The Haunting of Bly Manor - Friday, October 9 on Netflix

[medyej]

Thought this was pretty bad. Rewatched Hill House before starting it and wow the quality drop off is nuts. So much of this show just dragged that I feel like the first 4 episodes could have been condensed to ten minutes. And then the wrap up in episode 8 just goes on and on while they spell everything out with narration.

Really disappointing.

 

[SilverX]

Spoiler: Ending

What are the actual connections to Hill House? Two differently colored eyes was something in Season 1. But what does this all mean? Are the stories connected? Why did they drop "forever house" casually in one of the conversations?

Click to shrink...

There is no connection other than sharing some cast members and the fact that Hill House and Bly Manor are both haunted homes. I believe that was always what was meant by the "connection" reference, and it was said purely to make sure they didn't put people off who weren't interested in a standalone new season.

 

[carlsojo]

Put me in the camp that didn't like this. If you're going to spend that much time on characters, it needs to have some payoff.

Episode 9
Hannah

Spoiler

did nothing. Literally just ran up to the ghost and got zapped.

Drunk Uncle

Spoiler

showed up, did nothing. Same as Hannah, just got whacked by ghost.

Owen

Spoiler

was my favorite character and they gave him absolutely fuck all to do for the ENTIRE SEASON.

You could have written out all three of these characters *entirely* and the story would not have changed in the slightest.
Really you could have even written the gardener out, if not for

Spoiler

needing her to retell the story. She had zero interaction with the spirits. She just existed to be Dani's love interest. Because apparently this was actually a love story?

This was exactly what Flanagan did for Doctor Sleep - hours of buildup to a wet fart of a payoff.

It doesn't help that the ending is depressing as fuck.

I was fine with the series not being scary, but the story they tried to tell was horribly unsatisfying. It's such a lame bait and switch. It starts out as a ghost story, but halfway through they're like nah it's actually a love story, and the payoff for both just sucks.

 

[carlsojo]

Oh yeah, grinding your narrative to a halt RIGHT AT THE CLIMAX OF THE STORY to tell some backstory is the absolute fucking worst.

Episode 8 was the equivalent to Episode 7 of Season 2 of Stranger Things. You know the one.

 

[SneakersSO]

Dipped after the first 15m. I absolutely adore Hill House and I am not finding a shred of that show in Bly Manor. Shame.

 

[zou]

Is that why any areas that are supposed to be dark look like absolute shit?

Click to shrink...

yup.

 

[sredgrin]

I wasn't feeling it in episode 1 but after I'm getting into the groove. Not super scary but I like most of the characters and actors, and I'm not finding the accents nearly as off putting.

 

[TacomaSCDisaster]

Finished it tonight and... I hated it. It did everything wrong that Hill House did so well. Meandering, convoluted, tropey, and above all else, simply not scary. What a fucking letdown.

 

[Disco]

I enjoyed Hill House despite some occasionally shaky acting, it had some fun scares and I was invested in the story of the siblings.

This is just a boring slog tho, and a complete absence of anything unsettling. Only seen 2 episodes but I think I'm going to bail on it. Crap.

 

[BobbeMalle]

I lost interest when

Spoiler

ghosts start to have the ability to possess people

but damn if the last 2/3 episodes saved the show for me!

 

[Conkerkid11]

They'd better focus more on the horror next season, because I can't take another season of crying this much. Fuck, some of those episodes hit hard.

I'm not cut out for this genre.

Edit:

Spoiler

I do wish they'd trimmed off maybe a minute at the end there. I was happy with being able to figure it out on my own that the names and faces changed, but the people she was in the room with when telling the story were clearly the ones who were there. They didn't have to spend time literally telling us.

 

[Lotus]

Man... I liked it overall, but this was definitely no Hill House. Hill House is frankly one of the best shows I've ever watched, so I knew Bly Manor had a lot to live up to. But damn, didn't even come close. Not just in the horror (it really was barely scary,) but the drama and relationships weren't nearly as interesting either.

Also the pacing was really whack looking back. So many times I'd be legit forgetting some of the main cast because they'd be gone for the longest time, including Dani.

