“You guys go on without me.” “How could we?” 😭😭😭 A couple things to discuss: 1. The woman who takes ghost Abigail’s hand is her grandmother, Mr. Dudley’s mom. Remember Mr. Dudley’s monologue in Ep 7, he talks about his mom dancing barefoot in the woods, giggling like a schoolgirl in love, and “talking low, like to a suitor”. She was having an affair with William Hill. His guilt over the affair was partly why he bricked himself into the wall. 2. There’s a strong possibility that the house actually isn’t evil at all!! I know, it seems that way. But, consider that of all the ghosts in the house, and weird shit that happens, only Poppy is actually evil. Notice that Hazel, the old lady in the sickbed, is kind to Olivia. When she scares the shit out of Luke, she’s just calling for Clara (Ms. Dudley), who was taking care of her before she died. Maybe she wanted a drink of water. Even William, in floaty tall man form, who also scared the shit out of Luke. What did he do? Wandered around the house, looking for his hat. Then he peeked under the bed when he heard someone gasp under it. Luke screams. Scares him, and us, but then the scene cuts away. Presumably he kinda said “Hmmm”, and floated away. Basically, none of the ghosts we see actually do anything bad, except: 1. Poppy. She kills her own kids, then tries to get Liv to do the same (and even tries to get her to kill Hugh with the screwdriver). Remember, she’s insane, and really jealous of Liv’s happy family (and faithful husband). She helps Liv lure the twins back to the house, feeds Nellie all those heartbreaking illusions, and gets Liv, in the end, to kill Nell, setting off the Bent-Neck Lady horror. You’ll see more about what Poppy does in the finale. But all the psychological torture of Liv starts & ends with Poppy. There are some things that are tough to fit into the “the house isn’t evil” theory, like the creepy corpse ghost in the basement (maybe it was just lonely & excited to see a new friend 😂. Then there’s creepy dead-eyes kitten. But otherwise, all the other creepy stuff is actually pretty harmless, in retrospect. Finally, in the finale (which I know you’ve already watched, but I’ll be vague here in case someone gets upset about “spoilers”), the conclusion of the Dudleys’ story / character arc very strongly suggests the house isn’t evil, necessarily. I’d be super interested in your thoughts, and can’t wait to see your reaction to the finale!!!!! Cheers!
"You guys go on without me - How could we?" 😭Poor liv. Poor family. This house really is a cruel MF 😪 When Poppy says "William is going to love you" i never noticed until now that the house (or Poppy in that moment) kinda knew that liv was going to die and stuck in that house, along with with Poppy and William. Or maybe i am wrong. However, the way this show plays with different timelines is insanely good. Enjoyed your reaction and can't wait to watch your reaction to the last episode :)
Hugh absolutely did the right thing prioritising the safety of the children above all else. Olivia just tried to kill Nellie and Luke. She did kill Abigail, the Dudley's daughter. The Dudley's have two children. One stillborn in the House, the other was Abigail. Luke obviously has been seeing real Abigail, but he might have also seen ghost Abigail, too. The House bends/breaks time and spance. Hugh removed the children from the source of danger, the mom and the house, before he went to get Olivia. It's a not very amusing irony that the Court later decided Hugh was an unfit parent and gave custody of the children to Olivia's sister, Aunt Janet. If Olivia had lived, she would have been charged with murder for sure. The young flapper is Poppy Hill. Poppy Hill was married to William, the one who bricked himself up. He's the tall ghost who haunted Luke. William and Poppy had two children, a girl and a boy. It's clear from what Poppy says that she poisoned her children. That's why the boy became wheelchair-bound etc. The boy pounds on the walls. Poisoning would also fit what Poppy said about her daughter's symptoms. Amongst her, no doubt, many issues, Poppy may have suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP). That's why she's trying to convince Olivia to poison Nell and Luke. For Poppy and Olivia "waking-up" means dying. Time is non-linear when it comes to Hill House. Speaking of time, we heard the ticking of the clock and saw the repairman. It's all part and parcel of the "time" motif. Another motif referenced was the "kitten" motif. Early on in the series, we had the 5 kittens. Two were singled out (bug/dead eyes), corresponding to Nell and Luke. But, of course, all the kittens died. There are 5 Crain children. Olivia told Shirley "Kittens need their mommies, then they don't." Hazel is the elderly lady in the bed who says that Poppy lies. Hazel is William's sister. Clara Dudley took care of her in her old age. The Crains probably bought Hill House from Hazel's estate. Then there's the "bug" motif. Poppy mentions the children will be like "Bugs, safe in their beds." Poppy's name is highly symbolic. The poppy flower is symbolic of sleep and death. Since ancient times, poppies placed on tombstones represent eternal sleep. Horace Dudley's mother worked for the Hills. Horace was born in the House. The woman who leads ghost Abigail away is her grandmother. Ghost Olivia wants all the children to die in the House, and she did kill Nell.
I think the house knew that the mother and some of the kids had special abilities and hungered to absorb them. To me it almost seems like Mike Flanagan borrowed elements from "The Shining" in this reworking of the novel.
Used to rewatch scary movies all thru Oct until a few yrs ago I found ftw’s and this channel. Now this is what I do for the spooky season. Looking forward to whatever you have next for the season. Happy Halloween.
Once the house decides it wants you, there is absolutely no escape. You can leave, but you will always come back. It's the house. No one can save you once the house wants you. The ghosts are all the people the house has collected. I always enjoy the reactors as they demand all the answers, with every episode. If that was actually going to happen, what would be the purpose of the rest of the episodes? It would be like reading only the first and last chapters of a book. I'm sure the last episode will fulfill your wishes.
A scary but not too scary film to watch is the Tobe Hooper ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre") directed television miniseries called Stephen King's "Salem's Lot." It's from 1979 and based on King's popular vampire novel, and it was aired on regular commercial television. However, it was quite intense for network television at the time. Many kids had nightmares for days after because they could watch it in prime time. It's far better than the remake that just came out and it covers much more of the novel. The TV show got so many views, they released it to theaters as well as an over three hour film.
