Changes: Pepper

Revision as of 00:55, 15 May 2020

Pepper is a microcephalic woman and former performer with Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities who has been committed to Briarcliff Manor. She is a character in American Horror Story portrayed by Naomi Grossman. She appears first in Asylum, and earlier in life in Freak Show.

Background

Pepper was abandoned by her family into the inept care of an orphanage when she was born. When she was eighteen years old, she was rescued by Elsa Mars, thereby becoming the first member of Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities. As the troupe grew, she would form a maternal relationship with the dwarf Ma Petite and an innocent romance with fellow "pinhead" Salty, to whom she was informally married in a mock ceremony.^[2]

Personality and Appearance

Despite her alleged history of infanticide, she is innocently playful. She usually wears a flowery muumuu and a girlish bow in the topknot adorning her misshapen mostly bald head.

Story

Pepper's role as a performer is a sort of clown act with Salty, providing amusement through innocent dance and play. Her extended role is as an attendant to "Miss Elsa", providing manicures^[3] and delivering messages.^[4] During a visit from Edward Mordrake on Halloween, she is deemed innocent by the ghost's demon face and she is passed over for "collection".^[5]

Upon the death of Salty, she became despondent and unwilling to perform, so Elsa took her to live with her sister, Rita Gayheart. There she is treated with disdain by her sister and brother-in-law, Larry. She is tasked with serving cocktails to her sister and caring for her disfigured and equally unwanted infant nephew, Lucas. With his wife's complicity, Larry kills the child and frames Pepper for the crime. She was convicted of murder and consigned to the asylum at Briarcliff Manor, where she was admitted by Sister Mary Eunice. The nun took her on as a rehabilitation project and entrusted Pepper with custodial duties in the manor's library.^[2]

Pepper spent most of her years at the asylum a model inmate, only guilty of pestering visitors to play^[6] and hoarding food in her cell.^[7] On the night of a massive storm, Pepper excuses herself from the movie night to pee and doesn't return. Sister Jude mistakenly assumes that she is a casualty of the failed escape of Lana, Grace, and Kit.^[8]

In reality, she was abducted by extraterrestrials who performed genetic alterations that upgraded her subnormal intelligence to genius level. She is returned to the asylum to act as guardian to pregnant and resurrected fellow abductee, Grace.^[9] She tried to carry out this charge bravely against Oliver Thredson, but the effort was futile as he had her taken away by orderlies.^[10] Pepper died of pulmonary fibrosis in 1966, but lived on in the deluded mind of a defrocked and committed Sister Jude.^[11]

Quotes

To Lana Winters: "Play with me!"
To Elsa Mars: "Stay!"
Pepper: "Meatloaf!"

To Dr. Arden: "Knock, knock. Who's there? Arden. Arden who? Arden you the quack who'd make a better duck? Hahaha!"
Pepper: "No one takes a pinhead seriously."
To Dr. Arden: "When my sister's husband drowned her baby and sliced his ears off, he told everyone I did it. They tied me up and paraded me in front of a judge. He took one look at the shape of my head, and I was locked up for good. That's how it works for us freaks. We get blamed for everything."
To Dr. Arden: "Why don't you go to your whore nun and have her soothe your deflated ego?"

Notes

Pepper is the first character to be featured in more than one season along with Sister Mary Eunice and Arthur Arden before crossovers started to become a recurring event.
- Pepper was first featured in Asylum and returned in Freak Show; although she died in Asylum, Freak Show is a prequel.
- It was confirmed conclusively in "Orphans" that Pepper was the same character in each season.
Despite each story was perceived to be in a discrete universe up until Coven, befitting an anthology series, Freak Show changed the cards on the table. Ryan Murphy stated that they are a shared universe, per 31 October 2014 reports: "This is the first year where we begin to tell you that season two is connected to season four which is connected to season one."^[12]
Pepper's augmentation in "The Coat Hanger" is similar to scenarios in Flowers for Algernon and other works.
In "The Name Game", Pepper states "that's what happens to us freaks" - a subtle nod to her former life during the events of Freak Show, which reveals her tragic backstory relating to Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities before she was committed to Briarcliff Manor.
Pepper appears in the Cult episode "Drink the Kool-Aid" in the cover of Twisty's comic book that Ally gives Oz, alongside Jimmy Darling and Meep.

