The Haunting of Hill House: Episode Eight

 

There’s nothing like being a grown-up and having a fight with the family.

As kids, it is easier to express anger through actions or calling each other mean names.

When you grow up, there is the need to show constraint, to handle problems on your own. You can’t sob because society expects you to behave in a mature manner. You cannot call each other names and throw tantrums, because you’re not immature, are you?

All that is left is to hide your feelings and hope your family understands you’re going through a tough time. But when there is common grief, not everyone is going to understand the other. Everyone expresses and processes grief in their own way.

Nell’s twin Luke has disappeared and of course, everyone assumes he’s gone to kill himself.

Steve and Hugh immediately set out to go look for him, while Shirley insists on staying and waiting to find out if Luke has indeed stolen her credit card and plans to use it.

But Theo is still there too and they get into another argument.

Perhaps it’s a good thing this particular incident happens because the sisters immediately stop fighting.

There’s a knock on the door and Shirley imagines it’s the kids. She opens the door but no one is there.

As soon as the sisters resume fighting, another knock interrupts them. Again there is no one outside and this time the windows vibrate and shatter.

The sisters are terrified and just then Shirley receives a message that her credit card was used at a gas station on the road that leads to Hill House. Steve and Hugh are informed and they head in that direction.

Shirley and Theo are not going to be left behind. They get into the car and head to Hill House too, all the while continuing their argument regarding Theo taking the money from Steve and her being with Shirley’s husband in a room.

Their argument is interrupted by a screaming ghost, Nell’s ghost. Shirley brakes hard and both sisters get out.

Theo has a breakdown as she is terrified and reveals to Shirley that she used her gift as a sensitive to see what really happened to Nell but ended up feeling nothing. It terrified her to the point that she tried everything to get some sensation back, including drinking. She wasn’t having an affair with Shirley’s husband but merely trying to get some feeling back.

Shirley gives her a hand and Theo stands up, indicating that her older sister has decided to forgive her.

Meanwhile, Steven is going on about how Olivia was crazy and that there was no haunting at Hill House. He remembers the time he was cheering up his mother by refurbishing a dressing table and how she pinched through the mirror. Hugh explains Steven has no idea what he’s talking about.

Steven reveals the reason his marriage fell apart was that he didn’t want to have kids fearing their family’s mental sickness was hereditary. He even went as far as to get a vasectomy.

Hugh wishes Steven had spoken to him before and tells him that Steven did see an actual ghost as revealed in his book. Steven has written about a clock repairman who sported a big moustache and wore overalls. Hugh reveals he hired no repairman since that clock was an antique and no ordinary clock repairer could fix it. He explains about the witness marks inside the clock that is read by repairmen in the past to figure out what repair was done to the clock.

Steve is shocked to learn that even though he lied about the events at Hill House in his book, he did really see a ghost.

Meanwhile, Luke has reached Hill House and finds it in shambles. On the staircase, he finds his mother Olivia standing in a red dress and beckoning him.

Before he can go to her, he is attacked by Poppy Hill, the wife of William Hill, the owner of Hill House...