"In Paris, I was a sous chef. Which means they only let me chop vegetables" "In Paris, I was a sous chef. Which means they only let me chop vegetables" "In Paris, I was a sous chef. Which means they only let me chop vegetables" "In Paris, I was a sous chef. Which means they only let me chop vegetables" "In Paris, I was a sous chef. Which means they only let me chop vegetables"

mike flanagan saying he genuinely thought he and the team were making a happy ending and then finding out people are upset then going "i don't know what a happy ending is" is such a mood tho

Me starting Bly: "oh boy "I'm going to find every single easter egg ghost, try and stop me!" Me finishing Bly: *sobbing at 4am after powering through through the entire series*

Hannah Grose is such an underrated character and her and Owen's love story is one of the sweetest and most sad things I've ever watched

as a lesbian, i don't think this is an example of bury your gays either because both gay characters are given fulfilling roles and a fulfilling relationship, they were together for about 13 years after bly and lived very happily. the ending was a tragedy, yes, but it felt like a natural and organic conclusion, it didn't feel cheap or malicious or done for shock value

In Hill House the five kids are representative of the five stages of grief. here we have Hannah who denies her death, Viola who is trapped in her anger, Peter who bargains to find a way forward, Rebecca stuck in depression over circumstance until she finds the strenght to act, and Victoria Pedretti, yet again, accept it.

My favorite line in the season was when Dani says "People...mix up love and possession. I don't think that should be possible. They're opposites really: love and ownership." The way she says it is so casual; she hasn't put a lot of thought into it, and she isn't expecting validation. She's just stating what, to her, is obvious. To her, love is free, and freeing, and kind. That's what makes it possible for her to do what she does with Viola. That generous love is the neutralizing opposite of Viola's cruel possession.

As a gay person, watching a horror show where being gay only brings joy and love for a doomed character it is a relieaf. Usually being gay only makes things worst for a character in a show.

"Do you want company, while you wait for your beast in the jungle, do you want company" That has got to be the single most selfless show of love I have ever seen in any media ever. She knows with full clarity what she's headed for, the loss, the pain, the grief. Whether it's in a year, or in 20, but she's still offering herself, freely, it's that simple. The work of loving Dani is worth the pain of losing her, and that's all there is to it. And it's everything.

"Alcohol you later" was a brilliant joke lol

The fact that Hannah kept “replaying” her first meeting with Owen as she came to grasp the reality of her situation.... that she always found him a comfort from the beginning... that Owen was a source of strength for her because she loves and is loved by him.... wait hold on

The moment when I realized that Hannah had been dead from before we first even saw her was wild. Evreything just clicked, the reason she was always zoning out, the fact that she never ate, it was incredible

Am I the only one who thinks that Dani did get a happy ending? Sure, she did die and she will eventually fade away and forget Jamie, but as shown with Viola and her rage/loneliness, ghosts cling onto their most powerful emotions. And Dani died for love.

Man, I can't tell you just how beautiful and tragic this show is. Also, it was so genuinely refreshing to see a character with Indian heritage be presented with genuine nuance, characterization, and depth, and wasn't just mocked and made fun of all the time.

Me watching The Haunting of Bly Manor Hannah sees wall crack: *No* Hannah spacing out: *NO.* Characters talking about Hannah's "disappearances".: *Absolutely not!* Stupid Peter calling her to the well to 'look down': *I FORBID THIS!* Hannah saying yes to Owen's let's runaway proposal: *Do my tears fuel your car, Mike Flanagan?!*

I haven't even seen the show, but Rebecca offering to feel the drowning for Flora actually had me crying. The love and courage to offer that when you know just how much it will hurt, but she probably couldn't have imagined doing anything else because she's a good person about to otherwise helplessly watch a child drown.

My favorite thing is that despite having a couple of the same actors in both series, the characters feel so distinct. I completely forgot Luke and Peter had the same actor. And I think that's really awesome.

