If you were one of many people enamored and obsessed with The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, you will find yourself very pleased with The Fall of the House of Usher. Gothic horror can be a tricky genre to nail. It’s got to have depth, impeccable timing, and an aesthetic that is just to die for. Luckily, Mike Flanagan knows what he’s doing.
Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s 1839 short shorty of the same name (with plenty of nods to Poe’s other work), The Fall of the House of Usher isn’t just another show you’ll watch once and forget. Flanagan doesn’t really “adapt” stories. He takes them, revamps them, and adds his special touch, all while respecting the source material.
We’re going to review Flanagan’s new show episode by episode, so this is where I place my obligatory SPOILER WARNING. Let’s take a look at this amazing adaptation in detail, but if you haven’t watched the show yet, beware.
Episode 1 — “A Midnight Dreary”
The pilot episode introduces us to twins Roderick and Madeline Usher. Roderick is the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company called Fortunato. We also meet police investigator Augustine Dupin, the man who’s spent most of his life trying to bring down the Usher empire.
We open with a funeral, followed by Roderick inviting Dupin over for a little chat. Roderick talks about how each of his children has died, and how it’s all his fault. He’s prepared to confess everything, he says, and starts from the very beginning, with his mother. She was a devout Christian woman who worked for Fortunato and who died in horrible pain. She raised her twins by herself with no help from their father, her boss Mr. Longfellow, for whom she developed a great resentment. When she passed away, she came back to life to strangle the man to death before finally letting herself move on.
This episode sets up the stage for the show; it’s a really fun one to go back and rewatch once you finish the series. We see young Madeline and young Roderick walk into a bar, all nervous, trying to get someone off their trail back in 1979. They meet a gorgeous and mysterious bartender named Verna, played by Carla Gugino. She tells them their life is about to change. She’s right, and they just have no idea how much. Carla Gugino is glorious. She is an excellent actress and perfectly cast here as a…death-like character with a lot of charisma.
Back in the present, Roderick tells Dupin that Madeleine is down in the basement and that his mother is right behind him. All it builds an unshakeable feeling of dread in your gut.
As we find out, each of Roderick’s children are very unique. Tamerlane (Tammy) and Frederick (Freddy) Usher — Roderick’s first son and daughter from his first marriage — Camille L’Espanaye, Leo Usher, Victorine LaFourcade, and Prospero (Perry) Usher make up the current lineage of the Usher family. They’re all successful in their own niches and have their own very peculiar flaws, and they all die in very specific ways.
Perry meets his end partying with friends. Camille is mauled to death by a chimpanzee, Victorine has the most brutal death in the show — murdering her partner and then killing herself — Tamerlane gets impaled by multiple pieces of glass, Leo gets driven insane by a demonic cat and falls off the balcony, and Freddy gets what he deserves in the same house where his brother Perry died. Before each of their deaths, they’re greeted by the same beautiful, wise lady who gives them some wisdom they really could have used before this moment.
This show explores human nature, and how one seemingly small decision affects your future. As young people, Roderick and Madeline made a deal with Verna that everyone in their family gets away with anything they try to do, but it all ends when the two of them die. By making this agreement, the duo demonstrate how some people are so selfish that they forget how their actions have consequences that go beyond them. They affect people like Lenore, Frederick’s daughter and the best of the Ushers.