American Horror Story has returned for the fourth season. This dark drama that twists on everyday horrors and supernatural fears has been successful for three seasons in a row…until now.

Season one of AHS is about a family that moved from Boston to Los Angeles to start fresh. Unknowingly, the family of three moves into a restored mansion that is haunted by its’ former inhabitants. This season was a great start to the series, especially because it felt very realistic. It’s important to make something seem close to reality because that’s what makes it seem so scary. Overall, the first season received plenty of great reviews with an outstanding cast.

The television cast consists of a set group of actors that come back each season but play a different role in a different setting. For example, an actress played an uncanny maid that hides secrets in one season, and then played an Angle of Death in the next. Jessica Lange won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting actress in a Television Series and an Emmy Award for her work in season one as the creepy next-door neighbor who was once a resident in the haunted house.

Season two of AHS, “Asylum,” centers on a psychiatric ward that follows the patients, doctors, and nuns that live in the Briarcliff Mental Institution in 1964. The mental influences include demonic possessions and insane patients of the like. Season two was nothing like the first, but in a good way. The roles were so much different, and favorite actors from season one were cast in a whole new light. Overall the season was a big hit, similar to the season before it.

Season three of AHS, “Coven,” is about a group of witches that live together in an all-girls boarding school in New Orleans, Louisiana in present day. The boarding school, called the “Coven,” houses four girls with unique witchcraft and voodoo. The girls are “taken care of” by a Supreme, who is the most powerful witch of her generation. This season was not so much scary as it was creepy and gory. The actresses in this season are great though. Emma Roberts, who plays Madison, a former movie star that can control objects with her mind, really captures the sassy witch that no one was expecting. Gabourey Sidibe, who plays Queenie, an African-American voodoo descendant from Salem, captures the oppression that the witches still face in present day. Overall, Season three characters were impressive and they all captured the role of a witch very well.

Finally, Season four of AHS, “Freak Show” takes place in suburban Jupiter, Florida in the 1950s. The season follows a circus show with “freaks” that perform acts of entertainment, which no one usually comes out to see, until they seek their treasure so to speak: conjoined twins. The twins, Bette and Dot, played by Sarah Paulson, are added to the show to try to increase business and enthusiasm. From the beginning the season was a disaster. The conjoined twins aren’t realistic whatsoever and the plot is too slow. A creepy clown is added to up the ante, but it turns out to be too bizarre. I have watched the hour-long episodes that have aired, but I can’t seem to find the edge-of-my-seat plot that I have found in the past.

Sadly, American Horror Story season four is a no-go. With the slow-pace and obviousness of each episode, I don’t necessarily recommend wasting your time in the macabre world of “Freak Show.”