The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

The Fall of the House of Usher is an ambitious remix of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and also something that is very much Mike Flanagan's own. Listen to the Awesome Friday Podcast to hear why you should watch:

- Home: https://awesomefriday.ca/2023/09/podcast-no-one-will-save-you-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/
- Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/awesome-friday/id480100293?i=1000629041860
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ZCmxFvUf2pl1WoHlzrlMw?si=h5dRAcpiSO-5flF5e6O7aw
- YouTube: https://youtu.be/tDoi1mliAuY?si=UJEtqMUfp9mJjxIx

Poor old Edgar Allen Poe, his work really didn't deserve this. In short, a series with a rather convoluted narrative, that takes the tales of Poe and tries to take them places, they were never designed to go.

Like so, so many series, these days, I managed one episode, so at least my review had some balance, before calling it a day.

Acting to be fair, is decent but there's more to any series than just quality acting.

In summary, this is not Edgar Allen Poe. Instead its a rather drawn out eerie, tragic family tale, that cherry picks aspects of his famous works, but does nothing overly interesting or even original with them.

In greed's gilded cage, a morbid tale unfolds,
Where death itself in whispered verse grows bold.
Let shadows of fright and gore fade from your mind,
A vaster tableau in this drama you'll find.
Where like puppets dancing to their master's whim,
Characters bend to preach, their voices dim.
Though flawed, it holds a thread worth your regard,
No art's high peak, yet truth laid bare and hard.
Through cracks in plot, a simpler story gleams,
Of greed's cold grip, and what it truly means.
To live, to struggle, beneath fortune's sway,
Where those of love have riches, others naught but clay.

(Poem Wrote by an AI)
The poem summarize my feeling of the fall of the house of usher. The series uses its witty dialogue, great acting to taper over its thin plot
. The death scenes are not gruesome enough, and feels bogged down by limitations of the budget to its production design. The show works great on a meta level in
indicting the corporate greed, it may feel almost cathartic for some people to see the greed get their just due in the fictional reality of the show. but the writing of the story is such that we are not meant to empathize with these characters , they are puppets mouthing the agenda of its writers
they don't feel like humans whose have imbibed the greed so that every pore of them reflects it,
therefore I personally felt their death near cathartic or nor frightening. Fault of this show lies in its writing
, it lacks a cohesive story building themes over the sace of the whole series, it goes for a monster of the week cartoon format where a minimal connective tissue is sufficient to make viewers understand that it is not an anthology rather a continuous story in the lives of our primary cast,
.Each episode is a condemnation of different aspect of corporate greed, and each death represent the greed biting them back through supernatural coincidences, horror movie style.
Despite all its criticism the story has a moral core that shines amidst all its haphazardly handled rebuttal of greed, is the theme of what makes us rich is the love of our family and loved ones,
The wealth will give you power and control, but greed is limitless and with it comes consequence (for self and others )and those consequences are consequential for all of us on how it shapes us as in lost in hubris of our ignorance, replete in our greed or machoism, or having gone so far that you don't want to see any way out. As for this show its legacy imo is a timely piece reflecting the greed of humanity in the wake of opioid crisis, providing a cathartic experience through the classic trope of deal with the devil. But the show is ultimately bogged down by paper thin plot, and surface level exploration of its theme. The recall value of this shows lies in its poetic often melodic dialogues and acting by its stellar cast. Just do not go in expecting stellar horror jump scares or beautiful imagery and you will have a nice binge show for you. Overall 7/10.