Edward Mordrake: Part 1

The third episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show, entitled "Edward Mordrake: Part 1," directed by Michael Uppendahl, marks a tonal and narrative shift that reverberates across the season's eerie, extravagant world. This installment is pivotal in expanding the lore of the Freak Show's haunted carnival, weaving macabre folklore into the lives and fates of its characters. The episode takes place on Halloween night, a date steeped in superstition and dread within the carnival's community, and the narrative tension arises from a longstanding carny myth-the curse of Edward Mordrake, a Victorian-era figure with a sinister second face on the back of his head, who is said to take away one unlucky freak every Halloween to join his ghostly troupe in the afterlife.

The episode opens with a stylistic nod to silent horror films as Edward Mordrake (Wes Bentley) is introduced through a grainy black-and-white "film within the show," complete with jerky movements mimicking old hand-cranked projectors. This inventive directorial choice by Uppendahl not only heightens the eerie ambiance but situates Mordrake as a spectral antagonist tethered to an ancient mythos. His haunting presence, accentuated by green smoke and an unsettling theremin soundtrack, permeates the carnival grounds, provoking fear and superstition among the Freak Show members and signaling an impending reckoning.

At the heart of the episode lies a deepening of character arcs, especially that of Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates) who, facing an uncertain fate due to her terminal illness, becomes Mordrake's first potential target. The emotional weight of her storyline is sensitively handled, with Bates delivering a performance rich in vulnerability and bittersweet resignation. Her interactions with Mordrake are charged with tension, exhibiting a touching blend of despair, defiance, and haunting acceptance. This relationship offers a glimpse into Mordrake's dual nature-tortured by his malignant second face yet mysteriously sympathetic toward Ethel's plight-a duality Wes Bentley enacts with chilling effectiveness.

The episode further explores the dynamics within the Freak Show troupe, capturing moments of both celebration and foreboding as they decide to forgo their annual Halloween performance in honor of the superstition. This decision leads to scenes portraying the troupe's camaraderie and fragility, with characters like Bette and Dot, as played by Sarah Paulson, contending with grief and uncertainty following the recent death of fellow performer Meep. Uppendahl's direction excels in balancing these emotional beats with moments of stylized surrealism, notably in enhanced dream sequences using disorienting split screens and color distortions that reflect the fractured psyches of the twins.

Alongside the troupe's internal struggles, the episode also begins to deepen other narrative threads, such as the unsettling psychological unraveling of Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock) and his increasingly ominous relationship with Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch). These interactions suggest a dark alliance brewing, framing future conflicts and expanding the season's themes of innocence corrupted and unchecked malevolence. Twisty's eerie presence continues to loom, but here the episode provides a rich contrast between his terrifying brutality and the vulnerable, haunted beauty of the carnival's performers.

Uppendahl's cinematography and production design enrich the episode's atmospheric density, utilizing a muted color palette punctuated by gothic shadows and stark lighting. The camera work variably lingers on the grotesque details of the freaks' appearances while also capturing the haunting beauty of the carnival at dusk, culminating in a visual feast that oscillates between the grotesque and the poetic. The editing maintains a paced rhythm that carefully unwraps the mythology around Mordrake and the shifting alliances and fears among the Freak Show's characters, preventing the narrative from becoming overly cluttered despite its multiple plotlines.

The writing in "Edward Mordrake: Part 1" is particularly strong in its dialogues and thematic depth. The supernatural folklore of Mordrake functions as a metaphor for impending death and the burden of secret sorrows carried by the freaks. It invokes traditional horror motifs with modern dramatic tragedy, allowing the episode to transcend mere shock and spectacle. The refusal to perform on Halloween is laden with symbolic import, emphasizing themes of destiny, sacrifice, and the thin veil between life and death. The narrative simultaneously honors and challenges horror conventions, integrating a meta-awareness present throughout American Horror Story's broader canon.

Culturally, the episode engages with a long tradition of carnival folklore and horror storytelling, echoing films like Freaks (1932) and drawing from real accounts of Edward Mordrake's myth, thus embedding the story within a wider history of cultural fascination with the macabre and the marginal. It also reflects queer and outsider narratives, continuing to challenge societal norms by giving voice and depth to characters often relegated to spectacle. These elements enrich the episode's resonance, as it foregrounds empathy amidst horror and subverts genre expectations by foregrounding emotional complexity alongside eerie terror.

Noteworthy are several standout performances beyond Bates and Bentley, including Sarah Paulson's nuanced dual portrayal of Bette and Dot, which conveys the psychological toll of grief and survival. The episode also features subtle, compelling work from newcomers like Emma Roberts, who plays Esmeralda, the mysterious fortune teller whose presence adds intrigue and a potential catalyst to upcoming dramatic turns. The layering of interpersonal drama atop supernatural mythology creates a textured viewing experience that rewards careful attention.

