Our final Hill House reaction... Thank you for joining us and making it such a great experience! 🥲❤ Don't worry, we're heading straight into Bly Manor! See you next week! 👀 Full length reaction to this episode on our Patreon www.patreon.com/collection/473651 Come hang out in our Discord discord.gg/HQFtGkCf37
Not sure if you guys caught this but just some revelations. William Hill (tall man) is Mr. Dudley's father. Mr. Dudley is a Hill. When he recounts the story of his mom, of her feeling scattered like a school girl in love. She was having an affair with William Hill. William bordered himself up in the wall out of fear and guilt (the two sisters in Theo's nightmare). Fear of Poppy in betraying her and guilt of fathering Hugh. Also the woman who comes to take Abigail to the afterlife when Liv kills her is Mr. Dudley's mother, Abigail's grandmother. Really like your reactions but just a little note as you move through the Mike Flanaghan universe. The dialogue is very specific and "revealing". Sometimes you guys tend to talk over the dialogue and you end up missing plot information. It may not be your particular style but maybe pausing on your end when you want to discuss something in the middle of a scene as opposed to talking through it while the scene is playing. A lot of the "revelations" of the show were "mentioned, hinted, or even stated in the previous episodes. Even the ones I mentioned above, a lot of people tend to miss. Really enjoy the channel.
Notice Nell touches everyone to get them out of their nightmares, but she offers her hand to Theo because Theo hates being touched. This show is so brilliant.
I get so choked up every time I see the Dudleys at the end because they're very religious people and in their minds they're giving up heaven to be with their children instead. 😭❤
I love how Nell's talking like a record skipping until someone triggers the right question to pull her into the moment to say her speech in context. Just a great way for her to show how time is different there and she's not sure when she is.
A little fun fact if you guys missed it, all the siblings represent the 5 stages of grief. Steve is denial, Shirley is anger, Theo is bargaining, Luke is depression, and Nell is acceptance. 😁
The original ending of this show was changed, Flanagan thought it was too dark. But if you pay attention to the painting behind at Luke's two year sober party, you can notice it is cgi. The original shot, has the vertical window of the red room. The show was supposed to end with all of them caught in the house. I love how Steve uses his logical thinking to realize he is in the house.
Luke being sober for 2 years in the end just reaffirms my theory that the Twin Thing was more of a curse when they were adults. He couldn’t get sober while Nell was on meds, and vice versa (ish). It was fated that one or both of them were going to be victims of the house.
I love how well this is put together. When Luke is in the Red Room, the words little Nell says are the same ghost Nell tells him when he sees her. "Go" when he wakes up at her death, and "No" at her funeral.
The first time I watched this episode, the ending almost instantly retroactively made the rest of the series much less scary, because when you get right down to it, most of the ghosts are just ... chilling out in the house, like the Dudleys and their children. Poppy is a piece of work, and the house itself is definitely a dark presence of its own, but most of the rest of the ghosts never actually do anything threatening to anyone; they're just there, hanging out in the corners. Really just the one in the basement, and even that one only actually ripped Luke's shirt; he was scared but not hurt at all. Hazel was even trying to help, when Liv was really losing it, but it was definitely too late by then. They're scary when you don't understand them, but much less so when you do. It was just such an interesting twist in perspective on the whole show.
The poem that Poppy tells is not about the Hills, it’s actually about the Gratten’s, the family who lived in Hill House before the Hills. The poem details how the first Hill murdered the Grattan family and took over the house. It’s probably why the house is the way it is, why it’s so predatory. That one act permanently stained it.
The Wratten family murders was a true story that happened in the late 1800s in Indiana, there was a ballad written about it where the family's name was changed to Gratten, which is what Poppy was reciting. In the book Luke is reciting this ballad. The Wratten family never lived at Hill House, Hill house was built by the Hill family, Hazel's father Jacob. Hazels mother died before the home was complete. Jacob owned many dogs which Hazel hated, hence why you hear dogs barking on the property. Edward, the ghost in the wine cellar that Luke sees, is Hazels son that Poppy killed by burning him alive, which is why he looks so grotesque. Jacqueline is Hazels daughter who died drowning in the cement foundation of the house, Hazel believes Poppy killed Jacqueline as well. Jacqueline is represented by the screaming female statue in the opening credits of the show. Poppy thinks Hazel killed her children, the daughter who gulps for air and the son in the wheelchair, and Hazel thinks Poppy killed her own children. Poppys Hisband, William, is the man bricked up in the basement. He is also the father of Mr. Dudley. William had an affair with Mr. Dudleys mom when she worked at Hill House and he was born at the house. "My mother would often wander into the woods barefoot at night and I could hear her giggling like a school girl in love" is a reference to her sneaking out to visit William in the woods in secret. William bricked himself into the wall out of guilt of the affair. Mr. Dudleys mom is the one you see take Abigails hand outside the Red Room when Abigail passes away, its her grandmother.
there's a quote from the book which I think makes the nature of the house far more incomprehensible and almost Lovecraftian. "This house, which seemed somehow to have formed itself, flying together into its own powerful pattern under the hands of its builders, fitting itself into its own construction of lines and angles, reared its great head back against the sky without concession to humanity. It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope." I honestly like that better than the house being tainted by any sort of human action, and by like I mean find much more terrifying, the idea that the house was wrong since it's creation and that it willed itself into existence seemingly with no other purpose than to consume the people that it lures into its stomach.
@@AmberVivicide i remember reading that Mike Flanagan had wanted to do an extra episode detailing the history of the house, but decided not to because the story was about the Crain family, not the house. But I really wish he would’ve because it would’ve tied a lot of loose ends up and answered a lot of questions people had about all the random ghosts that popped up.
I cry every time.... I don't know why you guys are so ashamed of it! I love the fact that by the end of the first book steve ends it with "and what walked there walked alone" and then ended the series with "and what walked there, walked together"... 😢❤
@@swordlily1girlAgree. He’s bringing the mood down significantly with all his negativity. I wish we just had the other three for these reactions as they actually appreciate the story and are invested. Can’t stand him tbh
Nah trust guys, they all bring something to the table. I seen reaction channels where everyone just agrees and no one really talks or plays an antagonistic role. It gets boring! I enjoy all the raggedy boys!
The part where Hugh tells Steve to look at him, just him and not the ghost really gets me. Heroic Dad moments always kick me in the teeth. 21:57 I don't how many other people saw it this way, but Nell offers Theo her hand even though she just reached out and touched the others and I find that so significant. The last time they saw each other, Nell, in her grief, took away Theo's consent when she grabbed her hand and forced it down onto the carpet. Here she reaches out but let's Theo reach back to accept her hand. I always found that so moving.
Welcome to the “wish I was watching it for the first time again.” club. This was such a great adaptation of this tale. So heartfelt and emotional and horrifying in some parts. Can’t wait for the next Flanagan reaction!
This is what I understood from the final episode (and the entire season). The house is evil, and both corrupts people that are somehow weaker or more sensitive (like Olivia and Poppy), and use them to get more victims, but also there are innocent victims whose deaths are caused by the house itself or by the people the house corrupted (like Nell, Hugh, Hazel, Mr. Hill). Once they are dead, the house keeps them there forever (in some kind on limbo) that's why there are ghosts that are bad and ghosts that are just there and are innocent (like Abigail). When Nell or Luke say "that wasn't mommy" they don 't mean literally, but because she is now lost to the house. She's no longer the person she used to be and was completely corrupted by the house. Regarding the time subject (past, present, future) one of the common beliefs regarding ghosts is that they are stuck in a never-ending loop (which is the explanation of why Nell haunts herself, for example) and why Nell, in that final episode, you can see talking in a loop until Shirley says the right thing to synch with Nell's conversation. Olivia didn't turn into another person, she ended up being totally corrupted by the house and the fear of losing her children. The house did the same to Poppy, to whom the house fed the same fear (she already had mental issues) and she murdered her children. The Dudleys hang on to the house just to see their dead daughter. And Mrs. Dudley end, may seem like a positive ending, but it's not. She will always be stuck in that house with her children forever, with no chance to pass on. Mr Hill is the tall ghost and also the one who briked himself inside the walls, one of Poppy's kids is the boy in the wheelchair Olivia sees in episode 6, Hazel is the sick old woman in the bed and the woman who takes Abigail's hand in episode 9 is her grandma.
