History YMMV / AmericanHorrorStoryAsylum

** Oliver Thredson, despite appearing kind, is in fact a serial killer, who rapes the lesbian Lana, targets women who he turns into furniture, and has no problem threatening to kill Lana even after learning she is pregnant with his child. However, mainly due to him being played by the good-looking Creator/ZacharyQuinto, he is portrayed as a tragic villain by a large group of fangirls, who even go as far as to vilify Lana for rejecting him or pair her with him.

** The [[spoiler:friendly-seeming Dr. Oliver Thredson]] is the true identity of the original [[SerialKiller Bloody Face]]. To deal with his own ParentalAbandonment, Bloody Face kidnaps women whose skin he thinks feels like his mother's, killing and skinning those whose skin fails his macabre test to make [[GenuineHumanHide masks or furniture]]. As [[spoiler:Dr. Thredson]], he is tasked with evaluating a man accused of the Bloody Face murders, which he takes advantage of by convincing the man to confess. Tricking protagonist Lana Winters into trusting him, Bloody Face lures her from the insane asylum to his house, where he reveals that he has murdered her girlfriend and kept the corpse on ice. Tormenting Lana, Bloody Face tries to get her to become intimate with the corpse and then [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rapes her]] when she tries to flee. Willing to kill Lana even after she has become [[WouldHurtAChild pregnant with his child]], Bloody Face smugly states his intent to get away with his crimes using the insanity defense.

* ValuesResonance: The scene where Leo respects Teresa's request to [[InterruptedIntimacy stop in the middle of sex and investigate an odd sound]] even when it's clear that he doesn't want to was a few years ahead of its time in recognizing and respecting that a partner's consent to sex is something they can and should be able to withdraw at any time, something which has gone on to become a staple of rape awareness lectures.

* FoeYay: Sister Mary Eunice has this with everyone, particularly Sister Jude.

* NauseaFuel: It might as well be called Nausea Fuel: The Show.
* OneTrueThreesome: Horribly subverted with [[spoiler:Kit, Alma and Grace]].

* FanPreferredCouple: Bananun (Lana/Sister Mary Eunice) is far more popular than the canon pairings of Lana/Wendy or Lana/Marion, and the most popular ship from the season. This despite how little they interact, and that Sister Mary Eunice is a nun that is possessed by the Devil for most of the show. The most common reasons are the very minor LesYay between them fallowing the possession, Paulson and Rabe having great chemistry, and the brief interactions that they had before Sister Mary Eunice is possessed. It is quite popular on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn and Tumblr, and only grew in popularity in the years fallowing the end of the season.

** Monsignor Howard after being [[spoiler:crucified and raped within the space of ''two episodes'', and then being forced to MercyKill Mary Eunice]].

* RetroactiveRecognition: The nun featured in the poster for Asylum is Stephanie Corneliussen, who would later be know for her role as Joanna Wellick in ''Series/MrRobot''

* FanPreferredCouple: Bananun (Lana/Sister Mary Eunice) is far more popular than the canon pairings of Lana/Wendy or Lana/Marion, and the most popular ship from the season. This despite how little they interact, and that Sister Mary Eunice is a nun that is possessed by the Devil for most of the show. The most common reasons is the very minor LesYay between them fallowing the possession, Paulson and Rabe having great chemistry, and the brief interactions that they had before Sister Mary Eunice is possessed. It is quite popular on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn and Tumblr, and only grew in popularity in the years fallowing the end of the season.

* IdiosyncraticShipNaming: Most fans have taken to calling the ship of Lana/Sister Mary Eunice, Bananun. A combination of Lana's nickname from Sister Jude, "Lana Banana", and the fact that Sister Mary Eunice is a nun.

