History Series / AmericanHorrorStoryFreakShow

** Jimmy and the housewives. The plot comes out of nowhere and after that one scene its never mentioned again. It could almost be considered a BigLippedAlligatorMoment.

** Jimmy and the housewives. The plot comes out of nowhere and after that one scene its never mentioned again. It could almost be considered a Big-LippedAlligatorMoment.

** A twist: both ''Murder House'' and ''Freak Show'' have a Detective Colquit.

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Ma Petite, who up until that time had done nothing but wearing beautiful saris and popping out of jack-o-lanterns]].

** Judge Dredd: Dandy "I am the law!"

* TarAndFeather: The fate of [[spoiler: Penny's father.]] While the freaks chose not to kill him after, the way they tar and father [[spoiler: his head, neck, and groin]] means he may well die from the wounds anyway.

** Chester's wife and lover invited him for this. [[spoiler: He doesn't responded well.]]

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Twisty the clown gets this not once but twice, the first time when he approaches the girl having a picnic with her boyfriend and she assumes he's a clown hired by her boyfriend, and the second time when Gloria picks him up on the street and gives him to Dandy.

* WouldRatherSuffer: As desperate as she is to be famous, Elsa says that she'd rather be boiled in oil than be on TV. [[spoiler:Which lasts all of one episode before she's booed off the freakshow stage while singing.]]

** In ''Murder House'' and ''Asylum'', Evan Peters plays characters who end up in a three-way relationship. Here, Creator/EvanPeters [[spoiler: ends up in a three-way relationship with the conjoined twins Bette and Dot.]]

* BettyAndVeronica: Jimmy is the Archie while Bette and Dot are the Bettys and Maggie is the Veronica. In another case, Bette and Dot are the Archies while Jimmy is the Betty and [[BigBad Dandy]]along with [[SplitPersonality Chester]] are the Veronicas.

[[caption-width-right:350:''Freak Show'' cast.[[note]]From the top, left to right: [[ConjoinedTwins Bettie & Dot Tattler]], [[ConMan Stanley]], [[GirlsWithMoustaches Ethel Darling]], [[MultiBoobage Desiree Dupree]], [[MyBelovedSmother Gloria Mott]], [[WorldsStrongestMan Dell Toledo]], [[ItsAllAboutMe Elsa Mars]], [[IJustWantToBeNormal Jimmy Darling]][[/note]]]]

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: In episode one, the surgeon taking care of Dot and Bettie say that they have two sets of lungs (4 lungs total). However, later when Bettie take a drag of Elsa's cigarette, Dot blows out smoke. This should not be possible if they do not share the same set of lungs, as indicated by the doctor earlier.

* CentralTheme: Places of exploitation also being places of refuge; finding community outside one's family; basing one's sense of self on public entertainment.

* LukeIAmYourFather: A subversion. Jimmy had already known by the time that Dell arrives at Elsa's carnival, but [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming he wants to hear Dell say it in his own words]].

[[ProductionPosse Returning cast members include]] Creator/JessicaLange, Creator/SarahPaulson, Evan Peters, Creator/FrancesConroy, Creator/DenisOHare, Emma Roberts, Creator/AngelaBassett, and Creator/KathyBates, with guest appearances by ''AHS'' alumni Creator/GaboureySidibe, Jamie Brewer, Creator/LilyRabe, Naomi Grossman, and Mare Winningham. New cast members are Creator/MichaelChiklis, Creator/JohnCarrollLynch, and Finn Wittrock, with Patti [=LaBelle=], Creator/MattBomer, Creator/NeilPatrickHarris and Creator/WesBentley as guest stars that would appear throughout the season.

[[ProductionPosse Returning cast members include]] Creator/JessicaLange, Creator/SarahPaulson, Evan Peters, Frances Conroy, Creator/DenisOHare, Emma Roberts, Creator/AngelaBassett, and Creator/KathyBates, with guest appearances by ''AHS'' alumni Creator/GaboureySidibe, Jamie Brewer, Creator/LilyRabe, Naomi Grossman, and Mare Winningham. New cast members are Creator/MichaelChiklis, Creator/JohnCarrollLynch, and Finn Wittrock, with Patti [=LaBelle=], Creator/MattBomer, Creator/NeilPatrickHarris and Creator/WesBentley as guest stars that would appear throughout the season.

