Anyone who has watched The Shield (Editor’s Note: Everyone should watch The Shield!) on FX, is well aware that Michael Chiklis knows how to portray a man with a temper problem.
And anyone who has seen American Horror Story Season 4 Episode 2 is now very much aware of what we mean.
The veteran actor made his debut on this frightening drama last night, coming on board as (VERY) strong man Dell Toledo, a veteran of the carnival game who arrived on the scene with his wife, Angela Bassett’s Desiree Dupree.
She’s a three-breasted hermaphrodite, which makes Dell, in his own words, the "happiest man in the world."
It also makes him a killer, as a brief flashback gives us an idea of Dell’s temper: he murders a man with his bare hands for sleeping with Desiree.
In Jupiter, Dell wastes no time taking over the operation.
He tells Elsa that he won’t take orders from a woman, countering the town’s new curfew by saying the circus will put on matinee performances for awhile.
And it actually works because Dot ends up being an incredible singer, becoming an immediate sensation. This is great news for the carnival, but bad news for Bette, who is jealous, and also for Elsa, who is REALLY jealous.
The latter starts to put some dangerous ideas in the former’s impressionable head toward the end of the hour.
We also learn that Dell is Jimmy’s biological father, unbeknownst to Jimmy. These two clash often throughout the episode, with Jimmy placing the dead police officer’s badge in Dell’s trailer and then calling the cops with an anonymous tip.
But when they show up at the carnival, they don’t find the badge inside Dell’s residence. They find it with poor little Meep. Dell had seen Jimmy plant the incriminating piece of evidence and went ahead and made the switch.
So the police haul Meep off to jail, where he’s beaten to death by the inmates and his body then dumped back at the carnival. The episode ends with Jimmy screaming out in agony upon finding it.
Elsewhere: the scary, murderous clown is still being scary and murderous.
He meets Dandy after Dandy’s mom buys some of his time in order to help her bored son. And after the clown leaves, Dell follows him out to the woods.
He comes across the young female captive trying to escape there, yet he doesn’t try to help her. He picks her up and actually carries her BACK to the clown, excited over the opportunity to do something lively. Even if that something means torturing a couple of innocent souls.
Another very strong outing overall. Dell is a fascinating/demented character and the death of Meep most definitely caused it to get dusty in our living room.
What did everyone else think? Go watch American Horror Story online via TV Fanatic and sound off now!