* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** Was Fiona's decision to make Delphine Queenie's slave sincerely because she hated racism, because she wanted to humble Delphine, or just because she wanted to endear one of the students to her? Or because Delphine is a normal human--albeit one cursed with immortality--and Fiona's opinion of [[{{Muggle}} normal humans]] is only ''slightly'' better than, say, her bigotry towards Voodoo practitioners?
** Was Madison's traumatized reaction to [[spoiler: being brought back from the dead]] actually a delayed response to [[spoiler: the gang-rape she initially seemed to have gotten over quickly]]? Emma Roberts, for one, seems to think so, stating that she played those initial scenes as if everything was catching up to Madison at once.
** Is Delphine's eldest daughter Borquita a willing (albeit guilt-ridden) accomplice in her mother's torture of the slaves? Or does she only do this due to having been broken by being locked in the torture chamber for a year (a punishment that she could face again if she crosses Delphine)?
* AlasPoorScrappy:
** Though the fandom didn't take well to [[spoiler:Hank]], some found his death to be rather tragic.
** [[spoiler: Madison's death is pretty tragic when you take into account that Kyle had previously been the only frat brother that tried to do something about his fraternity gang raping her and also that she was left traumatized by her death and return. It's hard not to think that Spalding doing what her wants to do with her body was a little too much.]]
* AngstWhatAngst: ShowerOfAngst and TranquilFury aside, Madison gets over her [[spoiler:gang-rape]] pretty quickly. She even lampshades it. Her [[spoiler:death and resurrection]] ''does'' seem to have left her shaken though.
* AntiClimaxBoss:
** [[spoiler: The Axe-Man, Fiona, and Marie [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomp]] all of the witch-hunters in only a couple of minutes, despite the show making them seem like they were a dangerous, well-organized, threatening group.]]
** [[spoiler: The Axe-Man himself is brutally struck down by his axe and stabbed dozens of times by all the witches without even putting up a fight.]]
** [[spoiler: Marie Laveau. She gets knocked out, cut to pieces (completely off screen save for one moment), and then her immortality is removed on a technicality by Papa Legba, thanks to Queenie.]]
** [[spoiler: Madison who was shown to be very strong and competent in her powers was killed off very easily by Kyle who most likely wouldn't be stronger than her.]]
%%* AwesomeEgo: Fiona Goode and Madison Montgomery.
* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Madison. She's either a fierce, entertainingly evil bitch or an annoying one-note jerk.
** Zoe, due to her lack of action at the start, the morally questionable [[PayEvilUntoEvil rape]] in the first episode, aggressiveness later on. However, her kindness with Kyle, cool powers and willingness to fight made her enjoyable.
* BrokenBase:
** There are still arguments to this day about who should have been the Supreme. One group thinks Zoe should be the Supreme due to displaying all Seven Wonders. A portion of the fanbase believes Madison was the true Supreme, and Cordelia assumed the supremacy right as Madison died. A third base believes that Cordelia did deserve to be the Supreme, after all she has been through in the season and in life. There are groups within the fandom for each member who believes that specific member should have been the Supreme.
%%** The season finale. Either it was a beautiful send-off or underwhelming.
%%** The season itself.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[spoiler:Stevie Nicks]] showing up in the season finale, singing a song, and meandering out the door afterwards.
* CreepyAwesome: [[spoiler:Myrtle Snow's utterly fabulous and macabre revenge against the Council.]]
* CriticalDissonance: The third highest rated season on Website/RottenTomatoes yet a far more divided fandom.
* CrossesTheLineTwice:
** [[spoiler: Spalding keeping Madison's corpse in the attic was disturbing, especially since he dressed her up and later on had sex with the body. But watching him accidentally tear off her left arm [[BlackComedy was funnier than it should've been]].]]
** [[spoiler:Marie chopping off Delphine's hand is pretty hilarious considering that Delphine was stupid enough to mock and taunt Marie ''while locked inside a cage''.]]
** Delphine closing her eyes and [[ICantHearYou loudly singing "Dixie"]] when Queenie tries to force her to watch ''Series/Roots1977'' as part of a crash course in African-American history. Did we mention that [[spoiler: she's a ''disembodied head'' in that scene]]?
** [[spoiler: Myrtle Snow gleefully slapping a pair of feet together while disposing of Cecily and Quentin's hacked up bodies.]]
