Its Elsas birthday week. A girl after my own heart. The performers bring her gifts: a Hollywood makeup kit from Ethel; lingerie from Paul; Ma Petite in a knitted cozy from Eve. Everyone tries to celebrate, but they all miss the twins. Elsa told them the girls ran away when they were shopping.
Elsa and Paul are sleeping together. She thinks that he is falling in love with her, but really, he is in love with Penny. In fact, as soon as he is done pleasuring Elsa, he sneaks into Pennys room. Penny lives with her possessive father who doesnt like that Penny is locking the door to her bedroom. I get the sense that he is more than just strict; I think he is or was molesting her.
Paul goes to the drug store to buy some perfume for Penny. He sees Dandy there, buying girly barrettes, headbands, and compacts – in pairs. After the show that night, Paul mentions this to Jimmy, who cant think ill of Elsa. She has a dark heart, but she saved us. Paul visits Elsa, but feels a bit dodgy and doesnt want to disappoint her. She insists on a kiss, and smells perfume on him. Who are you screwing? she demands. Paul stands up for himself and tells her it is none of her business. He counters, asking her where the twins are and claims the general consensus was that she did something nefarious with the girls.
This sends Elsa into a rage spiral. She tears apart the main tent while Paul gathers the other freaks. She is furious that they could think she was capable of such evil. Jimmy and Ethel try to calm her down, insist that they trust her, and beg to know what will prove it. Elsa looks around and sees the spinning wheel, the kind a person is strapped to while a performer throws knives at them. Elsa had thought this was a good act for her television show, but now she wont let anyone leave the tent until someone trusts her enough to let her throw knives at them. Jimmy volunteers, but it is Paul who insists he be the one. They strap Paul in and Elsa begins her patter. The first knife lands next to his ear; the second between his legs. The third lands in his gut. The rest of the performers rush to pull him down. Elsa says she will call the doctor while the rest of the freaks get Paul settled in his caravan. But of course, Elsa doesnt call. She does hiss at him that she wouldnt care if he did die – not because he is a freak, but because he betrayed her.
Meanwhile, the twins are living in a gilded cage at the Mott house. Bette is madly, wildly in love with Dandy, but Dot hates him and is waiting for the other shoe to drop. Though he hasnt laid a finger on them, she doesnt trust their new circumstances. But she puts up with it after Dandy reads them a news story about a pair of 18-month-old conjoined twins who were successfully separated. She can get the money she needs for the surgery from Dandy, even though one of the twins died a few days later. Dandy, for his part, is madly in love with the twins and plans to marry them. Gloria buys him some condoms (served beneath a silver dome, of course) because inbreeding has done enough to muck up the gene pool; she doesnt want the girls genes to make it any murkier. Dandy is offended. He would never violate the girls.
Dandy wants to play a game where everyone tells a secret. His secret: he was there when the clown was killing all those people, and he killed him, not Jimmy. Bette thinks that is heroic; Dot is offended that he would lie. She believes in Jimmy wholeheartedly. She is in love with him. Dot refuses to share a secret, which sends Dandy into a temper tantrum.
Gloria sends the girls to walk the grounds while she brings Dandy some snackies. He is crying and moping and makes her read Dots journal aloud. In it, Dot explains that she thinks the man-child is yucky and boring and she is only using him for his money. Dandy is mad, and hurt, and claims he is destined not to feel love. He doesnt want to buy her love, either (which was Glorias suggestion). Since he cant have love, he decides his purpose is to bring death. He puts a large ornamental knife in his waistband. Gloria just watches him walk out.
After all that has transpired at the carnival, Jimmy is starting to believe that Dandy had something to do with Bette and Dots disappearance. He pays a visit to the Mott residence, and Dandy offers to take him straight to the twins. No good can come of this.
And finally, we have an Esmerelda/Stanley storyline. Stanley is getting antsy looking for a freak to sell. He suggests Esmerelda lure Jimmy out to a barn he rented, where Stanley will kill Jimmy and cut off his claws. Esmerelda has grown sweet on Jimmy, so instead she suggests Ma Petite. They can put her in a jar and drown her in formaldehyde. Stanley agrees, and on the evening that Paul is stabbed, Esmerelda wakes Ma Petite and carries her to a surprise in a barn. Ma Petite hopes it is a pony. Esmerelda wants to play a game in a jar, just like a butterfly, which delights Ma Petite.
In the morning, before Jimmy goes to the Mott home, Eve comes for him, frantic because Ma Petite is missing. Before they go out looking for her, Esmerelda returns, a cheery Ma Petite in her arms. She claims they woke early and went to hunt fireflies. Eve takes Ma Petite for breakfast, and Esmerelda suggests she and Jimmy run off together. She seals this offer with a kiss, and Jimmy agrees. There is just one thing he has to do first (go find the twins) but tells her to be packed and ready to leave. Stanley is waiting for Esmerelda in her tent, mad that the Ma Petite plan didnt work out. Now he is intent on getting Jimmys claws and demands that Esmerelda bring him to the barn. She seems really worried about this, but there doesnt seem to be any real threat here. He said that she would be dead if her corpse was worth anything, but its not. So other than bailing out on a payday, I dont really know why she is so worried.