* WouldRatherSuffer: As desperate as she is to be famous, Elsa says that she'd rather be boiled in oil than be on TV. [[spoiler:Which lasts all of one episode before she's booed off the freakshow stage while singing.]]

** Dandy's narration in "Pink Cupcakes" is reminiscent of Patrick Bateman's in ''AmericanPsycho''.

** Elsa. In the same sentence she disregards the freaks worries about summoning the spirit of Edward Mordrake as mere superstition… because she needs to practice for the impresario that a ''clairvoyant'' just predicted will come to see her.

** Paul's FriendsWithBenefits relationship with Elsa
** The kids that Twisty captured

* ForegoneConclusion: Pepper will survive the events of this season, since she's already appeared in ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryAsylum'', set twelve years later in 1964.

* AnachronismStew: Any and all musical numbers, especially Elsa performing "Gods and Monsters" originally by LanaDelRey. The song's chorus namechecks Jim Morrison, who would be only 8 back then.

* CastingGag: A signature of the series is having actors play off their previous roles in the franchise.
** In ''Murder House'', Frances Conroy plays the ghost of a maid murdered and buried in the backyard. In ''Freak Show'', [[spoiler: she covers up her son's murder of the maid by burying her in the backyard.]]
** Also in ''Murder House'', Evan Peters plays a teenager with a love for grunge, explicitly naming Music/KurtCobain as one of his favorite musicians. Peters's character in ''Freak Show'' sings a Music/{{Nirvana}} song in "Test of Strength". Specifically, the song "Come As You Are," which includes the line, "And I swear / I don't have a gun / No, I don't have a gun." In ''Murder House'', [[spoiler:Evans' character was a school shooter]]. Yeah.
** Gabourey Sidibe's character in ''Coven'' was named Queenie. This season, it's Regina, which means queen.
** Kathy Bates's character [[spoiler:loses her head again. Minus the immortality-induced comedy.]]
** Mare Winningham plays another bad mother, possibly worse than the incestuous Alicia in ''Coven''.
** In ''Asylum'', Evan Peters played a young man wrongly accused of being a serial killer. In ''Freak Show'', [[spoiler: he gets framed for Dandy's crimes after he bribes the detective.]]
** In 'Orphans', Jimmy Darling's prison garb is exactly the same as Kit Walker's Asylum garb.
** A twist: both ''Murder House'' and ''Freak Show'' have a Detective Colquit.
** In ''Coven'', Jessica Lange and Danny Huston play two lovers, the latter a ghost. In ''Freak Show'', the two are old flames.
** At the end of ''Coven'', Fiona Goode, played by Jessica Lange, ends up in her own personal hell after she dies. At the end of ''Freak Show'', Elsa Mars [[spoiler:ends up in her own personal heaven]].
** Evan Peters once again ends up in a three-way relationship with two women. [[spoiler: Unlike ''Asylum'' and ''Coven'', two of the three weren't resurrected, although both Bette and Dot died in dream sequences.]]
** In ''Coven'', Denis O'Hare's character responds to the self-pitying excuses of Jessica Lange's character with "Horseshit!". In ''Freakshow'', his character Stanley does this with her character Elsa.

[[ProductionPosse Returning cast members include]] Creator/JessicaLange, Creator/SarahPaulson, Evan Peters, Frances Conroy, Creator/DenisOHare, Emma Roberts, Creator/AngelaBassett, and Creator/KathyBates, with guest appearances by ''AHS'' alumni Creator/GaboureySidibe, Jamie Brewer, Creator/LilyRabe, Naomi Grossman, and Mare Winningham. New cast members are Creator/MichaelChiklis, Creator/JohnCarrollLynch, and Finn Wittrock, with Patti [=LaBelle=], Creator/MattBomer, Creator/NeilPatrickHarris and Wes Bentley as guest stars that would appear throughout the season.

[[caption-width-right:350:''Freak Show'' cast.[[note]]From the top, left to right: [[ConjoinedTwins Bettie & Dot Tattler]], [[ConMan Stanley]], [[GirlsWithMoustaches Ethel Darling]], [[MultiBoobage Desiree Dupree]], [[MyBelovedSmother Gloria Mott]], [[WorldsStrongestMan Dell Toredo]], [[ItsAllAboutMe Elsa Mars]], [[IJustWantToBeNormal Jimmy Darling]][[/note]]]]