Freakshow (2013–…): Season 2, Episode 4 - Electric Women - full transcript

Right now, on "Freakshow"...

I wanna do something big for
the night show.

Well, you know, I know somebody.

She's known as "Miss Electra."

The answer is "no."

I'm not gonna be teaching Asia the stunt!

- One foot at a time.
- This hurts a lot.

I'm never gonna get there.

We're gonna do our first night-time show.

I am nervous, I'm honestly facing death.

Three, two, one!



Folks, today,

you will witness the strangest
creatures on earth,

the living wonders of the world,

and the most amazing people on the planet.

They're all inside.

What you thought was a myth,

you will see with your own eyes.

Welcome to "The Freakshow."

I brought a few, uh,
specimens from the house

that I don't normally have here.

But I was thinking about, you know,

If we had a nighttime show,

it might be cool to have some
of the more strange specimens,

- like, around, you know?
- Yeah.



That looks like an elephant.

We're gonna do our first nighttime show.

We're gonna have everyone
do special stunts

that they normally wouldn't
do during the day.

I think it'll be a little
more of an adult crowd.

Um, a little bit of a stranger crowd,

but we'll see how it turns out.

I wanna do something big
for the night show.

I like my electric acts that I do now.

- Right.
- But I want more danger,

and I want it to be a bigger, like,

well, you know, I know somebody.

Uh, I don't know how much
she performs anymore,

but she used to do an act all the time.

She was known as "Miss Electra."

Miss Electra is one of the
most famous names in sideshow.

She does an act that would kill most men.

She used to do a tesla coil act,

where electricity would shoot
three foot from her hand.

Like, literally, lightning bolts

just coming out of her hands, like this.

Now, what Asia does daily,
here at "The Freakshow,"

with her electric act, is dangerous,

but she can withstand it.

Miss Electra's act,

it's gonna quadruple
the amount of electricity

that is gonna surge through Asia's body.

It's four times as deadly.

Actually, I could talk to her for you.

Maybe I could even
convince her to show you.

It's a little weird,
I'm almost 21 years old.

I don't think I need
my dad to call for me.

When my family and I
opened "The Freakshow,"

I was only 13 years old.

I started off laying on a bed of nails,

and I was also a snake lady.

Then, I started picking up
some contortion stuff.

And then, when I was 15,

that's when I really started
doing the electric lady act.

And then I picked up fire-eating,

learned sword-swallowing.

I think these acts push myself further,

mentally and physically.

That's why I really wanna
push my electric act further.

- It's a very dangerous stunt.
- Yeah.

If we could convince her,
that would be cool.

- Very cool.
- If I could convince her.

You are one determined
young lady.

So, can we talk about
Genevieve the snake lady?

Yeah, what's up?

I'm just a little concerned about her,

because maybe she's just not used to

this type of environment,
or, like, level of work, too.

When we hired the snake lady, Genevieve,

uh, I wasn't exactly thrilled about that.

Uh, I kinda gave her, you know, a chance,

but she dropped the snake.

- The snake bit her.
- Ow!

She got me.

Look, I'm bleeding!

That's, like, trouble just
waiting to happen, you know?

That's the baby that
I use to do the big stunt.

- Cool.
- Bad-ass, right?

Wow!

The machine puts out
750,000 volts and 11 amps,

which is enough to kill you.

I know that Asia wanted to
talk to Miss Electra herself

about handing down
the electric lady stunt,

but I wanna talk to her first

'cause she's a very tough woman.

We're putting together
our first nighttime show,

and I really want you
to teach Asia this stunt.

There's a great tradition
in the sideshow

of passing down amazing acts
from one performer,

to the next, and to the next.

This is so that these stunts
are never forgotten or lost.

But they're only passed down
to those who deserve it.

She looks up to you
because of what you do.

- Mmm-hmm.
- And that you've come...

You came before her.

And I've taught her the tradition of,

that you have to earn your stripes.

I'm not gonna do that.

I am the only woman, uh,

- doing this stunt.
- Yeah, yeah.

I'm really not ready to
just pass my stunt off.

There's gonna come a point
when you will stop doing it,

and it should not die.

It should continue to move forward

with the next person
who's earned her position.

Listen, Todd.

I love what you guys are doing
down there in Venice.

I think it's wonderful, but respect me.

