'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Recap Episode 12 "Show Stoppers" – How Many Freaks Were Killed Before The Season Finale?

It's time to journey under the big top yet again for another episode of the Elsa Mars hours, and on tonight show, the freaks are out for blood. The curtain was raised on the penultimate episode of American Horror Story Freak Show, as a season full of lies, betrayals and secrets finally came to a boil. Loose lips really do sink ships, and in Elsa's case, it is her freak show that is going down, but will the captain plunge into the waters, or abandon ship before it's too late?

The gang gathers around for one final celebration together as Elsa announces that Chester and his talking puppet have just bought the rights to Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities. Not much of a celebration, we mean if we had found out that our new boss talks to dolls, we'd hit the ground running. However, it seems that everyone is happy to see him fill Elsa's shoes. We just hope he has the same size feet as Elsa, after all hers are wooden.

Little do the freaks know that Chester, (probably the biggest freak of them all, lets be real) is actually part of a package deal, as he can't seem to go anywhere without that annoying Marjorie doll... queue up another awkward Neil Patrick Harris and Sarah Paulson sex scene with the doll creepily watching.

Elsa and the gang also use Chester's induction to rough up Stanley a little bit. The truth comes out that he has been killing and selling the freaks to a museum this whole time, and the gang turns on him. Elsa even gets some play in, as she practices her throwing knife skills and even gets a good shot right to his extra long male plaything. The gang of miscreants then chases Stanley out into the rain where they corner him. It is later revealed that they turn him into a freak himself, making him look like a cross between Jimmy, with his new stubs for hands, and Meep.

While it seems that each episode brings with it the death of a beloved character, this episode is no exception. The cast of Elsa's show is finally starting to take a liking to Emma Robert's character Maggie, after all she did convince them that Stanley was the mastermind behind the murders. However, when she volunteers to be a star in Chester's new magic act, she doesn't know what she is getting into. You might say that this "psychic" didn't see this one coming. Chester, in his psychosis, actually saws Maggie in half while trying to perform his trick.

With Stanley out of the picture, the freaks realize that they need someone else to turn against, and find that Elsa is the perfect target. The start putting clues together and realize that she is the one that killed Ethel Darling. Took them long enough, right?

As the freaks plot their revenge on her, Elsa is reuniting with the German doctor who saved her life all those years ago. He also just so happens to be the one who crafted her silky smooth wooden legs. She has enlisted his help to create a pair of wooden hands for Jimmy. Heck if you put these two together they would make one heck of a Pinocchio. Maybe Elsa can put on a production of that at her next freak show.

It seems that Chester begins to unravel after he kills Maggie. Dot and Bette even turn on their deflowering partner after a visit from fellow psychopath Dandy leaves them questioning some of Chester's motives.

In the end, Neil Patrick's character is driven mad and he performs one of the most horrific acts of dollicide that we have ever seen. He takes a knife and stabs it through his doll Marjorie's chest before making himself look like a complete lunatic and bringing her to the police station to confess his atrocity.

In a few of the more heart warming moments of the episode, the doctor attaches a beautiful pair of wooden hands to Jimmy's nubs, but these pleasure hands, unlike the lobster claws, better be used carefully as they can cause some pretty nasty splinters. Another moment that brought a lump to our throats and a tear to our eyes is when Bette and Dot run to Elsa to tell her to leave town before the mob of freaks can get to her.

Elsa makes her dramatic exit from the big top but not before turning the keys to the city over to Dandy, who now becomes the ringmaster of this circus.

Tune in next week for the season finale of American Horror Story: Freak Show.

[Image courtesy of YouTube]