Associated Characters

Rita Gayheart

Rita Gayheart is the sister of Pepper. Despondent after the loss of Salty and no longer willing to perform, Pepper was taken by Elsa to live with Rita. Rita made excuses that her husband would not allow it but Elsa convinced her to stand up to him and do the right thing by family. Unwilling to admit her own reluctance, Rita agreed. After Rita gave birth to a deformed child, she treated Pepper as a house slave whose duties were making her cocktails and caring for her otherwise unloved baby. She and her husband, wanting to return to a life of leisure, hatched a plan to get rid of both of them by killing the baby and blaming Pepper.

Notes

Rita is the second character portrayed by Mare Winningham. For a complete list of her characters, see Cast.

Gallery

References

↑ In "Drink the Kool-Aid" she appears in the cover of the comic book Twisty: The Clown Chronicles.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Episode: Orphans
↑ Episode: Monsters Among Us
↑ Episode: Test of Strength
↑ Episode: Edward Mordrake: Part 2
↑ Episode: Welcome to Briarcliff
↑ Episode: Tricks and Treats
↑ Episode: Nor'easter
↑ Episode: The Coat Hanger
↑ Episode: Spilt Milk
↑ Episode: Continuum
↑ Stack, Tim (October 31,2014). Ryan Murphy on 'American Horror Story': The seasons are all connected. Entertainment Weekly.

Template:Navbox/Character

[1] In "Drink the Kool-Aid" she appears in the cover of the comic book Twisty: The Clown Chronicles.

[{{{refname|episode-Orphans}}}-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Episode: Orphans

[{{{refname|episode-Monsters_Among_Us}}}-3] Episode: Monsters Among Us

[{{{refname|episode-Test_of_Strength}}}-4] Episode: Test of Strength

[{{{refname|episode-Edward_Mordrake:_Part_2}}}-5] Episode: Edward Mordrake: Part 2

[{{{refname|episode-Welcome_to_Briarcliff}}}-6] Episode: Welcome to Briarcliff

[{{{refname|episode-Tricks_and_Treats}}}-7] Episode: Tricks and Treats

[{{{refname|episode-Nor'easter}}}-8] Episode: Nor'easter

[{{{refname|episode-The_Coat_Hanger}}}-9] Episode: The Coat Hanger

[{{{refname|episode-Spilt_Milk}}}-10] Episode: Spilt Milk

[{{{refname|episode-Continuum}}}-11] Episode: Continuum

[12] Stack, Tim (October 31,2014). Ryan Murphy on 'American Horror Story': The seasons are all connected. Entertainment Weekly.