I will say this though, I will now start saying perfectly splendid on a regular basis in my daily life.

Episode 8 was the equivalent to Episode 7 of Season 2 of Stranger Things. You know the one.

Click to shrink...

Nah that's too far, at least Ep 8 actually cleared up the final piece of the puzzle, and is actually relevant to the show/story being told. Whereas the episode from Stranger Things clumsily thought it could get away with a backdoor pilot for some shitty spinoff no one asked for

 

[CreepingFear]

Take a shot every time "perfectly splendid" is said.

 

[SuperEpicMan]

I have only watched the first 5 episodes, but I am loving it so far. I was fairly nervous going in since I rewatched Hill House a couple of weeks ago, which is probably one of my favourite shows, and I was worried it wouldn't live up to it. That said I think its hard to quantify and compare the shows since they are fairly different (at least after 5 episodes), so the best thing I can say is Bly Manor has equally got its hooks into me, and I am loving the ride.

 

[takriel]

Take a shot every time "perfectly splendid" is said.

Click to shrink...

Now that I think about it, this is foreshadowing isn't it.

 

[Gray]

I enjoyed it more than I did Hill House. It certainly wasn't as scary but the story and characters were much more interesting and impactful. An excellent ghost story. Loved it.

 

[CreepingFear]

Now that I think about it, this is foreshadowing isn't it.

Click to shrink...

We are all the drunk uncle?

 

[pechorin]

People who are expecting something scary to watch like THHH will be extremely disappointed, this is more of a daytime soap opera with a few jump scares.

 

[Dmax3901]

Enjoyed it for what it was but it's leagues below Hill House. The Quint/Rebecca stuff was so fucking boring. Liked the last couple of eps and loved the majority of the characters.

Far too many scenes that dragged on and on with nothing happening, dialogue was also far too wordy.

 

[Ravelle]

The thing that held back Hillhouse was the family arguing and yelling among themselves. I didn't really care for the characters because of it, I liked the characters and performances way more in Bly.

It's not as classic horror as Hillhouse but after two episodes I realized it was more about the characters than the ghosts and got passed that fact and got to enjoy it way more.

Also after thinking about it some more, was there a reason why Jamie, Owen and Grose lived and worked there for so long and never really encountered any ghosts or remarked on them? Were they even capable to see them? Grose at point comes in contact with them and goes " AH!" when

Spoiler

Peter gets killed by the lady in the lake

but then never really talks about it again.

 

[Solo]

My GF and I are 6 episodes deep and loving it. Yes, its a totally different animal than HH, but I don't think that should be the crux of a lot of the vitriol against it. Blame the marketing/your own preconceived notions of what The Haunting should be for that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there aren't a number of legitimate criticisms people can and have made about the show, and its absolutely not for everyone and definitely less accessible that HH, but to knock it down a peg for the genres it tackles isn't really fair.

 

[kyle mechlachlan]

Personally speaking, the reason this season sucks is because it tries so hard to...like... fix stuff from the first show?

The first season had ghosts in the background and people loved that. They loved all the weird unique ghosts and after watching people were piecing together all the clues as to who the ghosts where. The show told you in some cases who they where, but not all of them. The mystery was fun and engaging. Bly Manor? Well this time all the ghosts are just explained to you, essentially, and they don't really matter. In fact they basically tell you they aren't relevant from the start and only 1 of the ghosts matter. Then the ghosts in the background stop being a thing and the show goes into turbo exposition mode to explain everything in the most slow and boring and convoluted way possible.

All the stuff with dream-hoping, and tucked away was lame as hell. Having named mechanics just doesn't jive with the tone of the show at all. And it drains all of the cool mystery/suspense. It becomes a weird show about very normal ghost people.

And god, that black and white flash back episode was dreadful. It's so long and you immediately understand what's going to happen and at no point does anything to make the journey interesting. It's the worst example of the show becoming too enamored with its self. And unfortunately the big turning point for the show, the Hannah episode, also does the same thing. My partner and I called Hannah being dead basically immediately, which isn't the worst thing, but her episode ended up being this overlong repetitive slog that doesn't change much about what you already know.

