What do you get when you pair a murderous clown with a disobedient rich kid? The unlikeliest — yet most intriguing — duo in American Horror Story: Freak Show so far.

Much of Episode 2 — "Massacres and Matinees" — is devoted to the separate journeys of evil clown Twisty (John Carroll Lynch) and spoiled brat Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock) as well as the intersection at which they form a bond that will undoubtedly result in a trail of blood, mutilated corpses and missing children.

All the while, Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) must decide how to keep her freak show running as a citywide curfew threatens to keep the residents of Jupiter, Florida, away. With cops at her tent's doorstep, Elsa is fending off questions about a a missing detective, who unbeknownst to her was killed by Jimmy Darling and his lobster-like hands.

Back at the Mott mansion, Dandy drinks cognac out of a glass baby bottle — as any adult with childish tendencies does. He confesses to Gloria Mott (Frances Conroy) that he's "turning to dust from boredom" and dreams of becoming a thespian in Elsa's freak show. Gloria crushes his dreams, telling him the family tradition is to only hold down fancy careers and behaviors. As Dandy storms out, a servant informs Gloria that Dandy killed a cat.

Meanwhile, at a toy store in the city, an employee sees a robot doll waddling on the floor with blood dripping from its feet. The young worker finds his boss' severed head. From behind, Twisty stabs him in the back of the neck and the weapon goes through his throat.

Dandy's runaway jaunt ends at the freak show, where he tells Jimmy his thespian dreams: “I’m one of you. I’ll prove it," he begs. "Please, just take a chance on me. You’ll be saving my life.” Jimmy, seeing no abnormalities on Dandy, refuses. Not used to hearing no, Dandy once again storms out and bangs his head on a steering wheel.

Behind a different steering wheel, Gloria drives by a wandering Twisty and asks, "Do you do private parties for children?" She requests, with money, that the clown cheer up Dandy. Eventually Gloria introduces Dandy to Twisty, leaving the two in a room with a toy pony, puppies, putting green and other assorted play items.

“Amuse me clown — I’m sure mother has paid you handsomely,” Dandy quips yet hears no response. "Your silence is utterly provocative. But you’ll have to earn your keep, clown.”

While Twisty looks through a toy chest, Dandy sneaks into Twisty's bag at which time he sees a severed head, the head of the young toy store employee. Twisty catches Dandy and knocks him out with a bowling pin before fleeing the mansion; however, Dandy follows him outside.

Twisty returns to his dingy van to entertain two kids he's entrapped. Upon seeing the severed head, the older female child smacks the clown with a slab of wood, knocking loose Twisty's big-teethed mask and revealing the clown's disfigured mouth and jaw. The kids escape the van, but outside the girl runs into Dandy, who somewhat surprisingly recaptures her and brings her back to the van at the same time Twisty recaptures the other wannabe escapee.

“Clown, look what I have for you," Dandy says. "You’ll have to do a much better job of confinement if we’re going to have any fun.”

And that's how an evil, attention-seeking duo is born, boys and girls.

Speaking of duos, the episode introduces strongman Dell Toledo (Michael Chiklis) and his lover Desiree Dupree (Angela Bassett), who tells Elsa she has "three titties, proper girl parts and a dingaling; I’m a full-blown hermaphrodite, put that on your banner." Dell brings with him a troubled history, having once been in a relationship with current freak show act Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates) — the bearded lady.

Elsa makes Dell the boss, a security man of sorts, to keep everyone in line. In a flashback, we learn Dell has a short temper and once tried to hurt or kill Ethel's infant child, Jimmy, who doesn't know anything about Ethel or Dell's past love affair (Is Dell his dad?).

Now an adult, Jimmy is having troubles of his own, trying to make sure the cops don't find the buried body of the detective. He and his fellow acts dig up the body to burn the remains, and Jimmy places the detective's badge in his pocket.

Adding fuel to the fire, Jimmy brings the crew to a diner in the city, where they aren't welcome and are greeted with stares from the staff and patrons. Dell catches them and insists they leave ("Come on, you stupid freaks, let’s go"). To which Jimmy retorts similarly to the way he did in the premiere, "Stop calling us freaks, we’re people just like everybody in this joint." Dell takes him outside and repeatedly punches him against a pole.

Elsa tries to assuage a furious Jimmy back at the tents, by reassuring him that the business needs Dell to act as a strong figure against the cops: "If the killer who stalks this town is not soon caught the people will seek out scapegoats, and your kind has always proven convenient sacrifices in such instances."

To retaliate, Jimmy hides the detective's badge in Dell's trailer, so when the cops come with a warrant to search the grounds Jimmy thinks Dell will soon be gone for good. Dell, however, planted the badge in Meep's trailer and the chicken head-eating act is sent to jail.

The episode ends with a drunken Jimmy and Ethel having a mother-son moment on the stage: "Son, what are you doing? Sweet boy, what’s wrong?" Ethel asks. "I’ve never seen you take a drink before. I’ve always been so proud of you staying away from this shit. You’re such an example to the others." Ethel thinks the police, not Dell, beat up Jimmy.

When they exit the tent, Jimmy sees a police vehicle rush by and drop off a large, wrapped object. Inside Jimmy discovers Meep's beaten, lifeless body. Jimmy cries and screams so loudly while knelt above the corpse that all of the freaks come out, like a summoning call.

Elsa sets another feud into play, pitting conjoined twins Bette and Dot (Sarah Paulson) against each other. As headliners of the freak show, Dot steals the spotlight with her strong vocals, overshadowing Bette's weaker, timid singing voice during the 3 p.m. matinee, Dell's suggested and wise solution to the curfew.

Despite the dichotomy, the Siamese Sisters deliver a stellar performance of "Criminal" (originally performed by Fiona Apple), a nice follow-up to Elsa's David Bowie cover last week.

Elsa, worried that the twins will steal her singing portion of the freak show, schemes to destroy Bette and Dot. So she goes into their bedroom while Dot is sleeping to chat with Bette, telling her she's the real star. Elsa slips a knife under Bette's bed to encourage her to hurt Dot in her sleep.

Ultimately the episode lines up quite the battles: Jimmy vs. Dell. Ethel vs. Dell. Elsa vs. Bette and Dot. Bette vs. Dot. And the scariest one of all: Twisty and Dandy vs. the city of Jupiter. Who will stop them? Or will they destroy each other?