The Haunting of Bly Manor

If I had to choose one word to describe my overall thoughts for this season of The Haunting, it would be disappointment.

I was tremendously excited for this follow up season of Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting anthology series. It’s predecessor, The Haunting of Hill House, was in many ways a masterpiece, full of atmosphere, a very captivating story, and a compelling cast of characters. Hill House was impeccable in every detail, even with its uneventful finale, I still to do this day consider it one of the best tv series ever.

With that said, you can imagine my excitement for its follow up. I was eager to explore a new haunting with some of the cast from Hill House returning with new roles.

Synopsis

This season, Mike Flanagan takes us to the English country where we meet Danielle “Dani” Clayton (Victoria Pedretti), an American who is hired by Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) as a governess to care for his niece and nephew in their old country manor in a town named Bly. Upon her arrival she is subjected to apparitions and unknown entities who haunt the premises.

Overall Review

The Haunting of Bly Manor starts out promising. A new house, in a new country, and in a new era (1980s). Complete with a promising new diverse cast of unknowns.

After finishing the first episode, I felt quite unsatisfied. I was instantly hooked at the end of the first episode of Hill House and so I was surprised that the same wasn’t applicable to this one. Nevertheless, I decided to carry on and after 4 episodes in, the feeling of dissatisfaction lingered.

Episode 5 was quite eventful, with some of Hill House’s level of storytelling finesse, which in my opinion had felt absent in the first 4 episodes. I also realised that some horror elements, such as jump scares, creepy shadows, and dark suspense were completely absent. Instead they were replaced with long dialogue, overly polite children, and lots of drama, lots.

After episodes 6 and 7 I felt the story had become a bit repetitive and tiresome when it came to exploring its mythology. I also came to the realisation that the show was lacking substantially in horror and instead was spoon feeding us sappy love stories which were trying really hard to seem genuine.

Furthermore, episode 8, which tells the story of the 18th century Bly manor owners and further explains the source of the haunting, was in fact my favourite. Filmed entirely in black and white, this episode added much of the mysteriousness and tragic horror which had lacked in most of the season.

Lastly, in the final episode you are left feeling a bit cheated. With expectations of a new horror story at the hands of a horror expert (Flanagan), you are told by one of the characters that this was in fact not a ghost story but a love story (insert eye roll).

With hardly any horror showcased and one to many long-winded tedious romances there is nothing but lingering disappointment. Jump scares are not for everyone and even I have my own issues with them, but a 9-hour horror show with barely anything to make your skin crawl or make you reach out for a blanket to cover your eyes, is not acceptable.

I want to clarify that to me the Haunting of Bly Manor is not a bad show. It’s not unwatchable but it is hard to keep watching. It’s not great but it’s not bad either. Some people really do love this season and I do understand the reasons behind that decision. However, as a horror fan and as a Haunting of Hill House fan I cannot overlook the obvious issues that plagued this season.

Characters

Victoria Pedretti was my favourite in The Haunting of Hill House. Her portrayal of Nell was impeccable with her presence lingered throughout the season. She did an amazing job and was a big part of my excitement for the Bly Manor season. However, I am not sure what happened here. Her character, Dani, was by far my least favourite. I am not sure if it was the character or the portrayal of the character that didn’t sit right with me.

Dani’s loud dialogue and over the top reactions kept taking me out of the show and wondering if this character portrayal was a choice made by Pedretti or the writers. Her facial expressions, the volume of her voice, her constant overreaction. It just seemed like a classic case of overacting. It pains to say this considering how much of a fan I am of Pedretti’s work but I got to call it how it is. Her romance with Jamie (Amelia Eve), aka the gardener, although heartfelt and tragic in its conclusion, did nothing to redeem its overreaching problems.

A love story needs a solid and well-built foundation if it wants to pull in its audience. You can’t expect the viewer to root for your couple when you haven’t done the work to properly showcase the inceptive elements of a relationship. Which include, long stares, flirty dialogue, CHEMISTRY, small moments of emotional intimacy, etc. There were only glimmers of that in this season with absolutely no chemistry to aid it, which in my opinion is the most imperative.

This applies to all the couples in the show, which were five in total. Yes, five couples (including two love triangles) in a 9-episode horror show. And not one of those were deeply explored in order to warrant their existence. Characters would go from meeting in one episode to professing their love and wanting to run off together in the next. The viewer is then expected to believe the love story based on the actor’s performance alone which, although well executed, was not enough. The writing team failed big time in this regard.

My favourite actor in the show was T’Nia Miller who plays Hannah Gros, the Housekeeper. Her performance was top notch with very compelling moments.

The child actors were good as well. Amelie Bea Smith, as Flora Wingrave, was by far the best. At a young age she is able to very convincingly portray the connection between a daughter and her mother. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, as Miles Wingrave, wasn’t given one scene with his parents, which makes you question his overall desire to be with them. Not the actor’s fault but the writers.

Production and Cinematography

Mike Flanagan has fallen hard with this one. Everything was off, the story, the characters, the setting, even the cinematography I felt was weak. I still don’t understand the reasoning behind choosing a grainy blurry filter for every single scene. Filters don’t create atmosphere.

Conclusion

Overall much was expected little was delivered. All I was left with was wishing I could go back to Hill House.