How is that not positive? They get to be together forever. Their deaths may not have been positive but they aren't stuck in misery, Mrs. Dudley is stuck in eternity taking care of her children. She lost them way too soon, sounds like her heaven to me.
yep! Except the woman that takes Abigails hand is young Hazel, the actress is listed as such in the credits and Mike has confirmed it in a Q&A (but it’s shot very confusingly and without that context you’d absolutely think its her grandmother, idk why they shot it like this) as for Mrs Dudleys end, it’s especially tragic cause she is so religious- she is consciously denying herself from Heaven and God to stay with her children. I think it’s also the reason she didn’t just kill herself (if you are okay with ending at the house why not just rush to it to properly be with you child right away) because in her belief, she wouldn’t have stayed at the house but gone to hell for that
@@Moompl where do you get that idea from? That's not noted in show anywhere and I've never heard/read that theory before. From the amount of Ghosts, I assumed it had been like that for a long time and didn't have anything to do with the Hills specifically, they just happened to be the last family to have owned/lived in the house before the Cranes bought it.
Shirley is definitely easier to hate because being a hypocrite is probably the most unlikeable quality in a person, and on top of that she was also self-righteous, the second most disliked quality, so she's a perfect package of unlikeable in one person, but... You have to also consider her good sides - she let Theo stay in her guest house, she paid for Luke's rehab, she wouldn't take money from Steve for the book (you can argue whether it's ok or not, but the point is that she stood by her values that it's wrong without stopping others from doing it), and she very frequently gave grieving families a discount for her funeral services because she was empathetic, she knew what it's like to be in that position and wanted to help them however she could. The way she treated her husband when she suspected him of cheating was truly the worst parts of her (considering she herself full on cheated), but she's a human being who made a mistake and is doing her best to fix everything. Personally, if I was her husband, I don't know that I would forgive her, but I wouldn't hate her either, she's not a bad person is what I'm trying to say.
Show me someone who's 0% hypocritical and I'll show you someone with more than their share of mental health issues, probably including major depression. So yeah, I agree.
Agree for the most part, but it certainly seemed to me that Shirley tried to push her values on the others regarding the book profits and stop them from taking the money. There was the scene where she is first confronting Steve about it and speaks for all of the siblings saying WE wont take your money instead of just speaking for herself. Theo taking the money is also revealed to Shirley at the same time she finds out her husband took it, Theo and possibly the other siblings(?) were keeping that from her because they knew she would be upset with them for not doing what she wanted. It seems clear to me that if she could have stopped the others from taking the money she would have.
Yeah, her and Steve are both very frustrating at times, but theyre just real. They're the oldest kids in a family where it looked like mom went crazy and dad may have had to kill her. She grew up into a perfectionist fixer like dad but 1000x more over the top. Her character makes so much sense to me. It's one where like, I get not liking her but hating seems too far, especially if you don't also hate Steven for his stuff (again, I don't hate him, but I just think they're pretty equal in shittiness)
Nells last monologue is the best monologue ever and has always made me sob and smile at the same time. Seeing Igli tear up....... i am a ball of tears right now.
I know Blake doesn’t enjoy the horror aspect but it really allows for walls to come down and gives a much bigger impact to the emotional storylines. Think about her jump scare in the car then the heartbreaking speech Theo gave. It’s masterful when you can appreciate it.
A common thread is the characters saying stuff like "what reading room?" Happens in several episodes 😁 Also I adhere to the theory that the older woman who took Abigail's hand in Episode 9 was her grandmother. Tobias talks about her in Episode 7 😀 The house IMO is a metaphor for life. Yes, Hugh could have burned it down, but then the stuff about Olivia being a murderer comes out... in the end he was doing it for the kids, to protect them from knowing. So the adults are all a little to blame IMO. Steve inherited the house, and kept the promise, as Hugh hinted at. So it's abandoned and other people are kept away. This may be a hot take but I don't think the house is necessarily evil. Not any more evil than any creature that eats other creatures in order to sustain itself (we don't have evidence of this, but Nell's comments about digestion suggest it for me). But of course YMMV on that one 😉
Of all the great details in the episode, the one I don't see talked about enough is that when Nell goes into each of their hallucinations and touches them to wake them up, she lets Theo be the one to make physical contact versus when she forced Theo to touch the spot Arthur died.
My best friend (who was the closest thing to a sister I could have) passed away 6 months before this show came out/when I watched it... so when shirley and luke spoke at nells funeral, It killed me. Then in this episode when Luke told Nell he didnt know how to do this without her I just sobbed so hard. Because I kept thinking that and saying that when she passed. I still say that. Then, I just kept crying throughout the whole episode for so many parts. The whole show hit me SO hard in the feels.
I'm honestly really disappointed that people told you guys that Abigail was a real person before you saw this last episode. The shock of the reveal that Olivia had actually murdered a child was ruined. People should have waited to explain that after his episode if you guys still didn't understand that. Also, back when Olivia had the vision of Luke and Nell as kids, with Luke talking about "putting poison in his body for years and years", that was foreshadowing. The vision of child Luke was talking the poison of his drug addiction, not the rat poison. The Flannigan shows are kind of like an anthology. They may have things in common, like the actors, but they are each different, stand-alone, unrelated stories. Bly Manor has completely different kinds of ghosts and a very different kind of mystery. For me, personally, the story isn't quite as good as Hill House, but it's still a good story.
@@RealBradMiller During the intro, Igli told the others that he had read about it in the comments for the previous episode, so the comments told them about it before they saw the actual reveal. That's why it annoyed me so much.
Yeah, I'm also disappointed he brought it up to the others so we couldn't get their reaction to it during the episode as well. Or they could have just waited to read the comments until after they had watched this episode as well. So sad to see reactors spoiling themselves by reading comments. Ultimately it's the comments fault, but it's impossible to herd such a huge group of people that some won't feel the need to spoil unfortunately :/
@@psychokitty71 It's not really a reveal. Viewers like to assume Abigail is a ghost, but there's no reason to make that assumption. People who actually pay attention will figure it out.
The writing in this show is so tight. All fhe jumping in time works. From Nell's speech basically saying we loved each other, that's all that matters, each moment hurts more. Maybe I should rewatch this last episode when I need to cry.
Much has been written about the children representing the stages of grief: The Five Stages of Grief: Hill House Edition Steven “Steve” Crain: Denial. Shirley “Shirl” Crain: Anger. Theodora “Theo” Crain: Bargaining. Luke Crain: Depression. Eleanor “Nell” Crain: Acceptance.
I am overjoyed that you are continuing with the Flanniverse!!! Bly Manor is not as good as Hill House, but still awesome. Midnight Mass is a masterpiece. Fall of the House of Usher grows on me with every rewatch. All four series are better than most other shows.
My personal rating of them is Hill House at the top always, then Midnight Mass, then House of Usher, then Bly Manor - and keep in mind even though Bly Manor is last, it's by no means bad, it's still an amazing show, the other ones are just better.
The beginning of this episode is so confusing and weird at first 😂 it's hilarious watching you guys go through it. Also, lmao, Blake still covering his eyes in the house even though he has seen all these ghosts before 😂
Bly manor is obviously the next step, and thankfully for Blake, not as scary. (Also, completely different characters. We say goodbye to the Craine family with this episode.)
