Ally's Actions Had Major Consequences On 'AHS: Cult'

The first two episodes American Horror Story: Cult were dominated by Ally's numerous phobias, any of which could overwhelm her at a moment's notice. Fear was making it hard for her to live her life or leave her home, especially when she was having trouble distinguishing between hallucinations and reality. At the end of "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark," one of Ally and Ivy's employees, Pedro, might have paid the ultimate price for Ally's paranoia. When he arrived at her house to help her during a blackout, she shot at him without knowing who he was. But is Pedro dead on AHS: Cult?

There is a chance that he could survive his gunshot wounds, but it seems very slim. The season seems to be about pushing Ally closer and closer to the edge, with each episode making her feel more justified in her terror by throwing her into genuinely terrifying scenarios. Any time she gets close to pushing past her fear, something tips her over the edge in the other direction. She was trying to set her worries aside when she discovered another employee dead in the restaurant she and Ivy own, which launched her into a more extreme state of panic. She got a gun. She had a new alarm system put in and installed bars on the windows. When Ally saw Pedro approaching the house, nothing more than a faceless figure in the dark, she shot without thinking twice.

"Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" was not a good episode for Pedro for many reasons. First he had to deal with racism and open threats from his co-worker Roger, and he was later accused of murder when Roger turned up dead. Then Ivy sent Pedro to her house to assist Ally during the blackout, because she knew Ally would be anxious, and Pedro became a casualty of Ally's downward spiral. Throughout the episode, Pedro was turned into a clunky target so the show could attempt to say some very basic things about racial profiling.

It's unlikely that Pedro will survive primarily because he was a minor character in an episode that used him to make a point rather than exploring who he was as a person. Nothing that happened in Episode 2 was really about Pedro; he was just a part of Ally's developing story, a way to show that she has truly been pushed over the edge. The show didn't honor his point of view outside of a few superficial statements about the racism he faced. Ally's story will continue, but it seems like Pedro's is, unfortunately, done.