Ma Petite is missing, and the freaks have formed a search party. Jimmy finds her dress, tattered and bloodied, and assumes an animal ate her alive. Everyone takes the news hard, but none more than Elsa. Ethel brings her some soup, but then confronts her. After the incident with the twins, Ethel thinks that Elsa killed Ma Petite, and the two spend an entire act arguing about it. Elsa insists she loves her freaks, that they are all her children. Ethel thinks that if one overshadowed her she wouldnt hesitate to kill them. She reveals that she overheard Elsa and Stanley talking about a mercy killing for the twins. You killed me then, Ethel sobs – then pulls out a gun. She is a terrible shot, and the bullet goes through one of Elsas wooden legs, which shocks Ethel. Even as her best friend, she didnt know. Ethel says she is going to use the last bullet on herself, and Elsa convinces her to have one more drink with her. With her back turned, Ethel takes aim again, but Elsa is quicker: she spins around with one of her throwing knives and nails Ethel in the eye.
Stanley helps Elsa take care of the body. They stage it to look like Ethel killed herself by wrapping a chain around her neck, the other side around a tree, and crashing the car. It took her head clean off and the crash obscured the damage to Ethels eye. Elsas fake tears are really noticeably fake, even hammy. Jimmy doesnt believe she would kill herself, but she left a note, and Desiree knew she was sick. They bury Ethel that night, and Jimmy says a beautiful eulogy before stumbling off to the mess and spending the rest of the episode shit-faced.
Desiree stays behind with Suzi, Eve, and Penny, to say her own eulogy. Part of her speech talks about the difficulty they as freaks have, and especially as women. Penny knows this pain better than anyone, and the four of them band together to seek vengeance on Pennys dad.
Suzi sneaks into Vinces house through an open window, then opens the door for the other ladies. (Vince changed the locks). They knock out Vince and take him back to Desirees trailer. When he wakes, she informs him what they are going to do to him: tar and feather him, cut off his dick, shoot him in the head, and dump his body in the river. With Eves help, Penny tips the pot of hot tar over her father. His tortured screams bring Esmerelda running, and she walks in on the feathering part of the evening. Esmerelda begs them to stop, insisting that it will change them. Penny believes it will free her. Even though Esmerelda can never understand what the freak women go through, she reminds them that this will change the course of their lives forever, and its not too late. Penny takes the knife from Desiree and holds it to her fathers whimpering face. You get to live, but only because I say so. If you come near me or mine ever again, I will kill you. Desiree is disappointed that there wont be any castrating that evening, but has Eve dump Vince at the edge of camp so he can crawl home.
Elsa missed Ethels funeral because she was down in Miami recruiting a new freak. She returns with Barbara, a Park Avenue debutant who was so fat her mother started telling people she was knocked up because that was less shameful. Barbara likes to eat and she likes how she looks. She returns with Elsa to the carnival. Jimmy is a drunken mess and is furious that Elsa missed the funeral of her supposed best friend. Elsa claims she is trying to keep the show alive, so that Ethels memory will stay alive. She also hints that Barbaras ample bosom may be a comforting replacement for his mothers bosom. Esmerelda tries to roust Jimmys spirits and encourage him to get back to work so they can escape sooner. Jimmy has no interest and tells Esmerelda to find someone else to live a perfect life with. He then goes to Barbara and, uninvited, lays his head on her chest and weeps.
Meanwhile, things are status quo at the Mott house. Gloria has started seeing a shrink, Dr. Feinbloom. Interestingly, we do not see his face at all in this episode; we just hear his voice. I know they are bringing in Sister Eunice from the Asylum season; maybe Dr. Feinbloom is also someone from season two? Anyway, Gloria admits that as a child, Dandy always seemed like a foreigner to her. No was not a reprimand, but a battle cry. When he killed the cat because it dug up her flowers, she vowed never to let him out of her sight. He needed to be socialized, so he played with the gardeners young son, Emil. The two were inseparable, until the day that Emil vanished. The doc asks about recent incidents and Gloria clams up: its just a mothers intuition.
When Gloria returns home, she finds Dandy playing Chutes and Ladders with Regina. She is there to see her mother, and Gloria lies, telling her that her mother is running errands and may not be back until very late. Regina will wait for her. She will have to wait alone, for it is Dandys turn to go to the shrink. Gloria tells him it is a doctor who is just testing is genius IQ, but after the inkblot test (in which every abstract splotch Dandy sees a detailed scene of carnage and violence) and the request to see him twice a week, Dandy figures out he is seeing a shrink, and he is hurt. Regina is still there and tells the Motts that if her mother isnt home by tomorrow nights dinner, she is going to the cops. Dandy tells Gloria that he will go to the shrink for a whole month – if she kills Regina.
Gloria is at the end of her rope. She informs the doctor that she is taking Dandy to Europe for a while, but the doc thinks Dandy needs to be committed immediately. Gloria hangs up and finds Dandy behind her. She insists that she was just telling the shrink what he needed to hear in order to placate him, but Dandy is upset. He knows the truth behind his birth: Glorias father was wiped out in the stock market crash, and she was so desperate to return to a life of luxury that she married her second cousin. Gloria admits that Dandys father wasnt her true love; he is. She loves all of Dandy, even the madness. But right now, she has to leave. She has no more love to give – he has tapped her out. Dandy puts a tiny revolver to his temple, and she begs him to stop. I cant go on if you kill yourself, she sobs. Ok, Dandy says, and without a second thought, he shoots her in the head.
The final scene of the episode is Dandy soaking in a clawfoot tub filled with his mothers blood.
