Episode 1 review of The Haunting of Bly Manor

The first episode of the second installment of the Haunting anthology takes place in the English countryside in 1987. It follows an American teacher, Dani, who responds to a live-in nanny position for two children; the niece and nephew of Henry Wingrave, Flora and Miles Wingrave. Dani mentions that she had been following the ad for months and noticed that it had had been posted and reposted several times, leading her to surmise that something is admis of the position. Whatever suspicions Dani has, are cast aside as she excitedly accepts the position. We meet the kids and of course they’re weird as fuck, but in their own unique and unsettling way. Flora is peculiar but harmless, initially. Even as a kid, Miles gives me creeper vibes.

We’re then introduced to the housekeeper and chef, and are shown the rest of the manor. The pacing of the episode is unbalanced. Nothing spooky happens within the first 45 minutes or so, which is fine; the show is setting the scene and slowly building the tension. The problem, however, is that they don’t stay the course. The closet scene feels forced and a bit out of place considering the previous pacing. It becomes e a cliffhanger into the next episode, but the buildup to this was far too forced and quick to make a meaningful and suspenseful impact. This would have served better as an action sequence somewhere in the middle of the episode, allowing for more scenes from episode 1 to be devoted to being built around it creating a spookier episode.

Episode 1 was pretty slow overall. It did a nice job of setting scenery and establishing the main cast, but not much else happened. I’m hoping that it gets more exciting, but episode 1 was a bit of a snoozer.

------4.7/10