Warning: Spoilers
NetflixThe Haunting of Hill House, which has taken Netflix by storm in the lead up to Halloween 2k18, continues to amaze and stun audiences every day.
The series, which follows the Crain family as they cope with the fallout of living in their old haunted house.
Gonna go ahead and say there are spoilers ahead, huge, big, fat, gluttonous spoilers which will entirely ruin the show for you if you haven’t seen it.
Anyway, a recent post on Tumblr has gone viral after it revealed something that may have slid under the noses of fans.
Cagedbirdsong posed that the Crains each represented one of the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
NetflixSteve, for example, would be denial, seeing as he constantly refutes what happened at Hill House as a yoot.
Shirley Crain Harris would be anger, as she’s had a bee in her bonnet since childhood. It becomes evident in adulthood over her grudge against Steve who was written a book about Hill House.
In at ‘bargaining’ is Theo due to begging for the universe make her feel again (she doesn’t have any emotions regarding the death of Nell).
Luke Crain, seemingly incapable of dealing with life away from his twin sister, would classify as ‘depression’, while Nell herself would be acceptance as she embraces her fate and the idea of being reunited with her mum prior to entering Hill House.
Regardless of fan theories, it’s gonna be some task following up the finale, which ran the psychological gamut of grief, anguish and desolation. Nell’s posthumous monologue to her siblings, coupled with Hugh and Stephen’s final, loaded goodbye is enough to break the sternest cynic.
That being said, it appears we got off lightly compared to what was originally in store. Episode 10 wrapped up on a hopeful note, with each of the four remaining siblings taking significant steps forward with their personal lives.
Stephen reconciled with his wife, Leigh, while Shirley was finally honest about her marital indiscretions. Theo moved out of the guest house and even chucked her signature gloves in the trash. Best of all, troubled Luke was shown looking healthy and clean as he celebrates with his brother and sisters.
Even among the dead there’s a little warmth to be had, with Hugh, Olivia and Nell shown united and embracing in their shared afterlife. But things were nearly quite different.
Director Mike Flanagan, whose name should surely be now listed with the horror greats, told The Hollywood Reporter:
We toyed with the idea for a little while that over that monologue, over the image of the family together, we would put the Red Room window in the background.
For a while, that was the plan. Maybe they never really got out of that room. The night before it came time to shoot it, I sat up in bed, and I felt guilty about it. I felt like it was cruel. That surprised me. I’d come to love the characters so much that I wanted them to be happy.
He added:
I came in to work and said, ‘I don’t want to put the window up. I think it’s mean and unfair’. Once that gear had kicked in, I wanted to lean as far in that direction as possible. We’ve been on this journey for 10 hours; a few minutes of hope was important to me.
Which ending do you prefer? Personally, I don’t see either as ‘endings’ if you know what I mean… bring on season two!
The Haunting Of Hill House crept onto Netflix as of October 12.
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