This week’s episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show was nothing short of an entertaining and spooktacular part one of a two part story line, that will continue on next week in honor of Halloween.
Every episode thus far of the fourth season of the show has been satisfying in that it is giving audiences exactly what they have been craving in terms of scares, drama, and freaks. It seems this fourth season also has a theme, as well, revolving around the world of musical performance numbers. In the first episode, Jessica Lange’s character gave a stellar performance of David Bowie’s song, “Life On Mars.” In the second episode, twins Dot and Bette, played by Sarah Paulson, sang the seductive song “Criminal,” originally by Fiona Apple.
In this Halloween themed episode, Jessica Lange revives some horrifying spirits from the grave by singing modern-age, indie beauty Lana Del Rey’s song, “Gods and Monsters.”
According to E! News, Ryan Murphy wanted to honor his friend Baz Luhrman by incorporating musical numbers into certain episodes from artists who are identified as odd or freak-like themselves.
“We did Lana Del Rey, Kurt Cobain, David Bowie. People who I admire who really changed the landscape of music, based on them feeling like outsiders,” said Murphy.
Del Rey’s songs are always very seductive and mysterious and “Gods and Monsters” was a perfect fit for the show's setting and environment. During the scene where Elsa is singing the song, she summons a dangerous spirit called Edward Mordrake. The superstition amongst the freaks is that if anyone performs or even practices on Halloween night, one of the freaks will end up being killed and taken by Mordrake’s spirit. The mysteriousness of the song mixed with the imagery from Mordrake being summoned was artsy and mesmerizing to watch.
Fans of the show will be greatly anticipating what the next musical number will be or if it will be a recurring staple in each episode.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Murphy revealed, “We don’t do a lot of them this season. Maybe we only have five numbers.”
Although there won’t be as many musical numbers as one would like as a fan, at least each time they are being done, they are being done fantastically, which makes one look forward to the next time American Horror Story: Freak Show does another famous song.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com