From that episode forward, all the character development on the part of Danny kinda stopped. The whole show ground to a halt and spent the next several hours explaining every little thing before picking the story back up and then streamrolling to the ending.

The fact that the show wasn't scary isn't a fault for me. THHH also wasn't scary, it was a drama set in a scary situation and it made it work and felt pretty focused the entire time. Bly Manor was more interested in a needlessly convoluted plot that needed far too much exposition to explain and decided to do that explanation in the worst possible way.

 

[Pancho]

ERA always makes me feel like I'm in the minority for liking anything xD
Ah well
Loved Bly Manor as much as Hill House

 

[CitizenVectron]

It seems like the people complaining about it have a few major themes that are common:

• No jump scares (so in their minds, not scary)
• Predictable twists
• Romance was pointless

So I think the issue is not that the show isn't good (because it seems to be getting pretty great praise everywhere but this forum), it's that people expected a modern-style horror show/movie, and got a gothic fiction/romance instead, and don't like it because of that, even if the content is good. Kind of like if True Detective 2 had actually been Band of Brothers. A fantastic show, but not southern gothic mystery. I get that disappointment, but I also think many are overlooking the great quality of Bly Manor because they didn't get jump scares, or they were able to predict things (that personally I don't think were meant to be that secret, the groundwork for the "twists" was laid out fairly well).

I think, overall, the show is a great experience, and I enjoyed it for that.

 

[Yankee Ruin X]

Didn't like this, was not as good as Hill House imo. With Hill House I feel it started off good and then fell off at the end, with this the fall off is almost immediate.

 

[deimosmasque]

LOL people hating on ep8? that was the best of the whole season

Click to shrink...

I know right! That was my favorite episode by far.

 

[Antrax]

Also after thinking about it some more, was there a reason why Jamie, Owen and Grose lived and worked there for so long and never really encountered any ghosts or remarked on them? Were they even capable to see them? Grose at point comes in contact with them and goes " AH!" when

Spoiler

Peter gets killed by the lady in the lake

but then never really talks about it again.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

The ghosts that showed up to people were just Peter and Rebecca for the most part, mostly because they had plans in place. It seems the other ghosts had let themselves be forgotten.

As for Hannah, her not engaging with the ghost stuff at all was how she stayed corporeal for so long. She was subconsciously sticking to her routine so she wouldn't have to confront the fact that she had died.

 

[Rookhelm]

First 2 episodes (all I've seen so far), are really slow. I don't mind a slow burn but a 2 hour slow burn (and possibly more) is maybe too much.

There's only been 2 parts that were scary, and they were really brief.

I like the story so far, I just wish the show would start getting to some point.

 

[MazeHaze]

It seems like the people complaining about it have a few major themes that are common:

• No jump scares (so in their minds, not scary)
• Predictable twists
• Romance was pointless

So I think the issue is not that the show isn't good (because it seems to be getting pretty great praise everywhere but this forum), it's that people expected a modern-style horror show/movie, and got a gothic fiction/romance instead, and don't like it because of that, even if the content is good. Kind of like if True Detective 2 had actually been Band of Brothers. A fantastic show, but not southern gothic mystery. I get that disappointment, but I also think many are overlooking the great quality of Bly Manor because they didn't get jump scares, or they were able to predict things (that personally I don't think were meant to be that secret, the groundwork for the "twists" was laid out fairly well).

I think, overall, the show is a great experience, and I enjoyed it for that.

Click to shrink...

I disagree. Hill House had like 2 jump scares and I wouldnt miss them if they went away. Also I'd be fine with this being a romance/drama, I just thought all of the dialogue was bad and they hit you over the head with all the themes for so long it's obnoxious. I went in knowing it was going to be nothing like Hill House and still found it thoroughly mediocre. Becca and Peter were boring, the Fiance subplot was unnecessary, they completely wasted Owen by having him do nothing for 9 hours. The whole thing was mostly boring and repetitive, they could have trimmed a few hours from this and it would be better for it. Also Henry's accent is SO bad, I can't believe they let him do that.

