American Horror Story: Monsters Among Us

"Monsters Among Us" is the first episode of season four of the seasonal anthology series American Horror Story, which is branded under the subheading of "Freak Show". It is the thirty-ninth episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Ryan Murphy and written by Murphy and Brad Falchuk. It first aired on the FX Network on Wednesday, October 8th, 2014. Bring out the FREAKS, y'all!

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode is rated TV-MA.


 * Production code number: 4ATS01.


 * This episode had a special running time of 90 min. (with commercials), 63 minutes (without commercials).


 * This episode had a viewership of 6.13 million people, making it the most-watched episode of American Horror Story to date.
 * "Monsters Among Us" aired in the United Kingdom on the FOX Network on October 21st, 2014.


 * The title of this season, "Freak Show", was announced by series creator Ryan Murphy via twitter on March 24th, 2014. He said that the series would take place in the 1950s in Jupiter, Florida.


 * It was executive producer Douglas Petrie who first broke the news that the season would use a carnival as its primary setting.


 * The official main cast for season four of American Horror Story was announced at the San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday evening, July 26th, 2014.


 * Ryan Murphy revealed that AHS veteran actress Sarah Paulson would be coming back around for a fourth time, although now she would be working "double" time as she takes on the role of conjoined twins Bette and Dot. The first official photo still from the set revealed a back-shot of the twins wearing a hospital gown staring out of a window.


 * Jessica Lange was one of the first cast members slated to return for season four. It was revealed by series showrunners that she would once again be taking on a leading role, this time playing a German expatriate, who is the manager and recruiter of one of the last traveling freak shows in the country.
 * It was announced on the final night of PaleyFest that former The Shield and Vegas actor Michael Chiklis would be joining the cast of American Horror Story. Chiklis' character, Dell Toledo, is the former husband of Kathy Bates' character, Ethel Darling and the father of Evan Peters' character, Jimmy Darling.
 * Actress Erika Ervin, who plays a fictionalized version of herself under the name "Amazon Eve", is also known for her work as a body double for the lumbering reanimate, Shelley Godfrey from the Netflix original series Hemlock Grove.


 * The character of Pepper is the first character in American Horror Story to appear in multiple seasons. Actress Naomi Grossman played the role of Pepper in season two, "Asylum", which took place during the late 1960s.


 * Aside from Pepper, this is the first appearance of all characters. It is also the first appearance of the fictional town of Jupiter, Florida.


 * Actress Jyoti Amge, who plays Ma Petite, is the shortest woman in the world, standing at only 2'0" tall and weighing 11 pounds. This is her first work in television.

Credits

 * Actor Michael Chiklis is credited in this episode, but does not make an actual appearance. He is however, seen in a preview for the following episode, which airs at the end of this episode.


 * Actor Denis O'Hare is credited in this episode, but does not make an actual appearance. He is however, seen in a preview for the following episode, which airs at the end of this episode.


 * IMDB erroneously lists Emma Roberts as "credit only" for this episode, but her character, Maggie Esmerelda, actually does make a brief appearance.


 * Actress Angela Bassett is credited in this episode, but does not make an actual appearance. She is however, seen in a preview for the following episode, which airs at the end of this episode.


 * Actor Jim Henry, who plays a hooligan driver, is uncredited for his participation in this episode.


 * Actor John C. Klein, who plays a drunk, is uncredited for his participation in this episode.


 * Actress Cynthia LeBlanc, who plays a diner patron, is uncredited for his participation in this episode.


 * Actor Kyle Pacek, who plays a bass player, is uncredited for his participation in this episode.

Allusions

 * The song that Elsa Mars performs on stage, which Gloria Mott refers to as "caterwauling", is "Life on Mars?" by British pop star David Bowie. The presence of the song in this episode is anachronistic as the story is set in the late 1950s and the song was not released until 1971. It first appeared as a single and was also on the album, Hunky Dory.

Bloopers

 * Perceived blooper: Elsa Mars' rendition of "Life on Mars?" may be construed as a blooper to some as the song was not released until 1971, however its inclusion in this episode was actually intentional. Who's to say that David Bowie didn't rip the song off from Elsa?