'Big boys know the difference between what's real and imaginary.' is such a powerful example of how parents or adults might make an offhand comment to a child and never think about it ever again. But that kid will remember it, sometimes often, for the rest of their life.
Robert Longstreet isn't in the series overly much, but his portrayal of Horace Dudley is a MASTERCLASS of using an underseen character intelligently for MAXIMUM effect. His standout scene in this episode is a truly INCREDIBLE performance of a man who's been worn down and all but BROKEN by grief and emotional hardship who's still determined to do the best he can with a bad lot, and the way that Flanagan hold on him for so much of the monologue is GENIUS.
I think i'm one of the few people who has a lot of sympathy for Steve and how the trauma affect him and his choices. He just 'looks' more put together, but he really isn't.
Mr Dudley in this one.. Nevermind that it's a single shot but the emotion he put in that monologue! This series continues to amaze me and I honestly haven't seen anything like it yet.
Maple: "It's f--ed up the dad gets to see a positive version of mom and everyone else gets the scary f--ing version of her that's trying to get them to f--ing die." Hill House Next Scene: "Hold my beer." Lol
Steve sucks for a lot of reasons, but the scene with Luke at the burial is one of very few times I can relate to him. He doesn't believe in ghosts, but he _does_ believe that hereditary mental illness killed his mother and baby sister... and now Steve thinks both he and Luke might be getting "sick" too. Ironically, he's more scared than anyone that the "ghosts" of Hill House are coming back; he's just wrong about the nature of those ghosts. And I mean, he also seems to think you can overcome mental illness if you just _try_ hard enough, which is one of the many reasons Steve's the worst, but still: Michiel Huisman sells it so hard I can't help but feel for him in that moment, even if he is a colossal prick the rest of the time.
He can be a prick but he's also getting the short end of the stick from his whole family. Being the only one who vehemently denies anything supernatural happened makes the others look down on him. Writing the book financially supports his siblings and not one of them even thanked him for it, but does give them an excuse to shit on him. He's constantly expected to corral his family because he's the oldest, and more than one sibling blames him for Nell's death (or not somehow predicting and preventing it). His idea of forcing himself not to be mentally ill is misguided but it's not like his family is trying anything but wallow in self-pity. At least he's not just shrugging and going 'it was ghosts'. The worst thing he does is get a vasectomy and not tell his wife, which is definitely super fucked up but also not affecting the rest of his family at all.
Steve doesn't suck at all. Everything Steve does makes sense, if you can just look at things through his perspective and be objective you would understand that... -He's the only one in his family who didn't experience anything paranormal. -All of his siblings are selfish (it's not just him). -He's had to deal with an addict brother who's been stealing from him and his family members for years. -He's going through a separation when we first see him. -We find out he was struggling to be a writer while his little sisters found success and his little brother was let of the hook for every wrong he committed. -When he finally does have a successful book (nobody buying the book would ever believe those events actually took place, so who cares if it's the family story) he offers all of his siblings a large sum of money. The sister who says yes still acts morally superior, while the other sister benefits from it without knowing. -Has a completely useless father who should have sat all the kids down when they were old enough and explained everything that happened. Although I would just think he was even more crazy, which would be a more logical explanation than ghosts (obviously). -Is blamed for Nell's death by both his other sisters... which is ridiculous. But yeah, Steve is the family member that sucks... sure.
@@TheSwordOfTheJedi-u2pevery family member sucks in this show. Steve is a prick who thinks a little too hard about money and gaslights his wife into thinking they have fertility issues. That being said, he gets way too much grief from people. I think he generally wants to help people but he’s just too stubborn.
Also he litterally thinks, really thinks, that this is not real and a mental illness. He's in denial, and everybody would think the same in real life. He said it: he doesnt want to lose Luke as well. He can be shitty (just like all of them for various reasons), but he loves his family (yes, even his dad, despite his stupid horrible harsh words to him) and when u rewatch the show u realise that, in a clumsy way, he's always been overly protective of Luke.
This episode is when you start to see how the loss of their mom really affected everyone in the family. They are all still dealing with their unresolved trauma. She helped Steve to feel capable & responsible, now that she's gone he pushes this too far & acts arrogant to compensate for his insecurity. Luke felt he could be vulnerable with his mom, when she was gone he turned to drugs to comfort himself. Theo knew she was different, but her mom made her feel normal. When she was gone she embraced her role as an outcast, to her own detriment. Shirly always had control issues, which only got worse when her mom wasnt there to help balance that. Nell felt seen & understood by Mom too, she struggled with feeling like a ghost until she accepted her own death. The Dad was grounded by his wife, she kept him focused on his family. Without her, he is adrift, even admitting that he's not sure if he is seeing his wife's ghost or just a projection of her- but he doesn't really care. He still needs her. They all do.
I think Theo was extremely fortunate to find Trish when she did--a good person who is very supportive and patient. I am surprised so many people think her showing up at the funeral is some kind of red flag.
Lmao that’s a massive red flag, kiddo. You don’t just randomly show up to a funeral of the loved one of someone you just met. I’d have filed a restraining order on her ass.
I don't think there is anything guilty about having a lawyer. This system is designed to trap you, and putting one toe in is dangerous for your health. Get any help you can immediately and don't talk to cops.