 

[sweetie]

ERA always makes me feel like I'm in the minority for liking anything xD
Ah well
Loved Bly Manor as much as Hill House

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'm not finished yet (3 episodes to go) but I'm really enjoying it. Shocked that the reception here has been so sour.

 

[InaudibleWhisper]

Finished it last night. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. I don't mind that the show is slower and less scary (though episode 8 ground the pacing to a halt), but it really wasn't a show about a haunting at all.

Spoiler: Full season spoilers

Aside from the children, nobody is being haunted or targetted or spooked. There's no tension if the audience is aware the characters are surrounded by ghosts, but the characters themselves don't have a clue. The lead is dealing with the death of her fiance, but that's more psychological than supernatural, and it's inconsequential to the house and main plot. She spends several episodes seeing an actual ghost and thinking she's just being stalked by a living thief she can hit with a stick. She doesn't even know she's in a haunted house until she's tied up by some magical dream hoppers and literally chokeslammed by a ghost after most of the season is over.

The other main characters either don't find out they're in a haunted house until the very end, or they've been aware all along cos they're already dead. Who's haunting who here? If you're going to do gothic romance, the drama has to be better, and the two worlds have to converge to build up an increasingly unsettling atmosphere for everyone involved. Not just unravel a mystery for the audience, and then punch the main characters in the face with it at the last second. Otherwise its just a drama in an old house, and some people just happen to be dead.

 

[Anton Sugar]

lol, had no idea Garth Marenghi was going to be in this! Honestly, very hard to take him seriously because of this context.

 

[SilverX]

It seems like the people complaining about it have a few major themes that are common:

• No jump scares (so in their minds, not scary)
• Predictable twists
• Romance was pointless

So I think the issue is not that the show isn't good (because it seems to be getting pretty great praise everywhere but this forum), it's that people expected a modern-style horror show/movie, and got a gothic fiction/romance instead, and don't like it because of that, even if the content is good. Kind of like if True Detective 2 had actually been Band of Brothers. A fantastic show, but not southern gothic mystery. I get that disappointment, but I also think many are overlooking the great quality of Bly Manor because they didn't get jump scares, or they were able to predict things (that personally I don't think were meant to be that secret, the groundwork for the "twists" was laid out fairly well).

I think, overall, the show is a great experience, and I enjoyed it for that.

Click to shrink...

There were plenty of jump scares, its just that they weren't even close to being as good as the ones in the first season and they were as repetitive as the many reused scenes.

The season has its moments, but it is layered in LOTS of unremarkable moments full of terrible pacing. It would have been much better as something shorter and more "to the point" rather than padding the hell out of the content for it to be 9 episodes (hell it couldn't even make it to 10 like the first season) .

 

[NightShift]

Just finished it. The show's great and the ending hit me hard. I haven't read much impressions yet but I can already guess that there's a lot of people complaining about it not being "scary" and "too tropey". I actually liked it being more of a simple tragic love story. It was kind of refreshing in a way.

The only thing that could have been better to me is the pacing. I felt like having entire episodes dedicated to Hannah and the origins of the haunting was a mistake because they were kind of annoying at the start since I just wanted to see the plot develop. Although I did end up getting fully invested in those episodes by the halfway point, I would have preferred if they were sprinkled across multiple episodes.

 

[Rhaknar]

Just finished it. The show's great and the ending hit me hard. I haven't read much impressions yet but I can already guess that there's a lot of people complaining about it not being "scary" and "too tropey". I actually liked it being more of a simple tragic love story. It was kind of refreshing in a way.

The only thing that could have been better to me is the pacing. I felt like having entire episodes dedicated to Hannah and the origins of the haunting was a mistake because they were kind of annoying at the start because I just wanted to see the plot develop. Although I did end up getting fully invested in those episodes by the halfway point, I would have preferred if they were sprinkled across multiple episodes.

Click to shrink...

don't even spoiler tag that, the more people go in knowing thats what it is the better to be honest lol.