I know a lot of people got kind of frustrated with Edmund for haunting Dani. Always showing up at the most inopportune moments. When we wanted him to the least. However, I never saw Edmund as a ghost per sé. No, instead I saw him as Dani's guilt. Taken shape and form into Edmund's "ghost". The guilt of feeling She was the one who got her best friend killed. And she carried that guilt everywhere, and the only time it would appear was when she looked in the mirror, for it was the one thing she couldn't bear to do, to look at herself and not be reminded of what she felt she had done. And when she could no longer avoid mirrors, Edmund as her guilt would appear to her whenever she got close with Jamie, as if it were reminding her that even her feelings for another woman haunt her. As she had been secretly struggling with even before during her wedding planning. That scene in which the young woman taking Dani's measurements for her wedding dress began to flirt with her secretly (though come on, not that subtle lol), was very telling in how much Dani struggled with how she really wanted to feel versus how she thought she Should feel with Edmund. So it was quite revelatory (for me anyway) to witness her guilt pretty much saying "Fine, you don't want to face me in the mirror, then I'll just stand here right in front of you." And that night she grabs the bottle of wine, gets drunk and goes out to the bonfire to burn the glasses, when she does face Edmund and says "I guess it's just you and me then." It's like she does come to a place of acceptance with her guilt, as if to say "Yeah, I see you. I acknowledge you. But I no longer choose to be afraid of you. I want what I want and what I want is to live my life and find love. With whomever I choose." It's just such a powerful moment to me, that the minute we no longer let our guilt run our lives, and we acknowledge its presence and accept it, it's when we can begin to live. Same thing with Henry and his guilt in the form of his doppelganger. He has had it with being imprisoned by his guilt and not only takes ownership of his mistakes but takes back control of his life in order to be the father and uncle he knew he could be.

One thing I keep thinking about is to know the origins of Bly and the ghosts that resided there, Jamie must have gone through quite the research. I just imagine, Jamie being so desperate for any kind of explanation at all, the reason behind her lover's death, that she just had to search and search for answers. Man, this show has absolutely RUINED me.

Also another bit of foreshadowing I noticed was in Floras dolls, all the living characters are represented by average Barbie type dolls, while all the ghosts look as if they were handmade Including Hannah

The tragic and bittersweet part of Hannah, Rebecca, and Dani is that despite all of what happened, the last act they ever did was out of selflessness to protect their loved ones. The last thing Hannah did ‘alive’ was send Jamie and Owen to help Flora and Dani. The last thing Rebecca would’ve done was relive that traumatic event so that Flora wouldn’t have to experience it. And the last thing Dani did was sacrifice herself to protect the one she loved.

"Rhymes rather than repeats" What an excellent description!

Jamie: "Do You want some company? While you wait for your Beast in the Jungle?" Me: "That's one of the most romantic line's I've heard in a while."

The subtitles are a big part of why I love this video. [Peter](full of shit) "I'm sorry, but I had to" made me cackle

People like Ladyknight are why good stories exist.

I love your whole spiel on the character of Peter Quint because sometimes I feel like some people don’t really get that when people give a villain an awful and tragic backstory, it’s not necessarily excusing their horrible behavior. I remember someone saying that Bly Manor failed at Peter’s redemption arc, but the fact was that they were never trying to redeem him. He was an absolute shithead and he wasn’t going to be forgiven for that. However, it is necessary to understand why he was like that in the first place so that you understand his character more. Knowing his story doesn’t mean you have to forgive him. In fact, like what was shown through Rebecca, you shouldn’t.

I have to say my favorite "period" bit of this show was Dani's hair. They did PERFECT work with her hair. All the styles just... Chef's kiss, I was transported to when I was 5 again.

My bf was one of those who didn't like Bly because it wasn't "scary." But that episode with Hannah and her realizing she's dead...that was so terrifying to me. The absolute confusion and sadness of it had me ugly crying for a bit. Broke my heart and I'll never forget it.

In my opinion, that one singular moment where Owen turns to face the camera and screams something about Miles is the scariest, most disturbing moment in the entire show. The fact that it's the only part that breaks the 4th wall makes it feel all the more haunting, and kind of makes you question your own sanity for a moment. It's so brilliant.