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@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 |additional = She appears first in [[:Category:Asylum (story)|Asylum]], and earlier in life in [[:Category:Freak Show (story)|Freak Show]].
 |name = Pepper
-|image = pepperzz.jpg
+|image = Pepper1280.jpg
 |caption = "Play with me!"
 |portrayer = [[Naomi Grossman]]
+|species = Human
 |occupation = Performer in [[Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities]] (formerly)
-|cause_of_death = Presumably pneumonia and pulmonary fibrosis contracted whilst at [[Briarcliff Manor]]{{cite episode|Continuum}} (1966)
+|cause_of_death = [[wikipedia:Pulmonary fibrosis|Pulmonary fibrosis]] contracted whilst at [[Briarcliff Manor]] ([[American Horror Story/Timeline#1966|Winter 1966]])
-|relationships = [[Rita Gayheart]] (abusive sister)
+|relationships = [[#Rita Gayheart|Rita Gayheart]] (abusive sister)
 ; Larry Gayheart (abusive brother-in-law)
 ; Lucas Gayheart (nephew)
 ; [[Grace Bertrand]] (ward)
-; [[Salty]] ("husband")
+; [[Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities#Salty|Salty]] ("husband")
 ; [[Sister Mary Eunice]] (helper)
-; [[Ma Petite]] ("daughter")
+; [[Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities#Ma Petite|Ma Petite]] ("daughter")
-; [[Extraterrestrials]] (purported abductors)
+; [[: Category:Extraterrestrials|Extraterrestrials]] (purported abductors)
 ; [[Arthur Arden]] (dislike)
 ; [[Elsa Mars]] (adoptive mother, employer/savior)
 ; [[Sister Jude]] (friend)
-|appearances = [[Welcome to Briarcliff]] ; [[Tricks and Treats]] ; [[Nor'easter]] ; [[The Coat Hanger]] ; [[The Name Game]] ; [[Spilt Milk]] ; [[Continuum]] ; [[Monsters Among Us]] ; [[Massacres and Matinees]] ; [[Edward Mordrake: Part 1]] ; [[Edward Mordrake: Part 2]] ; [[Pink Cupcakes]] ; [[Bullseye]] ; [[Test of Strength]] ; [[Blood Bath]] ; [[Tupperware Party Massacre]] ; [[Orphans]] ; [[Drink the Kool-Aid]] (photo)
+|appearances = [[Welcome to Briarcliff]] ; [[Tricks and Treats]] ; [[Nor'easter]] ; [[The Coat Hanger]] ; [[The Name Game]] ; [[Spilt Milk]] ; [[Continuum]] ; [[Monsters Among Us]] ; [[Massacres and Matinees]] ; [[Edward Mordrake: Part 1]] ; [[Edward Mordrake: Part 2]] ; [[Pink Cupcakes]] ; [[Bullseye]] ; [[Test of Strength]] ; [[Blood Bath]] ; [[Tupperware Party Massacre]] ; [[Orphans]] ; [[Drink the Kool-Aid]]<ref> In "[[Drink the Kool-Aid]]" she appears in the cover of the comic book ''[[Twisty (comic book)|Twisty: The Clown Chronicles]]''.</ref>
 |tagline = a playful woman with a dark family secret
 |sortkey = Pepper
@@ Line 38: / Line 39: @@
 Upon the death of Salty, she became despondent and unwilling to perform, so Elsa took her to live with her sister, [[Rita Gayheart]]. There she is treated with disdain by her sister and brother-in-law, Larry. She is tasked with serving cocktails to her sister and caring for her disfigured and equally unwanted infant nephew, Lucas. With his wife's complicity, Larry kills the child and frames Pepper for the crime. She was convicted of murder and consigned to the asylum at [[Briarcliff Manor]], where she was admitted by [[Sister Mary Eunice]]. The nun took her on as a rehabilitation project and entrusted Pepper with custodial duties in the manor's library.{{Cite episode|Orphans}}
-Pepper spent most of her years at the asylum a model inmate, only guilty of pestering [[Lana Winters|visitors]] to play{{Cite episode|Welcome to Briarcliff}} and hoarding food in her cell.{{Cite episode|Tricks and Treats}} On the night of a massive storm, Pepper excuses herself from the movie night to pee and doesn't return. [[Sister Jude]] mistakenly assumes that she is a casualty of the failed escape of [[Lana Winters|Lana]], [[Grace Bertrand|Grace]], and [[Kit Walker|Kit]].{{Cite episode|Nor'easter}} [[File:Peppep.gif|150px|left]] In reality, she was abducted by [[extraterrestrials]] who performed genetic alterations that upgraded her subnormal intelligence to genius level. She is returned to the asylum to act as guardian to pregnant and resurrected fellow abductee, Grace.{{Cite episode|The Coat Hanger}} She tried to carry out this charge bravely against [[Oliver Thredson]], but the effort was futile as he had her taken away by orderlies.{{Cite episode|Spilt Milk}} Pepper died of pulmonary fibrosis in 1966, but lived on in the deluded mind of a defrocked and committed Sister Jude.{{Cite episode|Continuum}}
