Nevermore: Every episode of The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix, reviewed
Episode 3 — “Murder in the Rue Morgue”
The third episode, “Murder in the Rue Morgue,” is when my favorite character dies. No, it’s not just because our names are similar, but because I absolutely love actor Kate Siegel and it took me half the series to realize that it was indeed her in another Flanagan show; she played Theodora Crain in Haunting of Hill House, Viola in Haunting of Bly Manor, and Erin Greene in Midnight Mass (she’s married to Mike Flanagan, FYI). Camille is a fun and relatable character, always needing to be on top of everything, wanting to make sure the family looked good, doing damage control for rumors and gossip, and staying far away from chimpanzees…but not far enough.
This episode highlights the difference between how regular families deal with death and how the rich and famous do it. To powerful families, a family member’s death is more like an inconvenience, depending on who it is. It’s another thing on the to-do list; you can task publicists to make you sound as sad as possible while you looking out for the best interests of the family: who’s next in line? Who’s picking up these duties now? To those with power, influence, and money, family is more of a security blanket, a blank check. You need something? Use the family name. It makes you wonder what’s better: copious amounts of money and fame or a close-knit family?
Leo Usher, one of the bastards, is another good character who pops up in this episode. Throughout the show, I feel the bastard Ushers, specifically Prospero, Camille, and Leo, are more fleshed out and a lot more likable and relatable. There’s a big difference between how Freddy and Tammy think about life and the family versus how the four bastards think of it. It seems like the ones who aren’t “real” Ushers were the ones who worked the hardest to be accepted and “prove” themselves. Freddy and Tammy have an air of superiority about them that’s just…annoying.
In this episode, we learn how Roderick learned to think strategically and logically, not to mention coldly; we see his first interactions with Rufus Griswold, then then CEO of Fortunato, and his how sister’s careful and cunning thinking shaped him into the man he is. If anything, Roderick’s biggest flaw is how easily manipulated he allows himself to be. He’s a monster of Madeline’s making; she shaped the way he thinks, what he prioritizes, what he likes, what he wants. Madeline has built a legacy through her brother, in part because it would have been difficult to impossible at this point in history for a woman to make the moves she has Roderick make.
Also, please don’t get high off drugs and murder your boyfriend’s cat. And I wonder if Tamerlane likes to have escorts over so she can get off on emotions, because she clearly doesn’t feel anything other than a sense of superiority.
In a very impulsive move that still makes Camille a lot like myself and still my favorite, she visits her sister Victorine’s lab where she is mauled to death by an angry chimp. If only she could have kept her little attitude in check and seen that a chimp had escaped the cage sooner…And maybe realized that Verna wasn’t Verna, but in fact a chimpanzee that had escaped its cage long ago.
