Massacres and Matinees
- Episode aired Oct 15, 2014
- TV-MA
- 53m
With a killer on the loose, police impose a curfew on Jupiter. Elsa hires a strongman, unaware of his dark past with Ethel.With a killer on the loose, police impose a curfew on Jupiter. Elsa hires a strongman, unaware of his dark past with Ethel.With a killer on the loose, police impose a curfew on Jupiter. Elsa hires a strongman, unaware of his dark past with Ethel.
- Stanley
- (credit only)
- Maggie Esmerelda
- (credit only)
- Woman in Diner
- (as Valerie Boucvalt)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA drummer in several bands prior to becoming an actor, Mat Fraser did his own drumming for this episode.
- GoofsThe blood trail left on the floor of the toy store by the small robot is excessively disproportional to the size of its feet, therefore its not possible for it to have left a trail of blood that thick and long.
- Quotes
Elsa Mars: No matinees. No, people don't come to see freaks in the heat of the day, they come in the evening, when the darkness moves in and speaks of mystery, the unknown. When logic loosens its vice grip and the imagination comes out to play. Night allows the stars to shine and we come alive. No, daytime is for kiddie shows, clowns and Kewpie dolls. Maybe that's what you're used to, but you're in a real freak show now, my freak show.
- ConnectionsReferences Freaks (1932)
Monsters Among Us had rich settings and lively characters but with more literal telling than ominous foreshadowing we had our mixed expectations and doubts for episode two. If anything can be told from the title, Massacres and Matinees, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk were sure to up the blood and performance.
After another disappearance and suspected murder is discovered, a citywide curfew is in effect, threatening to shut down the Freak Show. Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities gets a strong man and another 'freak' added to its lineup from another carnival. Spoiled and nastily tempered Dandy, played by Finn Wittrock, receives a ghastly gift from his doting mother Gloria, played by Frances Conroy. Elsa and the crew work toward putting on a better act to improve ticket sales and Bette and Dot earn their supper.
Again the set designers Adie Kaplan and Brian A. Waits, along with the rest of the art department, out-do themselves with further glimpses behind the curtain of the Freak Show. We even get to see the lavish mansion in which Dandy and Gloria Mott live, which gets highlighted further with beautiful framing from episode director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.
Unfortunately Massacres and Matinees suffers the same ills as the premiere. All is literal with Freak Show, and nothing is a mystery, no dark allusions, gone are the nuanced implications to a marvelous season. It is incomprehensible as to why Murphy and Falchuk insist on shedding the spotlight on each character's seeded history rather than leaving breadcrumbs for a culminating final reveal. Unless the hindsight and genius are simply nowhere to be found.
Rather than compacting and centering the episode on a focal point, after the muddied and entangled first episode, each plot forges forward, intricately branching out in at least five directions. Massacres and Matinees follows the formula of attention grabbing opening sequence, time filler and then a hook at the end.
Freak Show lacks the clear viewpoint of a visionary with intention. Cheap tricks like modern music and murder scenes can only appease and subdue fans for awhile before the luster of 'what once was' wanes.
If the ending of the episode proves anything it is that next week's episode will be even further convoluted than the last.
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- ArchonCinemaReviews
- Oct 15, 2014
- Permalink
Details
- Runtime53 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1