Summary: Everyone arrives at Hill House and they get captured by Poppy and put into the red room. Hugh is left outside. Luke has been left to overdose. Each sibling is put into a nightmare but they are saved and awoken by Nell. Once they all wake up, they help save Luke, who is saved from death by Nell. When they are all awake, Nell appears and makes peace with them all. Hugh makes a deal with Liv and helps take everyone out. They all leave, but Steven and Hugh stay behind. Hugh tells Steven everything, revealing that Abigail was the Dudleys’ girl and they want to keep the house to visit their dead family. Steven also realizes that Hugh has died as part of his deal with Liv and will stay behind at the house with her. The Dudleys die at the house and remain an immortalized family. The siblings move on together and find happiness.
The Good: I really liked this finale. The opening of the episode is very spooky as the siblings all venture into the ghost-infested house, getting captured in the red room one after the other. Following that, the episode gets into its most profound content as each character’s insecurities are explored one by one. Shirley is the most fascinating as we learn that she cheated on her husband and is guilt-ridden about it, which adds new layers to her condemning him when it seemed like he was cheating with Theo. The others have good stuff too. Theo’s visions stem from her inability to open up to others and connect, Steven’s guilt comes from his fear of having children and the wedge it made with his wife, and Luke’s vision reflects the pain he feels about what he did to others when he was a junkie and his wish to get clean which feels impossible for him to do. These scenes are fantastic and also have distinct horror elements that are disquieting to experience. But it’s Nell who helps the siblings get out of it, and after a touching farewell speech where she resolves any tensions they had with her, it feels like the siblings are now able to address their problems. And that’s what happens by the episode’s end as we see a glimpse of a future where all four siblings have successfully moved on. As for the episode’s plot-related stuff, I also found that to be satisfying. Hugh’s death was unexpected, but it was powerful to see him still love and care for his wife despite all that happened with her. It was touching that he chose to preserve the kids’ memory of her, and now he can preserve his own memory of her by being with her after death. I thought the red room twist was also fantastic. It nicely answers how the house controls people (more time in the red room means the house gets to you faster), and also provides a surprising twist by revealing that so many familiar locations were in the red room all along; it seems like the door is only closed when somebody else is in there. These reveals worked well and answered questions satisfyingly. Lastly, I found the Dudleys’ story to be quite heartbreaking. Learning that they lost both kids to the house (poor Abigail only went there for one night and died) was devastating, but it was sweet to see that they had something of a happy ending as the whole family was able to unite as ghosts after they died. The Bad: This episode was lightly anticlimactic. The big reveals were fairly predictable by this point, and we didn’t get a resolution to as many little things as I expected, such as all the various ghosts that we saw in Hill House. The Unknown: Were Hugh and Nell able to satiate Liv’s desire to “wake up” the rest of her children? Did the siblings truly live happily ever after? What became of the house? What did Steven decide to do with it? Best Moment: Nell’s confetti speech was terrific, and it felt like this was the main point of the entire show. A great cathartic speech. Character of the Episode: Nell. Conclusion: A great finale that delivers a highly satisfying, though lightly anticlimactic, ending. For my thoughts on “The Haunting of Hill House” as a whole, click here. Score: 67
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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