** When Cordelia finally has an emotional breakdown and starts smashing everything around her, Myrtle looks like she's about to say something to comfort her. Then she decides to ignore her and nonchalantly continues playing her theremin.
** Delphine watching Barack Obama's inauguration and ''sobbing'' in response to a black man being elected president.
** [[spoiler:The Axe-Man kills a witch hunter by picking up a severed hand still clutching a handgun, and then shooting the witch hunter with the gun still pried in the severed hand's fingers]].
** [[spoiler: Marie taking a picture while The Axe-Man slaughters the witch hunters]].
* DracoInLeatherPants: Madison Montgomery is an AlphaBitch who only cares about power and herself, but try telling that to her legion of fangirls. She tries to kill Zoe multiple times, takes advantage of Kyle recently coming back from the dead to have sex with him, and tries to leave Misty to die buried in a grave. However, due to being played by Creator/EmmaRoberts, a lot of fangirls are quick to paint her as a tragic hero while pairing her with Zoe and even reinterpreting Kyle as an abusive JerkJock.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** [[NiceGuy Nan]] seems to have been received well by the audience. Misty is hands-down ''the'' most popular character in the show, with many fans wishing that she would be the next Supreme [[MisaimedFandom despite her stating that she does NOT want to be it]].
** Myrtle has gotten quite a bit of love for her dynamic with Fiona, intelligence and her relationship with Misty Day. She's been especially popular [[spoiler: post-revival by Misty, with her being more assertive and cunning.]]
%%* EvilIsCool: The popularity of Fiona and Madison runs on this.
* FanPreferredCouple: The fandom has taken a huge liking to Misty Day and Cordelia Foxx ([[PortmanteauCoupleName Foxxay]]). It is also much more popular than the canon Cordelia/Hank. This is mainly due to the LesYay between the two, and the chemistry between Paulson and Rabe. It easily outranks all other pairings from the whole series in terms of numbers on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn, and is still quite popular on Tumblr and [=YouTube=] to this day. It also resulted in many fans [[ActorShipping shipping the two actresses]] as well.
* FridgeBrilliance: The finale has [[spoiler:Queenie failing to revive Zoe]] despite using that ability in the past. Cordelia once said that witches gain extra powers in dire situations meaning in that situation she only temporary channeled that ability, explaining both why she was able to do it before and working as a RedHerring before that episode.
** It is very fitting that of all the Seven Wonders, the one that [[spoiler:Madison]] fails to accomplish is [[spoiler:divination, [[ItsAllAboutMe because she can't see beyond herself]]]].
** [[spoiler: Myrtle suggests that the girls are developing so many powers so quickly (aside from the danger), is that Cordelia's magic was manifesting through them.]] All the powers the girls manifest after they come into the Academy are one of the Seven Wonders, powers the Supreme has. [[spoiler: The only exceptions are Zoe's Necromancer powers (developed before she spent more of her time at the academy); and Queenie's ability to survive being shot, which developed after being away from the Coven.]]
** The name-dropping of the Salem Trials-era Supreme, Prudence Mather, has strong implications to those familiar with the trials. Cotton Mather was a Salem clergyman who wrote a famous sermon on the virtue of prudence, and was an active supporter of the witch hunt. This suggests not only the possibility that the Supreme was his daughter, but also that Cotton was a founder or inspiration of the Delphi Trust. Additionally, one of the women accused of witchcraft and executed was a prostitute named Mima Renard, implying the Renard family is descended from a witch.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** Joan says to Luke 'I made you and I can unmake you'. [[spoiler: In 'Head' she makes good on that promise.]]
** The feature of Stevie Nicks' music and Misty's insistence that she's a witch. The creators actually had to spend a lot of time getting her permission to user her music and, later on, get her to agree to cameo. She was hesitant because she'd gotten a lot of harassing fanmail and hate-mail from people who were convinced that her lyrics were proof of her being an actual witch.
** [[spoiler: Madison's abuse of Kyle, and him killing her]], in light of former couple Creator/EmmaRoberts and Creator/EvanPeters making headlines about domestic abuse several times during their publicly tumultuous relationship.
** Fashion victim Myrtle crying out "Balenciaga!" [[spoiler:at her second execution by fire]] has aged poorly due to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balenciaga#Child_advertising_controversy the brand's 2022 ad controversy]].
