The Haunting of Bly Manor: 5 Things We Loved (and 5 We Didn’t)

Light on the Scares

The Haunting of Hill House gave viewers a ton of feels but it was packed with scares. More so, it brought the kind of suspense that both intrigued and terrified viewers.

The Haunting of Bly Manor didn’t have nearly as many visible ghosts—and the ones that viewers caught at first watch had the same limitations of its predecessor. The ghosts were merely set decoration—they had nothing to do with the plot.

Even Edmund (Roby Attal), who was the most visible ghost, did little to inspire fear. He simply hangs around, a guilt-trip in Dani’s mirrors rather than a real threat.

The fear in this season was driven solely by the Lady in the Lake and Peter—the former, a pitiable figure who kills anyone in her path without reason, and the latter, a truly vile being, both as a human and a spectre.

True Horrors Were Swept Aside

Which leads us to our final point. The horrors of The Haunting of Bly Manor don’t really lie with the ghosts at all, but instead with real life.

Rebecca’s description of her friends’ experiences in the workplace would make any woman shudder—because they’ve been there. But the scene was played out more as a meet-cute between her and Peter than an indictment of how women are treated in the workplace.

Peter himself was the most terrifying part of this season. He was not only abusive but gaslit Rebecca when she accused him of such.

Even in death, he was the worst—he possessed Rebecca and drowned her without her consent, leaving her body in her moments of death so she experienced this horror herself. Rebecca’s ghost standing by the lake, screaming in despair was the most terrifying and real moment of the entire show.

But it was frustrating to see nobody call Peter out on his awful behaviour towards Rebecca—itself borne out of childhood abuse and neglect. There were times when it seemed like The Haunting of Bly Manor was trying to paint Rebecca and Peter as a romantic pairing, but viewers understood better.

Another true-life horror this season was Dani’s life before her arrival at Bly Manor. A queer woman relegated to the closet and practically being forced to marry her childhood friend so she can be normal? Shivers down the spine, and far more terrifying than Edmund’s ghost.

These real-life horrors are part and parcel of so many people’s lives and they should have been highlighted, not used as a backdrop to an underwhelming A-plot.

Having said all that, The Haunting of Bly Manor was an immersive and memorable experience with some great representation and heart-breaking storytelling.

But if this anthology is to recoup the strength of its opening season, it needs to tighten up the plot and dialogues and focus more on the characters.

The Haunting of Bly Manor is now streaming on Netflix.