+Pepper spent most of her years at the asylum a model inmate, only guilty of pestering [[Lana Winters|visitors]] to play{{Cite episode|Welcome to Briarcliff}} and hoarding food in her cell.{{Cite episode|Tricks and Treats}} On the night of a massive storm, Pepper excuses herself from the movie night to pee and doesn't return. [[Sister Jude]] mistakenly assumes that she is a casualty of the failed escape of [[Lana Winters|Lana]], [[Grace Bertrand|Grace]], and [[Kit Walker|Kit]].{{Cite episode|Nor'easter}}
+In reality, she was abducted by [[: Category:Extraterrestrials|extraterrestrials]] who performed genetic alterations that upgraded her subnormal intelligence to genius level. She is returned to the asylum to act as guardian to pregnant and resurrected fellow abductee, Grace.{{Cite episode|The Coat Hanger}} She tried to carry out this charge bravely against [[Oliver Thredson]], but the effort was futile as he had her taken away by orderlies.{{Cite episode|Spilt Milk}} Pepper died of pulmonary fibrosis in 1966, but lived on in the deluded mind of a defrocked and committed Sister Jude.{{Cite episode|Continuum}}
 {{-}}
 == Quotes ==
 * {{Line|To [[Lana Winters]]|Play with me!}}
 * {{Line|To [[Elsa Mars]]|Stay!}}
 * {{Line|Pepper|Meatloaf!}}
+* {{Line|To Dr. Arden|Knock, knock. Who's there? Arden. Arden who? Arden you the quack who'd make a better duck? Hahaha!}}
-* {{Dialogue|[[Arthur Arden]]|How did you get in here?|[[Pepper]]|I go where [[Grace Bertrand|Grace]] goes. I've been charged to protect her.|[[Arthur Arden]]|Have you? You can't even protect yourself. They may have given you speech, Pepper; even a parrot can be taught to mimic. But did they give you the capacity to think? I sincerely doubt it. Tell me, Polly, what did they put inside her?|Pepper|I won't tell you anything.|[[Arthur Arden]]|If you're not going to tell me, then I'll just have to find out for myself, won't I?|Pepper|X rays will harm the life growing inside of her.|[[Arthur Arden]]|That's a chance I'm willing to take.|Pepper|Stupid man. You think they'd allow you to continue your barbaric practice? She's protected. Your X rays won't penetrate her body. You'll see nothing, but they've been watching you. You think you're like them, with your clumsy experiments. But they laugh at you, Dr. Arden. They make jokes. Here's a good one: Knock, knock. Who's there? Arden. Arden who? Arden you the quack who'd make a better duck? Hahaha!|[[Arthur Arden]]|Huh.. Well, if taking X rays won't work, perhaps more invasive observation will. I think her condition calls for an emergency C-section, don't you?|Pepper|You can't do that.|[[Arthur Arden]]|Watch me.|Pepper|Dr. Arden, you still see me as microcephalic. No one takes a pinhead seriously. When my sister's husband drowned her baby and sliced his ears off, he told everyone I did it. They tied me up and paraded me in front of a judge. He took one look at the shape of my head, and I was locked up for good. That's how it works for us freaks. We get blamed for everything. But if something happens to Grace in here and she's harmed in any way, there won't be anyone else to blame. They'll take you, open up your head, and stir your brain with a fork. And when you're returned, you'll experience firsthand how people treat us freaks. I'll take care of Grace. Why don't you go to your whore nun and have her soothe your deflated ego?}}
+*{{Line|Pepper|No one takes a pinhead seriously.}}
+*{{Line|To Dr. Arden|When my sister's husband drowned her baby and sliced his ears off, he told everyone I did it. They tied me up and paraded me in front of a judge. He took one look at the shape of my head, and I was locked up for good. That's how it works for us freaks. We get blamed for everything.}}
+*{{Line|To Dr. Arden|Why don't you go to your whore nun and have her soothe your deflated ego?}}
 == Notes ==
-* Pepper is the first character to be featured in more than one season (the second was [[Sister Mary Eunice]], followed by [[Arthur Arden]], [[Marcy]] the realtor, [[Charles Montgomery]], [[Queenie]], [[Billie Dean Howard]], [[Lana Winters]] and various other characters).
+* Pepper is the first character to be featured in more than one season along with [[Sister Mary Eunice]] and [[Arthur Arden]] before crossovers started to become a recurring event.
