In 2018 Netflix released The Haunting of Hill House developed by Mike Flanagan. Not only did it prove, it cemented Mike Flanagan’s place in horror but it is arguably one of the greatest things that Netflix has ever released. A fantastically scary story driven more by emotions than the ghost. Even despite it being a self contained story Netflix renewed the show for another season but with an all new story to be inspired by many fictional pieces written by Henry James, primarily The Turn of the Screw. With some of the same actors and some new, the follow up titled The Haunting of Bly Manor is now here and I believe it to be the greatest thing that Netflix has released so far this year.
Bly follows the story of a live nanny named Dani who moves into Bly Manor to care for two young children. Here she works with a gardener, a housekeeper, and a cook while the uncle of the two young children spends his time away drinking his pain away for their lost parents.
First things first, this isn’t just a horror story. I mean, it’s scary, but it’s also a love story. Specifically it’s a love story of how it can die but also still stay with us at the same time. The show does take its time to reveal this aspect about itself, it’s able to use emotions in just the right way to make you feel what you should feel. The show is also fantastically acted with many returning cast members really standing out, partially Victoria Pedretti as the nanny and Oliver Jackson-Cohen as a selfish but also charming gentlemen. But for me the two big stand outs are T’Nia Miller as the housekeeper and Rahul Kohli as the cook, but this is also because their overall story ends up being the most tragic (and also, I don’t care what anybody says, Rahul Kohli is charming no matter what he’s doing). I appreciated that none of the show’s characters were straight out unlikeable. Even the more viel characters had understandable motivations or backstories. There are some amazingly tense moments in the show too. While I don’t think it ever reaches the levels that Hill House was able to, the show actually made me scared to go outside in the dark at times. It’s all more in the small stuff that the show does, like stuff moving in the background, things coming in and out of shadow, and the big ones got me to. I also just love the music in this show. A lot of it is recycled from the show’s predecessor, but The Newton Brothers (the composers) have some great new pieces too and it would feel weird to not have some of the old stuff in here too. Also by the end of the show, I was tearing up. The journey that you go on by the end is so worthwhile and fulfilling that even the slower moments were worth going through.
For issues, there are actually a few. No matter how much I might like some aspects, I would actually argue that the characters in here are better than Hill House, the show just isn’t as finely made as its predecessor. Some might say that this is due to Mike Flanagan not directing all of the episodes like he did in Hill House, but I disagree with that. The direction in the show is fantastic and despite having multiple directors they are able to hint to different things very well. No matter the amount of directors Mike Flanagan is still the showrunner and guiding everyone. I think the show just struggles to find the best way to tell its story. The show is framed around an old woman telling a story at a wedding. I actually think the framing is important to the story’s resolution, but there is a frequent narration that is mostly fine but actually feels like it’s confiding the story at times, especially by episode eight (I’m not going to name the title to avoid spoilers). Episode eight is a flashback episode that tells the story of the first ghost in Bly Manor and well more than half of the spoken lines are narration. The thing is there is a very interesting story within this episode but I found myself wanting to just watch the story being played out rather than being told to me. The episodes can go for long times without the narration, it’s actually more used for transitioning scenes, so it’s not like it would be a shock for this episode to go in that direction. But the thing is the only reason that the episode was able to fit the story into the episode is because of the narration. It’s used to skip over big periods of time, but my response to that is there should’ve been another episode. Bly Manor is nine episodes and Hill House is ten. If anything, the show actually seems like it was made for less money than the first. Why not have one more? Of course, there are factors that I just don’t know about. There are cost factors that I don’t know about that could’ve made it more expensive. I also don’t know if the story would’ve been cohesive in two episodes, or if they had cut to it throughout the series. I just don’t know. But I can’t help but think there could’ve just been a better way. Finally, for the people that enjoyed all the “Oh, shit!” moments in Hill House you will get less of them here. There are some, but if I think about it most of the story is fairly predictable. But to be fair to the show, I think it just didn’t want to focus on moments like that. But I can see how someone might be having certain expectations going in.
Would I recommend this show? If you like The Haunting of Hill House, absolutely. I would say just go in knowing that it’s a love story. I actually think Netflix is heavily misadvertising the show in this regard. If you go in thinking it’ll just be about ghosts, it will be for a while but when it makes that switch it will throw you off. I would also try to avoid comparing it to its predecessor. While there are elements that I think are superior, if you focus on comparing it you’ll just keep thinking about how well made this first was and it’ll affect your enjoyment. There was a moment when I realized that there would not be a single shot episode like there was with episode six in Hill House (the episodes called Two Storms). But I actually had to stop watching after that realization and finally just accepted that this wasn’t The Haunting of Hill House. I realize it might seem strange to not compare two shows that are a part of the same meta series, but you’ll enjoy it more if you just refrain from comparing. Plus they are two different stories, I think that should earn them some degree of separation. You can enjoy The Haunting of Bly Manor on its own merits. If you weren’t a fan of the predecessor I don’t see this one changing your mind. The show is a slow burn and it’ll have an episode take a break from the main story just delve into one aspect of a character. If you just want a show to scare you with some ghosts this won’t. For this and much of Flanagan’s work it is more about the characters’ emotions and how that can be used to toy with your emotions too.
I love The Haunting of Bly Manor. I’ve watched The Haunting of Hill House multiple times since it came out and I can see doing the same here. I can’t wait to find out more about the show and seeing what else Mike Flanagan has coming out. He has another horror show for Netflix titled Midnight Mass, I can’t wait.
