American Horror Story: Freak Show Recap With Spoilers: Show Stoppers

The twelfth, penultimate episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show, “Show Stoppers,” opens with Stanley arriving at the circus to join the freaks in a celebration – both for Elsa’s new TV gig and the arrival of the new circus-owner, Chester (Neil Patrick Harris). 

Quickly, Elsa (Jessica Lange) asks Chester to leave the room, and it slowly becomes apparent that all the freaks have learned the truth about Stanley (Denis O’Hare) from Maggie (Emma Roberts). He tries to leave but Elsa insists he stay to receive his “present,” the severed head of the woman from the Museum of Morbid Curiosities.

First, they put Stanley on the bullseye, while Elsa throws knives at him. Then, they let him down, but she throws another right into his leg. As the freaks close in, he tries to tell them that Elsa killed Ethel, but they don’t listen. Elsa demands that he attempt to run for his life, which he does, until the freaks corner him.

Jimmy (Evan Peters) is furious when Elsa reveals that they killed Dell, as he insists that Maggie is a liar. Elsa points out that since he has no parents, she must take care of him now, insisting that he accept Maggie is a caretaker for his wounds. She explains her plans to have a friend make new hands for him, so he can be a leader once again.

Once Elsa leaves, Maggie tries to get Jimmy to forgive her, but he blames her for the loss of his hands and the death of his friends, like Ma Petite. She insists that she will make things right with the two of them.

Meanwhile, Chester agrees to physically set Marjorie (Jamie Brewer) aside while having sex with Bette and Dot (Sarah Paulson), whom he believes love him. Marjorie is furious afterwards, claiming that they’re only using him. She accuses him of the murder of his wife and her lover, and Marjorie and Chester agree that Bette and Dot “have to go.”

Paul (Mat Fraser), Suzi (Rose Siggins) and the other freaks are having a few drinks when they begin to discuss the accusations that Elsa killed Ethel, eventually agreeing that they must kill Elsa.

Nearby, Dandy (Finn Wittrock) visits Bette and Dot in their tent. He claims that Gloria’s “passing” inspired him to be better to those he loves, bringing them information on Chester – an “absolutely beastly sicko.” They refuse to listen, so he blows them a kiss and leaves.

Massimo Dolcefino (Danny Huston), who made Elsa’s legs, makes it to the circus to build Jimmy’s hands. They visit him, where he’s only barely conscious enough to discuss the procedure with them. Elsa reveals one of her legs to Jimmy, explaining that Massimo saved her life and even taught her to walk again.

Massimo tells the tale of how he slowly hunted down each of Elsa’s torturers, until the last one – Hans Gruper (the younger version of James Cromwell’s character in AHS: Asylum) – captured him and tortured him too. Massimo eventually escaped but now has “no soul,” so he can never love again.

Bette and Dot have second thoughts about Chester after Dandy’s visit, so they ask to no longer be his magic assistant, refusing to get in the box for the “sawing in half” trick. Maggie offers to take their place, and Chester accepts her, sending the rest of the freaks to the backstage.

Chester begins to see his wife, her lover, and Marjorie repeatedly in Maggie’s place, never actually seeing or addressing Maggie. He violently saws her in half, and once the freaks respond to her screams, Chester pulls apart the two parts of the boxes to reveal her spilling entrails.

Marjorie cackles in the audience, while Chester cries, “she made me do it” and runs away. The freaks aren’t too remorseful about Maggie’s death, with Desiree (Angela Bassett) even saying, “She had it comin’,” adding that they should steal her jewelry. Chester, meanwhile, follows Marjorie back to his tent, before stabbing her until she’s unresponsive.

Eve (Erika Ervin) visits Jimmy to tell him that Maggie is dead, but he doesn’t care. He is remembering his mother when Eve tells him that Elsa will be the next to die. Bette and Dot go to Elsa in her tent, accidentally seeing her legs and telling Elsa that the others are after her. The twins believe that by giving her this warning, the three of them are even. Nearby, Desiree rallies the freaks to Elsa’s tent, but when they get there, Elsa is gone.

Chester, covered in blood, takes Marjorie’s “body” to the bewildered police, confessing to the murder.

In the morning, Dandy shows up to share that he bought the show from Elsa for $10,000 in cash, enabling her to get away quickly. He appears to “take inventory,” as he now owns everything including the performers’ contracts. Dandy hears a whimpering sound, and when he follows it, finds Stanley in a cage, who has been completely mutilated and made to share attributes with many of the freaks – no hands, no legs, no tongue, etc.

Lastly, the episode ends when Jimmy reveals the new hands that were made for him by Massimo: two new lobster claws.