I mean, this is my stunt,
I'm still doing it,

and I'm not gonna teach anybody.

I run 780,000 volts through my body,

and shoot lightning bolts
out of my fingers.

I am the only woman in
the world doing this stunt.

I appreciate Asia's interest in the stunt.

I'm just not ready to stop performing yet.

She needs the acts that will

- get her the respect.
- Mmm-hmm.

And this is one she's got her eyes on.

The answer is "no."

I'm not gonna be teaching Asia the stunt!

You might not be able to go very far,

but we'll take a few steps out
and a few steps back.

I finally had my hip
surgery a few weeks ago,

but the recovery has been really difficult.

I've had to deal with all kinds of pain.

Physical therapy has been really tough.

Unfortunately, we expect it
to hurt a little,

- and to be stiff and sore.
- But, this hurts a lot.

I feel like I'm never gonna get there.

You gotta think positive, man.

You gotta, like, get rid of that cloud.

You got this cloud going over you, dude.

You need to, like, brush it away, dude.

You need to, like, just be positive

and know you can do it.

"I can do it, dude."

"get on that walker, dude,
start scooting every day."

Yeah!

You're gonna do it, babe.

I don't say I'm not gonna do it.

My body says I'm not gonna do it.

Well, your body's wrong,
prove your body wrong.

Kick the tires and light the fires, baby.

I hate to see Ali in pain,
but I know, my little mama,

she's gonna pull through.

She's been strong for a long time,

dealing with this pain,

and she's gonna be stronger than ever.

Zoe wants to get involved... aw.

She's like, "it's okay, mama."

It's okay...
it's okay."

Listen, we've talked about
this for so long now.

She just wants to begin
learning the process

of how to do this act.

I keep calling Danielle, Miss Electra,

and I keep telling her, like,

Asia has earned this position.

I can convince somebody,

but, uh, I'm not having much luck.

I'm talking to Danielle.

She will just not give up that stunt,

to save her life.

Dad, I told you, I wanted to talk to her.

I'm just trying to convince her to...

I know, but there's no way she's gonna...

It's not like you're
trying to take her act.

Just give me her phone number
and let me talk to her,

since it's something
that I'm trying to do.

It's not a stunt you wanna do.

I don't really get why
you keep trying to talk.

I'm the one that wants to do this act,

so I'm the one that
should talk to Danielle.

Plus, I think talking
performer to performer

is just better because
we understand each other.

I'll give you her number.

If you can convince her,
that would be great, but...

Well, yeah, I just
wanna meet her anyway.

- So let me just, I got it.
- Yeah.

I'm an adult, dad, I got it.

All right, it's on you, kid.

Okay.

Hey, can we talk to you real quick?

Sure.

So, I'm a little unsure
about how things are going.

Well, I hired Genevieve
to be our new snake lady,

and I thought she'd be a
great addition to our show,

but things are not working out.

How have you been feeling about it?

Okay.

I just couldn't tell if it was something

that ultimately would be the thing for you.

You know, like, when you see
somebody, and you're like,

"this is a natural."

"This is exactly
where she belongs."

I wasn't really sure what
you wanted outside, exactly.

Honestly, I'm just unsure

as to whether it's gonna pay off.

It sucks, but we've just gotta let you go.

Okay.

Sometimes, when you're a business owner,

And you see things aren't working out,

you've just gotta make
a hard decision and move on.

Okay, cool.

Hello, Danielle speaking.

Hey, Danielle, this is Asia Ray.

Uh, Todd Ray's daughter from
the Venice Beach Freakshow.

Oh, hey.

Hey, um, I just wanted to
talk to you in per...

You know, myself.

And, you know, I do do an electric act,

as of right now,

but I really wanna take
my-my act to the next level

and really, you know, push that forward.

I obviously know that you do
an incredible electric act.

So, I thought you would
be the lady to talk to.

Danielle, from what I've seen of her work,

she's definitely a very
strong female performer,

and I'm very determined to
continue to build up my skills.

So, I think it'd be great for her

to pass down the knowledge she has,

on this act, to me.

I'm not ready to let go of
that yet, you know?

Right, you should come
down to "The Freakshow"

and just see my act,
my electric act, as of now,

and we can get to meet each other in person

and maybe just go from there?

Ok, I'm willing to do that.

Okay, awesome. Thanks, Danielle.

I really, I really appreciate it.

