The Haunting of Bly Manor

I was a huge fan of Haunting of Hill House and was looking so forward to getting that level of scare again from Haunting of Bly Manor. Unfortunately, this was where I found the show to lack. It had a few jumps, but no lingering scare and they were very far between. I enjoyed the story, it kept me captivated and once again they found child actors that shined. I don't know why people are ripping it apart only a few episodes in. Just like Hill House, it takes time to unravel what's going on.

The show is nowhere near as frightening or memorable as it's predecessor, The autopsy scene in that show still gives me nightmares.

While this show does fall short of 'Hill House' it can still stand on its own legs. It's an entirely different story and it seems to have entirely different goals.

The story is tragic and beautiful. The third episode had me nearly in tears. The characters were sympathetic and compelling. I binge watched the whole thing and I loved doing it.

That being said I almost wish the shows creators didn't aim for this type of story a "love story" as they plainly say in the show. I wanted something creepier and this show isn't meant to scare, but rather gut punch and evoke a sense of loss which it does rather well.

The narrative is also a bit convoluted which takes away any sense of progression in the plot. The reliance on flashbacks is interesting (side note-one entire episode is a flashback) but I might have preferred a more linear progression. A lot of plot points are simply abandoned at whim, and threads left underdeveloped for the sake of these flashbacks.

All in all it stands well on its own but in reference to its predecessor it pales in comparison and I find myself wishing that they had made another show.

While Bly left me looking forward to the next installment, it also left me longing for something Hill House delivered that fell short here. Still a great watch.... it's just not the complete masterpiece The Haunting of Hill House is.

I looooved the Hill house and was looking forward to the same creators producing a new masterpiece, but in my opinion they didn't. The first 4 episodes are sooo slow and borderline boring, to the point where I almost stopped watching. Glad I didn't, because the 2nd half was way better. But all together it didn't hit a home run for me. Not bad, just not great.

btw am I the only one who got annoyed by "perfectly splendid"?!

You know when you attend a 3 day course and you leave at the end thinking we could have achieved that in half a day? Well...