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Ally Mayfair-Richards (full name: Allyson Mayfair-Richards[1]) is a woman suffering from the recent resurfacing of her multiple phobias. She is a character in Cult portrayed by Sarah Paulson. Ally is married to Ivy, and the two women have a son named Oz.

Background[]

Ally suffered a breakdown after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City. She claims that Ivy got her through her troubles and helped her eradicate the fears that she gained. They opened a restaurant where Ivy would be the chef, and Ally as the restauranteur welcoming the customers. At some point, they married and had a child, Oz. However, Ally gave birth to the child due to Ivy was suffering from endometriosis. Ally took care of Oz more and made Ivy feel like she was being treated like a stranger, this caused a strain in their relationship.

After voting for the 2016 election, Ivy started to hate Ally even more after knowing she voted for Jill Stein instead of Hillary Clinton since Ally had problems trusting Hillary. Through their strained relationship, Ally's issues started becoming worse causing her to have more nervous breakdowns.

Personality and Appearance[]

Ally was a good person but was consumed by anxiety which often resurfaced after important events that negatively affected her life. When neglecting to took her medicine, she could be seen hallucinating which caused her absolute panic.

Ally suffered from coulrophobia, a fear of clowns, and trypophobia, a fear of irregular clusters of small holes. Her hallucinations reflected her fears, as she often saw menacing clowns or bleeding holes in food during episodes. She had expressed discomfort with a piece of coral to her psychiatrist.

Ally usually wears casual but trendy clothing and has her hair cut to a medium length. She is negatively affected by forces beyond her control, as evidenced by her near-hysterical fear in the wake of Donald Trump's win in the 2016 US Presidential Election. Ally is an avid liberal, professing her pride for Barack Obama. However, in the 2016 Presidential Election, she voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, stating that she "did not trust" Hillary Clinton.

During her time in a mental asylum, Ally's feelings of revenge against Ivy cured her of her phobias. She became fearless, manipulative, and cruel. She had no problem killing her wife and others or tricking Kai into killing Winter.

Story[]

After the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States (POTUS), Ally suffers from the resurfacing of multiple phobias including a fear of clowns and a fear of holes. Her therapist, Dr. Rudy Vincent, believes that she should take medication and disconnect from social media in order to discontinue her anxiety about the election or any other event she has no power over. However, Ally avoids taking her medication and suffers a series of hallucinations in the form of a group of clowns intending to kill her. When the hallucinations happen again at The Butchery on Main, Ivy realizes that Ally is not taking her medication and forces her to take them.[1]

Meanwhile, the Mayfair-Richards lost their housekeeper/nanny. Ally and Ivy are forced to find a replacement. The women hire Winter Anderson who assumes the role of babysitter for Oz. On the same evening, Ivy and Ally come home to find that their neighbors, Thom and Marilyn Chang, were murdered in a home invasion. However, the case is declared a murder-suicide. Oz claims to have seen the crime scene with Winter who dismisses Oz's statement as false. Later that night, Ally is attacked by one of the clown assailants in her bedroom.[3] She runs to Ivy distressed, but when they go to investigate the clown disappeared. The next day, Ally investigates the deceased Chang's former when she sees a new tenant and runs back home. Winter takes Oz to greet the new neighbors without Ally's and Ivy's permission; they cross the street and are introduced to Harrison Wilton and Meadow Wilton. Wilton shows them the honeycomb which triggers Ally's trypophobia.

As they get ready for bed, the alarm for the restaurant is triggered. Ally decides to go and check, there she found Roger, one of their employees, dying in the cold room. Facing another breakdown, Ally became overly paranoid and decides to reinforce doors and windows with railings. Borrowing a gun from Harrison to ensure her family's safety, leading her to have a disagreement with her therapist. Ally receives a visit from Kai Anderson, Kai tries to intimidate Ally, but the two are separated by the gate on the front door. Winter takes advantage of Ally's delicate mental situation and ties to Ally with red wine and a hot bubble bath (promising not to tell). A blackout occurs and triggers panic in the neighborhood. Ally is once again attacked by a clown during the blackout and decides to flee her house with Oz. As they are about to exit the house, Pedro arrives with supplies Ivy asked him to deliver. Unfortunately, this startles an already petrified Ally and she accidentally kills Pedro.[4]

Under Michigan's Stand-your-ground law, Ally is not charged with the murder of Pedro Morales by Detective Jack Samuels. This, however, puts Ally at the center of media attention. Activists picket the restaurant, accusing Ally of racially-motivated homicide, her neighbors go crazy and threaten Ally, saying that they want her out of "their" neighborhood. The situation becomes even more bizarre when a prank advertisement leads a voyeur to show up naked and masturbating at their house. Ally later faints due to a suspicious van spreading green smoke in the neighborhood. The Mayfair-Richards family enjoy a moment of peace at the restaurant, agreeing to keep Oz's new pet guinea pig, Mr.Guinea - given as a peace offering from the Wiltons, only to discover that the guinea pig had been placed in the microwave and explodes as they enter their home. Infuriated by the idea of being targeted, Ally confronts the Wiltons. Oz finds a video on his computer showing the intimate moment Winter and Ally had shared earlier, sparking an argument between Ally and Ivy. The argument is briefly paused when a hysterical bloodsoaked Harrison accuses Ally of murdering Meadow.[1] Ally and Ivy go to find Oz and there is a clown marking on their walls.

Ally has a meeting with Rudy and she tells him she just wants to be with Oz since now he thinks she is weird. Ally later spies on Harrison and Samuels and goes to the house but finds Meadow. Ally runs back home and Meadow appears but is dragged away right before saying who is in the cult.