Despite its strengths, the episode is not without critiques. Some viewers and critics have pointed to a slightly uneven pacing, especially in the build-up of Mordrake's mythology, which can feel drawn out compared to the brisker, more visceral horror of earlier episodes. The intricate layering of supernatural myth and character-driven drama occasionally risks losing narrative momentum. Nonetheless, such deliberation can also be seen as contributing to the groovy, theatrical mood that defines Freak Show's distinctive aesthetic.

"Edward Mordrake: Part 1" emerges as a richly atmospheric chapter that deepens the psychological and supernatural mythology of American Horror Story: Freak Show. It blends theatricality, horror, and pathos through strong direction, evocative cinematography, and powerful performances, particularly from Wes Bentley and Kathy Bates. The episode's use of folkloric horror not only advances the plot but also invites reflection on mortality, fear, and belonging within the carnivalesque world. While its slower pacing may challenge some, the episode ultimately enriches the ongoing narrative tapestry, offering a haunting meditation on the costs of difference and the allure of the haunted and uncanny.

Freak Show's third episode takes inspiration for a new character from the real life Edward Mordrake, the "Two Faced Prince" but with a classic American Horror Story twist.

Airing only two episodes prior to the third of the season, surprisingly a lot of information has been introduced to viewers. Twisty the Clown, the savage serial killer, has made a new friend and maybe even a psychopathic partner. We've been introduced to the brutish strongman with a temper and his lady partner and fellow performer, the woman with three breasts. The freaks hustle to create a mesmerizing performance despite faltering sales and the police continue to tear into the carnival on the search for the killer terrorizing their quaint Florida town.

First of the American Horror Story two part episodes standard for the series. Episode three of the Freak Show season tells the carny folklore regarding abstaining from performing on Halloween due to an old superstition from the 1800's. Meanwhile it further delves into the lives of freaks, especially Ethel, Dandy and Jimmy, who is enamored by a pretty fortuneteller and new addition to Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities.

It seems Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk find their footing by the Edward Mordrake Part 1 – the third episode of Freak Show. Having finally set the stage for the season it seems as though the introductory groundwork is complete for the most part for Freak Show. Halloween has a tradition of being some of my favorite episodes of the American Horror Story series across the season and once again the holiday provides a twisted, macabre and perverse focal point.

For the first part of the Edward Mordrake story arc creators Murphy and Falchuk center in on the emotions and reactions of the carnival's performers as they deal with their own painful pasts and the events transpiring around them. Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange each get the chance to shine as they are forced to confront their darkest secrets.

Lange's Elsa once again gets to perform a song much more modern for the 1950's time period. Originally performing David Bowie in the series premiere, Elsa gets to put her spin on Lana Del Rey's Gods and Monsters. A fitting song title but a painfully transparent attempt at relevancy and tactic for shock and ultimately viewership.

Episode three of the Freak Show season chooses to spotlight certain characters as the main attraction with a fleeting glimpse at other characters as they take a step back as a more minor role. In doing so, attention to the direction of Edward Mordrake's part 1 is sacrificed for far less beautiful, off-kilter and inferior cinematography to episode two's Massacres and Matinees. Even with this vast improvement, Freak Show still tries to shove a bit too much into one episode and I am sure most of these plot lines will have no influence or importance in the series finale.

For a two part episode, the 'hook' at the end was mildly disappointing and not very captivating to yearn for the conclusion and rest of the story.

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In the American Morbidity Museum, Dr. Sylvester Mansfield arrives with his assistant Miss Rothschild and asks the guide about his baby Sasquatch. Her appraiser tells him that he is a conman, never graduated in Havard with a fake specimen. The guide tells them that if they bring a real specimen, she is interested in buying, and there are two freak shows, one in Coney Island and the other in South Florida. Ethel learns from her new doctor that she has terminal cirrhosis of the liver and may live six months to one-year tops. Soon she starts to drink again. It is Halloween and Jimmy is grieving the death of Meep the Geek. He prepares a funeral to him with other freaks. The freaks learn from Elsa that in Halloween, there is no performance since it will summon the evil freak Edward Mordrake, who committed suicide in the middle 1800's. Gloria gives a Halloween costume made by Dora to Dandy, and he despises the fantasy. He uses the material to make a costume of clown for him. Miss Rothschild now poses as the clairvoyant Mystic Miss Esmerelda to get a job at the Freak Show. She lures Elsa, saying what she wants to hear, and is hired and tells Stanley. Dandy teams up with the evil Clown.

"Edward Mordrake: Part 1" is another weird episode of "American Horror Story", introducing two new characters: the conman Stanley (Denis O'Hare) and his assistant Miss Rothschild (Emma Roberts), with the intention to capture Dot and Beth to raise money at the Morbidity Museum. The spoiled Dandy now joins the evil Clown and let's see what kind of evilness they will have together. The spirit of Edward Mordrake seems to have sympathized with Ethel. The funeral with the freaks throwing chicken heads on the casket of Meep the Geek is darkly funny. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Edward Mordrake: Part 1"

The two part Halloween episodes were the best of freakshow which afterwards the seasons dies a slow boring death when the characters get unlikable and boring but this was the great moments in a letdown season