The Haunting of Hill House: Episode Nine

 A mother’s worst nightmare is perhaps finding out her children are in danger. She would go to any lengths to prevent anything terrible happening to their kids.

But if one lives in a haunted house, that sensation may not exactly be true. That ill-feeling has probably been fed by a malicious ghost.

In a flashback scene, we see Olivia grappling with a tremendous dilemma where she can’t tell real from illusion anymore.

She watches her kids Luke and Nell sleep and wishes they would stay their innocent selves forever.

The next instant when she walks into the other room, she finds herself in a morgue. As viewers, we know it is where Shirley does her work. On the table is grown-up Nell and Luke. They get up from their tables and spook Olivia.

Olivia is troubled because although she can’t be a hundred per cent sure what her kids will look like when they grow up, deep inside, she knows it’s the twins and it has generated a deep fear within her.

Hugh advises her to take her break sooner and she agrees to go see stay with her sister Janet for a while.

The next morning she’s sitting and contemplating her next step when Mrs Dudley comes to her carrying paints and other equipment. She tells her to act surprised when Steven gifts her the dressing table.

She then reveals how she doesn’t let her daughter come here because she and her husband have experienced weird occurrences at night and therefore leave immediately after sunset. She advises Olivia to do the best for her kids and protect them. Mrs Dudley tells her she does the same for her daughter but feels bad that she doesn’t get to go out anywhere.

Olivia is taken to see Steven’s dressing table and she does punch through the glass but this time we see the reason why. In the reflection, she sees grown-up Nell and Luke again.

Olivia leaves Hill House after a breakdown but when she makes the call to Hugh to ask how everything is going, we can see she’s in a motel nearby.

Poppy Hill’s ghost has gotten to her and shown her the best way to keep her children young and with her forever.

At home, Luke is having a sleepover. Abigail is real and she is Mrs Dudley’s daughter.

Olivia creeps into the house and is seen by Shirley in the kitchen while making tea. Shirley goes to awaken Hugh who guesses what is happening.

Olivia gets the twins and invites Abigail to the red room. The door opens for her and inside is a plain room with a table. She seats the children down and serves them tea.

Hugh finds out the tea is tainted with rat poison and rushes upstairs.

Abigail, eager to be a part of something, takes a sip. The twins know their mother is behaving abnormally and hesitate.

Hugh arrives to stop his children from drinking the tea, but it is too late for Abigail who dies.

Hugh pushes away a deranged Olivia and takes his kids away. The events from the first episode occur as Hugh drags all his kids outside.

Olivia protests about keeping her kids safe for her but Hugh manages to push her away. She awakens and limps around the house, looking for her children.

High drives away with his children and Steven sees Olivia watching them through the window.

Olivia is torn between reality and her delusions. She can’t believe what she did. She is lured by Poppy to the spiral staircase where she then falls and dies...