But when the husband immediately lawyers up… it shouldn’t mean anything the way our justice system is shaped. However, after starting (and not finishing) a master’s in criminology and consuming far too much true crime, public opinion of instantly asking for a lawyer does leave a guilty impression.
Random question for you guys- do you ever watch other reactors reacting to shows you do after you’re done? I feel like I’d constantly be wondering if other people thought what I thought (hence why I watch reactors lmao) but maybe that’s just me hahaha Great reaction as always love youuuu
Sometimes we will identify we think we have a SUPER hot take. We both have similar thinking, but we know we’re not the norm. So when something seems outrageous to us we will look to see if others feel the same….
Hugh sees both widower's coping-mechanism Olivia and ghost Olivia. Coping-mechanism Olivia is basically Hugh talking to himself. Some people have wondered why the Dudley's don't warn the Crains about the House, but, in fact, they're continuously warning them. Their warnings are subtle and indirect because, somewhat incredibly, the Crains are skeptics. Think about how Olivia and Steve shut-down Clara Dudley early on when she asked Steve if he knew the Gospels. What did Hugh to Horace Dudley when he told Hugh to get Olivia out of the House? It wasn't his place, right? I guess Clara's baby died/miscarried while she was in the house, that's why the Dudleys and the Crains? heard a baby crying. Notice the clear connection or parallel between Hugh trying to pry-open the Red-Room door with a screwdriver and the screwdriver Olivia, operating under the House's influence, held to his neck. Some people have posited that the black-mould is causing the Crains to hallucinate; therefore, the ghosts are imaginary, and Steve is right. Of course, this is ridiculous because the Crains see ghosts years after moving out of the House. Also, both Theo and Hugh saw Olivia's ghost at the same time at the mortuary. The ghosts are real. Moreover, the model forever home was covered in black-mould at that time, too. Obviously, that's supernatural. Even at Hill House, they couldn't figure out what was causing the mould. The mould may be symbolic of the House's toxicity. The House may have also been using it to keep Hugh distracted, taking advantage of his "Mr. Fix-it" mentality. Olivia drawing the "Forever House" footprint over-and-over again on the blueprint of Hill House is symbolic of Hill House being the Crains "Forever House." It appears to be a fractal or fractal-like. Fractals are symbolic of "forever" and "chaos." The body that was walled-in is William Hill, we see his cane. He's the tall ghost that haunted Luke earlier. William is the father of the little girl and the boy in the wheelchair that Olivia saw in her shawl-inspired vision and later when looking for Nell during the storm. It's understandable there'd be bad-blood between Hugh and Aunt Janet, Olivia's sister. She took his children away. It's another cause of resentment toward their father amongst the children that they had to go live with Aunt Janet. There's an additional connection between Nell and Luke. When Nell isn't taking her psychotropic drugs, Luke isn't using and he's clean. Since Nell is dead, now, presumably Luke will have conquered his addiction. Now that Luke is "clean," he starting to see things clearly, now, about the House. When Theo is talking to Hugh in her home, she's clearly evidencing "bargaining," one of the theoretical five stages of grief. There are many motifs in Hill House. There's the "red" motif, the "blue" motif, the "time" motif, the "fixing things" motif, the "mould" motif and the "come home" motif amongst others. As the series progresses, Olivia's _dreams_ or _scatteredness_ increase. The original "Hill House" novel by Shirley Jackson influenced Stephen King's "The Shining." There's a crucial common element present in the novel, "The Shining" and this series.
I hate to say that I'm disappointed in my favourite reactors. Still "nothing to say" at the end of each episode. Nothing about the acting, the script, the cinematography (especially transitions), the character depth, any of the subtleties that make this show a great. I live in hope but seems likely this one just hasn't connected with them.
Yeah they don't seem to be really engaging with the narrative at all, they're just anxiously anticipating the next jumpscare. If they're that far out of their depth they might as well call it quits because neither them nor us are going to get anything out of these reactions. Unless you like two people screaming their head off over the simplest loud sound or quick camera cut, I suppose.
Would not be surprised if they do a long form review towards the end. And I think they are connecting, but would be nice for even a short chat after. They have done this on other shows with lightening quick comments or nothing at the end of an episode
To be completely transparent, we watched this a month after I lost my closest sibling. I personally was having a very hard time getting through the episodes in a space where I could objectively consume the media. I left a lot of days/nights very much in my own feels. We had our show choices mapped out before I lost my brother very unexpectedly. So it actually connected too much to decipher my own feelings from the show….:
I know y'all are having trouble with the spooks in this show but it's SOOOoo satisfying to have all the answers by the end and I hope you'll continue into the Haunting of Bly Manor - which in my opinion is less scary but still thrilling and fantastic acting, writing, etc.
Lol, that thumbnail with the image of the show is LEGIT hilarious. Like, it looks so silly. I actually dislike this series a lot, as I believe the original movie and book are so timeless that nothing will ever be as good. The Robert wise film was so fantastic and did what it needed to without confirming or denying the existence of ghosts, and doing more with less. Besides, I felt this one had a few too many jump scares for me to take it seriously(jumpscares work a grand total of once for me and then they're useless thereafter.)