If you think about it, Dani and Jamie really had a happy ending if you compare it with the other characters. The thing is, people kinda forget that we are mortal. As Jamie said in her monologue: “...is a fact, we’re mean to die...”. So yeah, Mike Flanagan is right. It was a happy ending for them, and their relationship was like a moonflower.

The way Rahul Kohli brought the line "Something is wrong with Miles" always gives me chills Miller and Kohli really were powerhouses throughout the whole season and up until their episode, I was more a passive observer than active watcher. Pedretti and the rest did wonderfully, but horror isn't my genre and I often have trouble watching it as intensely as other stories. It also helps that I'm quite a fan of monologues (or dialogues which have a similar feel)

“In Paris, I was a sous chef” has the same energy as “Hey. You’re awake.”

When you confirmed that the last thing Hannah was going to say was “the rest is confetti” I really broke into tears, she was my favorite character and episode 5 was so brilliant and that line from Hill House still gets me, I just 😭

my own two cents on bury your gays: i think the fact that bly manor is a self-contained, one season story is part of the reason why i didn’t feel like it was an example of bury your gays. the viewers know that we’re only getting this one season with the characters anyway, and that their story has to end somehow. so when one character dies at the end, it actually feels like a conclusion to a love story that the narrative was committed to telling. it feels different when a gay character is killed off and then the show continues for 5 more seasons (looking at you the 100) because that’s when it feels like the writers just discarded the character because they couldn’t commit to having a gay character on screen. there’s more to this obviously but i just wanted to say that. love the video btw!

Viola is probably my favorite horror movie ghost. A lot of haunting or possession movies have main ghost antagonists that just mess with the other characters and spook them but don't really pose a physical threat to them. Viola bodied people like a slasher villain and it was awesome.

The scene were Owen breaks the 3rd wall was so disturbing and scary to me, even more than any jumpscare. What a great show.

I think Hannah stayed partly from her denial but also to protect the children. They lost their parents, they lost their au paire, even if he was a bad influence they lost Peter, I imagine she didnt want to put them through another loss. Their uncle was absent, owen and Jamie couldnt devote their time to caring for the kids, no one wanted the au paire job now, someone had to stay and watch the children. I just get this deep feeling yes, hannah was in denial about being dead, but it was for the sake of protecting the children.

the most surprising part of this whole series was the little girl also being peppa pig

Something I love about that final shot is how it echoes and reinforces the sentiments from earlier in the season and earlier in the episode itself. Love is not possession- and Dani's hand resting gently on Jamie's shoulder, keeping her company through the night, is a brilliant visual representation of that.

I think much like Henry's "ghost", Dani's "ghost" wasn't really a ghost. But rather, it's a metaphor for how her guilt over the death of her ex-fiance was haunting her.

"But Dani wouldn't. Dani would never." always BREAKS me. Especially with the contrast between her pure love and Peter Quint dragging Rebecca Jessel down and making her feel it. Also OMG at your face reveal (?!)! You've been one of my fave video essayists for about a year (since MASH) and going from total mystery to the big IM SAD smile at 1:17:48 is EVERYTHING ok. Your Hill House video was rad as hell and i'm super glad Flanagan responded to it, you totally earned that! It probably converted a lot of people (I bounced right off the first episode until you convinced me it would tie together)

The thing that stayed with me the most after Bly Manor was the concept of past loves as ghosts. Of how at one point you might not remember things anymore, but the impression stays as a ghost would. It made me think of all my friendships and loves that have ended in one way or another, and while I hardly remember the individual moments we spend together these people still left a positive impression on me and I "remember" them fondly even though I don't remember what we did together

I love that I was like “I’m gonna listen to this while I fall asleep” it is now 3:30am and I am wide awake watching with tears down my face. fantastic video. Thank you

Im so happy that Rahul is getting such good work, i’ve loved him for so long that seeing him get high profile acting work makes me feel like a proud parent haha

I hadn’t even considered how Dani’s suggestion that she could “make a difference” ties into how she literally saved the children’s lives. Something about Dani’s sacrifice reframed through that made me cry even more than I already was (Bly Manor made me cry many times). It makes so much sense though! Thank you for this piece and analysis! I love your videos and am so glad you did one on Bly Manor. It’s such a beautiful piece of emotional storytelling.

