The next season of American Horror Story is shaping up to be a good season. Although some of our favorites will not be back for the fourth season (Taissa Farmiga and Lily Rabe), most of the former cast will be part of American Horror Story: Freak Show.
Aside from the cast, the premise is another thing to look forward to. Side show freaks are rich sources of creepy material plus the two timeline theme (ala Asylum) make things more interesting.
I’ll bet good money that Freak Show will be really good, but I hope there are things that they’ll include next season. Here are some of them.
Characters Uniting into a Solid Group
Although the group dynamic has been utilized heavily in Coven, you didn’t really see the characters forming a solid unit. Sure, they ended with a group activity called the test of the 7 Wonders, but before that, they tried to kill each other or steal each other’s boyfriends (I’m talking to you Madison).
I wish to see that the side show freaks be united under Jessica Lange’s character’s guidance. Have them fight their enemies together, just this once, and after that, they can return to being traitors and back stabbers.
Real Freaks
Professional side show performers back in the day owned the word “Freaks”. Although it had negative connotations, these performers used a bad word to describe what they are and what they do in an empowering way. Even normal people started having tattoos, piercings, and trained to eat glass and fire just to be branded as freaks.
I hope next season they use professional freaks. Prosthetics and make up are fine for the main cast, but for other roles, I want to see the real deal.
An Increased Scare Factor
According to co-creator Ryan Murphy, they will be using a comic approach with the fourth season of AHS like what they did with Coven. Although I liked the third season, I hope they could increase the scare factor again. I miss the times when I had to veer my eyes from the screen because the pilot of Murder House was so dang scary. Keep the comedy, but when scary scenes are needed, make it as scary as possible.
Keep the Brutality in Check
I’m a big fan of blood and gore in TV and movies, but when it’s overly done, the appeal lessens. With that I hope next season will use gore in more appropriate ways not just because it’s cool.
Show the Heyday of Side-show Freaks
As I said, Freak Show will use two timelines, one in the 1950s where side shows were already in decline and another one which the cast and crew have not revealed yet. No one knows, but I hope the other timeline will be when side-show freaks were at their heyday. On research, I’ve seen some old pictures of times when freaks were considered as celebrities, but I hope I can see a more vivid picture of what they were like.