Every season of American Horror Story (so far), ranked from worst to best
By Lacy Baugher
American Horror Story: Freak Show
The final season to feature Jessica Lange as part of the regular cast, Freak Show is less a scary story than a cautionary tale. Sure, there’s a demented killer clown and a ridiculously over the top serial killer, but ultimately this season is a story about the people who live on the margins of society and the monstrous ways they are treated by those it deems “normal”.
Lange gets to go out with a bang as Elsa Mars, one of the richest and most layered roles she’s had on the show to date. AHS regular Paulson does some of her best work ever as a pair of conjoined twins – she plays them both – and Michael Chiklis of The Shield fame shows up for a solid guest performance. Plus the entire supporting cast of “freaks” is wonderful. (Bonus: This is also the season that confirms the existence of an AHS shared universe, heavily featuring Naomi Grossman’s Pepper and bringing back Lily Rabe’s Sister Mary Eunice from Asylum.)
Yet, this is an AHS season that often feels very little like AHS, and other than its nightmare clown features much less in the way of traditional scares. And we probably could have done without some of the random musical numbers, which do feel kind of out of place for this series, but, then again, seeing Lange get the chance to sing a David Bowie or Lana Del Ray song isn’t something to be sniffed at either.