A neat detail I noticed on my second viewing of Bly Manor: Carla Gugino's accent. Because it would have been too obvious if she had a Northern English accent right away but she still had to hint toward it or else it wouldn't have felt right. So what she does is pronounce only certain sounds with a Northern English accent, but always the same. It's a lot more noticeable in episode 8 since she speaks so much (listen to the way she ways "becoming" at 1:12:59) I absolutely didn't notice it on my first viewing but once I knew the narrator was Jaime and I knew to pay attention to it it was impossible to miss.

It doesn't matter how many times I watch this. Each time, I cry at a different part, empathizing with a character I didn't think I could. This time it's Peter. Stuck in a memory with his uncaring mom. Recalling what it felt like for her not to care, not to love him. It cuts deep.

Very random fun fact, Perdita in Italian means Loss. It's sadly fitting

Are you getting more brave watching all these horror series, Ladyknight?

Crying by the end. I'm fine, I swear.

this video came up in my recommendations and i’d thought i’d listen to it while doing chores, ended up on the couch crying about owen and hannah yet again. people who say bly manor wasn’t scary are afraid of the wrong things imo

Hannah was my fave character. And the actress that played her really nailed it. Great acting all around. Love this anthology

Dementia is terrifying to me, so the theme of them being trapped in memories really creeped me out. I thought this season was just as good as Hill House. Not quite as scary for me, but just as moving. I actually think this season affected me more emotionally. I haven't had a show break my heart like this since I was a teenager 15 years ago and Spike died on the series finale of Buffy 😂 I just think Dany and Jaime's love story felt so natural and absolutely beautiful. It devastated me to see them apart

Don’t watch hereditary or midsommar if gore really bothers you, they both have some of the most realistic and emotionally affecting gore I’ve seen in horror, even if it’s limited to one scene. And bly manor definitely wasn’t bury your gays, they got their happy ending for years but the relationship was lost to the passage of time, which happens to all of us sooner or later.

When Henry was talking about having a soldier friend in the house when he was young I got super exited, at one point in the series there's a thunderstorm and at while the characters are talking it's lighting up a room in the background and you could see a man in a oldfashioned soldier uniform in it. That could potentially be his friend!

You gotta love Dani, she had COURAGE. It’s amazing, I’m inspired to be half or ‘god send’ MORE ,of her caliber

Dani: lukewarm to her fiance, but hot to trot for the dress fitter...

Watching Hannah jumping all over her memories that one episode immediately reminded me of when Nell said time is falling all around us like rain or confetti

I haven't cried in months but when you got to the part about them being domestic and getting married and not knowing how much time they have but knowing they love each other I literally started balling. I didn't expect for that to happen. I'm gay and I understand what they mean and this is why the world needs more gay media.

I know i shouldn't have been surprised that you weren't, in fact, a stick person when you showed the clips from your interview... and yet, I was.

That moment of Rebecca's ghost crying by the water... oh my God that is visceral. I've been watching your videos because I have anxiety issues related to familia death, so I watch you first before I try to watch these.

Can’t wait for Henry James to drop his next mixtape that shits gonna fire as hell

