Ok, I'm really digging the show after last episode & this one.
There's only a handful of scenes between current Roderick & Dupin (which is a bummer), but the recent flashback story was extremely well done.
Mark Hamill's Arthur Gordon Pym gets a bit more backstory, and he's excellent once again this episode. Speaking of Hamill, this may be my favorite non-Star Wars performance of us (outside of voice acting). He totally sells the grisly, experienced, loyal family attorney who's willing to get in the mud & help them with aboslutely anything.
Carla Gugino was awesome again as Verna, and she had some killer lines while taunting Tammy that had me laughing. Her delivery was mocking, but not too flamboyant, overall just awesome.
And Tammy... while not the most interesting Usher child, she sure was the one that had the least redeeming qualities in my eyes. Again, this show has done well making everyone quite detestable, though watching a bunch of crappy people be crappy isn't exactly entertaining. Thankfully, the show manages to not linger to the point of making it grating, and it knows that we know what's coming by the end. It plays with that expectation & makes the comeuppance all the more worth it.
Anyway, the show is really hitting its stride. Still eagerly awaiting the reveal of what the heck happened New Years Eve 1980 though!
9/10.
Below I'll rant a little more about specific nit-picking, but the actual review is done!
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Nitpicking:
Madeline has been presented as this wise, plotting, puppet master character, and definitely the more calculated & assertive of the two sibblings.
She's also been the one willing to take action, or at lesat manipulate Roderick to do so. Even before having hard evidence, she made a connection between the tragedies befalling the Usher family and something that happened in their past; something potentially supernatural. Not willing to even entertain the idea, Roderick blows her off repeatedly. Eventually, Pym finally presents them with some hard evidence, and it's Madeline who once again accepts the reality of the situation, despite it seeming impossible.
Which brings me to the nitpick & what kind of bothered me.
Madeline's definitely been all business & gung-ho about power, BUT she's also 100% on top of anything that seems like a threat to that power. She views the Usher family as an establishment, similar to royalty, and will do ANYTHING to see its continued success.
Considering all that they've experienced in the last week (undergoing a massive lawsuit, losing FOUR nieces & nephews to inexplicable, freak deaths, and now having her fears confirmed that some ancient entity is involved), why did she care so much about Tammy's "Built" presentation & prioritize that over the 'Verna' imminent threat? For someone as intelligent, protective & assertive as her, why didn't she at the very least inform the 2 remaining children of the threat?
No heads up on what to look out for, not making them aware of anthing, nor even questioning them if they've seen the woman already. She just tables it in favor of Tammy's business venture, despite Roderick losing a son or daughter nearly every passing day.
I mean, that's the bare minimum I'd expect from someone who lost 4 nieces & nephews, and prioritizes the Usher image above all else. Hoenstly, you'd think she'd prioritize tracking down/looking out for Verna over EVERYTHING now. But yeah atleast, inform the family, distribute pictures, ask Tammy if she's seen the woman, etc. Or tell her postpone the public debut "sorry, not sorry" & game plan.
After all, in an earlier episode they said they're obviously at war now & something is out to get them. Ok, so perhaps take the war seriously?
Anyway, I'm fully aware I'm nitpicking & just wrote a novel over something trivial. But c'mon... it's hard to overlook NOBODY telling the only remaining Usher kids (and obvious next targets) they have identified a suspect to be on the lookout for!
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