You should just get Blake drunk, take him to the house, let the ghosts take him, and he'll be happy and cute forever! By the way, I think they originally planned for everyone to wind-up dead in the "red-room." The 2-year party was supposed to be in the "red-room" to show they were all dead, but they apparently decided to end on an upbeat and hung up a painting on "the window" instead.
Besides the horror aspect, the story is about a dysfunctional family working through their demons together. Aside from the Crains, the Dudleys play a significant role in the narrative, having been a part of Hill House's history. They are crucial in preventing the house from claiming more souls by asking Hugh to lock it up and let time take its toll, as it couldn't be burnt-hence Luke's attempt. "The Haunting of Hill House" and "Midnight Mass" are my two favorite series from Mike Flanagan. I need to watch "The Fall of the House of Usher," which is based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story.
I found all the behind-the-scenes videos so interesting! The directors choices for certain colors, alternate endings. They’re worth a watch if you guys have time!
Everything started when they rehabilitated Luke and became sober. It affected Nell because they're connected as twins. This show is the GOAT. Not a single miss.
At the end, the father was able to show to Steve what happened back then in "the final night", when Olivia killed herself, because HE was dead (took pills before entering red room) and became a ghost of the house. And being a ghost of the house you are able to mess with living persons minds, who step into the house , and show them memories (even modify their memories or show them future events that will never happen, just to make them believe it is real , like Poppy did with almost everybody). I really think Poppy was not really that evil... just lonely and bored as fuck... Hugh locked the house for a lot of years and Poppy is the kind of woman who gets bored very quickly... Best show ever btw .... I hope you will react to Haunting of Bly Manor as well... Carefull tough... Bly Manor is a LOVE STORY, not a HORROR STORY. So don't judge it by comparing it to 1st season.
I think youre one of the only people I have come across who have wondered about how evil Poppy really was! I've always wondered if she ended up just like like Olivia. I'm sure a stranger in the future would consider Olivia to be evil and crazy but we know its much more complicated and tragic than that. If the show teaches us anything, its that we rarely have all the info about a person before judging them. Would we still talk about Poppy being evil if she eventually had her own episode?
Personally I never really thought Poppy was evil. The show mentions she had mental health problems and I think there was also something about her playing little pranks too. So I just figured she was bored after all those years.
The revelation that Shirley cheated on her husband actually made me like her character MORE😂 It made her behaviour make so much more sense and i think it added a lot of depth to her. All of the siblings having some shitty qualities but it not impacting the amount of sympathy i have for them or the effectiveness of the family drama is really a huge achievement. I hated Steve for 99% of the show but i was never rooting for him to get killed by the house, which is really a testament to how masterfully written the characters on this show are
This show is my favorite show of all times and I am not even a hardcore horror film fan. I love how it deals with your own demons and "ghosts" in the abstract way. What a masterpiece!
Omg I have so much to say… ok here it goes 😅 Igli, you are awesome and I loved your acknowledgement at the beginning 👏👏👏 The close up on Blake when Steve said “fear” was genius The realization that Abigail was the Dudley’s daughter and they lost another child Nelly is the absolute goat and her speech always gets me teary eyed.. HOWEVER the line that always gets me, and I don’t even get why, is Hugh saying “I was so lucky to be your dad” to Steve. Just the way he said it…. Ooooooooofffff right in my heart 💔 and the part where Mr Dudley takes Mrs Dudley to die in the house so they can be with their kids 😭😭😭😭 Someone else probably said this, and I don’t know if y’all noticed, but in the first episode, the line ended with “and whatever walked there, walked alone.” In this episode though, it ended with “and those who walked there, walked together.” THIS SHOW IS PERFECT I HAVE NO WORDS
I love seeing people''s reactions to this show for the first time. I just watched all these today. I'm not sure if you'll watch it again since you seem unsure, but I find it gets better with each watch, especially when you know when the jump scares are going to happen. You catch more rewatches you didn't see before, like all the hidden ghosts that are in plain sight in all the episodes. This is one of my favourite shows. I only just found your channel today, but if you guys go outside horror and haven't watched it yet, you should watch Anne with an E. It's another favourite.
Thanks for the ride guys, really enjoyed watching this with yall!! Ps: y'all should watch Hush if y'all wanna stay "in theme", same director and Theo plays the main character in the movie 😊
I watch Hill House at least once a year and try to check out as many good reactors doing it as I can. Started Bly Manor when it first came out and never finished. Might finally get to it by watching along with the Raggedy Pack.
I love the idea that each of the children are actually only effected by their version of grief from losing their mother and the house has nothing to do with it. It was just a vehicle for story telling. Even Steve explains away the "ghosts" again at the end. They are grief, guilt or a wish.
I am SO excited that you are going to the "Flaniverse". I have loved every second of this reaction series and can't wait to see the rest. Flanigan's other series are just as good! I look forward to this every Wednesday!
the hatred for shirley and steve kind of pisses me off. shirley and steve were flawed af because of their trauma. shirley was angry steve was afraid of mental illness luke became an addict nell was depressed theo was closed off
The order is Haunting of Hill House, Haunting of Bly Manor (the first 2 or 3 episodes were directed by Flanagan), Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club (also only directed a couple of episodes), and then The Fall of the House of Usher. The shows he did not direct all the episodes he mostly if not wrote all of them. I recommend also checking out the movies he has directed. You will definitely see familiar faces within his work.
this serie, this cast, this history, everything about this is top tier, ill keep revisiting it from time to time I guess for the rest of my years. great to rewatch with you guys 🤘🏻
Personally, read that yellow filter as the present time when the house was starting to digest...for almost everyone during the show, the time they spent in the red room had that same warm light. It had to look comfortable to make you stay.
Nells monolog was beautiful of memories being like confetti. It gets me teary eyed everytime, Victoria nailed so well, this show proves the Oscar's was always a joke, this show at least should have won for best screenwriting.
All the actors were amazing.'.. including the kids. Vitcoria Pedretti as Nell stood out (the doc visits and the monolog on the room) .. as did Kate Seigal (that "nothing" scene after the jump scare was some serious acting).. Next up is Catherine Parker as Poppy.. her dialogs were amazing... again everyone in the cast, (past family or current family) as well as other charecters were awesome.. but those 3 stood out for me.
Poppies: Perhaps Flanagan's crew chose Poppy as a lead ghost because of the association the poppy flower has with the color red and the chemical opium. The dizzying red poppy field in 1939's The Wizard of Oz and the fake poppy family would hang from their rearview mirrors to commemorate Veterans Day had precluded any thought of other colors. However, prompted by poppy thoughts, I did research today, and learned that poppies come is a variety of colors, and that red is not the most common, orange and yellow are.
My boy Blake has to be glad this is over . He has been stressed out 😂…. I’m proud of you bud , you did good. Corey and the tear 😢…. I get it I was over here ugly crying 😭
YAAAASSSSSSS Wednesdays are my longest days - I teach from 9am to 6pm yay 4 hour summer classes 🫠 AND KNOWING I GET TO WATCH THIS AS SOON AS I GOT HOME GOT ME THROUGH THE DAY LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Okay peeps here in the comments... I know many of you are excited about the Flaniverse (as am I), but NO SPOILERS for the guys! I enjoy seeing them react to the reveals.