But keep your dad away from me.

I know!

Keep him away from me
when you're here, too.

I'm just kidding.

All right, folks, are y'all excited

That you're here at
the Venice Beach Freakshow?

All right.

All right, so, I'm gonna have
this amazing man right here,

Morgue, tell you all about this one.

Now, Asia Ray has a unusual ability

to withstand large amounts of electricity.

To showcase her talents,

we'll be using this electric chair,

and 100,000 volts of
electricity will come to life.

Look at the bottom.

You'll see rays of electricity
jumping from the chair

to the light bulb.

We're going to kick it up a notch,

and add gasoline.

Watch.

She'll ignite the torch using her tongue.

Give it up for the electric lady.

- Hey.
- Hey, how are you?

- Thank you so much for coming.
- Oh, you're welcome.

My pleasure, that was a great show.

Thank you.

It was great to see you
in person, performing.

- Thank you so much.
- Gosh, you're so elegant.

I know that stunt's really hard to do.

No, I just wanna, like, you know,

take it to a whole 'another level.

Add more danger.

A girl after my own heart, right?

I really wanna work with a tesla coil.

Working with tesla coils is no joke.

They're extremely dangerous,

and you're gonna be running
a lot more electricity

through your body than what
you've been doing here

with the electric chair.

It is very dangerous.

But, after coming down here
and seeing you perform,

I was really impressed,
and I do have a smaller coil.

And, you know,

maybe I would be willing to
teach you something on that.

- That would be awesome!
- Okay.

- Thank you so much, Danielle.
- You're welcome.

I'm so excited.

I think it's gonna be really fun.

Yay, you want me
to show you around?

- Hey, woman.
- Hey.

Are you guys talking to Ali?

- Yeah, say, "hi," mom.
- Hey, how are you?

Things are really tough right now.

I'm in a lot of pain,

and I'm just trying to
feel like myself again,

- you know?
- Oh.

Yeah, I really miss you guys.

- We miss you.
- Miss you, too, dude.

Hey!

Are you feeling okay?

Every day, I'm making
a little bit of progress.

So I guess that's good, you know?

- You look good.
- You do.

Well, thank you.

I can't believe how long this is taking.

- It's taking a while.
- Yeah.

Yeah, it's longer than you thought, huh?

Yeah, a lot.

I didn't know it was gonna
be like this, you know?

Well, Ali, take care of yourself.

Okay, yeah.

I'll-I'll keep in touch
with you guys, and...

- We love you, Ali.
- Muah!

Oh, my goodness!

I'm gonna let you try the small one.

That's awesome.

It's actually a medium-sized coil.

It puts out about 200,000 volts.

That's awesome.

And I'm gonna let you try it today.

This stunt is way more dangerous

than what I'm currently doing.

In my current electric act,
I can ignite a torch.

But, with this new tesla coil,

I can fully illuminate a neon tube.

It's at least four times
the amount of electricity,

And you have to practice this a lot

to be able to withstand that much power,

without getting hurt,
or, you know, even dying.

Ease into it, you know,
bring your rod to it,

- like this.
- Okay.

And you can pull it away, and it'll stop.

- Okay.
- And you can go like this,

and try it a couple times
to get used to it.

Oh, I'm ready... okay.

One thing you do not wanna do...

- Yeah, please tell me.
- Is touch that.

Now that I've seen what Asia's doing

with the electric lady act,

I do wanna teach Asia some new things

to kinda take it to the next level.

We could do that with a smaller tesla coil,

and that'll be way more dangerous

than what she's doing now.

- Okay, I'm gonna turn it on.
- 'Kay.

Feel for it
whoo!

Oh, that's awesome!

Ah!

- You like it?
- Wow!

Oh, that was crazy.

Oh, it feels weird now.

Almost like carpal tunnel
feeling, you know?

Yeah, I feel it right here.

- Yeah.
- Whoa... that is strong.

- That's awesome.
- And the other one's stronger.

- It's stronger.
- Wild, huh?

That's crazy.

All right, Ali.

A few more of these and then we're gonna,

- uh, do something new today.
- Okay.

We're gonna walk a little
bit with the walker,

like we've practiced,

but we're also gonna go
a few steps without it.

I think you're ready.

- I think you're ready.
- Oh, without it?

- Wow.
- Without it, yeah.

