American Horror Story: Freak Show Recap With Spoilers: Magical Thinking

The eleventh episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show opens with a reminder, “two days ago,” when Stanley (Denis O’Hare) visited Jimmy (Evan Peters) behind bars. He explains to Lobster Boy that a friend of his will pay big money for memorabilia related to the freak business, suggesting that by selling just one hand, he could pay for a lawyer. Stanley gives him something to make him sick, and when the guards allow him out to go to the hospital, he’s picked up by Stanley’s boy-toy. When Jimmy wakes up in the hospital, both of his hands are gone. 

Bette and Dot (Sarah Paulson) are the circus, where Bette, who’s a brunette again, is writing in her journal, admiring the freaks’ ability to accept freedom and pleasure. She’s over Dandy and ready to live happily with her sister, from who she now holds no secrets. Just as the two begin to explore sex, they run into a travelling salesman, Chester (Neil Patrick Harris), who sells chameleons.

Through Chester’s eyes, Bette and Dot have the heads of two other mystery women. He also explains that he was “wounded” in the war, though he appears physically fit, noting that he has a metal plate in his head. A big fan of circuses, he had to visit them when he heard that they comprised a bona fide freak show. Chester dabbles in basic magic, having even auditioned for some circuses himself. Bette and Dot are totally on board.

Later, Dell (Michael Chiklis) visits Jimmy at the hospital, horrified to learn that Jimmy trusted Stanley, who took both of his hands. Dell feeds Jimmy, who’s now unable to feed himself. The two make a plan to buy the freak show from Elsa, once she leaves to start her television career. Dell deeply regrets the many years he spent away from his son and wants to make up for that time.

Back at Elsa’s tent, Chester tries to impress her with his magic. Elsa (Jessica Lange) explains that they just aren’t a magic show – they put on a freak show. He pulls out a ventriloquist dummy, Margery – voiced by Jamie Brewer, and puts on a decent act, but Elsa is still unimpressed.

He brings up his chameleon business, and when she realizes he’s “good with numbers,” she offers to let him “warm up the crowd” and help with bookkeeping. Later, Chester is preparing for the show, when it seems that Margery has a mind of her own. The two argue and she mocks him for his groveling behavior with Elsa.

Dell gets back to the circus in pursuit of Stanley, telling Elsa about Jimmy’s hands. They realize he’s now completely defenseless, so Amazon Eve (Erika Ervin) joins Dell and they go back to the hospital to protect him.

Chester visits Bette and Dot, gifting them a music box. He also discovered a classic “sawing box” when rummaging through the storage room with Paul (Mat Fraser). He tells them how the trick works and asks that they be his assistants. Chester thinks they will help distract the audience, not because they’re freaks, but because they are beautiful.

Cut to a flashback where Chester sits with Margery, watching two women in bed – the two women whose heads he first saw on Bette and Dot’s body. Chester’s magic act with Bette and Dot goes seamlessly, though someone ominous watches them from afar.

Police officers are taking Jimmy back to jail, when Eve stops them by throwing a brick or a rock through their windshield. When the cops get out of the car, Dell beats them to death savagely. He gets shot, but it doesn’t seem to bother the Strong Man much.

Bette and Dot visit Chester, both kissing him and trying to turn him on – but he pulls away. He starts to hear a sharp ringing in his head, saying that his plate bothers him when he gets too worked up. Back to the flashback, where the women invite him into bed, but he declines.

At the circus, his plate acts up again, and he seems very confused, wondering if it’s all just a magic trick. He gives in to their requests, but only if one of his hands can work the dummy. They have sex; Bette and Dot for their first time.

The man who was watching Chester’s magic act turns out to have been hired by Dandy (Finn Wittrock), who is absolutely crushed that Bette and Dot have moved on to someone else. He cries, muttering, “They were supposed to be mine.”

Chester tries to lock Margery in a crate, wanting to move on from her to be with Bette and Dot, but Margery claims that she “will tell,” adding that she cannot be locked away.

In another flashback, it’s revealed that the two women were Chester’s wife and her new lover. Chester goes to retrieve Margery from the crate to find her missing, when the lover walks in, explaining that she took the dummy for his own good. As she mocks him, Chester sees Margery in the room, in human form (Jamie Brewer), who tells him that he needs to get rid of both the lover and his wife.

Back in the present, Chester’s attempts to put Margery in her crate are interrupted by Paul. He explains how all of the freaks put their money together to buy the circus from Elsa, but she turned them down, as she had already sold it to someone else – Chester.

Elsa’s business meeting with Chester is shown, where he signed a contract saying that all the acts would stay the same under his leadership. He expresses his intent to give Elsa’s tent to Margery, hoping it will stay the exact way she planned. When he gets back to Margery’s crate to tell her, she is gone.

Police swarm the circus looking for Jimmy, and for justice for the two murdered police officers. Chester throws a fit, demanding that they search for Margery. Obviously, the officers ignore his request. His craziness is starting to sink in for Elsa, just as the officers being to search the circus.

While Chester searches, he runs into Dandy, who claims to have spoken to her. He tells Chester that Margery is very angry and that she has run away. Dandy adds that Margery also said she would tell on Chester for killing his wife and her lover, who were in truth, killed by Margery, who is shown slowly beating them to death in another flashback.

Dandy says he would never turn Margery in, claiming that he is on Chester’s side. He tells Chester to look for her in the big tent, where he finds her sitting on the stage and eating grapes. She wants him to give her top billing at the show, but more important, she wants him to saw the twins in half, for real. 

Near the episode’s end, Maggie tells Elsa to follow her. Dell is shown creeping back to Desiree (Angela Bassett), who can’t deal with his secrets anymore. She demands to know who he has killed, expecting that he has killed more than just the cops. Meanwhile, Maggie is showing Elsa the display with Ma Petite, just as he admits the murder to Desiree.

He tells his Desiree that he smothered Ma Petite, and Elsa shoots him in the back of the head.