* FanPreferredCouple: Bananun (Lana/Sister Mary Eunice) is far more popular than the canon pairings of Lana/Wendy or Lana/Marion, and the most popular ship from the season. This despite how little they interact, and that Sister Mary Eunice is a nun that is possessed by the Devil for most of the show. The most common reasons is the very minor LesYay between them fallowing the possession, Paulson and Rabe having great chemistry, and the brief interactions that they had before Sister Mary Eunice is possessed. It is quite popular on [=AO3=] and Tumblr, and only grew in popularity in the years fallowing the end of the season.

* IdiosyncraticShipNaming: Most fans have taken to calling the ship of Lana/Sister Mary Eunice, Bananun. A combination of Lana's nickname from sister Jude, "Lana Banana", and the fact that Mary Eunice is a nun.

* FanPreferredCouple: Bananun (Lana/Sister Mary Eunice) is far more popular than the canon pairings of Lana/Wendy or Lana/Marion, and the most popular ship from the season. This despite how little they interact, and that Sister Mary Eunice is a nun that is possessed by the Devil for most of the show. The most common reasons is the very minor Les Yay between them fallowing the possession, Paulson and Rabe having great chemistry, and the brief interactions that they had before Sister Mary Eunice is possessed. It is quite popular on [=AO3=] and Tumblr, and only grew in popularity in the years fallowing the end of the season.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Leo and Teresa. To some their decently cute and strong characters who [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter didn’t get enough screen time or success against the Bloodyface copycats]] and to others their overly generic horror victims who drag the focus away from the more interesting main plot.

* CreepyAwesome: [[TheGrimReaper Shachath]] is everything you could possibly want out of someone called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "The Angel of Death"]] - both terrifying and awesome, but, in her comfort to the dying, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments oddly moving]] as well.

* LesYay: A small amount between Sister Mary Eunice and Lana. Interestingly, most of it is on Sister Mary Eunice's end, despite ''Lana'' being canonically lesbian.

* RetroactiveRecognition: The nun featured in the poster of Asylum is Stephanie Corneliussen, who would later be know for her role as Joanna Wellick in ''Series/MrRobot''

* UnexpectedCharacter: It's safe to say that no one was expecting ''[[spoiler:[[Literature/TheDiaryOfAYoungGirl Anne fucking Frank]]'']]'' to show up alive and well in Briarcliff.

* DelusionConclusion: The concluding flashback in which Sister Jude remarks that Lana likes "to dream big" and that the two of them won't meet again resulted in confusion among some viewer; a few took this to mean that that Lana's incarceration at Briarcliff and all the fantastical things that followed were either figments of her deranged imagination or a work of fiction she wrote about it years after the fact. However, subsequent seasons joss this theory.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Leo and Teresa. To some their decently cute and strong characters who [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyCharacter didn’t get enough screen time or success against the killers]] and to others their overly generic horror victims who drag the focus away from the more interesting main plot.

** The [[spoiler:friendly-seeming Dr. Oliver Thredson]] is the true identity of the original [[SerialKiller Bloody Face]]. To deal with his own ParentalAbandonment, Bloody Face kidnaps women whose skin he thinks feels like his mother's, killing and skinning those whose skin fails his macabre test to make [[GenuineHumanHide masks or furniture]]. As [[spoiler:Dr. Thredson]], he is tasked with evaluating a man accused of the Bloody Face murders, which he takes advantage of by convincing the man to confess. Tricking [[TheProtagonist Lana Winters]] into trusting him, Bloody Face lures her from the insane asylum to his house, where he reveals that he has murdered her girlfriend and kept the corpse on ice. Tormenting Lana, Bloody Face tries to get her to become intimate with the corpse and then rapes her when she tries to flee. Willing to kill Lana even after she has become [[WouldHurtAChild pregnant with his child]], Bloody Face smugly states his intent to get away with his crimes using the insanity defense.

* DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound: The music that plays in the common room (''"Dominique-inique-inique s'en allait tout simplement..."''). Kit has attacked the record player more than once, just to get it to stop. It finally dies when Jude shatters the record, and is replaced with a much more tolerable jukebox assortment.