WARNING: This series has sunk yours truly into a deep depression before and now; be warned! Don’t read if you don’t want to!
Hello dearest reader! Welcome to the final post of this passion blog, in which we will be discussing our last grief story: The Haunting of Bly Manor! Specifically, we will be focusing on the last episode of the limited series, Episode 9!
The Haunting of Bly Manor is a 2020 dramatic gothic-romance limited series, created by Mike Flanagan, the follow-up series to his 2018 series, The Haunting of Hill House (which I have not watched!) The scene centers around the story of an American au pair, Dani Clayton, going to take care of two children whose parents have recently died in the countryside of the United Kingdom, now living in the eponymous Bly Manor. Arriving at the Bly estate, Dani begins to see apparitions and other spooky phenomena on the premises; as the series unfolds, the background of Dani and the manor is revealed.
SYNOPSIS
Most interestingly for our purposes is the framing device for the show; the narrative of what happened in Bly Manor is told in retrospect, a supposedly made-up story from the perspective of a middle-aged woman at the rehearsal dinner for a wedding; in the group of people listening and at the dinner is the old cook for the wealthy Wingrave family, whom the children belong to. The events of what happened at Bly some decade ago involved the on-grounds housekeeper and gardener as well.
Over the course of the series, the au pair, Dani’s, traumatic past is revealed, and she works through healing from the loss of her fiancé, (Ex-fiancé? It’s complicated!). The four adults at the estate, the au pair and the gardener, the housekeeper and the cook, pair off—the interactions of the four in the happier moments of the series make my heart melt, one of the true lingering memories of a property I can’t bear to revisit.
The last episode of the series, Episode 9, features Dani reversing the curse that was placed on the grounds, but in fact taking the place of the lady in the lake’s, who haunts the estate, yearned-for person who she attempts to drag to the bottom of the lake; she drowned herself. The latter half of the last episode follows Dani and Jamie, leaving their positions as au pair and gardener, respectively, as the curse of the estate is resolved for the children (now taken care of by their uncle), pursuing their relationship together and happily living life together for some years. (They buy many plants together.) (It is so, so happy.)
However, as happy as their life together is, Dani is haunted by her connection to the Bly; she sees the reflection of the lady of the lake on the surface of any water. Years pass, and one day, Jamie wakes up in bed alone—and realizes that Dani was drawn back to Bly. She finds her at the bottom of the lake. Sadness. The older Jamie, the woman telling the story, first prefaced the tale as a ghost story; but the bride-to-be corrects her—it’s a love story. (For another love-and-ghost confused story: Crimson Peak!)
The bride-to-be is revealed to be a little girl, the younger of the two children that Dani came to Bly Manor to take care of, years ago. She and her older brother don’t remember what happened those years ago—they blissfully forgot the horrors. After everyone else goes to bed for the night, preparing for the upcoming wedding celebrations for the next day, the girl and Jamie are left—and the girl confesses how scared she is to potentially lose her soon-to-be-husband, especially after having lost her parents, and how much she loves him. Jamie comforts her, that they never truly go away.
As Jamie goes to her hotel room to rest, she leaves the door cracked open and sits on a chair, waiting for Dani; the final shot: her bent head, asleep, and Dani’s hand on her shoulder, watching over her.
AND GRIEF
Welp. I think that writing out the synopsis has purged any emotions that I might have with this show. The show is steeped in grief—the death of the parents of the children, the loss of Dani’s ex-fiancé, the Lady of the Lake’s loss of her daughter, Jamie’s loss of Dani. I am actually thoroughly disturbed have revisited the series—I will respectfully end this post early. I aim to make one point—that the aftermath of grief may feel very much like a haunting, and that the horror genre both abounds and suits well with grief stories. (Why is this series so scary??)
It has been truly amazing to explore grief stories in this blog! Thank you so much for reading over the weeks, and I hope we have collectively learned something about memory, nostalgia, loss, renewal, and healing through this moment of dwelling. Wishing you well!