Last night I finished binge-watching The Haunting of Hill House and wow, it was simply amazing to say the least. The series could go down as one of my top five favorite tv shows of all time, that is how incredible the show was. The series had a purpose and it fulfilled it. It had no fluff or filler; it had a beginning and an end. I am going to share to you my thoughts and feelings about what I loved about the show.
First off the characters showed me raw emotion I have not seen in a television program for a long time. The acting was over the top astounding. When a character laughed, I laughed. When a character got emotional, I got emotional. And when a character got scared, I got scared. It takes true talent to get people to feel a certain way when they watch. I felt a connection to each character at some point during my viewing, even the characters I did not like for the majority of the show (Steve/Shirley).
I will give my thoughts on each of the family members. Steve was sort of bland for the most part of the series, but I really understood where he was coming from at the end of the series. Shirley, for me, was the same as Luke. I liked her as a child, but found her grating at certain points in the play. Theo was a badass bitch. She was probably my favorite sibling at least as an adult. I loved her "sensitive" power. I thought it was a fun, little twist to the show. Luke was a great character, and probably my favorite sibling as a child. I also enjoyed him as an adult and really respected him when he resisted getting back into substance abuse. Nell's storyline was definitely the best storyline out of all the siblings. Her death episode is one of the best tv show episodes to have ever graced the small screen. Hugh, the father, played by Elliot from E.T. was a great character as well. It must have really screwed with him all those years to keep the secret of what really happened at the final night at Hill House from his children all of those years. Finally, we come to Carla Gugino's character of Olivia, the mother. Olivia was by far my favorite character by far in the series. Every scene she was in, she owned it. She was definitely the heart of the series, and she really drove the story forward.
The show also had one of the best episodes of any series I have watched as I mentioned earlier in my thoughts, and that episode was "The Bent-Neck Lady". The episode could have been it's own stand-alone story, and it still would have impacted me the way it did. When Nell's husband collapsed from an aneurysm while at the same time she was suffering from sleep paralysis, I got very upset. I could not imagine that happening to someone. Also, Nell's reaction to seeing her ghostly mother after years of not seeing her was so painful to watch. It hit me very hard. Again, raw emotion was prominent within' the actors of the show. Now, let us talk about the ending to the episode. Wow...what an ending. When the show revealed to us that Nell was the "bent-neck lady" she was imagining all of those years, my jaw hit the floor, and I gave a slow clap. It was such a genius idea by the writers. That episode alone had me convinced of how iconic the show was.
I would also like to give a shoutout to the "Two Storms" episode. The fact that there were I believe three one-shot scenes in the episode completely baffles me. It takes dedication and once again true talent for actors to do that especially young children. Congrats to the actors and staff for pulling out those long scenes; I am sure it was grueling to rehearse, though.
Finally, I would like to give my review on the ending, which honestly I consider the last two episodes to be the ending. I loved the explanation of Olivia's death in that a former ghost, who was insane, planted the seed to get Olivia to try to kill her children, so they would be safe from there older selves. It was difficult to watch Olivia be manipulated by the ghost, but I thought it really explained the setting of the house more and how actually messed up the house was. When Hugh sacrificed himself so his children could live, I really admired him for that and it really made up for the time that he had lost with his children as they grew up. Also, the twist about the room with the red door was very clever. The room was a safe haven for whenever a child needed it to escape to the hauntings of the house, and it made sense to me especially when Hugh told Steve that he never built a treehouse for Luke.
I loved this show so much. It is by far the best show of 2018, which is saying a lot since we have seen many great shows come out this year. I am glad that creator Mike Flanagan said that the story of the Crain family is complete. I would hate to see Netflix ruin the story completely with a second season after having an immaculate first season. I am gonna give the series a 9.5/10, with the .5 being taken off only because I felt there was just of a couple pacing issues at some parts, but it happens to every show, so it should not be ashamed for that.
Thank you for reading my thoughts on The Haunting of Hill House. Let me know your thoughts and opinions on the series. Did you like it as much as I did? Did you not like it? Why or why not?
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