The final shout before his defection to amazon and a very fine way to go out. I will put comments as they occurred to me during each episode although will amend and add to if needed. But overall, a richly effective and creatively powerful working, essentially, of the works of Poe with the House of Usher tale itself being merely the structure and framing device for the whole presentation.
1: Rapid cutting from the start of the episode helped establish a typical Poe-ian sense of urgency and there was a LOT of information/characters/relationships to absorb in this first episode. But as the saga unfolded these connect ions became much more familiar and easier to follow and connect. From the very start, we got strong Succession vibes – but in a good not dully derivative way. And there was of course the familial elements relating to Trump and Sackler as archetypal dysfunctional families. The music, from the start was superb and I loved the judicious use of silence, particularly at climactic moments, which was far more effective than a thunderous ear-splitting climax. And I loved the magnificent phrase at dinner ‘eat the law’!
2: The episode initially at least, seemed to sprawl rather and there seemed to be less tight control as there was in Episode 1 but this soon passed and was not an issue in the rest of the series. During this episode, I was thinking that we did not really know the children whose funeral we were attending but as the series unfolded I realized that this was a deliberate device – and a very effective one too.
3: The trademark silences were particularly effectively used in this episode – and Roderick had a magnificently ruthless speech about lemons. But one really wanted to see more of Camille in action before she was disposed of!
4: Fascinating as the story unfolds, in seeing the gradual corruption of Roderick Usher – he is a far more layered and interesting character than he was first suggested to be.
5: A VERY high number of Gothic clichés – visual/aural/plot – in this episode but fascinating to see how well/originally/creatively they were used so that they came up fresh and gleaming. Masterly. Andi was Roderick Usher to a degree enabled by Lupin…?
6: At this stage I have enormous admiration for the way so many different elements of all of Poe’s work have been used to fit together to give us this quite epic coherent saga. All these different elements were made to gell and fit together naturally and you never had the sense that a Poe reference, element or allusion had been awkwardly stuck into the drama. And Hamill is superb as the ruthlessly mysterious Arthur Gordon Pym with a strong resemblance, morally and emotionally, to Roy Cohn, particularly as depicted in Angels in America
7 & 8: And a very satisfying ending particularly with the final scene with Verna (Raven!). In its way, touching.