I like how Nell's experience as "confetti" ties in with Kevin's explanation of the dead learning everything. In Nell's death, she flashes through the biggest moments in her life, gaining clarity. Due to her sensitivities while alive, she is able to see when her own ghost is present with her, regardless of her being at Hill House or not. Clara's choices are deeply touching to me. She's a woman of faith, though agreed with Olivia that there was so much they didn't know about the truth of the world. She glimpses proof of souls and an afterlife, and despite being a devout Christian, let's go of her spiritual pursuits to continue to protect her children. I'm sure knowing Poppy was there in the house with them probably influenced Clara in wanting to stay. Then there's that great shot of her carrying paint to Steve, she stops to talk to Olivia and she's framed with angel wings behind her from the statue. The show is very sneaky with Abigail. Foreboding music when she's introduced very much gives Victorian ghost vibes. It doesn't help that Clara is also suspiciously ghostly in the beginning too. The dialogue hints are subtle too. Horace says, "My first little girl's cry. That first cry." Olivia confirms that Clara homeschools, and Clara tells Olivia that she decided to work for them when she learned they had kids, two the same age as hers. The fact that Luke sees her ghost in the window right after her death, and then Nell sees her ghost when returning to the house continue to imply that she was a ghost the whole time, so they can hit that sad reveal that they Dudley's lost both children to the house, and that Hugh's great secret was protecting his wife's memory for his children, rather than letting them grow up knowing that she killed a child and attempted to kill Luke and Nell. Someone's probably mentioned it in a comment, but the woman we initially see taking Abigail's ghost away from Olivia is implied to be Mr. Dudley's mother. In Horace's monologue to Hugh he says that he was born there in the house, and that towards the end his mother would go wandering in the woods barefoot, giggling and talking as if to a suitor. It's possible that Horace is actually William Hill's child, and fear and guilt are Poppy and Horace's mom. I think he bricked himself in after she became pregnant, in 1948, wanting to die first (another nod to Kevin's dialogue). He was scared while dying, trying to scratch his way out, but "when he woke up he was tall", so I guess he got a little brave and continued to flirt with his side chick haha. Poppy often looks young as a ghost, though we've seen her older form as well. Clara mentions to Steve that she knew Poppy when she was older, while caring for William Hill's mother, Hazel Hill (Hazel being the old lady who told Olivia that Poppy was a liar). It's interesting that we see the Crane and Dudley families as ghosts that stay together. During the show, we see Poppy and William most often apart, their children seek comfort or attention from others, and Hazel calls out for Clara. *Today's comment was brought to you by ~ADHD~.
This episode is one of my favorite episodes ever produced, it also introduces Victoria as an amazing actress. Every single scene and every single word is important.
Do not forget Midnight Club. Everyone forgets that one. I read a lot of Christopher Pike as a kid. They even used the font from the bookcovers for the series title. ❤
@36:49 not sure when it started, but that single tear down the cheek is giving Kenshiro from "Fist of the North Star" and then it made me friggin tear up
"Hill House" is hands-down one of the best, if not the best, horror-drama series ever made: an incredibly intricate, fascinating and moving story with exceptional acting and production values. The fact that it was not recognized as such by "The Academy" shows just how worthless such recognition actually is. My favourite characters are the twins, especially young Luke, and the dad.
The finale gets me every time, especially the scene with the Dudleys 😭😭 It was a great journey, thanks! Looking forward to the next Flanagan reactions ♥
I just finished watching all of the last 5 THOHH reactions. So glad you guys like and appreciate both the story and the technical aspects and elements of the series. I figured the tracking shots and production for Nell's wake scene in "The Two Storms" would catch all of your attentions, as well as Nell's jump scare in "Witness Marks". They really are standouts in the series. Corey, you are thee MVP of editors for giving us viewers individual standalone jump scare reaction shots for each of you for that particular scene. You saved me the time to have to rewind the clip 4 times to catch each of your reactions, so Thank you🙌🙌🙌🙌for that! Your channel is one of my very favorite reaction channels. You're insight, intelligence, and post viewing analysis are all always on point. One of the few channels i watch all the content from intro to ending outro. Thanks for reacting and enjoying the Flanaverse. Bly Manor will be interesting. Midnight Mass. Man oh man, do i have a benevolent envy of you for getting to experience it for the first time. No Midnight Mass spoilers, but i will say it has a very different story from both THHOH and THOBM, yet is as complex, compelling, beautifully written, produced, acted, and directed. Looking forward to all of that.
Victoria Pedretti stole this episode. Hard to believe this was her first role. The little "poem" Poppy says to Hugh was an actual lullaby they'd sing to children. That's where Shirley Jackson, the author of the original book, got it from. Makes Rock-a-bye Baby (a horrific lullaby in my opinion) seem sweet in comparison. So glad Cojo noticed that Olivia's eyes were like ice when she started at Steve as the Red door closed. Creepy is putting it mildly. There's a theory out there that the house is like a "capsule" for the evil of the spirits that haunt it. Without the container, all that evil and crazy is let out into the world. That's why it wasn't allowed to be razed. I'm glad y'all got to witness the genius of the Flanaverse and can't wait until y'all get to Usher.
Watching this ending I was stopping all my tears drop. BUT then I saw the Mr. Dudley carry Mrs Dudley in the woods and him crying to see his girls finally together just BROKE ME, I bawled so much like a baby. Old people in media are my weakness, man.
Our final Hill House reaction... Thank you for joining us and making it such a great experience! 🥲❤
Don't worry, we're heading straight into Bly Manor! See you next week! 👀
Full length reaction to this episode on our Patreon www.patreon.com/collection/473651
Come hang out in our Discord discord.gg/HQFtGkCf37
That close up of the single tear running down Corey’s face deserves an Emmy…
Not sure if you guys caught this but just some revelations. William Hill (tall man) is Mr. Dudley's father. Mr. Dudley is a Hill. When he recounts the story of his mom, of her feeling scattered like a school girl in love. She was having an affair with William Hill. William bordered himself up in the wall out of fear and guilt (the two sisters in Theo's nightmare). Fear of Poppy in betraying her and guilt of fathering Hugh. Also the woman who comes to take Abigail to the afterlife when Liv kills her is Mr. Dudley's mother, Abigail's grandmother.
Really like your reactions but just a little note as you move through the Mike Flanaghan universe. The dialogue is very specific and "revealing". Sometimes you guys tend to talk over the dialogue and you end up missing plot information. It may not be your particular style but maybe pausing on your end when you want to discuss something in the middle of a scene as opposed to talking through it while the scene is playing. A lot of the "revelations" of the show were "mentioned, hinted, or even stated in the previous episodes. Even the ones I mentioned above, a lot of people tend to miss.
Really enjoy the channel.
Psyched for Bly! This has been a great reaction series, thanks!
Notice Nell touches everyone to get them out of their nightmares, but she offers her hand to Theo because Theo hates being touched. This show is so brilliant.
😢 absolutely. What a great notice!!
It is such an injustice that not only did this series not win a single Emmy award, it wasn't even nominated.
These award shows have it out for the horror genre. It’s the most disrespected genre
Horrors and comedies(the movies, not the TV series), don't do well with awards.
Episode 6 alone warrants AT LEAST a nom I'm still salty about it after all these years lol
Horror and sci-fi are regularly shunned by Emmy voters.
Horror genre always gets shafted. Hereditary is a great example. Toni Collette did AMAZING. Didn't even get a nomination.
I get so choked up every time I see the Dudleys at the end because they're very religious people and in their minds they're giving up heaven to be with their children instead. 😭❤
Same 😭 because I would do the same! My heaven is with my babies! ❤️
I love how Nell's talking like a record skipping until someone triggers the right question to pull her into the moment to say her speech in context. Just a great way for her to show how time is different there and she's not sure when she is.
Nells ending monologue makes me sob like a baby every single time 😭😭 victoria pedretti killed this role
100%. She was absolutely outstanding.
she did amazing
I’m like Corey, Nell’s monologue always makes me cry, but so does Hughes, especially the “I was so lucky to be your dad”.
The rest is confetti 🎉😭
@@Sageddegas (sobbing uncontrollably) 😭😭😭
The Dad's speech to Steve at the end with the "I was so lucky to be your dad" as Young Hugh always makes me choke up 😢❤
I don't just choke up, I sob. Every time.
@@screamr2d2Same
SAME SOB EVERY TIME 😭😭😭
@@screamr2d2 I was trying to appear strong. But yeah, nah, it's pure sobbing 😭
@@JaimeCard WHOOPS didn't mean to call you on it!
A little fun fact if you guys missed it, all the siblings represent the 5 stages of grief.
