#appy polly loggies if i'm somehow repeating things other people have said

[foreignfields]

Bly Manor rambling, ‘cause of course I need to get this out my chest.

As you all know, i’m not getting over Bly Manor, aka Dani and Jamie’s story anytime soon. Reading Henry James has made me realize how beautiful can stories be when adapted right. Because Turn of the Screw has gotten pretty horrid treatment through the years (not even plan to discuss The Turning), so It’s real nice to find someone who respects the author and the source material, and tries to do right by it. Henry James himself spent some time abroad in England, ring a bell? Exactly what the aur pair does. And I don’t know about this but apparently they were rumors of him being gay? If that is so, writing Dani as a lesbian is like, the most awesome thing anyone could ever do. Cause she gets that (short) happy ending.

It’s nothing short of incredible what Mike Flanagan, cast & crew, have done with it, and this is coming from someone who has seen, and liked Hill House, but Bly Manor, for me, is on an ambitious level of it’s own, and i’m more than thrilled to have seen it succeed, to see people talking about Owen, Hannah, Miiles, Flora, Rebecca, Henry, Edmund, Viola, Perdita, hell even Quint... they’re all great characters of their own, and I feel, they’re only enhanced by the miniseries experience, and the writing. The medium can help so much to tell a story, and a series was the best vehicle for The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Talking about Dani now, what a great character study. Her arc, accepting herself, saving the others, finding love in her life, finding Jamie. The portrayal of comphet. The Eddie jumpscares, have you ever seen jumpscares like that in horror films or tv series before? An extension of the character? The manifestation of her guilt? Never have jumpscares meant this much. It’s the work of a genius, really. And Dani, dear Dani, i’m older and it got to me a bit that she managed to find love at that age, if we go by what she said to Miles, she spent time travelling and teaching for 9 years, so hardly a teen, gives me hope. Yes, she was trying to escape from her past, and while you might be through with it, the past isn’t through with you. But she opened up about that, and that was the first step to heal, and to love. Frankly I love that quote about finding someone who might help burn away the shadows. Isn’t that what we all look for? To be understood? To be seen?

Dani Clayton, the audience surrogate, the Bly Manor mystery is solved thanks to her heroic self. If we go back to the source material, the governess in the story doesn’t get a redemption arc, but in Bly Manor, she does. She’d get the prize for being the most haunted character so I think it’s only fair she got to live 13 happy years with Jamie, it’s the least she deserved. Girl spend barely a couple of days without Eddie only to be possessed by Lady Viola. Also, how healthy their relationship is? They set a high bar. It’s fun how that can be traced back to Henry James, the love depicted in Sir Edmund Orme made me think a lot about Dani & Jamie, how about if, a handful of stories, from now on focus on that instead? External evil forces are driving the drama, not the relationship or sexuality of the characters involved? Cause it can be pretty tiring to see silly drama when you could craft a more convincing healthy love story instead. (I don’t mean it for every story, it’s just that, we see a lot of lazy writing nowadays, Bly Manor is not lazy, like at all, there’s a purpose for the dramatics, if there’s such a thing) and Horror and Romance, finest genres to explore this. I’m in love with the concept.

And man, the ending, bittersweet, and tragic, and just the perfect amount of everything. I wouldn’t have liked it any other way. People who say it’s a BYG are not seeing the big picture. After I was done watching it I felt numb, like it was too much, a while after, I cried of course. We spend 9 episodes living with those characters and then all of a sudden, the protagonist is dead. She sacrifices herself, for the one person she loves. It’s too much to take in if you ask me. And then you think, you rewind, Jamie said Dani was stronger than she thought, and Dani, on top on her anxiety, her fears, her guilt, she managed to do the right thing. She refused to lose Jamie, refused to live in a world without her, so she made the utmost sacrifice, to protect her. If Dani was the lady of the lake, she’d make sure no one would take Jamie. Because love, is the opposite of possession (the commentary on relationships is ugh, mindblowing honestly). Even if Dani was losing herself little by little, she never forgot that. That’s why her spirit lived on, cause like Flora said, dead doesn’t mean gone. And Jamie lives to tell that tale. That’s how you are remembered in the end, by being a story.