Not what I expected but still a very good 9 episode story from Mike Flanagan. It wasn't The Haunting of Hill House (please go watch if you haven't yet), but it was still quite enjoyable.

Episodic wouldn't seem to be the proper format for horror

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

It wouldn't seem, no, but Flanagan pulls it off. And Hill House/Bly Manor aren't just horror.

3 episodes in so far, and really liking most of it. the kids (most kid actors these days) get on my nerves but the character of dani (completely don't recognize her from the previous season) is outstanding. the "help" (the cook and housekeeper) are also endearing characters.

i like how this is unfolding. i'm sure most people by now have finished the whole thing but i like taking it a few episodes at a time.

I need to watch this show when I am not tired as fuck. Pacing seems tedious at times. Otherwise fine. Level of horror is restrained when compared to Hill House. More telling, less showing.

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Oliver Jackson-Cohen is super hot. I enjoy this show.

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This signature space is available for inappropriate, suggestive, and lewd ideas.

there's a pretty absurd (but important backstory) death that's revealed in episode 4; a part of me wants to just binge the remainder but at the same time i like taking it one-to-two episodes at a time.

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Finished the season last night; there are a lot of dissenting opinions on this one. it's not as good as the first season, that's a given. it's not as well written or well conceived. flanagan used several pieces of literature and fused them together, and it doesn't make for as cohesive a narrative.

there are also some Netflix Tropes that are grating: the Flashback Episode, the Padding, and the red herrings. It's almost like by design, Netflix shows are sharing the same flaws and annoying tendencies.

It's a love story, first and foremost. The "twists" aren't huge reveals or game changers. They exist within a story that's revealing itself to you as you go through it. The problem is that sometimes the reveals don't really give you any more insight into the stories.

Dani's backstory is completely irrelevant to her new love, Jamie. While you could argue that it was because she was gay that she could never love the guy she was going to marry, it's never clear as that's WHY she doesn't want to. and the guilt of being the possible cause of his death doesn't seem congruent with not wanting to be with jamie.

Same goes with Henry, and his "split" personality. It makes for some creepy moments but it doesn't really have a dramatic punch.

The Backstory Episode, the 8th, is a real pain in the ass to get through. The whole thing is narrated with so much exposition, i really wanted to turn it off at a few points. We get it...she sleeps, she wakes, she walks...Christ, that burns into your brain so much you'll have nightmares of THAT.

Every connection is set up to be a love story: Owen/Hannah and Dani/Jamie are the only two that work for me. Quint/Jessel didn't work at all. It sets Peter up as a possessive brute who only takes someone's life and throws it away. Sure it illustrates the "love isn't possession" mantra, but did we need all of that to drive that home? It was overkill. Henry/Flora is a bit different because it's a parental love that's unrequited since Flora is the result of an affair. It just comes off as icky, considering Henry's Other Side, which is the evil alcoholic doppelganger. And then you have the OG group: the sisters, and the husband that leaves after they're dead. Viola/Bly Manor you could say. Well, we get that aforementioned one whole episode to trudge through that story. And it leaves you with nothing really to get into. Finally, the story of Flora and Miles' parents, Charlotte and Dominic. We get very little pieces of their relationship, leading to the affair between Henry and Charlotte. Again, very sparse and nothing to latch onto.

A lot of the problems i'm seeing in these series is that you're taking a 120-minute idea and bloating into a 10-hour show. There is so much fat you could cut from this and have a nice little film. But because the film industry is on life support (and soon that cord will be cut), and the money's all poured into streaming services, this is what we get.

there are some really nice moments, and some stories that i did like a lot. Hannah and Owen could've had a movie all their own.

The idea of love being lost through the loss of memory, much like "It", is also pretty well done. We understand that Jamie is the only one who remembers at the end because she's the only one who has held on. Love is a memory.

the last shot of her keeping the door slightly open, and it cutting away before anything else happens, is also nice. I like that flanagan didn't try to shoehorn a twist at the end or anything.

The inconsistencies somewhat sink this season, even if some of it is enjoyable. The first season had a much stronger sense of purpose.