“And this recreation of Owen in her memory knows more than she does - like her subconscious is trying to get through to her.” I always really liked how they showed this because it felt like Hannah trusts Owen more than herself, in more ways than one. It’s not just that she’s grasping at straws doubting her memories as they all bleed together. It’s also how he as a separate person is as trusted to her as herself because she loves him. Almost like how when people talk about giving your heart to someone else to take care of; in this instance Owen plays the curator of not just her memories, concerns, current events, but also the bits that make her, HER. The unalterable things that Hannah clings to, to remind herself who she is. And he seems to know that even clearer than she does, actually reminding her of who she is in this scene. Knowing her better than she knows herself. Especially because we know that when Hannah’s husband left, and it threw her world, her understanding, so completely that suddenly everything she counted on could no longer be counted on the same. To give her heart to someone again so completely makes us the audience trust that Owen is not pushing her past comfort without reason, but for something truly important that she, and we as the audience, are missing, and NEED to know. Which makes the payoff so incredibly heartbreaking and powerful...and again, when Hannah can finally admit it to herself again, it’s only in that same memory with Owen - because she trusts him. And that second where she realizes it and becomes totally alone...there just aren’t even words. God I love this show. When explaining it to people I always try to highlight that it’s really a love story (or many), just told in a haunted house. Not a ghost story that also has a love story. It’s the characters and their connections that make us care, and stop the ghosts from being scary by the end. Because everyone who is dead, was once alive. Was once a whole person that was born and loved, and that makes it less scary, and more so...just sad. On a more personal note I think the reason these specific scene resonate with me so completely is because the man I love did die and afterwards everyone wanted me to talk about it, talk through it y’know? The problem is that the only person who would understand, the only person I would want to talk to about it, was him. Because I knew him well enough to know exactly what he would say even though he wasn’t here. It just made it harder to have the one person who could help you through a loss like that be the person who is lost. And yet, it also helped. Because, in the same way I call Bly Manir a love story, in the same way the show runner thought he’d given Dannie a happy ending...I loved so much and so well, because they were so remarkable to me in every way that I drank in every moment I got to spend with them, and they loved me the same. And many people never get that. So I was very, very lucky to get that chance, and even luckier to know that in the moment, not just after it was already gone.

The quip of “I would like to get off this cliff now Michael” never fails to make me laugh and I’ve watched this like 10 times because it’s so well said

I'm so glad she explained how the series handled peter quint so plainly and yet so thoroughly. It's so important that we point out that yes! Your story CAN have absolutely shitheels! But your story needs to condemn that behavior and Bly does an AMAZING job of saying "People aren't just evil for the hell of it, hurt people hurt people. But that doesn't make it ok"

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I also feel that Hannah’s episode is also how she experiences the events in the show. A lot of scenes that she’s in she seems disoriented and has no idea how she got there. We find out later this is due to her being dead. As we heard in hill house, time for the dead is like rain. Constantly pulled through time to experience either things that have already happened, are happening now, or may yet happen still.

the first time i watched the ending i kept my eyes on the door and i missed dani's hand so imagine how i felt thinking she never showed up lmao

Not sure if you noticed it, but Henry's soldier friend was one of the background ghosts! I enjoyed that henry bringing him up to flora meant that this bg ghost was being given a story for the audience as well!

About the anthology thing, I have to say, I wish they had taken the same rout with Stranger Things. Like I would have loved to have seen a take with 80's AI stories like Daryl or Short Circuit.

I completely and unexpectedly broke into cackles at "A Henry James Mixed Tape" and "Henry James: Simply the Best." Thank you!

I feel like with how heavily the show focused on illness and fading the "dead doesn't mean gone" kind of also gets turned upside down "gone doesn't mean dead" with viola holding on to life so desperately but already starting to errode and fade while still technically alive and with the speech Owen gives about his mother where in the end she had already been gone for a while and then Dany who was losing her grip on herself and thus decided to accept that she was dying. I think the grief this show is about is less about the loss of someone who's already dead but of slowly loosing someone, maybe even yourself, kind of like hannah who is struggling to accept that she is dead which is symbolic maybe of someone who is terminally ill and trying to accept they will die, to illness and grieving someone who may technically still be alive but who you're watching as they fade away. Idk if this makes sense i just feel that's what the show is about. I think hannah is an intentional parallel to the lady of the lake where they both deny their deaths and struggle as they slowly fade away but hannah was loved well the entire time while viola was isolated...

I just wanna say: From the bottom of my heart, this is your best video yet and I loved every heartbreaking second of it. The fact that you got to interview Mike was such an endearing surprise, seeing you talk about grief across so many stories I've seen and read, it was like having a mirror pointed to my soul. I've been grieving the passing of a family member for years and watching and reading these experiences felt so cathartic, and having one of my favorite video essayist talk about it warms the heart. And honestly? I broke down in tears when you gushed about Gris, I felt like I was the only person who's played it and seeing you add it here was the punch to the face that made this my favorite. Seriously, thank you, and I can't wait for the next video. P.S. Please leave the old upload on patreon, that GPU kinda became a hilarious meme given the passive aggressive jogging walk Hannah makes to the well.