* HesJustHiding: Delphine's daughters inspire a somewhat double-layered example. Firstly, since Marie denies hurting innocents and doesn't want to [[spoiler: torture them in Hell]], it's possible she faked their deaths with her magic in 1834. Secondly, many believe that the versions of them [[spoiler: being repeatedly tortured to death in Marie and Delphine's hell]] are mere illusions and not the actual characters.
* IKnewIt: [[spoiler:Delia]] being the next Supreme. [[spoiler: Zoe would have been [[CaptainObviousReveal way too obvious]], a promo spoiled Misty's death, and Madison and Queenie weren't as important.]] There was also a significant clue in that her credits image in the opening sequence depicted [[spoiler: Santa Muerte, AKA the Lady of Seven Powers.]]
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: One of the major complaints about this season seems to be about how it doesn't offer anything new, especially regarding Jessica Lange's character Fiona, seen by many as a retread of her season 1 character, Constance.
** Same goes for Creator/DenisOHare, yet again playing a gutless grotesque hopelessly in love with Jessica Lange's character.
* HilariousInHindsight: Delphine and Marie having such a bitter hatred this season is kind of funny when you realize Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett's characters are best friends in the next season.
* [[HoYay Les Yay]]:
** Major vibes between Zoe and Misty Day.
** And later on, between Cordelia and Misty Day.
* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Cordelia Foxx has been shipped with every other character from the show, regardless of the season. She and Misty Day are the major FanPreferredCouple of the series, but she has also been shipped with Zoe, Madison, Kyle, her husband Hank, and her mother Fiona. She has also been shipped with characters like [[Series/AmericanHorrorStoryMurderHouse Tate Langdon, Billie Dean Howard]], [[Series/AmericanHorrorStoryAsylum Lana Winters, Sister Mary Eunice]], [[Series/AmericanHorrorStoryApocalypse Michael Langdon, and Mallory]]. That is not even getting into the large number of [=OCs=] she has been shipped with.
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: DoubleSubversion. [[WordOfGod Ryan Murphy]] admitted that [[spoiler:Madison was really killed in episode three]]. However, he never said that [[spoiler:Madison wouldn't [[BackFromTheDead come back to life]], which she does in "The Axeman Cometh."]] [[ExactWords Technically he was telling the truth]].
* ItsPopularNowItSucks: While ''Coven'' is the third-highest-rated season of ''American Horror Story'' to date, longtime viewers have not been shy in criticizing the show's radically different atmosphere compared to previous seasons, calling it ''[[Series/TheRealHousewives The Real Housewitches of New Orleans]]'' and the main mystery as ''[[Series/AmericasNextTopModel America's Next Top Supreme]]''.
* MemeticMutation:
** [[http://chadleymacguff.com/post/69054723819/me-at-my-highschool-reunion "Surp]][[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/surprise-bitch rise,]] [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch!]] [[BackFromTheDead Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me."]]
** Fiona's quote from the first episode "Wear something... black." is fairly popular with fans. On Website/{{Tumblr}}, it's sometimes combined with another memetic quote to create "[[Film/MeanGirls On Wednesdays, we wear black."]]
** Misty's quote 'He broke Stevie' gained a small bit of popularity as well.
** Behold, [[http://madameatomicbomb.tumblr.com/post/72952473747 our]] [[http://koleziken.tumblr.com/post/70466288079/head-cannon-accepted next]] [[http://alesusknowles.tumblr.com/post/69805963142/behold-our-next-supreme Supreme]]!
** Also Myrtle's line "Don't be a hater, dear," which has now been giffed to death.
** Fiona and co. [[spoiler: murdering the witchhunters,]] particularly the part where Marie takes out her camera phone.
** A joke-fanon from Reddit about Stevie Nicks, who spends her time wandering into people's houses and singing.
** Myrtle's last words before being killed: '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUwB9yxqKdk BALENCIAGAAAAA!!!]]'''
** And last but certainly not least: '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liFwsZaflNM Liiiiiiieeeeeeeeess!]]'''
* {{Moe}}: Misty (a FriendToAllLivingThings and diehard Music/StevieNicks fan) and Nan (who has a sweet demeanor, BlessedWithSuck TheEmpath powers, and ThroughHisStomach approach to romance) are absolutely adorable, except during their BewareTheNiceOnes moments.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** Delphine did some hideous things in the past. But even she admits the evil of [[spoiler:killing a baby produced between a slave girl and her husband.]]
