The accents are more than a little wonky in the season premiere of American Horror Story: Freak Show — Jessica Lange trying to channel her inner Marlene, Kathy Bates doing some kind of twang that the NY Times criticized as wandering “around the Southern states, periodically landing on something vaguely Appalachian” (though in reality I don’t think it ever landed anyplace). And there’s admittedly something ick about treating the disabled and deformed as scary freaks.
And Ryan Murphy must have been mainlining Douglas Sirk movies, because the background music, particularly in the beginning of the episode, was non-stop over-the-top distracting.
But, all that said, this looks like fun. Among the highlights in the season opener:
• The evilest evil clown ever (that dental work!), scary even when he’s not happily plunging sharp objects into hapless victims
• Frances Conroy as creepy rich lady with even creepier son
• Sarah Paulson in the definition of a dual role, giving distinct personalities to each of her two heads
• The richly weird circus ambience, plus the recognizably eerie Florida touches (trilling cicadas on your set and in your neighborhood — surround-sound!)
• Inevitably, Lange. It takes her a while, but by the end of the first episode, with its surreal production number and pathetic aftermath (that blue eye makeup!), she had us.
Speaking of that production number, did anyone else think Twin Peaks? Maybe it was the red curtain and the size-challenged musicians backing up Jessica/Marlene, but I found myself flashing back to Agent Cooper's dream of the dancing dwarf.
And I'm not the only one with Peaks on his mind. Fans of David Lynch's groundbreaking 1990s serial are giddy about co-creator Mark Frost's announcement that the dark and campy show will return in 2016.
Some questions we'd like answered: Did Special Agent Dale Cooper ever escape the Black Lodge? Will the new series be dark and severe like its final episodes or more dry and quirky like its earlier episodes? Is the Log Lady still alive and will she return with her telepathic stump? With his sleazy and hour-too-long straight-to-video Inland Empire, we hope that Lynch will offer more mood and mystery to balance his tendency for over-the-top shenanigans.