How am I crying so hard and I've never even seen the show...

god i cannot explain how comforting video essays are... I'm so glad I'm back to watching these.

Fun fact: Henry is right when he uses the term "nanny" to describe Rebecca. Au pair is only used when the carer is from a different country - so Dani is an au pair, but Rebecca isn't. There's some weird mixing of language like that in THOBM. "The MATH didn't work..." we say maths in the UK. Cake batter is called cake mixture, so Owen's joke about Hannah being a battered woman wouldn't have landed at all, they would all have just looked at him... But then, it's by US writers and for a US audience, and the UK viewers know what they mean, so...

It became unavailable while I was in the middle of watching it and I got real sad Glad it's back up

Please for the love of all that is good and holy, do NOT become more succinct! I LIVE for your long content!!!

NELL: "Our moments fall around us like rain, or snow. Or confetti" That is such a beautiful line.

Wait! Hang on! I followed you on tumblr some 5-7 years ago. You were one of my favorite people there!! Didn't you write pacific rim fics on ao3? I love your video essays. It's so cool to hear your actual voice after all these years. I love all of your content! I might be mistaken, if so, sorry...

Good essay!! and YOU GOT TO INTERVIEW MIKE FLANAGAN THAT'S SO COOL CONGRATS!!!

I remember watching this the first go through and when the faceless lady grab Peter I jumped. After settling down I went back and rewatched it and realized how funny the scene actually was. Like the faceless lady YEETED him to death; strong armed him. 😂😭😂

As someone who just got married a little over a year after this show released. The final episode wrecked me. Especially the fear that girl has about tethering herself to someone she loves and being scared about losing him.

my grandma passed away a couple of weeks ago and i've been sitting in the difficulty of that grief (complicated by her relationship with my mom, by our geographic distance, and by her slowly forgetting things and losing memories at the end) and rewatching this & the hill house video really reminded me of how okay it is to have any number of reactions to losing a loved one. these are incredible shows but also the way that you talk about them is so thoughtful and means a lot, especially when going through something so raw. thank you again

I love that the horror is driven by the choices of characters in the story - not anything external. :)

Holy HELL I rewatched the Hill House video essay yesterday, it’s low key become my comfort video even though I’m a fellow scaredy-cat. This is a gift from the goddess thank you!! After watching edit: I’ve not done this before but I needed to add... the hill house video essay definitely made me shed tears by the end. This... the last section destroyed me as much as watching the show did- seeing everything put together and reiterated made be ugly cry for the last ten minutes. Full on bawling, I haven’t cried this hard in a very long time. Thank you

The first time I cried watching this show was undoubtedly when Flora revealed herself to be not possessed by Rebecca, and that Rebecca chose to take the highest ground. I was so proud of the both of them, it brought me to runny-nose tears (you know the kind). Rebecca is a beautiful soul. And then of course, same as you, tears as she follows Flora into the lake, how she was willing to bear that pain. And then the very end, with Dani's ring-adorned hand resting on Jamie's shoulder. In a 9-episode story, Bly managed to explore numerous facets of interminable, immortal love. In the most artistic manner imaginable, Flanagan, et al., told a timeless and heartwarmingly heartwrenching tale. Dead doesn't mean gone.

That idea of coexistence with the ghosts truly is what made this series so good in my opinion. The scene when Flora shushes the ghost was one of my favorite scenes, it was such an incredible moment of "oh, she's not scared. Something else is going on here." It feels like such a rich story that we have all these different kinds of ghosts with their different kinds of intents. And the scene of Rebecca saying to Flora that she'll feel her drowning for her? Heartbreaking. Incredible. Showstopping. Maybe my favorite scene of the season, even more so because she's already had to feel it once. And god the scene of Rebecca crying at the edge of the lake as she realizes what happened to her... Also, the reveal of the crack in the wall being from the well that Hannah fell into was chilling!! And Dani taking Viola into herself to save Flora... Just, such a good story, with such good ghosts.

