31 Days of Halloween: The Haunting of Bly Manor: S01E01: The Great Good Place

 2020, Mike Flanagan (Absentia) - Netflix

Flanagan is doing something rather unexpected with "season 2" of "The Haunting". In fact, it's not Season 2 of anything, but a new series, about a new family, about a new house. Like an artists who paints the same imagery over and over, exploring and re-exploring their ideas, to see where they lead, Flanagan is doing a series with the same tone, and some of the same actors, as the first series but set elsewhere, elsewhen.

Spendid, perfectly splendid, to quote Flora.

I am sure someone more versed in Gothic literature would be able to state to me, the first tale where a young woman is sent to a mysterious manor house in the English countryside, to take care of some eerie children. It is a staple enough of a plot that I am sure I could hunt the archives of this blog series to find at least a couple of examples, as long as we ignore The Boy. But, like in said movie, Dani is an American in the UK, who has answered an advertisement (saying it UK style plz) for an au pair position at Bly Manor, to take care of Flora and Miles. They lost their parents, and then they lost their last governess (suicide) and no else is answering the ad. Their uncle (Henry Thomas, E.T.) hires Dani (Victoria Pedretti, Amazing Stories) to take care of the children.

Dani comes with her own ghosts in tow.

I usually find slow and plodding a drag, as 1.5 hr movies often just repeat old tropes, interspersing them with jump scares, and familiar imagery. Flanagan does use the familiar, and there are some mild jump scares, but they are meant as setup, not baseless misdirection for the sake of someone pulling their toes up onto the sofa. But it's all that is unsaid, that is supposed to be unsettling, and this, he does well.

Once again the house is a primary character, large and lovely on eeries grounds, with mists and shadows and scary waters. Inside she seems larger than on the outside, with wings and halls better left unexplored. But really, who does want to explore them. Something is haunting this house, something that obviously drove the last governess to her death, but we don't know what yet. Yet, the children do know, as knowing children usually do.

Pedretti is not Nell this time, nor should she be. Her Californian accent is somewhat jarring, as are her frumpy 80s mom jeans, but she settles so easily into the role. Walking around the edges are Owen (Rahul Kohli, iZombie) the affable cook, Mrs Grose (T'Nia Miller, Years and Years) the caretaker, and gruff gardener Jamie (Amelia Eve, Enterprice). Everyone knows what happened to Miss Jessel, but no one's talking.

And we are set.