** Queenie [[spoiler: selling out Delphine, who at that point considered her a dear friend and was on a quest for redemption, to Marie Laveau definitely counts.]]
** Joan Ramsey may have been [[{{Jerkass}} cruel]], but at least she still loved her son. [[spoiler:Then she kills him after he finds out what happened to his father.]]
** In the exact reverse of AlasPoorScrappy above, [[spoiler: some felt that Hank's brutal rampage through Marie Laveau's salon made him an absolutely irredeemable character.]]
** Madison [[spoiler:knocking out [[EnsembleDarkhorse Misty Day]] and then having her BuriedAlive]].
** As of The Magical Delights of Stevie Nicks, Fiona is [[spoiler: fully prepared to kill [[MoralityPet Cordelia]] and the rest of the coven in order to become immortal]].
** Marie's secret to immortality: [[spoiler: sacrificing innocent souls to Papa Legba]].
** Delphine Lalaurie crossed this within first five minutes of the first episode!
* {{Narm}}:
** [[spoiler:After Zoe stabs Spalding, he proceeds to stick out his tongue in such a silly way that it looked like he was trying to blow a raspberry at her]].
** When Hank tries to ask for forgiveness from Cordelia in "Head," he does so using the sappiest lines ever, such as saying that "his heart is bleeding."
** The phrase "baby gravy" is always narmful, even if it is spoken by Angela Basset as Marie Laveau when she explains a fertility ritual to Cordelia.
** "Surprise bitch. Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me." Compared with the general tone of this season, that's a little hard to take seriously.
** Misty's idea of hell is her middle school biology class where she's in an infinite loop and raising and killing her frog. [[spoiler: Becomes heartbreaking, though, when she can't escape the loop and dies trapped there.]]
%%** "KNOTTY PIIIIINE!"
* NarmCharm: Myrtle's last words before being burned at stake being "BALENCIAGAAA!!!". Incredibly ridiculous and yet oddly fitting for a fashion-loving {{Cloudcuckoolander}} like her.
* NauseaFuel: [[spoiler: Joan Ramsey being forced to drink bleach.]]
* PlatonicWritingRomanticReading: According to show creator Creator/RyanMurphy and Cordelia's actress Creator/SarahPaulson, Cordelia and Misty Day have a mother-daughter relationship. However, they are a popular ship within the fandom. Misty's quick hero-worship of Cordelia comes across more like a student who has a crush on her teacher. While Cordelia teaches Misty magic, she even tells her husband to get out so she can do so, making Misty stay when she tries to leave and acts like someone mad that their ex is interrupting their date. Cordelia also quickly grows attached to Misty and is crushed by her death, which haunts her for years, and which she takes harder than the death of her husband. When Misty is eventually revived in ''[[Series/AmericanHorrorStoryApocalypse Apocalypse]]'', Cordelia is overjoyed at seeing her again and says that despite knowing her for such a short time, she's missed her forever. The last we see of either is after Mallory brings Misty back, with the two embracing each other. Paulson and Creator/LilyRabe (who plays Misty) also have a natural chemistry which makes the two come off a lot closer than they should be in the story.
* PortmanteauCoupleName
** "Foxxay" for Misty Day/Cordelia Foxx.
** "Zyle" for Zoe/Kyle.
** "Zadison" for Zoe/Madison.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap:
** Opinions on Zoe weren't that good, until 'Burn Witch Burn' where she [[spoiler: [[TookALevelInBadass killed several zombies with a chainsaw]]]]. Her actions in The Axe Man Cometh put her back in to some.
*** She ended up going right back to The Scrappy Heap after a few episodes though, this time for being a shallow, bland character who's entire storyline revolved around Kyle.
** Joan singing Let It Be to Luke is genuinely heartwarming. [[spoiler:She heads right back in when she goes back to being a jerk to Nan and goes further still upon smothering Luke.]]
** Some feel that Hank was rescued from the heap [[spoiler: because of the shootout at Marie Laveau's, which can be perceived as a suicide mission in order to remove the voodoo clan from being a threat to Cordelia]].
* RootingForTheEmpire: Related to the DesignatedHero and DesignatedVillain.