I've been working really hard
on my exercises at home,

but I'm still in a little bit of pain.

Physical therapy makes me nervous.

I never know what
he's gonna push me to do.

Can you make it to the chair, you think?

- Without the walker... oh, gosh.
- Without the walker, yeah.

Let's put the walker to the side.

- Oh-oh, yeah.
- I'll try... I'll try.

- All right, hand it over.
- Okay.

All right, one foot at a time.

Just like you did when you were a kid.

I don't remember that far back.

- That's pretty good.
- Wow!

- Oh, my goodness,
I can't believe I'm, like,

- actually doing it.
- Oh, my goodness!

Awesome!

That's a good milestone,
a good first milestone.

Yeah!

- Babe, you improved so much!
- Oh, my goodness.

No, you're doing amazing.

You're gonna be ready to go back to work

and reach all those goals you had,

- really soon.
- Great!

I'm ready.

I'm so excited to get
back to "The Freakshow,"

get my life back, and start doing things.

Pretty soon,

You're gonna be shaking
what your mama gave ya.

Yeah!

Get your little dance fever back.

This is the nighttime show
we've been talking about.

It's a special thing, okay?

It's gonna be the first of many.

Oh, that's sick, that's wicked.

Tonight is our first nighttime show.

We've got our most unusual
oddities and curiosities

Out on display.

We've got a special artist here,

with his artwork that he
makes with his own blood,

and Miss Electra and Asia
are gonna put on a show

that no one will ever forget.

- Okay, good deal.
- Oh, my rib!

I'm gonna perform the tesla stunt

for the first time in front of people.

- So, are you ready?
- Yeah.

I am nervous because
it's so extremely dangerous.

I'm honestly facing death.

You gotta stay focused,
I don't want you getting hurt.

I've been thinking about all the things

that I shouldn't do, to not die.

Tonight is our first nighttime show.

We've got great stunts planned.

We're all very excited.

All right, folks, y'all come on in.

Make sure you look in all the jars.

There's some cool animals here.

- Nice beard.
- Nice beard, as well.

Fluff wars.

- It's so soft.
- Thank you.

This is Nick Kushner,

our special guest artist today.

All the paintings you see
are done with his own blood.

As you can see from his
arms here, he works a lot.

All right, folks, make some noise!

Come on!

I'd like to welcome you tonight
to our first nighttime show.

So, I'd like to bring up Morgue.

Folks, you all give Morgue
a big round of applause.

All right, well, ladies and gentlemen,

I'm gonna be doing
something special tonight

with this, uh, circular saw.

This will cut through flesh and bone

in a matter of seconds.

Now, the goal is to cut one
of these cigarettes in half

while it's on my tongue.

Anybody want a souvenir?

Folks, this is Miss Electra.

One of the greatest women
in the history of sideshow.

Now, Miss Electra has been
the only woman in the world

doing this stunt, until she decided

that she would begin to share it with Asia.

Now, folks, this stunt uses
this incredible machine.

It is a tesla coil.

There's gonna be 200,000-plus
volts of electricity

flowing out of the tesla coil,

into the copper wand,
and into Asia's body.

Count down with me.

Three, two, one!

There she goes!

- Are you okay, darling?
- Yeah.

Yeah?

For her next stunt,

it takes high frequency
electricity of a great power

to light up neon.

Wow!

Yeah!

Wow!

Now, folks, I'd like to thank
you all for coming tonight.

We'll see ya soon.

- Thank you so much.
- You did a great job.

I think that was my favorite performance

- I've ever had.
- That was cool.

So, I really appreciate you teaching me.

Oh, good, I just felt emotional.

Like, wow, this is really,
like, happening, you know?

- Yeah.
- It was wild.

Miss Electra and my daughter, Asia.

Another dream come true for me,
as her father.

Asia now will be able to
carry that tradition forward

for another generation.

A tradition that we keep alive,

here at "The Freakshow."

Aw, you're gonna make me cry.

Aw.

It was a special performance.

Thank you very much for teaching me.

- You did great.
- Thank you.

- I'm really proud of you.
- Whew... that was crazy.

You're gonna carry it on, aren't you?

Asia did a wonderful job.

I was so pleased, so happy.

I was, like, tearing up a little

when I saw her perform
'cause I was like, "oh, wow."

I had really passed it
on to her, you know?

So, just part of the whole experience

of being a performer, I think.