Steve is denial, Shirley is anger, Theo is bargaining, Luke is depression, and Nell is acceptance. 😁
The original ending of this show was changed, Flanagan thought it was too dark. But if you pay attention to the painting behind at Luke's two year sober party, you can notice it is cgi. The original shot, has the vertical window of the red room. The show was supposed to end with all of them caught in the house.
I love how Steve uses his logical thinking to realize he is in the house.
The fact yall didn’t cry at Nell’s speech or the ending should be a crime because IM SOBBING every time 😂
Corey’s one tear got me though!!!!
Being emotionally available enough to cry in a group setting is harder
Bly Manor is considerably less scary so Blake should enjoy it more. It’s more of a gothic romance with some horror elements thrown in.
Hanna's episode is my favorite and the saddest, for me! Great show!
@@pepelegal1989 that episode destroyed me. Also the ending, I think I cried for like an hour or two before I was calm enough to go to bed
i will ALWAYS be sobbing though, always😭
I love the tone Mike hit with Bly Manor, it's just soooo beautiful - a slower pace. Incredibly emotional show
Okay but like why was I emotionally destroyed then?!? 😂😂😭
there is no problem in crying, just show that you are a good human, an empathic one, and not less man for that
Luke being sober for 2 years in the end just reaffirms my theory that the Twin Thing was more of a curse when they were adults. He couldn’t get sober while Nell was on meds, and vice versa (ish). It was fated that one or both of them were going to be victims of the house.
I thought Nell only started taking meds after Arthur passed away, wasn't Luke an addict for years before that?
I love how well this is put together. When Luke is in the Red Room, the words little Nell says are the same ghost Nell tells him when he sees her. "Go" when he wakes up at her death, and "No" at her funeral.
The first time I watched this episode, the ending almost instantly retroactively made the rest of the series much less scary, because when you get right down to it, most of the ghosts are just ... chilling out in the house, like the Dudleys and their children. Poppy is a piece of work, and the house itself is definitely a dark presence of its own, but most of the rest of the ghosts never actually do anything threatening to anyone; they're just there, hanging out in the corners. Really just the one in the basement, and even that one only actually ripped Luke's shirt; he was scared but not hurt at all. Hazel was even trying to help, when Liv was really losing it, but it was definitely too late by then. They're scary when you don't understand them, but much less so when you do. It was just such an interesting twist in perspective on the whole show.
The poem that Poppy tells is not about the Hills, it’s actually about the Gratten’s, the family who lived in Hill House before the Hills. The poem details how the first Hill murdered the Grattan family and took over the house. It’s probably why the house is the way it is, why it’s so predatory. That one act permanently stained it.
oh! I didnt know this lil tidbit thanks for commenting it
The Wratten family murders was a true story that happened in the late 1800s in Indiana, there was a ballad written about it where the family's name was changed to Gratten, which is what Poppy was reciting. In the book Luke is reciting this ballad. The Wratten family never lived at Hill House, Hill house was built by the Hill family, Hazel's father Jacob. Hazels mother died before the home was complete. Jacob owned many dogs which Hazel hated, hence why you hear dogs barking on the property. Edward, the ghost in the wine cellar that Luke sees, is Hazels son that Poppy killed by burning him alive, which is why he looks so grotesque. Jacqueline is Hazels daughter who died drowning in the cement foundation of the house, Hazel believes Poppy killed Jacqueline as well. Jacqueline is represented by the screaming female statue in the opening credits of the show. Poppy thinks Hazel killed her children, the daughter who gulps for air and the son in the wheelchair, and Hazel thinks Poppy killed her own children. Poppys Hisband, William, is the man bricked up in the basement. He is also the father of Mr. Dudley. William had an affair with Mr. Dudleys mom when she worked at Hill House and he was born at the house. "My mother would often wander into the woods barefoot at night and I could hear her giggling like a school girl in love" is a reference to her sneaking out to visit William in the woods in secret. William bricked himself into the wall out of guilt of the affair. Mr. Dudleys mom is the one you see take Abigails hand outside the Red Room when Abigail passes away, its her grandmother.
there's a quote from the book which I think makes the nature of the house far more incomprehensible and almost Lovecraftian. "This house, which seemed somehow to have formed itself, flying together into its own powerful pattern under the hands of its builders, fitting itself into its own construction of lines and angles, reared its great head back against the sky without concession to humanity. It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope." I honestly like that better than the house being tainted by any sort of human action, and by like I mean find much more terrifying, the idea that the house was wrong since it's creation and that it willed itself into existence seemingly with no other purpose than to consume the people that it lures into its stomach.
@@AmberVivicide i remember reading that Mike Flanagan had wanted to do an extra episode detailing the history of the house, but decided not to because the story was about the Crain family, not the house. But I really wish he would’ve because it would’ve tied a lot of loose ends up and answered a lot of questions people had about all the random ghosts that popped up.
Why make up a lie like this? What you said isn't true at all.
Blake dogging on Igli while spending half the show watching between his fingers is why I’m here.
You can see why Timothy Hutton won an Oscar at 20 years old , he’s such an amazing actor
I cry every time.... I don't know why you guys are so ashamed of it!
I love the fact that by the end of the first book steve ends it with "and what walked there walked alone" and then ended the series with "and what walked there, walked together"... 😢❤
Also, fun fact, Flanagan is married to the actress that plays Theo....
(Lucky Bastard)
Not Jumps at every Scare Blake calling Igli a B for crying…. Lmaoooo
Don't know if it it is an act or banter but he is annoying.
@@swordlily1girlAgree. He’s bringing the mood down significantly with all his negativity. I wish we just had the other three for these reactions as they actually appreciate the story and are invested. Can’t stand him tbh
Nah trust guys, they all bring something to the table. I seen reaction channels where everyone just agrees and no one really talks or plays an antagonistic role. It gets boring! I enjoy all the raggedy boys!
The part where Hugh tells Steve to look at him, just him and not the ghost really gets me. Heroic Dad moments always kick me in the teeth.
21:57 I don't how many other people saw it this way, but Nell offers Theo her hand even though she just reached out and touched the others and I find that so significant. The last time they saw each other, Nell, in her grief, took away Theo's consent when she grabbed her hand and forced it down onto the carpet. Here she reaches out but let's Theo reach back to accept her hand. I always found that so moving.
Welcome to the “wish I was watching it for the first time again.” club. This was such a great adaptation of this tale. So heartfelt and emotional and horrifying in some parts. Can’t wait for the next Flanagan reaction!
Excited for Midnight Mass and House of Usher!!
Is that good tho?
This is what I understood from the final episode (and the entire season). The house is evil, and both corrupts people that are somehow weaker or more sensitive (like Olivia and Poppy), and use them to get more victims, but also there are innocent victims whose deaths are caused by the house itself or by the people the house corrupted (like Nell, Hugh, Hazel, Mr. Hill). Once they are dead, the house keeps them there forever (in some kind on limbo) that's why there are ghosts that are bad and ghosts that are just there and are innocent (like Abigail).
When Nell or Luke say "that wasn't mommy" they don 't mean literally, but because she is now lost to the house. She's no longer the person she used to be and was completely corrupted by the house.
Regarding the time subject (past, present, future) one of the common beliefs regarding ghosts is that they are stuck in a never-ending loop (which is the explanation of why Nell haunts herself, for example) and why Nell, in that final episode, you can see talking in a loop until Shirley says the right thing to synch with Nell's conversation.
Olivia didn't turn into another person, she ended up being totally corrupted by the house and the fear of losing her children. The house did the same to Poppy, to whom the house fed the same fear (she already had mental issues) and she murdered her children.
The Dudleys hang on to the house just to see their dead daughter. And Mrs. Dudley end, may seem like a positive ending, but it's not. She will always be stuck in that house with her children forever, with no chance to pass on.
