The focus of Orphans is Pepper. Salty, her husband from a non-legal ceremony performed by Elsa, dies of a supposed stroke in the middle of the night. We dont find out if his death was truly natural causes or not, but that sure doesnt stop Stanley from cutting off his head and selling it to the museum. Pepper is inconsolable, and Elsa shares with Desiree how she came to acquire Pepper.
Elsa came to the States in 1936, after Hitler put most of the creatives in Germany out of work. She ends up in Boston, working as a chorus girl in a carnival, but she quickly worked her way to the leading role (by sabotaging the more senior girls in the troupe). Still, that wasnt good enough for her; she wanted to be in charge. Elsa knew war was looming and decided to put together her own freak show, theorizing that spectators would come for the monsters, but stay for the star.
She started out with orphanages, and thats where she found Pepper, who never knew her father and whose mother died. She had an older sister, Rita, who loved her but couldnt take care of her. And though Pepper was 18, Rita dropped her off at a local orphanage. They kept her because she had the mind of a child. Elsa loved her. She had a pure soul and it was the first time she felt unconditional love. She wanted to adopt Pepper but, because she was of-age, the orphanage simply let them leave together.
Ma Petite was Elsas second acquisition. She noticed Pepper was starting to have maternal instincts, and since she shouldnt be allowed to breed, Elsa found an elegant solution. A maharajah and his entourage came through her carnival. One of the entourage was Ma Petite, who Elsa traded for three cases of Dr. Pepper. Pepper and Ma Petite became best friends, but soon Pepper developed romantic yearnings. She called and wrote to every orphanage in the country. Six months later, one in Cincinnati wrote back, and sent her Salty. It was love at first sight and the two were married.
Now, Desiree is concerned for Pepper. She has experienced nothing but abandonment her whole life. With her husband and her child dead, and her mother going off to Hollywood, she needs stability. Elsa visits Rita and convinces her to take care of Pepper. She is not nearly as much work as she was as a teenager. Elsa had taught her to help out around the house. Rita is a tough sell. She genuinely seems to want to help her sister, but is worried about what her husband, Larry, will do. Elsa tells her to stand up to him, and Rita agrees.
There is a very touching scene between Elsa and Pepper when she says goodbye. Elsa may be selfish and a little crazy, but she really does love her monsters. Unfortunately, Ritas home doesnt prove to be a good environment. Ritas only desire in life was to find a husband to give her babies. She got the husband, but couldnt have kids, so she ended up a bitter alcoholic. Two weeks before her 50th birthday, Rita wakes up with immense pain. Larry rushes her to the hospital, and the doctors inform her she is in labor. Twelve hours later she gives birth to a baby, Lucas. We never see the baby, but apparently he is a freak of his own, a Frankenstein baby. I suspect he was born with microcephaly like Pepper. This depresses Rita even more and she confines herself to bed, drunk all the time and charging Pepper with caring for the baby, which she does with love. But the strain on the marriage is great, and Larry finally gets Rita to admit that she never bonded with the baby. He has a way to get rid of both Pepper and Lucas.
Pepper is giving Lucas a bath one day, doing a delicate and careful job of it, when Larry comes in with a knife. He locks Pepper out of the room. She panics, and Larry leaves the room a few minutes later. Pepper rushes back in to find the bath full of blood. Rita tells the police that she was with the baby at the park all day and was exhausted, so she asked Pepper to bathe him. She claims Pepper took the opportunity to cut off his ears and drown him.
The police dont ask too many questions; they are only too happy to commit this freak. Pepper is brought to Briarcliff, the asylum from season two. Here, Sister Mary Eunice (a returning Lily Rabe) is horrified to hear the tale, and tells Pepper how much it horrified her. But then she sees tears and remorse in Peppers eyes as she asks about the baby. Eunice believes this is a sign from the lord and makes Pepper her special project, setting her to work cleaning up the library. While sorting the magazines, Pepper finds a Time with Elsa on the cover. As of 1958, she was a television star.
Im unsure how to feel about the expected Asylum crossover. The idea, and the intent, behind an anthology-type show is that each season is autonomous. It works okay with Pepper, the same character in both seasons, and Sister Eunice, who did not otherwise appear in this season, but when you mentally try to work in Elsa/Sister Jude it starts to get strange.
Theres other stuff going on at the carnival, as well. Esmerelda is trying to drink away her despair over Jimmys imprisonment and rejection of her. She admits to Desiree that she and Stanley are frauds, but stops just short of admitting to why they are there. Instead, she claims the pair are fleecing customers, a story Desiree doesnt buy for a second. When Dot and Bette insist on paying for Jimmys defense and that Esmerelda do right by him, it seems to sober her up. She goes to Desiree for help, but she has to show her something first.
The women go to the morbidity museum, where Desiree sees Saltys head and Ma Petite preserved in formaldehyde. They happen to arrive as the curator is revealing the newest exhibit. The curtain goes up, and Esmerelda faints. Jimmys claws are in the jar. Stanley paid Jimmy a visit in jail to convince him to hire an excellent attorney (who, Stanley says, is Clarence Darrows son). Jimmy has no money and he didnt get anything from Ethels estate. Stanley convinces him to sell his own hands to the museum.
