Maybe it's because I've spent the day bingewatching American Horror Story Season 2, but tonight's installment, American Horror Story Season 4 Episode 6, was a bit of a drag with stories that went nowhere, inevitably leaving them to be resolved next week.

In other words, filler. And even shows with shorter runs like those in the AHS franchise have filler episodes.

Watch American Horror Story Season 4 Episode 6 Online

Elsa is still deluded into believing she's going to have a television show after Stanley promised her one during American Horror Story Season 4 Episode 5 and she got rid of the Tattler sisters to make her dream a reality.

She is really, really good at denial. Like, crazy good.

Or she can see the writing on the tent fabric and she knows deep down she'll never get her own variety show but she's keeping hope alive because that's what keeps her moving every day. She's driven by one thing and one thing only: Fame and the quest for it.

Seeking the spotlight day in and day out is a perpetual motion machine for Elsa. She's been holding out for fame for so long now she doesn't know how to stop. Applause are her drug of choice.

It's too bad, then, that she's a has-been and that her freaks are starting to take notice that she's not really the savior she claims to be.

Paul, who, as it turns out, is Elsa's Freak With Benefits, is the first to turn on her, and he does that not by attacking her body but by cutting out her heart when he falls in love with Penny, the nurse who followed Elsa to the freak show and then spent her days getting high and having sex with the freaks.

Elsa sees his transgression as the ultimate betrayal since it is a crime of the heart. Had he only called her out on her treatment of the Tattler twins, she may not have hit him with the knife and/or called a doctor to treat his injuries. But he broke her heart. So she gutted him.

There's no way she hit him on accident. Watching her practice at the beginning of the hour was enough proof that she's actually quite a talented knife-thrower. If she hits someone, it's because she wants to hit someone. 

The new act gave her the perfect cover to hurt Paul and keep the freaks somewhat on her side. She got to play the "it was an accident" card and the majority of them are none the wiser for it. But she won't get away with it.

Right now, Paul is alive, barely, and Penny is with him. Since she's a nurse, perhaps she's tending to his wounds and he'll pull through. Or he'll die and be the latest in a string of freaks to die. Either way, Jimmy is on to Elsa, and he's turned Ethel on to her, too.

Ethel may not seem like much, but remember, this is a woman who is dying. She's in a unique position to make these sorts of threats and then carry them out. If she hurts Elsa for hurting the Tattler twins, she's still dying in 4 to 6 months. And if anyone has given more of her life and loyalty to Elsa, it's Ethel.

Ethel deserves to win that battle, and she might get her chance if the Tattler twins tattle once they rejoin the freak show next week. We'll have to watch American Horror Story online to see what happens when Bette and Dot return to the camp and tell the others about their captivity with Dandy Mott.

I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: Dandy Mott is a crazy sociopath who makes this season interesting.

He's absolutely bananas and crazy in all the best/worst ways. His mood swings are as violent as his temper. I'm waiting for the moment when he hurts his mother because we all know that's coming. It has to be, right?

Gloria Mott will screw up trying to control her son and when she does, she'll die. Maybe, if we're lucky, she'll turn into the Angel of Death!!

Finally, Maggie has been tasked with bringing death into the camp since Stanley promised a freak to the museum. The trouble is that Maggie is falling for the freaks, especially Jimmy, and she can't bring herself to do it. While Stanley has no issues killing the freaks to collect his pay day, that's just not what Maggie signed up for.

I actually like Maggie, and I'm predicting the thing she ends up getting paid to send to the museum resides in Stanley's pants.

What did you think of American Horror Story: Freak Show tonight? Was it a thriller or a filler for you? Let me hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.