Mr Hill is the tall ghost and also the one who briked himself inside the walls, one of Poppy's kids is the boy in the wheelchair Olivia sees in episode 6, Hazel is the sick old woman in the bed and the woman who takes Abigail's hand in episode 9 is her grandma.
How is that not positive? They get to be together forever. Their deaths may not have been positive but they aren't stuck in misery, Mrs. Dudley is stuck in eternity taking care of her children. She lost them way too soon, sounds like her heaven to me.
I think the house became this way bc the first Hill killed everyone in the house and then took over it. That violent act permanently stained it
Great explanation of everything!!
yep! Except the woman that takes Abigails hand is young Hazel, the actress is listed as such in the credits and Mike has confirmed it in a Q&A (but it’s shot very confusingly and without that context you’d absolutely think its her grandmother, idk why they shot it like this)
as for Mrs Dudleys end, it’s especially tragic cause she is so religious- she is consciously denying herself from Heaven and God to stay with her children. I think it’s also the reason she didn’t just kill herself (if you are okay with ending at the house why not just rush to it to properly be with you child right away) because in her belief, she wouldn’t have stayed at the house but gone to hell for that
@@Moompl where do you get that idea from? That's not noted in show anywhere and I've never heard/read that theory before. From the amount of Ghosts, I assumed it had been like that for a long time and didn't have anything to do with the Hills specifically, they just happened to be the last family to have owned/lived in the house before the Cranes bought it.
Shirley is definitely easier to hate because being a hypocrite is probably the most unlikeable quality in a person, and on top of that she was also self-righteous, the second most disliked quality, so she's a perfect package of unlikeable in one person, but...
You have to also consider her good sides - she let Theo stay in her guest house, she paid for Luke's rehab, she wouldn't take money from Steve for the book (you can argue whether it's ok or not, but the point is that she stood by her values that it's wrong without stopping others from doing it), and she very frequently gave grieving families a discount for her funeral services because she was empathetic, she knew what it's like to be in that position and wanted to help them however she could.
The way she treated her husband when she suspected him of cheating was truly the worst parts of her (considering she herself full on cheated), but she's a human being who made a mistake and is doing her best to fix everything. Personally, if I was her husband, I don't know that I would forgive her, but I wouldn't hate her either, she's not a bad person is what I'm trying to say.
Show me someone who's 0% hypocritical and I'll show you someone with more than their share of mental health issues, probably including major depression. So yeah, I agree.
Agree for the most part, but it certainly seemed to me that Shirley tried to push her values on the others regarding the book profits and stop them from taking the money.
There was the scene where she is first confronting Steve about it and speaks for all of the siblings saying WE wont take your money instead of just speaking for herself.
Theo taking the money is also revealed to Shirley at the same time she finds out her husband took it, Theo and possibly the other siblings(?) were keeping that from her because they knew she would be upset with them for not doing what she wanted.
It seems clear to me that if she could have stopped the others from taking the money she would have.
@@myboatforacar 0% hypocritical? Who is talking about percentages?
@@myboatforacarthere's a big difference between being a little bit hypocritical, or somewhat hypocritical, and being as hypocritical as Shirley 😂
Yeah, her and Steve are both very frustrating at times, but theyre just real. They're the oldest kids in a family where it looked like mom went crazy and dad may have had to kill her. She grew up into a perfectionist fixer like dad but 1000x more over the top. Her character makes so much sense to me. It's one where like, I get not liking her but hating seems too far, especially if you don't also hate Steven for his stuff (again, I don't hate him, but I just think they're pretty equal in shittiness)
Nells last monologue is the best monologue ever and has always made me sob and smile at the same time. Seeing Igli tear up....... i am a ball of tears right now.
I know Blake doesn’t enjoy the horror aspect but it really allows for walls to come down and gives a much bigger impact to the emotional storylines. Think about her jump scare in the car then the heartbreaking speech Theo gave. It’s masterful when you can appreciate it.
A common thread is the characters saying stuff like "what reading room?" Happens in several episodes 😁
Also I adhere to the theory that the older woman who took Abigail's hand in Episode 9 was her grandmother. Tobias talks about her in Episode 7 😀
The house IMO is a metaphor for life. Yes, Hugh could have burned it down, but then the stuff about Olivia being a murderer comes out... in the end he was doing it for the kids, to protect them from knowing. So the adults are all a little to blame IMO.
Steve inherited the house, and kept the promise, as Hugh hinted at. So it's abandoned and other people are kept away.
This may be a hot take but I don't think the house is necessarily evil. Not any more evil than any creature that eats other creatures in order to sustain itself (we don't have evidence of this, but Nell's comments about digestion suggest it for me). But of course YMMV on that one 😉
Of all the great details in the episode, the one I don't see talked about enough is that when Nell goes into each of their hallucinations and touches them to wake them up, she lets Theo be the one to make physical contact versus when she forced Theo to touch the spot Arthur died.
My best friend (who was the closest thing to a sister I could have) passed away 6 months before this show came out/when I watched it... so when shirley and luke spoke at nells funeral, It killed me. Then in this episode when Luke told Nell he didnt know how to do this without her I just sobbed so hard. Because I kept thinking that and saying that when she passed. I still say that. Then, I just kept crying throughout the whole episode for so many parts. The whole show hit me SO hard in the feels.
I'm honestly really disappointed that people told you guys that Abigail was a real person before you saw this last episode. The shock of the reveal that Olivia had actually murdered a child was ruined. People should have waited to explain that after his episode if you guys still didn't understand that. Also, back when Olivia had the vision of Luke and Nell as kids, with Luke talking about "putting poison in his body for years and years", that was foreshadowing. The vision of child Luke was talking the poison of his drug addiction, not the rat poison. The Flannigan shows are kind of like an anthology. They may have things in common, like the actors, but they are each different, stand-alone, unrelated stories. Bly Manor has completely different kinds of ghosts and a very different kind of mystery. For me, personally, the story isn't quite as good as Hill House, but it's still a good story.
They likely already saw that episode, but certainly could have ruined it for anyone watching along.
@@RealBradMiller During the intro, Igli told the others that he had read about it in the comments for the previous episode, so the comments told them about it before they saw the actual reveal. That's why it annoyed me so much.
Yeah, I'm also disappointed he brought it up to the others so we couldn't get their reaction to it during the episode as well. Or they could have just waited to read the comments until after they had watched this episode as well. So sad to see reactors spoiling themselves by reading comments. Ultimately it's the comments fault, but it's impossible to herd such a huge group of people that some won't feel the need to spoil unfortunately :/
@@psychokitty71 It's not really a reveal. Viewers like to assume Abigail is a ghost, but there's no reason to make that assumption. People who actually pay attention will figure it out.
The writing in this show is so tight. All fhe jumping in time works.
From Nell's speech basically saying we loved each other, that's all that matters, each moment hurts more. Maybe I should rewatch this last episode when I need to cry.
The way Igli said “…all the victims” when Luke woke up to see Olivia, Nell and Abigail is so funny to me idk why
Much has been written about the children representing the stages of grief:
The Five Stages of Grief: Hill House Edition
Steven “Steve” Crain: Denial.
Shirley “Shirl” Crain: Anger.
Theodora “Theo” Crain: Bargaining.
Luke Crain: Depression.
Eleanor “Nell” Crain: Acceptance.
I am overjoyed that you are continuing with the Flanniverse!!! Bly Manor is not as good as Hill House, but still awesome. Midnight Mass is a masterpiece. Fall of the House of Usher grows on me with every rewatch. All four series are better than most other shows.
My personal rating of them is Hill House at the top always, then Midnight Mass, then House of Usher, then Bly Manor - and keep in mind even though Bly Manor is last, it's by no means bad, it's still an amazing show, the other ones are just better.
I rate them as Hill House, House of Usher, Bly Manor then Midnight Mass. Everyone has a different line up ive noticed but all are spectacular.
