Nell makes her journey back to Hill House.
I won't discuss any major plot details but will say it focuses on Nell. Quite a bit of the information drip-fed to us over the previous episodes has built towards the last five or so minutes of this episode, which is a pretty unforgettable.
The themes of trauma, depression and mental health have been tackled in various forms in the series, but this episode looks at the worst type of suffering. What I find particularly harrowing is watching someone make so many futile appeals for help.
As with all episodes it contains incredibly cinematic camerawork, editing, transitions and sound effects. The colours are beautiful and the lighting is very atmospheric.
All performances are great, particularly Victoria Pendretti who gives one of the best of the series so far.
I was conflicted whether to give this a perfect 10 or not. I usually think something deserves a perfect score if I never tire of rewatching it like I found with many episodes of The Sopranos, The Wire and Deadwood, but this is not that type of show. It is driven by a mysterious plot and revelations about characters, so once certain things are revealed it removes the intrigue. However, what it did do was to make me re-examine my own attitudes towards people who might be suffering mental health issues and want to do my best to help. That for me is the most powerful aspect of The Bent-Neck Lady.
