How AHS Fans Really Felt About Gloria Mott In Freak Show
In the fourth season of the anthology series "American Horror Story," subtitled "Freak Show," Jessica Lange stars as Elsa Mars, an entrepreneurial woman who runs a carnival freak show in Jupiter, Florida. The carnival attempts to be a sort of safe haven for any outcasts from society, but it also makes everyone there a clear target for ridicule, manipulation, and violence. It gets even worse when a spoiled and disturbed young man named Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock) shows up demanding to buy Bette and Dot (Sarah Paulson), and everyone and everything else that fits his fancy. The only person who holds any semblance of control over Dandy, which very quickly dwindles to nothing, is his mother Gloria Mott, played by "American Horror Story" regular Frances Conroy.
Gloria is a rich widow whose only remaining family is her son Dandy, leading her to give him anything he wants to keep him happy. She's extremely protective, constantly smothering him with attention, but unfortunately it doesn't go well for her, and soon enough Gloria is just one of Dandy's victims on his murderous rampage. As terrible a person as she is, it wouldn't be a surprise if Gloria isn't one of "American Horror Story" fans' favorite characters, but according to a thread and poll on Reddit, it's actually quite the opposite.
Fans liked Gloria and felt like she was underused
On the "American Horror Story" subreddit, a user named Augusta-Cornwell decided to ask everyone what they think of the character Gloria. Voicing their own opinion first, they shared that they like how subtly crazy she is, showing how her parenting contributes to Dandy becoming a crazed maniac, but that they "would love to see a bit more of her though." Looking at the responses, many people seem to share the same sentiments, with u/shadowsofthelost saying that "I like her, but I think the character of Gloria was severely underused and underdeveloped. They could have expanded the role so much." The fan then speculates more about what else the show could've explored with Gloria, considering that the character might've also been a killer in her past, albeit a lot loss obvious about it than Dandy ever is.
Gloria has a seriously messed up background herself, deciding to marry her second cousin to hold on to the family's wealth, then having Dandy shortly before her husband dies by suicide. Madness is rumored to run in the Mott family, so it would definitely be interesting if we got to see more into Gloria's dark past. Along with the thread, a poll was also taken on Reddit, with 205 people voting on whether or not they like Gloria as a character. The results were somewhat mixed, but overall, it seems like most "American Horror Story" fans really like the character, with the vote 131 for yes and 74 for no. With this series, there's always the possibility to return to past characters and stories, so who knows, maybe Gloria will return in the future.