 

[Firewithin]

finished last night. overall enjoyed it once i realized it was going to be a gothic romance vs a more horror focused hill house which i was totally fine with.

couple questions though....

Spoiler

Did Owen know Hanna was a ghost the whole time or was she real to begin and then he was just seeing/interacting with ghost hanna? that was the only real confusion i had.

Also if the bride at the end was meant to be Flora she didnt have an accent that i noticed? or was that no actually flora and the little reveals of the wedding guests were just what she imagined they would have been?

 

[Rhaknar]

finished last night. overall enjoyed it once i realized it was going to be a gothic romance vs a more horror focused hill house which i was totally fine with.

couple questions though....

Spoiler

Did Owen know Hanna was a ghost the whole time or was she real to begin and then he was just seeing/interacting with ghost hanna? that was the only real confusion i had.

Also if the bride at the end was meant to be Flora she didnt have an accent that i noticed? or was that no actually flora and the little reveals of the wedding guests were just what she imagined they would have been?

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

Hannah dies the day the Au Pair arrives at Bly, Owen never knew she was a ghost from his reaction to her dead body in the well.

And yes that was Flora, she either lost the accent as she grew up (I mean, she was 8 in the story so its completely possible, she mvoed to America remember) or she just had an accent in the story for story reasons as someone else poitned out with Owen (the "older Owen" actor looks almost the same age as younger Owen and they look nothing alike, that could just be her changing the characters in the story so it wouldnt be so obvious who there were for Flora, remember they discussed if they should tell the kids or not)

 

[Skittzo]

finished last night. overall enjoyed it once i realized it was going to be a gothic romance vs a more horror focused hill house which i was totally fine with.

couple questions though....

Spoiler

Did Owen know Hanna was a ghost the whole time or was she real to begin and then he was just seeing/interacting with ghost hanna? that was the only real confusion i had.

Also if the bride at the end was meant to be Flora she didnt have an accent that i noticed? or was that no actually flora and the little reveals of the wedding guests were just what she imagined they would have been?

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

Hannah wasn't a ghost until just before Dani arrived. She didn't even know she was a ghost until Miles/Peter took her to go see her body. Nobody knew she was a ghost up until that point besides I guess Peter.

The ending was weird to me, I honestly didn't even get the sense that the people at the wedding were supposed to be Owen/Henry/Miles/Flora, I just assumed Jamie was reminiscing about them when looking at some of the wedding guests. She seemed genuinely surprised when "Flora" told her that her middle name was Flora. Then again most people here seem to take it as a foregone conclusion that they were meant to be the characters in her story so I'm probably wrong there.

I think the idea then is that she took a lot of liberties in telling the story, even including the country where it takes place and therefore the kids' accents.

 

[Firewithin]

Spoiler

Hannah dies the day the Au Pair arrives at Bly, Owen never knew she was a ghost from his reaction to her dead body in the well.

And yes that was Flora, she either lost the accent as she grew up (I mean, she was 8 in the story so its completely possible, she mvoed to America remember) or she just had an accent in the story for story reasons as someone else poitned out with Owen (the "older Owen" actor looks almost the same age as younger Owen and they look nothing alike, that could just be her changing the characters in the story so it wouldnt be so obvious who there were for Flora, remember they discussed if they should tell the kids or not)

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

Hannah wasn't a ghost until just before Dani arrived. She didn't even know she was a ghost until Miles/Peter took her to go see her body. Nobody knew she was a ghost up until that point besides I guess Peter.

The ending was weird to me, I honestly didn't even get the sense that the people at the wedding were supposed to be Owen/Henry/Miles/Flora, I just assumed Jamie was reminiscing about them when looking at some of the wedding guests. She seemed genuinely surprised when "Flora" told her that her middle name was Flora. Then again most people here seem to take it as a foregone conclusion that they were meant to be the characters in her story so I'm probably wrong there.

I think the idea then is that she took a lot of liberties in telling the story, even including the country where it takes place and therefore the kids' accents.