This series is completely brilliant, the way it’s written, the way it’s shot the casting, the dialogue, everything.
The beginning of this episode is so confusing and weird at first 😂 it's hilarious watching you guys go through it. Also, lmao, Blake still covering his eyes in the house even though he has seen all these ghosts before 😂
Bly manor is obviously the next step, and thankfully for Blake, not as scary. (Also, completely different characters. We say goodbye to the Craine family with this episode.)
You should just get Blake drunk, take him to the house, let the ghosts take him, and he'll be happy and cute forever! By the way, I think they originally planned for everyone to wind-up dead in the "red-room." The 2-year party was supposed to be in the "red-room" to show they were all dead, but they apparently decided to end on an upbeat and hung up a painting on "the window" instead.
Besides the horror aspect, the story is about a dysfunctional family working through their demons together. Aside from the Crains, the Dudleys play a significant role in the narrative, having been a part of Hill House's history. They are crucial in preventing the house from claiming more souls by asking Hugh to lock it up and let time take its toll, as it couldn't be burnt-hence Luke's attempt. "The Haunting of Hill House" and "Midnight Mass" are my two favorite series from Mike Flanagan. I need to watch "The Fall of the House of Usher," which is based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story.
U need to watch House of Usher quickly. It's a masterpiece & top show from Flannagan right after Hill's House for me.
Just sobbing at work at 8 am because I just haaaaaaaaaad to rewatch this. Thanks for the journey boys, glad I can hop on Bly now
I've watched this show so many times now and I still love it and I still cry like a baby.
I found all the behind-the-scenes videos so interesting! The directors choices for certain colors, alternate endings. They’re worth a watch if you guys have time!
Y’all have to rewatch this show. Theres SO many Easter eggs and clues to what’s going on throughout
Everything started when they rehabilitated Luke and became sober. It affected Nell because they're connected as twins.
This show is the GOAT. Not a single miss.
Anybody else noticed when hugh hugged nell and olivia the 2 lights over their heads look like halos?
At the end, the father was able to show to Steve what happened back then in "the final night", when Olivia killed herself, because HE was dead (took pills before entering red room) and became a ghost of the house. And being a ghost of the house you are able to mess with living persons minds, who step into the house , and show them memories (even modify their memories or show them future events that will never happen, just to make them believe it is real , like Poppy did with almost everybody). I really think Poppy was not really that evil... just lonely and bored as fuck... Hugh locked the house for a lot of years and Poppy is the kind of woman who gets bored very quickly...
Best show ever btw .... I hope you will react to Haunting of Bly Manor as well... Carefull tough... Bly Manor is a LOVE STORY, not a HORROR STORY. So don't judge it by comparing it to 1st season.
I think youre one of the only people I have come across who have wondered about how evil Poppy really was! I've always wondered if she ended up just like like Olivia. I'm sure a stranger in the future would consider Olivia to be evil and crazy but we know its much more complicated and tragic than that. If the show teaches us anything, its that we rarely have all the info about a person before judging them. Would we still talk about Poppy being evil if she eventually had her own episode?
Personally I never really thought Poppy was evil. The show mentions she had mental health problems and I think there was also something about her playing little pranks too. So I just figured she was bored after all those years.
Don't worry Blake, Bly isn't nearly as jumpscary. It's basically a gothic romance with some spookiness peppered in.
I'm so happy you guys decided to watch all other Flanagan's series, and hopefully his movies too one day. Hush, Oculus, Doctor Sleep 😁
The revelation that Shirley cheated on her husband actually made me like her character MORE😂 It made her behaviour make so much more sense and i think it added a lot of depth to her. All of the siblings having some shitty qualities but it not impacting the amount of sympathy i have for them or the effectiveness of the family drama is really a huge achievement. I hated Steve for 99% of the show but i was never rooting for him to get killed by the house, which is really a testament to how masterfully written the characters on this show are
I can’t wait for you guys to go through the Flanagan journey!! Boy is it a roller coaster!!
This show is my favorite show of all times and I am not even a hardcore horror film fan. I love how it deals with your own demons and "ghosts" in the abstract way. What a masterpiece!
Been waiting for the finale reaction all week
Omg I have so much to say… ok here it goes 😅
Igli, you are awesome and I loved your acknowledgement at the beginning 👏👏👏
The close up on Blake when Steve said “fear” was genius
The realization that Abigail was the Dudley’s daughter and they lost another child
Nelly is the absolute goat and her speech always gets me teary eyed.. HOWEVER the line that always gets me, and I don’t even get why, is Hugh saying “I was so lucky to be your dad” to Steve. Just the way he said it…. Ooooooooofffff right in my heart 💔 and the part where Mr Dudley takes Mrs Dudley to die in the house so they can be with their kids 😭😭😭😭
Someone else probably said this, and I don’t know if y’all noticed, but in the first episode, the line ended with “and whatever walked there, walked alone.” In this episode though, it ended with “and those who walked there, walked together.”
THIS SHOW IS PERFECT I HAVE NO WORDS
I love seeing people''s reactions to this show for the first time. I just watched all these today. I'm not sure if you'll watch it again since you seem unsure, but I find it gets better with each watch, especially when you know when the jump scares are going to happen. You catch more rewatches you didn't see before, like all the hidden ghosts that are in plain sight in all the episodes. This is one of my favourite shows. I only just found your channel today, but if you guys go outside horror and haven't watched it yet, you should watch Anne with an E. It's another favourite.
Thanks for the ride guys, really enjoyed watching this with yall!!
Ps: y'all should watch Hush if y'all wanna stay "in theme", same director and Theo plays the main character in the movie 😊
I watch Hill House at least once a year and try to check out as many good reactors doing it as I can. Started Bly Manor when it first came out and never finished. Might finally get to it by watching along with the Raggedy Pack.
I love the idea that each of the children are actually only effected by their version of grief from losing their mother and the house has nothing to do with it. It was just a vehicle for story telling. Even Steve explains away the "ghosts" again at the end. They are grief, guilt or a wish.
Sorry to Cojo and Blake, but it's actually weird to not cry during these kind of moments.
There's also The Midnight Club. It's a miniseries that came out between Midnight Mass and House of Usher.
I am SO excited that you are going to the "Flaniverse". I have loved every second of this reaction series and can't wait to see the rest. Flanigan's other series are just as good! I look forward to this every Wednesday!
the hatred for shirley and steve kind of pisses me off.
shirley and steve were flawed af because of their trauma.
shirley was angry
steve was afraid of mental illness
luke became an addict
nell was depressed
theo was closed off
The order is Haunting of Hill House, Haunting of Bly Manor (the first 2 or 3 episodes were directed by Flanagan), Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club (also only directed a couple of episodes), and then The Fall of the House of Usher. The shows he did not direct all the episodes he mostly if not wrote all of them. I recommend also checking out the movies he has directed. You will definitely see familiar faces within his work.
this serie, this cast, this history, everything about this is top tier, ill keep revisiting it from time to time I guess for the rest of my years. great to rewatch with you guys 🤘🏻
Personally, read that yellow filter as the present time when the house was starting to digest...for almost everyone during the show, the time they spent in the red room had that same warm light. It had to look comfortable to make you stay.
Not just the yellow filters but the rectangular window in the background. This show is so f-ing intelligent.
Nells monolog was beautiful of memories being like confetti. It gets me teary eyed everytime, Victoria nailed so well, this show proves the Oscar's was always a joke, this show at least should have won for best screenwriting.
All the actors were amazing.'.. including the kids. Vitcoria Pedretti as Nell stood out (the doc visits and the monolog on the room) .. as did Kate Seigal (that "nothing" scene after the jump scare was some serious acting).. Next up is Catherine Parker as Poppy.. her dialogs were amazing... again everyone in the cast, (past family or current family) as well as other charecters were awesome.. but those 3 stood out for me.