Ally goes back and saves Meadow right before getting caught by Harrison and Samuels. They go to the Butchery and Meadow explains everything but Ally doesn't believe. Ally takes her to Rudy and Ally leaves. Ally goes to see Sally and explains the whole clown cult but when the clowns show up, Ally hides in the bathroom and is spared by Ivy. Rudy let's Meadow go and Ally arrives at the rally right before Meadow shoots herself and the gun falls in Ally's hands and she is arretsed.

Ally is out of the madhouse and she believes that Rudy is in the cult and she doesn't want to be bothered by him anymore. Ally makes dinner for Kai and she wants to be in the cult. Ally rats out Rudy and Kai tells everyone Ally is in the cult much to Ivy's horror.

Ally and Ivy fight over why they joined the cult and Winter and Oz arrive and Ally gives Oz a comic book. The women are taken to one of Kai's mandatory meetings. They are to drink poisoned Kool-Aid and they do out of fear and he tells them it was a loyalty prank. Ivy and Ally the next day pack to leave and go pick up Oz from school but he has already been picked up. They go to Kai's house and Ally punches Winter looking for Oz. The women him and leave in fear of all of them dying if they intervened. Ally cooks dinner but poisions Ivy to have Oz all to herself. Ally goes to a hospital to have Oz's file and the nurse reluctantly agrees and Ally has one more favor. Ally hugs Oz and Kai since they are now a family.

At night, Winter accidentally activates the ice cream truck noise and Kai scolds her and Ally still hates her and won't forgive her. Ally helps Kai look for a bug noise as a sign of a mole but they can't find anything. Bebe barges in to kill Kai but Ally kills her. Ally watches Kai kill Winter and she notices Speedwagon run and she follows him in the car and kills him.

Ally helps prepare a salad for the boys and convinces Kai to go through with his plan. She goes outside to get snacks and tells the FBI to head in and they kill the cult members leaving Ally and Beverly free. Ally starts dating Erika and she's seen having dinner with Beverly who helps her become senate. Ally gets a call from Kai at Oz's birthday and she doesn't think he will ever escape. At the debate, Ally is almost killed by Kai but she recruited Kai's one follower and he is shot. Ally wins the votes and says goodnight to Oz and she is revealed to be a member of the cult named SCUM.

Notes[]

  • Ally Mayfair-Richards is the eighth character portrayed by Sarah Paulson. For a complete list of her characters, see Cast.
  • Paulson's portrayal earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.
  • Vanity Fair released pre-season scoop, “Ally and Ivy are married and own a restaurant called The Butchery on Main, and if Ivy's promotional poster is any indication, they might not just be serving burgers”.[5]
  • Although at the panel for "The Women of American Horror Story: Cult" held at the FOX Studios it was revealed that Ally is married to Ivy, Ryan Murphy had previously teased a "love story for the ages" between Ally and Kai, Evan Peters' character.[6]
    • About the situation, Sarah Paulson simply said: "I think it’s going to reveal itself in surprising ways."[7]
    • This was all intended as an inside joke between the disturbing relationship between the two.
  • As revealed in one of the pre-season clues, she suffers from several phobias; Coulrophobia, the intense terror of clowns, hemophobia, an extreme fear of blood, and trypophobia, extreme anxiety at the sight of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps.[8]
    • Ally's phobias are based on Sarah Paulson's real-life phobias.[9]
  • In "Mid-Western Assassin," it was revealed that Ally was the one who gave birth to Oz due to Ivy's endometriosis making her unable to.
  • In "Great Again" she turns down an interview with Lana Winters.
  • In "Great Again," it is implied Ally is a SCUM member by the use of the word "mansplaining" and the black hood which all the SCUM members wear.
  • She is the only main character to survive the season.
  • Ally and Kai are the only two characters to appear in all episodes of Cult.
  • Ally is #3 amongst the characters portrayed by Paulson, ranked by evilness.[10]
  • Ally and Ivy's home is famously the same house used in John Carpenter's 1978 film "Halloween", as the home Laurie Strode was babysitting at. The house is actually located in a neighborhood of Pasadena, California.

Quotes[]

  • To Ivy: "I can't do my cookie breathing."
  • Ally (to Oz)
    What are you reading?
    Oz
    Nothing
    Ally
    Ozzie. Come on, honey. A picture of a bare breast or an erect penis never hurt anyone.
  • To Ivy: "I know what I saw!"
  • To Ivy: "I think there might be something wrong with me. I don't know what's real anymore."
  • To Dr. Rudy Vincent: "The world is fucked up."
  • About Oz's guinea pig: "Sweeti, come on! You know we don't like cisnormative pet names."
  • To Meadow and Harrison: "I am not going to roll over and take this anymore. I am done telling myself to calm down, that I am damaged, crazy. I am not crazy and I am not weak! You people are terrorizing my family, and it stops now!"
  • To Kai: "I'm not afraid of anything anymore."
  • To Ivy: "I realized that those fears were filling a hole I had inside me, and you can't take those fears away without filling with that hole with something else. So I chose revenge. On you."
  • To Ivy: "You tried to make me go crazy. You tried to take my son away. You let yourself be seduced by the babysitter. And worst of all, you let Kai into our lives. And I couldn't forgive you for any of it."
  • Ivy
    Oz will never forgive you.
    Ally
    No, it's you he won't forgive, for abandoning him.
  • To Ivy: "I only want two things in this life: I want Oz all to myself... and I want to watch you die. Halfway home."
  • To Beverly Hope: "Beverly. We all did what we had to do. And we still are. That hasn't changed. What's happening tomorrow night will be glorious. You'll see. I know it's hard when you've lost you faith to find it again. Believe me, I know. But just hang on a little while longer."

Gallery[]

References[]

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