Entertainment

OK, What's Really Up With 'Freak Show' & 'Asylum'?

Regardless of how you feel about the season as a whole, you can't deny that American Horror Story: Freak Show has been quite the interesting ride. Of course, I could pretty much say that about every season of this show in general: each one leaving us a little more messed up that we were before. However, what made this year so particularly intriguing was the realization that all AHS seasons are connected in some way, offering up a whole new realm of possibilities to fans. Theories began popping up just as frequently as dead bodies (so, like, a lot) — most of which centered around the Asylum and Freak Show worlds. And now that the series is about to debut Season 4's final "Curtain Call," I can't help but wonder if Ryan Murphy has any other surprising connections in store before closing the book on this particularly twisted chapter.

We now know the heart-wrenching tale of how Pepper came to be at Briarcliff as well as the fact that Dr. Arthur Arden was responsible for amputating Elsa's legs during that nightmare-inducing snuff film in the 1930s — further proof that the sadistic doctor was even more messed up than we originally thought. But surely there's bound to be more connections than just this, which is why I've gone ahead and predicted how the AHS: Freak Show finale could go about establishing more Asylum tie-ins. Let the speculation begin!

Dandy's Therapist Is Revealed to Be Bloody Face

As I've mentioned before, it feels very telling that Murphy chose not to reveal the face of Dandy's therapist throughout their sessions together. Could this be because he's actually Dr. Oliver Thredson: killer of women? The whole concept piqued my curiosity enough that I was inspired to go back to those Asylum episodes for further clues. Remember that detail about how Bloody Face liked to drain his victims of all of their blood? Perhaps he got the idea from a previous patient…

Now that Dandy owns the sideshow, he could decide to schedule one more session with his mysterious therapist to pass on the good news, giving viewers the opportunity to finally see his face, And just like that, BOOM: villain worlds collide. Hey, if the creepy mask fits!

Jimmy Gets Abducted By Aliens & Reprogrammed

OK, I know this one may be a bit of a stretch, but what if Jimmy Darling is Kit Walker. You know how the aliens took a real liking to Evan Peters' character in Asylum to the point of doing experiments on him? Well, what if that's not the only time he was abducted? What if they originally found him as Jimmy — wooden lobster claws and all — and decided to give him normal hands while completely reprogramming him with a new identity? Am I crazy? Maybe. But something has to explain that whole alien storyline. So why not this?

Sam Goodman Goes to Hollywood

Remember back when Sister Jude hired Nazi investigator Sam Goodman to look into Arden's past? Well, what if he learned about Elsa's little snuff film and decided to track her down for questioning? Perhaps she's even the one who informs Sam of his real name, Hans Gruper. Not a big enough connection for you? Well, how about if during his little chat, Sam notices Elsa's striking resemblance to Jude (I mean, who wouldn't?) and discovers that the two of them are actually twin sisters. Too bad a possessed Sister Mary Eunice killed him before he could pass on that information to his client. Things might've turned out very differently if he had.

Arden's Experiments Are Freak Show Survivors

As we saw all throughout Asylum, Dr. Arden liked to inject the inmates with different infections in the hopes of making them super-humans. However, the side effects were usually quite disturbing and transformed their appearances beyond recognition (i.e. Shelley). What if some of those test subjects were from Jupiter, Florida? There's a good chance that the remaining survivors of Elsa's troupe (if there are any) will end up institutionalized like poor Pepper. They too may up at Briarcliff, but thanks to Arden's devilish deeds, we simply were unable to recognize them.

Dandy Has a Daughter?

Who could forget that not-so-innocent looking girl who visited Briarcliff with her mother? You know the one. She kept blaming a tall, bearded man in a brown coat for all the fatal stabbings that seemed to take place around her. But, of course, we knew she was the one responsible, even going so far as to kill her own brother, sister, and mother. But what about her father? He's never mentioned. Perhaps Dandy disregards his mother's previous warning about prophylactics and ends up getting a woman pregnant during the finale. She never tells the dark and mysterious man about his baby girl's existence, but that doesn't mean the child won't still develop some of his murderous tendencies.

The Honeymooners Come to Jupiter

While some couples dream of spending their honeymoon along the beaches of Hawaii, Leo and Teresa Morrison (who look an awful lot like Adam Levine and Jenna Dewan Tatum) opted to go around having sex in the 12 most haunted places in America. (And they say romance is dead!) So what if Freak Show, during the last few moments in the finale, jumps ahead to the year 2011 where the exact same couple step right up to what's left of Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities. For all we know, an old and decrepit Dandy still keeps watch over the place and begins talking to the happy couple, filling them in on a bit of the sinister history. And just as they're about to take off, they inform him of their next stop: Braircliff. "Have a safe trip," Dandy replies, while we as the audience know it will be anything but.

Images: FX; mygifdump/Tumblr; helladrab/Tumblr; Giphy; FX [screen grab] (3); popchaeology/Tumblr