The Haunting of Bly Manor: 5 Things We Loved (and 5 We Didn’t)
By Louis Skye
The Haunting of Bly Manor: 5 Things We Didn’t Like
There was much to love about The Haunting of Bly Manor, but it wasn’t all perfect. In many ways, it failed to exceed the expectations placed on it—the plight of many a sequel throughout the decades.
What could have been better about the second season? We examine five areas that required improvement.
Too Many Monologues
Long monologues from characters seem to be a mainstay of this series. But where Hill House added pathos through its speeches, The Haunting of Bly Manor struggled to add gravitas with its soliloquys.
Peter Quint, in particular, seemed weighed down by the long monologues—his scenes came across as repetitive and failed to add depth to his personality or to progress the plot.
I hate to say it, but even Jamie’s loving moonflower monologue needed editing. As lovely as it was in the moment, after a while, one couldn’t help wanting the scene to move on.
The lack of editing was exacerbated by the fact that secondary characters in those scenes were left with little to do but look at the speaker. While it’s a testament to the marvelous skill of the actors, these scenes added little to the audience experience.