 **Pepper was first featured in ''[[:Category:Asylum (story)|Asylum]]'' and returned in ''[[:Category:Freak Show (story)|Freak Show]]''; although she died in ''Asylum'', ''Freak Show'' is a [[tropes:Main/AlternateContinuity|prequel]].
 ** It was confirmed conclusively in "[[Orphans]]" that Pepper was the same character in each season.
-* Despite [[tropes:Main/ThematicSeries|each story]] was perceived to be in a discrete universe up until ''[[:Category:Coven (story)|Coven]]'', befitting an [[tropes:Main/GenreAnthology|anthology series]], ''Freak Show'' changed the cards on the table. [[Ryan Murphy]] stated that they are a shared universe, per 31 October 2014 reports: "This is the first year where we begin to tell you that season two is connected to season four which is connected to season one." <ref>{{cite web|title= Ryan Murphy on 'American Horror Story': The seasons are all connected|url=https://ew.com/article/2014/10/31/ryan-murphy-american-horror-story-connected/|publisher=Entertainment Weekly|last=Stack|first=Tim|date= October 31,2014}} </ref>
+* Despite [[tropes:Main/ThematicSeries|each story]] was perceived to be in a discrete universe up until ''[[:Category:Coven (story)|Coven]]'', befitting an [[tropes:Main/GenreAnthology|anthology series]], ''Freak Show'' changed the cards on the table. [[Ryan Murphy]] stated that they are a shared universe, per 31 October 2014 reports: "This is the first year where we begin to tell you that season two is connected to season four which is connected to season one."<ref>{{cite web|title= Ryan Murphy on 'American Horror Story': The seasons are all connected|url=https://ew.com/article/2014/10/31/ryan-murphy-american-horror-story-connected/|publisher=Entertainment Weekly|last=Stack|first=Tim|date= October 31,2014}} </ref>
 * Pepper's augmentation in "[[The Coat Hanger]]" is similar to scenarios in [[wikipedia:Flowers for Algernon|Flowers for Algernon]] and [[tropes:Main/FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome|other works]].
 * In "[[The Name Game]]", Pepper states "that's what happens to us freaks" - a subtle nod to her former life during the events of ''Freak Show'', which reveals her tragic backstory relating to [[Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities]] before she was committed to [[Briarcliff Manor]].
@@ Line 62: / Line 66: @@
 === Rita Gayheart ===
 {{Infobox/Character/mini
+|appearances = [[Orphans]]
 |name = Rita Gayheart
+|story = Freak Show
+|image = Rita Gayheart.png
+|caption = "I told myself, Rita, you will never meet a man and have a children if I have to look after a dim-witted sister."
 |portrayer = [[Mare Winningham]]
+|species = Human
-|appearances = [[Orphans]]
-|story = Freak Show
+|type = Human
 |relationships = Pepper (sister, dislike) ; Lucas Gayheart (son) ; Larry Gayheart (husband)
+}}'''Rita Gayheart''' is the sister of Pepper. Despondent after the loss of Salty and no longer willing to perform, Pepper was taken by Elsa to live with Rita. Rita made excuses that her husband would not allow it but Elsa convinced her to stand up to him and do the right thing by family. Unwilling to admit her own reluctance, Rita agreed. After Rita gave birth to a deformed child, she treated Pepper as a house slave whose duties were making her cocktails and caring for her otherwise unloved baby. She and her husband, wanting to return to a life of leisure, hatched a plan to get rid of both of them by killing the baby and blaming Pepper.
-|image = [[Ritacunt.png]]
-|caption =
+====Notes====
-|species = Human}}'''Rita Gayheart''' is the sister of Pepper. Despondent after the loss of Salty and no longer willing to perform, Pepper was taken by Elsa to live with Rita. Rita made excuses that her husband would not allow it but Elsa convinced her to stand up to him and do the right thing by family. Unwilling to admit her own reluctance, Rita agreed. After Rita gave birth to a deformed child, she treated Pepper as a house slave whose duties were making her cocktails and caring for her otherwise unloved baby. She and her husband, wanting to return to a life of leisure, hatched a plan to get rid of both of them by killing the baby and blaming Pepper.{{-}}
+*Rita is the second character portrayed by [[Mare Winningham]]. For a complete list of her characters, see [[:Category:Cast|Cast]].{{-}}
 == Gallery ==
@@ Line 78: / Line 87: @@
 Ahs201pepper.jpg
 Pepper asylum.jpg
+Peppep.gif
 pepper4.jpg
 DTKATwistyTheClownChronicles.png|Pepper's cameo in ''Cult'' episode, Drink the Kool-Aid
@@ Line 85: / Line 95: @@
 <references />
 {{Navbox/Character}}
+<!--Interwiki links!-->
 [[cs:Pepper]]
 [[de:Pepper]]
@@ Line 92: / Line 102: @@
 [[pt-br:Pepper]]
 [[ru:Пеппер]]
+[[Category:Crossover characters]]