Dell’s emotions are pushed to the limit in tonight’s AHS: Freak Show episode 7, “Test of Strength.”

Evan Peters brings back Tate for a special appearance on tonight’s AHS: Freak Show when he sings Nirvana’s “Come As You Are.” His angsty performance follows his field trip to the Mott Mansion where he discovers the twins living in the lap of luxury. Bette is entranced by Dandy’s doting, mistaking it for true love while Dot’s gaze reveals the darker conditions of their circumstance. But with the insanity comes the money for her surgery. Unfortunately, Bette’s commitment to her sister overpowers her love after Dandy betrays their trust.

Jimmy’s performance serves only to accent the reveal of the twins’ return. The true tale of the twins’ departure in his back pocket, Jimmy begins to dethrone Elsa until Dot pulls out her own trump card. Dot claims that she asked to experience what life was like on the other side and asked to go away.

The twins’ story aside for the moment, it is Dell who becomes the focus of this week’s episode. Everywhere he turns on the site he is emasculated. The World’s Strongest Man cannot please his wife, his male escort is lying in pieces in the woods, and his authority is stripped away as the troupe turns against him. Before Ethel and Desiree can get their claws into him, Stanley calls him to ring his bell.

Blackmail is an ugly business to get mixed up in. Dell strikes Stanley’s fancy in more than one way. First, he lives by a code and likes to kill a man with his bare hands. Second, he frequents the High Noon bar looking for the same type of fulfillment that Stanley does. Stanley has a task that needs completing and a man who wants to keep his secret under wraps. A freak in return for silence.

Asleep in her trailer, Amazon Eve is awoken to a cloth of chloroform and Dell on top of her. The Strong Man is no match for Eve, who tosses him around like a doll and knocks him out with a trophy. Throwing him outside, she yells, “Who’s the Strong Man now?”

Blow by blow, the “Strong Man” title is losing its shiny power around the grounds, especially after the powers that be hold a meeting. Eve and Ethel are on board to handle the issue within the camp, while Jimmy wants to take the issue to the police, still grasping for that silver lining that some good exists in the world. Ethel, her past catching up with her present emotions, admits that she would not mind offering Dell and early grave. Jimmy calms down the hunt long enough to take Dell to town for a chat.

Jimmy tries to appeal to any ounce of humanity that still lurks deep under Dell’s harsh exterior. Dell, on the other hand, appeals to Jimmy’s novice drunken side. Both make strides in their tactics and the result is the season’s best performance from both Evan Peters and Michael Chiklis. Jimmy recounts a winter in Wisconsin with the camp one year that forced everyone to wear gloves, making him feel more accepted than he ever felt again. Dell takes his gloves and says if anyone even looks at him funny he will smash their heads in.

The alcohol gets the better of Jimmy and he sends it right back to the alley right before making the connection Dell has refused to acknowledge. The “Famous Lobster Toledo Clan” is a tale around the old-timers of the camp. For some reason the curse skipped Dell, but Jimmy drew the connection from the stories, and the way Ethel hates him, that Dell passed the hands along to him. He pleads with Dell to run away before the lynch mob of wronged women seek his blood. Arriving on the grounds at daybreak, the wasted Toledo boys disturb the slumbering performers.

Elsa and Desiree caution Jimmy to remove himself from Dell’s influences, but the boys are ready to scream their 24-year bond from the rooftops. Their Toledo family secret, never let a woman tell you what to do, will not stand for long under Elsa’s watch and Jimmy is put to bed. Jimmy ends the night with a phrase he has never said: “Goodnight, Dad.”

Stanley is about to let Dell’s sentimental side serve as an excuse for not delivering a body. Ma Petite’s luck of accepting gifts in the middle of the night runs out when Dell’s beautiful dress sends her into a giant glass jar for display in the Human Oddities Museum.

Dell is not the only person dealing with blackmail this week. Dot and Bette begin to make their demands to keep Elsa’s betrayal in their confidence. Bette wants to be blonde, work on her comedy act, and take 20% of the box office. Strikingly, Dot remains silent through the ordeal, catching Elsa’s suspicion. After Dot’s transformation, Elsa slips Bette a note asking her terms. To no one’s surprise, Dot wants the same doctor who separated the twin babies to take care of her “Bette problem.”

Penny and her father do not have the heartwarming reunion, which rings through the rest of the episode. When she threatens to bring shame to the family by taking her relationship with Paul public, he treats her to a makeover at the hands of a talented facial artist. She awakens to see herself transformed into a human tattooed lizard, complete with sliced tongue.

Hollywood managers, even the fake ones, are willing to do anything to make their clients strike it big. Even if that includes murder. Stanley, however, is more than happy to complete that task as part of his charade. However, Ethel catches more of the conversation than they expect.

AHS: Freak Show returns in two weeks with episode 8, “Blood Bath,” on Wednesday, December 3 at 10:00 p.m. ET on FX.