The End
After our exhausting catch up with Viola’s history last episode, the season 1 finale of Haunting Of Bly Manor catches us up to where we left off. Hannah speaks to Owen and knows everyone is dead. She worries that she’s slipping away from Bly Manor sooner rather than later. Dani is dragged away by the Lady of the Lake but Hannah suddenly appears and stands in Viola’s way. The white lady inevitably goes straight through her leading to the second line of defence – Flora. Sensing that Flora looks an awful lot like Isabel, she drops Dani and holds Flora instead. Viola walks silently out to the lake, prompting Flora to scream out for Rebecca’s help. Only, she’s too caught up with Miles (being possessed by Peter) to notice. Instead, Henry shows up and winds up getting knocked out instantly. Great job Henry. Owen and Jamie show up at the estate not long after, rushing down to the lake. Just before Flora is carried into the lake, Dani speaks up and tells Viola that “It’s us.” Somehow this does the trick, inviting the spirit into herself to possess her. This, in turn, releases all the spirits trapped in Bly Manor. On the back of this, a peacefulness descends on the manor. Henry overcomes his demons and starts caring for the children. He promises to tell them all stories while Owen takes up Hannah’s mantle at the church by lighting candles. Dani meanwhile is haunted by Viola, feeling the girl inside her but eventually deciding to leave with Jamie. After so long, Dani’s heart is at peace and she seems content with her life with Jamie. Only, Viola’s presence can still be felt. As we skip ahead, Owen is now a sous chef but he clings to the memory of Hannah in his heart. The girls head off to meet him at a restaurant and toast to her memory. As we hear from Owen, the kids at Bly are now happy – Flora is 17 and it turns out both kids don’t remember anything that happened. Henry however, most certainly does. He intends to keep everything a secret though and not disclose the details of what really happened. Back home, Dani’s fears are felt as Viola’s pull is so strong that she almost chokes Jamie to death in the middle of the night. Unwilling to hurt herself or her partner, Dani heads back to Bly Manor alone one more time. Walking into the water alone, she descends down and vows that no one will be taken ever again. And – as we find out from narration – no one ever has. Back home Jamie is overcome with grief and eventually she grows up trying in vain to see the lady of the lake again. This cuts us back to the present as our narrator finishes her story. It turns out the bride to be has the middle name Flora. The same Flora, it’s assumed, as the one in our story. As we soon find out, Jamie is actually our narrator and every night – without fail – she looks in the water to try and catch a glimpse of Dani but to no avail. Jamie drifts off that night and a hand softly touches her shoulder. It turns out Dani has been watching her all this time.
The Episode Review
So there we have it, Bly Manor bows out its 9 episode run with a total of around 3 scares, very little tension and a whole lot of flashbacks. I’ve mentioned the narration a lot in the past but here it’s the perfect example of when it doesn’t work. We get Jamie’s narration cut in at the most dramatic moment of the Lady pulling Flora into the water. The result completely destroys any tension during this moment. The series is okay as a period drama though and the final reveal that Jamie is the narrator is a nice final twist to this tale. Unfortunately there’s also no explanation for what happened to Edmund’s ghost or Henry’s alter ego. What happened to Edmund? Did burning the glasses destroy his memory? If so, does this apply for all ghosts? While the atmosphere for the first half of the show is good, all of this feels undermined by the desire to explain absolutely everything in excruciating detail. The penultimate episode, for example, spent an entire hour filling in the backstory for Viola. Did we really need that long? Disappointing for sure, Bly Manor is not a good horror and undoubtedly one of the bigger disappointments this year.
