Pink Cupcakes

"Pink Cupcakes" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on November 5, 2014 on the cable network FX. It was written by Jessica Sharzer and directed by Michael Uppendahl. In this episode, Stanley (Denis O'Hare) and Elsa (Jessica Lange) have their own ideas on getting rid of Bette and Dot (Sarah Paulson) as Dandy (Finn Wittrock) finds his first victim.

Plot

Stanley (Denis O'Hare) fantasizes about an imaginary gala at the Museum of Morbid Curiosities in honor of his contribution. He and Maggie (Emma Roberts) discuss his plan to obtain a specimen from Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities.

Stanley introduces himself to Elsa (Jessica Lange) as a WBN television agent, offering to give her a show of her own. Elsa turns down his offer when she finds out that it is television. Maggie tries to warn Jimmy (Evan Peters) about Stanley in the guise of a palm reading, and that he should leave for New York while he still can, but to no avail. He tries to kiss her, but she recoils, and he disappointedly leaves.

Jimmy arrives at Dell's (Michael Chiklis) trailer to retrieve him as Ethel (Kathy Bates) asked, but he instead finds Desiree (Angela Bassett), who tells him that Dell has run off and she is not in the mood to perform. She tells Jimmy that he is wrong about Dell, and about the good times they had together. He sits beside her, and tells her that Meep was the brave one and is dead because of his cowardice. He weeps and she comforts him, and they slowly end up having sex. Jimmy starts to digitally penetrate her, causing bleeding and she is rushed to the Dr. Bonham (Jerry Leggio) with help from Ethel. Desiree reveals that she was born in Philadelphia as Derek Dupree, having been mistaken for a boy until she was twelve, when she went through puberty and grew three breasts. Desiree is revealed to be 100% woman, and her penis is really an enlarged clitoris. He offers to remove her third breast and reduce the size of her clitoris so she can look normal, and mentions that she can still have children. Jimmy takes over emcee duties, introducing Elsa, who repeats her act of singing "Life on Mars?", but the audience hates it.

Elsa decides to accept Stanley's proposition and dresses for publicity photos for her television show. She is shocked when Stanley leaves with the twins (Sarah Paulson) in his car. Stanley has another fantasy about killing the twins with poisoned pink cupcakes and presenting them to the museum, but in reality Dot refuses cupcakes for both of them because they needed to keep their figure. Elsa and the Tattlers discuss Stanley's plans and the promises he's made for each. Elsa tells them that as their new mentor, she has arranged for a seamstress to craft something for them the next day so they can look their best.

At Mott Manor, Gloria (Frances Conroy) discovers Dora's (Patti LaBelle) corpse and angrily calls Dandy (Finn Wittrock), whom she beats up, saying Dora is a mother. Dandy offers to hide the body, but Gloria laments that she must clean up after him and tells him to stay in his room the whole day. He works out in the playroom while he waxes poetic about wanting to act, but realizing his potential as a murderer. He finds his way into a gay bar, spotting a poster looking for Twisty's accomplice. There he finds Dell having a drink with an artist and hustler named Andy (Matt Bomer). Dell pressures Andy to stay with him, but Andy says that he's still married. Dell breaks down, and Andy reminds him that he is in his workplace. Dell leaves and Dandy approaches. Dandy leads Andy into the bus by paying him $100, but insists he is not gay. Dandy offers that they strip naked facing away from each other. When Andy turns around, Dandy stabs him, and begins to dismember him, disposing of his limbs in a tub of acid. Andy awakes and begs for death, but Dandy refuses.

Gloria instructs the gardeners to dig a six foot deep hole, despite her new garden requiring only 18 inches. Dandy apologizes for Dora's death, and Gloria reveals that their family, included Dandy's father, were prone to insanity due to inbreeding in their upper-class family to keep the family estate. She intends to find a safe way that he can indulge his violent impulses. A drunken Dell returns home to his trailer. Desiree tells him about her visit with the doctor, and that she wants to try to have a baby, but not with him. She reveals that Ethel told her that Dell's father was a lobster man, and that Jimmy is his son. She calls him a freak and takes her belongings, moving to Ethel's caravan. Dell then visits Dr. Bonham and fractures his hands, threatening to harm his family if he interferes with Desiree again.

Regina Ross (Gabourey Sidibe), Dora's daughter, calls from the Barbizon after her mother missed their weekly phone call. Gloria initially puts her off, saying that Dora is too busy to call. As they are about to hang up, Gloria recalls that Regina used to live with them and played with Dandy, and asks what she thought about Gloria as a mother. Regina recalls that Gloria was never really there as a mother, and Gloria defends herself, saying she raised Dandy how she was raised growing up. She recalls a moment in Dandy's childhood when he was sick and called her to his room, and Gloria didn't know what to do and didn't want to get infected and sent his governess instead; following that incident, Dandy never called for her ever again. Regina uncomfortably hangs up. Dandy appears, naked and covered in blood, much to Gloria's horror.

Elsa drives away from Jupiter with the twins under the pretence of taking them to get new outfits, but instead takes them to Mott Manor. She offers them to Gloria, who previously offered to buy them to please Dandy.

Reception

Reviews

The episode received positive reviews from critics. Matt Fowler from IGN wrote: "[The episode] played fast and loose with show reality this week by giving us a horrific death that was immediately recalled. Sort of an empty fake out, really. But that didn't stop the rest of the episode from raising the stakes of the series – from Elsa's new malicious form of "mentoring" Bette and Dot, to Dell's secret homosexual life, to Dandy's new determination to be a pristine killing machine."^[1] Emily L. Stephens of The A.V. Club gave "Pink Cupcakes" a B rating, writing: "Everyone in the orbit of Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities sustains themselves on a fantasy, and in tonight's episode, everyone settles for less than they want, and sometimes less than they need."^[2]

Ratings

"Pink Cupcakes" was watched by 4.22 million viewers and was the highest rated cable broadcast of the night. The episode received a 2.1 ratings share among adults 18–49, down 0.1 from the previous week's episode.^[3]

References