“Orphans,” the tenth episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show airing tonight, will guest star Lily Rabe who is reprising her role of Sister Mary Eunice, as we previously mentioned. So it should come as little surprise that the winter break cliffhanger will also apparently delve into Pepper’s backstory, according to E! News. In an interview with Naomi Grossman, the actress who gets incredibly transformed to play the character of Pepper, she says that tonight’s episode sees Pepper as she makes her transition to Briarcliff — the setting of Asylum.
And spoiler alert, it’s gon’ be a tearjerker.
“I figured they’d bring me back for a reason and it wasn’t just to paint Elsa’s nails. Ryan did tease early on that this would be her origin story, so, yeah. But at the same time it’s been 10 episodes of painting nails, so there was definitely a moment where I thought, ‘Hmm, where is this going?’ It did take me by surprise when it finally happened.”
As for that origin tale, well, it’s a whopper. “Phew, it’s momentous. I think it’s beautiful, I think the story they wrote for me is infinitely lovelier than even the one I created for myself. It’s a roller coaster,” Grossman says. “Like any AHS character, it’s complex and full—like an onion you keep peeling away and there’s just more and you cry and cry and cry.”
After that whole Twisty sucker punch (WHICH I AM STILL NOT 100% OVER, BTW) I can only imagine what Ryan Murphy has in store for poor Pepper. All I can say is that I hope she gets some frigging meatloaf before the whole thing is over.