Poppies: Perhaps Flanagan's crew chose Poppy as a lead ghost because of the association the poppy flower has with the color red and the chemical opium. The dizzying red poppy field in 1939's The Wizard of Oz and the fake poppy family would hang from their rearview mirrors to commemorate Veterans Day had precluded any thought of other colors. However, prompted by poppy thoughts, I did research today, and learned that poppies come is a variety of colors, and that red is not the most common, orange and yellow are.
Yes, so super stoked for this finale episode and so excited to see you guys react to the rest of Mike Flanagan's work!
My boy Blake has to be glad this is over . He has been stressed out 😂…. I’m proud of you bud , you did good. Corey and the tear 😢…. I get it I was over here ugly crying 😭
I've seen this well over a dozen times and the ending always makes me cry.
I just finished the 1x3/1x4 of HOTD and this popped on the screen. We're being well fed this week, folks. Love it!
This was an exceptional series from the story line, the music, the acting, etc. Top notch and seriously underrated.
YAAAASSSSSSS Wednesdays are my longest days - I teach from 9am to 6pm yay 4 hour summer classes 🫠 AND KNOWING I GET TO WATCH THIS AS SOON AS I GOT HOME GOT ME THROUGH THE DAY LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO
“The rest is confetti…” got me everytime
Okay peeps here in the comments... I know many of you are excited about the Flaniverse (as am I), but NO SPOILERS for the guys! I enjoy seeing them react to the reveals.
I like how Nell's experience as "confetti" ties in with Kevin's explanation of the dead learning everything. In Nell's death, she flashes through the biggest moments in her life, gaining clarity. Due to her sensitivities while alive, she is able to see when her own ghost is present with her, regardless of her being at Hill House or not.
Clara's choices are deeply touching to me. She's a woman of faith, though agreed with Olivia that there was so much they didn't know about the truth of the world. She glimpses proof of souls and an afterlife, and despite being a devout Christian, let's go of her spiritual pursuits to continue to protect her children. I'm sure knowing Poppy was there in the house with them probably influenced Clara in wanting to stay. Then there's that great shot of her carrying paint to Steve, she stops to talk to Olivia and she's framed with angel wings behind her from the statue.
The show is very sneaky with Abigail. Foreboding music when she's introduced very much gives Victorian ghost vibes. It doesn't help that Clara is also suspiciously ghostly in the beginning too. The dialogue hints are subtle too. Horace says, "My first little girl's cry. That first cry." Olivia confirms that Clara homeschools, and Clara tells Olivia that she decided to work for them when she learned they had kids, two the same age as hers. The fact that Luke sees her ghost in the window right after her death, and then Nell sees her ghost when returning to the house continue to imply that she was a ghost the whole time, so they can hit that sad reveal that they Dudley's lost both children to the house, and that Hugh's great secret was protecting his wife's memory for his children, rather than letting them grow up knowing that she killed a child and attempted to kill Luke and Nell.
Someone's probably mentioned it in a comment, but the woman we initially see taking Abigail's ghost away from Olivia is implied to be Mr. Dudley's mother. In Horace's monologue to Hugh he says that he was born there in the house, and that towards the end his mother would go wandering in the woods barefoot, giggling and talking as if to a suitor. It's possible that Horace is actually William Hill's child, and fear and guilt are Poppy and Horace's mom. I think he bricked himself in after she became pregnant, in 1948, wanting to die first (another nod to Kevin's dialogue). He was scared while dying, trying to scratch his way out, but "when he woke up he was tall", so I guess he got a little brave and continued to flirt with his side chick haha.
Poppy often looks young as a ghost, though we've seen her older form as well. Clara mentions to Steve that she knew Poppy when she was older, while caring for William Hill's mother, Hazel Hill (Hazel being the old lady who told Olivia that Poppy was a liar). It's interesting that we see the Crane and Dudley families as ghosts that stay together. During the show, we see Poppy and William most often apart, their children seek comfort or attention from others, and Hazel calls out for Clara.
*Today's comment was brought to you by ~ADHD~.
this finale is an emotional roller coster
Sooo excited y’all are doing Bly, Midnight Mass & House of Usher! I’ll have entertainment for weeks! ❤
So proud of our little guy Blake!!! You did it little guy! Be proud!
This episode is one of my favorite episodes ever produced, it also introduces Victoria as an amazing actress. Every single scene and every single word is important.
Do not forget Midnight Club. Everyone forgets that one. I read a lot of Christopher Pike as a kid. They even used the font from the bookcovers for the series title. ❤
Superb storytelling! Episode 1 and I'm scared to death. Episode 10 and I'm crying my eyes out. What a wonderful show!
I love you guys are doing all the shows ❤ Thank you!
It's great chemistry and commentary you got going on :)
I love Corey reactions and observation of details. I see you from Colombia
Props for blake for sticking this out, really appreciate it, even if you hate horror, such a fascinating show
@36:49 not sure when it started, but that single tear down the cheek is giving Kenshiro from "Fist of the North Star" and then it made me friggin tear up
"Hill House" is hands-down one of the best, if not the best, horror-drama series ever made: an incredibly intricate, fascinating and moving story with exceptional acting and production values. The fact that it was not recognized as such by "The Academy" shows just how worthless such recognition actually is. My favourite characters are the twins, especially young Luke, and the dad.
the final dudley scene always makes me bawl 😢😢
The finale gets me every time, especially the scene with the Dudleys 😭😭 It was a great journey, thanks! Looking forward to the next Flanagan reactions ♥
I'm so happy you're watching ALL the Flannigan series 👏👏👏👏
I just finished watching all of the last 5 THOHH reactions. So glad you guys like and appreciate both the story and the technical aspects and elements of the series.
I figured the tracking shots and production for Nell's wake scene in "The Two Storms" would catch all of your attentions, as well as Nell's jump scare in "Witness Marks".
They really are standouts in the series.
Corey, you are thee MVP of editors for giving us viewers individual standalone jump scare reaction shots for each of you for that particular scene. You saved me the time to have to rewind the clip 4 times to catch each of your reactions,
so Thank you🙌🙌🙌🙌for that!
Your channel is one of my very favorite reaction channels. You're insight, intelligence, and post viewing analysis are all always on point.
One of the few channels i watch all the content from intro to ending outro.
Thanks for reacting and enjoying the Flanaverse.
Bly Manor will be interesting.
Midnight Mass. Man oh man, do i have a benevolent envy of you for getting to experience it for the first time.
No Midnight Mass spoilers, but i will say it has a very different story from both THHOH and THOBM, yet is as complex, compelling, beautifully written, produced, acted, and directed.
Looking forward to all of that.
PLEASE don't forget the Midnight Club. It comes between Midnight Mass and The Fall of The House of Usher. Its so overlooked but its really incredible.
Great reaction as always!! This episode is a tear jerker. I don’t blame you for tearing up. It’s such a great show and so emotional!
Victoria Pedretti stole this episode. Hard to believe this was her first role.
The little "poem" Poppy says to Hugh was an actual lullaby they'd sing to children. That's where Shirley Jackson, the author of the original book, got it from. Makes Rock-a-bye Baby (a horrific lullaby in my opinion) seem sweet in comparison.
So glad Cojo noticed that Olivia's eyes were like ice when she started at Steve as the Red door closed. Creepy is putting it mildly.
There's a theory out there that the house is like a "capsule" for the evil of the spirits that haunt it. Without the container, all that evil and crazy is let out into the world. That's why it wasn't allowed to be razed.
I'm glad y'all got to witness the genius of the Flanaverse and can't wait until y'all get to Usher.
Aww corey cried. That part really hits you. What a great series. 😊
It's such a masterpiece. At this point I've done a full rewatch and I still can't help looking at Olivia as kind of a villain
Watching this ending I was stopping all my tears drop. BUT then I saw the Mr. Dudley carry Mrs Dudley in the woods and him crying to see his girls finally together just BROKE ME, I bawled so much like a baby. Old people in media are my weakness, man.