** People have also expressed desire for Fiona to kill everybody and win, because it's [[ManipulativeBastard her]].
* TheScrappy:
** Hank, even for [[spoiler: a villain]].
** Joan, for being a HolierThanThou {{Jerkass}}.
** Queenie, after [[spoiler: betraying Delphine and the Coven.]] She used to be an EnsembleDarkhorse until then.
* ShipToShipCombat: Zyle (Zoe/Kyle) and Zadison (Zoe/Madison) shippers are still going at it in 2020, ''six years'' after the season ended.
* SpecialEffectFailure: When Misty Day and [[spoiler:Myrtle Snow]] are burnt at the stake, the fire is obviously CGI.
* {{Squick}}:
** "The Replacements". Between [[spoiler:Kyle's mother having sex with him]], a mason jar of semen, and [[spoiler:Queenie rubbing one out in front of [=LaLaurie=]'s bullheaded houseboy]], it's going to produce a very strong urge to shower.
** "The Axeman Cometh" confirms that [[spoiler:Spalding ''did'' have sex with Madison's corpse, as if dressing her up and playing tea party with her wasn't creepy enough]].
** "The Sacred Taking." Two words: [[spoiler: bleach enema]].
* TakeThatScrappy:
** [[spoiler:Madison gets her throat slit by Fiona in the third episode and Spalding ends up keeping her corpse to dress up like a doll.]]
** [[spoiler:Hank gets his brains blown out by Queenie.]]
** [[spoiler:Joan Ramsey is forced to drink bleach by Nan.]]
** [[spoiler:Misty [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats the crap out of Madison]].]] And only Cordelia and Myrtle even bother to act horrified.
** [[spoiler: Zoe impales herself on the M.me Robichaux's gate after a transmutation gone wrong]].
** [[spoiler:[=FrankenKyle=] finally puts an end to Madison after she pointedly refuses to resurrect Zoe]].
** [[spoiler: Fiona dies and gets her own hell]].
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Many long-time fans, critics and even some who started watching this season share this opinion. But of course, there are just as many who consider this season better than Asylum.
** A lot of fans felt that the show's large cast and [[TheVerse world-building]] would have done well if the season was longer, giving everyone time to shine.
** A lot of time was devoted to Delphine trying to atone for her past and becoming friends with Queenie. Then the plot is unceremoniously warped when Queenie learns about Delphine's past MoralEventHorizon. Queenie immediately disregards Delphine's friendship and wishes to change, [[spoiler: sells her out to Marie after Marie tells her a bunch of (mostly wrong) assumptions about the white witches]], and any attempts at educating Delphine are through aggression and rudeness. Delphine's character development is completely undone. It was a great subplot until that point.
* TooBleakStoppedCaring: An odd version. Even though this is the third highest-rated season of ''American Horror Story'' so far, yet some find none of the characters particularly sympathetic.
* TooCoolToLive:
** [[spoiler:Nan, who dies not only after discovering her powers are growing stronger, but also after [[TakeThatScrappy she kills Joan]].]]
** [[spoiler:Misty dies after failing to escape from her own personal hell.]]
** [[spoiler:Myrtle demands that Cordelia burn her at the stake in order to get ensure that the newly-revived Coven has a sense of accountability.]]
** [[spoiler: Madison being killed off in the finale slightly feels like this considering she was one of the strongest witches in both her powers and her will.]]
* UnintentionallySympathetic: The witch hunters are ostensibly the most obvious antagonists in a season full of moral grey area, but it's not hard to see why they might see the need for the extermination of witches. Almost every witch we've seen has no qualms with murder, torture and other violence.
* TheWoobie:
** Delphine's daughters. Delphine scares away their suitors while saying that they're ugly and it's their fault. They're disgusted and traumatized by what she does to her slaves. When they half-seriously talk about killing Delphine, she has them locked in her torture chamber (breaking Borquita's leg in the process), relishing their sheer, sobbing terror. She leaves them there for a whole ''year'' and forces Borquita to eat feces on Christmas. Then they're slowly hanged during Marie's revenge against Delphine, get resurrected as mindless zombies, and are stuck being brutally tortured for eternity just because watching and participating in their torture is someone ''else's'' hell (although that may have just been illusions of them).
** Cordelia is emotionally abused and manipulated by her mother, her husband is cheating on her [[spoiler: and is a witch-hunter]], and she's traumatized by the deaths of some of her friends.
** Delphine's slaves, who she subjects to endless torture just because she can.