, the star even there. She never let her clients touch her, unlike the other whores, she dominated them on every level. In time she attracted clients and audiences. She called the watchers, she didn't know their names, only that they paid well. In the end she was nothing, she became a ghost. But that's not the worse. Mordrake wants more.

Jimmy and Maggie watch the clown as he goes back to the bus. Jimmy cautions Maggie, wants her to stay while he gets a closer look. He peers inside, and he knows that the guy is a killer. Before he can go get the cops, Twisty's spoiled sidekick Dandy knocks out Jimmy. Now it's time for the real show.

Hotel Olympia, 1932. Elsa was the top seller, but this time was different. Drunk, she shows up, and the camera's roll. The man offers her a drink. She was all alone, for the film which was off. She was utterly powerless, but even drugged it wasn't enough to dull the pain as they bound her and cut off her legs. They left her there to die, but one of her clients had fallen in love with her. He followed her everywhere, and rushed in the minute they left. She never forgave him for it. The film was passed around everywhere. She was a star, but her career was over. She had the most beautiful legs. Mordrake's other face tells him that she is the one, and Elsa is ready for him to take her, but as she begs him to take her he hesitates. He hears music.

In the woods, the show is starting, and music sounds as Twisty plays off key. Dandy announces his act. He plans to saw Tiny Tits (Maggie) in half. Jimmy awakens as the show begins, and he knocks out Dandy to save Maggie. Twisty claps an applause, and Jimmy tells everyone to run. Twisty manages to grab only Jimmy and brings him back to his bus. As he raises his scissors over Jimmy, he stops, noticing Mordrake. Mordrake wants to see the show though.

Dandy screams at his former hostages. He wants to finish his show. Maggie points them into the direction of the road, telling them to call the police as Maggie leads Dandy away. He trips over a log. She ruined his Halloween.

Mordrake tries to get Twisty to open up, but he remains silent. He wants him to remove his mask, to tell him his story. Twisty's jaw is all but gone, he's not able to do much more than make some noise. Mordrake tells him to slow, and focus so that he can understand him. It was 1943, and he was the special Chidren's clown in a traveling carnival. He loved the children, but not the freaks, they were mean. One night, two little people invite him to join them for a smoke around the fire. It burns his throat, and the teasing goes on. One of the guys accuses him of molesting the kids, they scare him, telling him that the cops are coming for him, and the poor simpleton believes and runs off. News travels quickly in the carnival circles, and he went home, but his mother had died, so he sought solace in his bus. He had the idea that he would turn trash into gold, he tried to sell his creations to a toy store, but the toy maker refused to buy them. He tried to interest one little boy in his toy, but only scared him and his mother. The Toy maker alludes that he's one of those people who do bad things to kids, and Twisty freaks out. He's not a bad person. Depressed, he tries to commit suicide, but he's so dumb he can't even do that right, and managed to only blow off his jaw with the shotgun. That's when he had a new idea. He haunted the freak show. It's a sad tale a pitiful one, but Mordrake wants more. Twisty saved the kids from the freaks. The children forgot that they loved him, and the freaks were stealing them once more. He tells Mordrake how came up with a show for the child that he took, scare the crap out of is more like it. How things happened aren't quite how he remembers them. Is the end of out twisted clown? He was nice and didn't make the child do any chores, though he did kill his mother. He even got a pretty babysitter for him, no mention of the boyfriend he killed. He believes he's good, and Mordrake's other face renders his decision. Mordrake has met many, but only Twisty has caused the demon to weep. Mordrake drives his sword into Twisty's stomach as Jimmy watches from the bus. The dead troupe claim their newest member, welcoming him into their fold. In death his jaw is restored, he's whole, and he has a new home. Jimmy hides before the ghosts can see him.

Dandy comes back to find Twisty dead. He takes up Twisty's fallen mask, and slides into his serial killer state. Sirens sound in the distance, which aren't nearly as comforting as they should be to Jimmy.

Morning has arrived. The detectives look around the scene of Twisty's and Dandy's last act. One questions Maggie asking if she ever saw the faces of her almost killers, but she didn't, the sawer had a mask. Another detective focuses on Jimmy, asking if he recognized the voices. He didn't. The detective tells Maggie that she's a hero, she got the others back to their families safely, but she insists the real hero is Jimmy. The other detective takes a more accusatory stance, acting as if Jimmy was in on the whole thing, even threatening to take him in. Jimmy isn't taking his crap though, and tells him to write his name down so he knows how to spell it when he goes to the reporters. He alludes that the real killer is them, they killed Meep and he didn't deserve to die, someone is going to pay.

Maggie and Jimmy arrive back at the show, and Elsa gives them an icy reception, thinking they've been out lollygagging all night. Being turned down by Mordrake is rubbing her the wrong way. Jimmy announces that the curfew has been lifted. Maggie tells Elsa that they caught the killer, rather Jimmy did, and that because of him the kids were saved. She gives Jimmy a kiss before leaving him, her opinion of him has changed. Jimmy may be reconsidering his type. Elsa sees that Maggie has cast a spell on Jimmy. Elsa tells him about Mordrake visiting, Jimmy knows he saw him claim his freak. People arrive at the show, and Elsa is sure that they're getting ready to drive them away, but they aren't. One of the fathers has come to thank Jimmy, he saved his son and his town. The people embrace the freaks, and Jimmy searches out Maggie's face, unsure of the reception. Elsa uses the good fortune to tell everyone about the evening's show. Dell drunkenly stumbles from his trailer to see Jimmy surrounded by the townspeople being enbraced.

Elsa and the others ready for a big show. She has news for the embittered Dot and Bette. They have a sold out show, and she's changing around the show. Dot thinks that now that there's a sold out show they'll be warming up for her, but she's doing no such thing. They're warming up for the pinheads. They were last week's big news, and that banner has been taken down. Mansfield now Richard Spencer comes stumbling in. He'd wanted to buy a ticket,but the show is sold out. He hands Elsa his card, claiming to be a talent scout, and she makes room for him.

Dandy returns home looking more a mess than normal. Dora is still not impressed by him, and she reminds him that Halloween is over. She wants him to take a tray to his mother, who is exhausted after trying to find him a better costume. When Dandy just stands there, Dora demands that he move out of her way so that she can take the tray up herself. He slashes her throat, and Dora bleeds out on the floor as Dandy sits there laughing.