Rating 48/100

In this here year of 2020, we have so little to look forward to. That’s why, when I saw there was another Haunting coming out, I was stoked. 

And then I watched it. 

Binged it would be a more appropriate term. 

I appreciate that they tried to make a different story. That’s not saying much since they needed The Haunting of Bly Manor to be different if they ever plan on making this series the next American Horror Story. Plus, their arsenal of tricks was used in Hill House (I’ll be shortening the titles from here on out). I appreciate that they based Bly Manor on another book. It’s The Turning of the Screw if you were wondering. I appreciate that they kept the aesthetic. Watching was almost like coming home. I appreciate that they kept portions of the original score. I appreciate that the story was still about the human element like last time. 

My appreciation stops right about there, because the rest was oh so bad. 

What went wrong? Were the writers too rushed? Were they out of ideas? Did they get stuck in the sophomore trench?

Yet, as I type all of this, I want to make it clear that I would, without a single doubt, binge another series. Everyone is allowed to strike out when they create gold like Hill House. And if you have seen The Haunting of Hill House yet, I demand that you make it your next Halloween binge fest. I almost wish I could binge it again for the first time. 

Bly Manor’s failure comes down to three main points - exposition, delivery, foreshadowing.

Exposition is easy enough. You know I catch it in the act a ton, especially in movies. It’s not hard when there are just two actors having a conversation. It may have worked in My Dinner with Andre, but it doesn’t work when the conflict is missing in the scene. This is all Bly Manor consisted of. Everyone had some story to tell. Some back story that needed these long monologues. Except for the conversation between Owen and Hannah in the kitchen, they all lacked the poignant emotion needed to keep the audience enthralled, raptured, at least paying attention to the screen. Yup… I was bored and easily distracted. 

And if that wasn’t enough of an annoyance, let’s add in a voice over to really nail these expositional moments home, because what you see on the screen isn’t showing you enough. 

This is all screenwriting/storytelling 101. Showing versus telling. Dumping the world onto the viewer. 

Now onto delivery… which in a way would have helped with the exposition.

One thing that made Hill House the special creature that it was, was the way the story was broken down. Tiny pieces of information were carefully doled out so that there were more questions than answers. When the answers were revealed, it was a puzzle, leaving the audience shocked from the connections. This was the least I expected in Bly Manor. Nope. Instead, episode 8 was wasted explaining the entire backstory to the greatest mystery in the house. There was no guessing what the mystery could be since it came out of left field. What the writers should have done, is broken these pieces up and littered them throughout. Then the audience would have been given some mystery. I can think of the perfect scene from episode 8 that should have started the entire series. But alas, I’m not the one writing these things. 

I’m setting these transitions perfectly, because if the delivery would have been better, the foreshadowing wouldn’t have been the mess that it was. 

Let me say this, I guessed almost the entire plot by the end of episode 2. The only thing I missed was what was revealed in episode 8, because again, it came out of nowhere. And I don’t mean that in a good way. 

Lots of hand holding. The foreshadowing turned into the worst form of telling. Oh look, we’re showing you that something is different, but instead of letting the audience notice, we’re going to blatantly point out that something is different a bunch of times. Who cares if it’s one of the biggest surprises in the entire series. Since they did do that, I was hoping there would be a bigger setup in the end. That never happened. 

One positive… Bly Manor isn’t as scary. There are a few moments, but I think a larger audience will be able to watch. 

Happy Watching

Love Kait