@sp1ti I feel much more positively about this series than you do but I have to agree with your comments about the conclusion; it's my only real criticism of the show.
@2ls1t Don't get me wrong, I also quite liked the show up to EP8 (I'd say) but endings are important to me; especially when there is this much time poured into single characters as was here.
@misnomer Unlike other reviewers, I enjoyed the family drama exposition but, like @sp1ti mentioned in his last comment, the ending somewhat jarred with the creepy suspense of the previous 9 episodes (certainly the second half of episode 10), which was a let down after the time investment. You yourself called the ending 'sappy', kinky, which obviously worked for you (and many others) but I just felt the overly positive tone of the finale didn't quite sit right. I still really enjoyed the series as a whole, though!
@2ls1t I hated the soap opera side of the show (which was 90% of the show), so I admit I was somewhat bedazzled by the fact that I enjoyed the ending so much. In the end, I watched it all forgetting it was a horror show (because there wasn't much horror about it) and tried to focus on the family drama. I guess that paid off, for me, because the ending delivered big time for the casual sappy soap opera lover (I ain't one, but I still enjoyed it, so...). But the direction and acting was always top-notch, regardless of what this show was trying to be for a whole season.
@2ls1t also, this show has a great rewatchability (did I just made up a word?) factor, because now you can go back and try to find all the hidden ghosts. I managed to spot a few on my first go (including a very creepy and discrete one that still managed to occupy almost a third of the screen!), but I'm still not sure if that actually makes the show more fun than it wants to be.
I forgot to add that I agree that the last episode was quite out of place and out of tone with the rest of the season.
All in all, I'm glad you enjoyed The Haunting of Hill House so much, I can only hope I'll soon enjoy a show as much as you enjoyed this one.
@sp1ti I struggled with the last episode too. I got to eight and was raving about the show ... then 10 got all moralistic on me and I just facepalmed. I don't understand why American TV shows see the need to have some moral to every story and a huge love in at the end?
Shout by sp1tiVIP OG 13BlockedParent2018-10-13T18:18:48Z— updated 2018-10-15T16:22:05Z
I think Mike Flanagan is quite competent in most of what he does, but nothing of his ever blew me away. This show is no different as he certainly is aware of today's tropes and crafts an unusually slow paced horror story more focused on the psychological impact of the haunting than scares, but after so many scene transitions between the story's timelines it gets quite tedious. It is really the later half of the series that tainted my enjoyment with more focus on melodramatic elements, monologues and a conclusion that had me feeling like I just wasted quite a lot of time...