“It is certainly not a good sign that when I got to the end of this episode, I barely wanted to watch the next one! Burning out on story fuel right before the finale is not great!”

“I don’t need to be shown this origin story for Bly Manor’s haunting to work.”  And of course if we hadn’t gotten this episode I’m sure you - and all the viewers - wouldn’t be complaining after it was all over “They never explained who the Lady of the Lake was, why she was killing people, what was her story, etc”. …

“The writing around Viola’s disease also plays into some ableist tropes. She becomes angry and bitter as a result of her illness, and it turns her into a monster. It all lacks nuance.”

“Perdita eventually smothers her to death and gets to marry the man and raise the child Viola left behind.”

“And it’s an utter waste of an episode.”

Rebecca’s “agency” was secretly refusing to go along with Peter’s plan, and make a separate plan with Flora to free Dani.  She is no longer just going along with whatever Peter says.

“You ever feel like you’re just living in an airport?”

More unnecessary shots of people and landscapes upside-down?  Yep, it’s another Smile movie.

Come on, filmmakers. “Smiles” was right there!

It’s pretty clear from this episode that at times Flora is being possessed by Rebecca (just like Miles is sometimes possessed by Peter), and that when this happens, that’s when Flora finds herself reliving a memory - because she’s not in control of her body at that time - Rebecca is.

“absolutely plodding writing”  LOL

Agreed. I was reading the review and couldn’t disagree more with them calling it “tedious”. Also, Dani and Jamie have great chemistry together.

This is the 6th episode and the first time Henry Thomas has any screentime except for a brief scene in the 1st episode and the Peter/flashback episode. It’s kind of ridiculous to say that Jamie and Rebecca are being “short-changed for screentime” when (a) Jamie is in almost every episode with multiple scenes, (b)…

I assume the toxic moon flowers of THOBM will be the toxic mold of THOHH.

Thank you.  I read that part of the review and thought “Wait, these two have great chemistry together, am I the only one that thinks so?”  I’m not sure what show the reviewer has been watching if they think Dani and Jamie don’t have chemistry together.

Wait, really?

Yes, totally predictable. Everyone knew that Hannah was dead and had been killed by Miles - possessed by Peter - by pushing her down a well at the very moment Dani arrived at Bly Manor.  That old chestnut. LOL

“The spacing out and cracks were explained. (Though I could swear that at one point we see a shot of Dani looking at the same spot Hannah was in the kitchen seeing no crack. Was that just to show Hannah was the only one seeing it).”

Thank you! I was reading this review and I kept asking myself “Does the reviewer not remember that this is taking place in the mid-1980s?” Women back then were told by society (and still today, but not as much) that they were expected to get married to a man. Of course Theo in Hill House is going to be a more complex…

“Bly Manor spends time in these flashbacks on things that don’t matter a whole lot to the story.” Uh, what? Did we watch the same episode?