...killed Julian when Dorothy and Julian were younger.

Sorry for the length -- want to get all my ideas out about what I think might happen in the end.

I've been thinking something along these lines for a while now but that last episode confirmed a lot of my suspicions about the larger story going on here.

I think the whole scheme to gaslight Dorothy into believing Jericho actually didn't die is not the inciting incident in this story. Something similar has happened before, and the evil we are seeing play out in the house is in part due to the fact that Dorothy, and the Turner family overall, are not accepting the realities of what has happened in the past and choosing to ignore death rather than grieve honestly.

Ok so my theory begins with Frank, Dorothy's dad. It has always stuck out to me how casually and immediately he came on board with Sean and Julian to ensure Dorothy was blissfully ignorant about fake Jericho, even aggressively so. Sort of like this wasn’t even a new development in their lives.

We know Frank is extremely wealthy. Somehow, I believe he is affiliated with the cult. My best guess is that his family has been in possession of the brownstone for generations, and he is aware that the location of the home makes it extremely important to the cult due to its connection with spirit energy of the main deity that the cult worships. Whether through money or through access to this crucial historical site in the eyes of the cult, the cult is indebted to Frank.

In this past episode we saw a new area of the house, one that has seemingly been ignored for 4 seasons. We also learn Dorothy’s mom died in the house. I'm betting the mom died horrifically in that room years ago when Dorothy was young, and the event, as well as this area in the home, has since been ignored like the Turners typically do when confronted with tragedy. It is also interesting that we see Julian tepidly enter the room. Does he have a history with that room as a child?

I think just like Dorothy killed Jericho, Dorothy's mom killed Julian. And then she killed herself. Maybe even because of the demonic presence in the house to begin with. This sent young Dorothy into a catatonic state, unable to deal with this terrible event.

Frank, in an effort to fix things, goes the the cult and uses his leverage to have them bring Julian back to life to effectively take Dorothy out of her catatonic state. From that point on, Dorothy starts believing a different version of events from that night, one where the mom died from a less radical cause and Julian never died either.

It works, Dorothy is back to her old self for awhile believing the lie, but eventually the cracks start showing again. If you recall, there has been mention of Dorothy "losing time" in 2011 for some reason. They need to do something bigger to fix her again. Frank goes back to the cult. "We need to give her a husband and a family or else she won't believe the lie anymore".

So the cult obliges, reluctantly, and brings a dead homeless man back to life, to play the part of husband and father, and Sean is "born".

This works again, and soon Jericho is born and the family is relatively happy. But then the rot starts growing. They are on borrowed time, cheating death essentially, and the cult even knows they are breaking their own guidelines by enabling this. But whatever they are gaining from Frank makes it worth it.

Soon, Jericho dies, as if the karmic debt that is still unpaid from the Dottie/Julian situation is coming due. The cult cannot step in again as it would be undisciplined and blasphemous towards their beliefs, and there are other families that have been selected to receive the church's gifts (which Leanne learns the hard way in S2).

They decide enough is enough. They aren't going to save the Turners once more to make things better with a wave of the hand. The rot is too much. So they don't step in to bring Jericho back to life. They want the Turners to finally deal with the reality of their lives.

But that doesn't sit well with Leanne. She goes against the cult to once again help gaslight Dorothy and keep her asleep, and that is where our story begins in S1 and Jericho being "reborn". All the weird Julian/Leanne stuff is better explained by the fact that Julian has already died once long ago. When he ODed in S2 and Leanne brought him back, that was not the first time something like that has happened.

I think the show is leading us to the point where the truth finally comes out and has to be accepted and dealt with. Dorothy will learn the truth about Jericho, her mom, her brother, and her husband -- how it was an ever-expanding lie. Sean and Julian will "return to the afterlife". The show's finally over, and Dorothy will be destroyed, but ultimately heal. I think they are setting up an epic battle that leaves only Dorothy and Leanne alive at the end (maybe fake Jericho too -- not 100% sure if that is the real Jericho still). The irony is that Dorothy hates Leanne more than she ever has, but will realize at the end that they are truly all each other has left in this world. They will create their own makeshift mother/daughter dynamic and that will be where the show leaves us, with the tiniest sliver of hope for the future that these two traumatized women can heal after the grief has been accepted.