Click to shrink...

thanks. yah those make some sense now.

 

[Conkerkid11]

Wow, was just kind of thinking about the show a bit while trying to get to sleep last night and realized something obvious a lot of others have probably already posted about

Spoiler

When Dani accidentally steps on the doll of the lady in the lake, the kids locked her in the closet to protect her from her because the middle of the room is probably indicating she's somewhere in the courtyard at that point and on her way to the house on her patrol route.

Also thought it was weird how little of the other ghosts they showed. They literally showed the plague doctor once, and I don't even know when the priest or whatever he was was shown, if he was.

 

[TacomaSCDisaster]

Something I don't get

Spoiler

So it is implied that Peter was possessing Miles at the boarding school, right? How did he get off of the property? I thought he was anchored to it.

 

[kyle mechlachlan]

Spoiler

So it is implied that Peter was possessing Miles at the boarding school, right?.

Click to shrink...

No.

 

[TacomaSCDisaster]

No.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

So why was he being violent like that and using Peter's phrases like "finding your key"?

 

[kyle mechlachlan]

Spoiler

So why was he being violent like that and using Peter's phrases like "finding your key"?

Click to shrink...

Because Peter told him about the key stuff before he died. You see that in a flashback early in the season. He was doing all the violent stuff so he could come home to help his sister.

 

[Conkerkid11]

How did the cops

Spoiler

never find Peter's body when they found Rebecca's? You find a body in a small-ass lake maybe you should search the rest of the lake?

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I didn't get that either.

Spoiler

Didn't Peter have a car? Where did his car go? Why was Peter's body not floating? Where did Peter's body go at the end when Jamie found Dani down there? Why wasn't Dani's body floating? How the hell did Jamie even see Dani's body? It's incredibly difficult to see underwater without goggles on.

 

[Antrax]

Wow, was just kind of thinking about the show a bit while trying to get to sleep last night and realized something obvious a lot of others have probably already posted about

Spoiler

When Dani accidentally steps on the doll of the lady in the lake, the kids locked her in the closet to protect her from her because the middle of the room is probably indicating she's somewhere in the courtyard at that point and on her way to the house on her patrol route.

Also thought it was weird how little of the other ghosts they showed. They literally showed the plague doctor once, and I don't even know when the priest or whatever he was was shown, if he was.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

they showed the plague doctor a lot more than once. My wife and I spotted him several times. One time, Dani literallylooks right at him but he'snot moving so I guess she wrote it off subconsciouslyas a statue or something

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Spoiler

When Dani accidentally steps on the doll of the lady in the lake, the kids locked her in the closet to protect her from her because the middle of the room is probably indicating she's somewhere in the courtyard at that point and on her way to the house on her patrol route.

Also thought it was weird how little of the other ghosts they showed. They literally showed the plague doctor once, and I don't even know when the priest or whatever he was was shown, if he was.

Click to shrink...

Same, I was doing dishes later and suddenly it clicked.

Your second point though

 

[Conkerkid11]

Same, I was doing dishes later and suddenly it clicked.

Your second point though

Click to shrink...

How are they gonna hide a bunch of shit in the background when Netflix's encoding is too awful to see most of it?

I want this show on a better streaming platform.

 

[Forsaken82]

Spoiler

Yeah but you find someonefloatingin there you might want to do a quick check. The lake wasn't even that deep

Click to shrink...

I don't necessarily agree with that. What specific reason do they need

Spoiler

What are they exactly looking for? No murder weapon was apparently used... she was just drowned. In their opinion Peter drowned her, stole a bunch of shit and disappeared. The body was found floating at the top, there was no other reason to search for anything .

But I am no cop, so maybe i am way off.

 

[Skittzo]

About the lake (full series spoilers):

Spoiler

There are at least four bodies that we know of in that lake before Rebecca drowned, so the fact that nobody seemed to find any of them or thought to search there seems a bit like an oversight. Especially considering in the final episode all we see is Dani's body.

Unless we're supposed to believe the 100-200 year old bodies would completely decompose there, though that still wouldn't explain the lack of Peter's of course.