I acctually find it funny while normally I'd be right there with you on the "DONT GO THERE!! ACT LIKE A PERSON" when it comes to horror movies. But as someone who's not exactly neurotypical myself Dani's behavior when confronting the spooky stuff of the manor made all the sense in the world and was SUPER relatable 😄. When your brain plays tricks on you from time to time you learn to bravely but cautiously examine things closer as you know that no matter how strongly you may be feeling about this it's probably nothing 😂.

The episode where Hannah realises she’s a ghost is my favourite of the show, it was so sad and well done. The haunting is one of my favourite series ever!

I hadn't realized it until you took the pains to highlight the fact of Viola and Perdita saying that she would not go and the laying of the clothes and roses in the chest were like spells but that chest literally did carry a piece of her in it, it was like an anchor, a lich's phylactery, a Horcrux to use somewhat more familiar terms. Freaking brilliant.

Maybe i like pain, but i want mike flanagan to be the show runner on doctor who. that would be so epic

Your comments about how so many characters are haunted by loss and by loss of innocence, love, and life at 1:29:30 really reminded me of this fantastically fitting quote I saw a while back. IIRC it was by a guy called Robert Anton Wilson and it goes: "Under the present brutal and primitive conditions of this planet, every person you meet should be regarded as one of the walking wounded. We have never seen a man or woman not slightly deranged by either anxiety or grief. We have never seen a totally sane human being." I haven't actually watched this series, but it really does seem like a great exploration of how even the smallest of traumas can leave us with a grief of some kind, for what is now lost and no longer accessible to us, even though it might constantly linger

as someone who lost their grandmother with dementia last year, who had had it for years and was turned into an utterly terrible person due to it, this show and owen's story in particular hit REALLY hard. it's difficult to explain to someone who hasn't dealt with dementia what seeing someone fade away because of it feels like, and i think the show captured at least a bit of it. thank you for making these videos, you articulate some things that i just can't put words to.

The fact that I spent the last 20 minutes of this video essay bawling my eyes out is a testament to just how well the writers did with Bly Manor. Even a (remarkably well done, it must be said) summary of the story touches the heart.

I full on sobbed at so many scenes in Bly Manor. Just watching the end of their love again made me start crying.

My grandmother died after having dementia for 20 years a few weeks ago. I was really young when she was diagnosed and ended up being the one who babysat her after school. I don't really remember what she was like before. I wasn't old enough to, but I was just old enough to know that something was wrong. Kids aren't supposed to have to hide food from adults so they don't keep eating. They aren't supposed to have to tell them how to drive home because they forgot where they were. They aren't supposed to get yelled at for refusing to tell them what they want to eat for the 3rd time. The older I got the more she declined to the point she had to be fed, bathed, wiped... and then pushed around in a wheel chair. Watching Owen's reflections after his mother's funeral hits differently now. Bly Manor is definitely more scary than the Haunting of Hillhouse, at least existentially. I remember looking at the photos of my grandmother at her funeral and thinking how beautiful this stranger was. How SMART she was. And I couldn't help but wonder, what happened? Where'd she go? Hearing all the good memories my family has is like hearing about a stranger I never knew. All the dark parts scrubbed away. They had to be. I think that's the only way they could mourn. Because the thing that was left behind wasn't worth mourning: a ghost, an ugly ugly mummified ghost that couldn't even remember how to digest food or water. But that ghost and it's dark parts all I ever really got to know. Being one of those ghosts, feeling yourself losing the few anchors you have as you repeat the few things you can hold onto is a fate worse than death. I completely agree with Jamie. I'll kill myself before I let something like that happen to me.

Take my engagement until I finish watching

I needed this break down so much. Sometimes it’s like I can feel something completely but can’t articulate it. Beautiful just beautiful

Both Bly Maynor and Hill House was sooo incredibly done. There's is nothing I love more than the play on time and consciousness.....All the writers and directors did an amazing job. Henry James ..just a magnificent story for its time