Plot: In the series finale, we learn the deal Roderick and Madeline made with Verna which results in the entire Usher bloodline dealing with the consequences.
The story is finally coming to an end. The eighth episode of The Fall of the House of Usher is long and filled with monologues reminiscent of Midnight Mass.
Carla Gugino as Verna knocks the ball out of the park with her restrained and dignified performance. She shows strength, remorse and wisdom in the last episode.
But you just can't help feel bad for the Ushers. Roderick and Madeline had a tough life and did whatever they could to get ahead. But they made a mistake and then another when they gave in to their greed and accepted Verna's deal. They had the option not to. As we learn from this episode, not everyone had to accept the deal. They had a choice. They just never took it.
The first half of the episode can seem a bit dragging but the events are necessary and pertaining to the story.
The last episode is titled THE RAVEN, Edgar Allan Poe's most popular poem.
The Raven was about a man who is sitting in his chamber, grieving over the death of his beloved Lenore when there is a tap on the window.
When it repeats, the man investigates which is when a raven flies into the chamber and sits on the bust of Pallas. In Greek mythology, Pallas was Athena's friend who was accidentally killed by Athena. Remorseful, Athena takes her friend's name to honor her.
The raven seems to be able to talk and keeps repeating Nevermore to every question the man asks. Annoyed, he orders the raven to fly back to Plutonian shores which according to Greek mythology is where the underworld is.
The raven does not fly away and keep saying Nevermore. The man begins to believe that the bird belongs to an unhappy master. When he asks the bird if he will be reunited with his Lenore, the raven replies Nevermore.
The raven in the poem has an ominous presence and seems to be mocking the man as well much like Verna who reminds Roderick that there is no easy way out of the deal.
THE RAVEN Plot
At the new year's party in the past, Madeline is sweet talking Griswold and makes him drink some sherry while Roderick watches.
In the present, Verna enters the Ushers house and is drugged by Pym who then wraps her in a sheet and tapes it all up. But Verna is already out and giggles at Pym's feeble attempts to capture her.
She shows Pym the future where he will be punished for his crimes once Camille's files are leaked. She offers Pym a deal that will save him from punishment but Pym is okay with spending the rest of his years in prison rather than accept Verna's dangerous deal. He now knows that Verna is not an ordinary woman.
Verna is surprised by his refusal. Perhaps not many have refused her offer. But she accepts his decision and vanishes.
Roderick finds out that Madeline is about to take his place as CEO and laughs it off. Madeline tries to show regret and assures him she tried but they have both accepted that there is no way out for them.
Lenore is with Roderick and asks where Juno is. Roderick informs that Juno has left him but that she is not to be blamed. Roderick bonds with Lenore who tells him she will stay the night.
As she enters her bedroom, she finds a woman sitting on the bed. It is Verna who laments that Roderick didn’t understand by what she meant by bloodline.
In the past, Madeline had spiked Rufus' drink and then handcuffed him in the basement of the new wing of the company. Roderick and Madeline had in a way buried Rufus alive so that Roderick can take his place.
Madeline explains how the board will think that Rufus ran away to another country to hide and since everyone else in the company has gotten their hands dirty, Roderick is the only one with a somewhat clean reputation. Plus he is a hero for taking the fall for the forged documents and saved the company's reputation.
Rufus tries to offer Madeline a deal but she refuses.
Rufus was the one in the jester costume that night, the one that now haunts an older Roderick.
Roderick had seen Annabel at Frederick's and Tamerlane's funeral. She has short hair and accuses Roderick of letting their marriage fall apart and not giving his kids any attention. She tells him that when anyone asked why her kids left, she told them because Roderick had money. Annabel walks away and we see she has a gunshot wound at the back suggesting that she had committed suicide.
In death, Annabel is reunited with her kids.
Outside, Roderick had seen a jester in his car which had caused his collapse in the first episode.
In the past, Roderick and Madeline hid in Verna's bar and after everyone left, Verna got them into a table and brought them to a plane where time has stopped. She offers Roderick and Madeline a deal: they will be saved from punishment if they accept a deal wherein they will get as much wealth as they want provided that when they die after forty or fifty years, the entire Usher bloodline will die.
Or they can refuse and the Ushers will live without privileges. Roderick readily accepts the deal. Madeline hesitates, stating that she doesn’t want kids in the first place. Verna insists she takes the deal too. Madeline accepts considering it means that she will not be sent to jail no matter what crime she commits.
The deal is made and when Roderick and Madeline walk out of the bar, the bar vanishes.
In the present day Verna tells Lenore her future and how her defiance of her father's orders saved her mother. Morella was going to heal after some years and start a foundation on Lenore's name. The foundation was for domestic abuse victims and Morella was going to save several lives.
Lenore feels satisfied that her mother will be saved but then realizes that Verna meant that she would die. Verna shows her mercy by putting Lenore to sleep.
Roderick is devastated when he finds Lenore dead.
In the absolute present day Dupin argues that Lenore has been texting him the whole night. Roderick tells him about how Madeline had created AI using Lenore as a test model and it was the AI bot who had been texting him just one word the whole night: Nevermore.
Dupin is shocked and begins to wonder if Roderick's story has some truth after all.
When Roderick finds Lenore, Verna had prompted him to call Dupin to the house.
Roderick plays the same trick on Madeline who had mocked Rufus for not knowing that there was something in his sherry. Roderick has spiked Madeline's drink too and she collapses.
Dupin asks Roderick if Madeline is dead too to which he replies he doesn't know. Since Madeline has been called Cleopatra the entire series, Roderick has removed her eyes and put blue stones just like Cleopatra had been when she was buried.
Dupin wants to know who is causing that ruckus in the basement if Madeline is dead. Roderick thinks Madeline is not dead.
Dupin turns around as he hears noises and crashing sounds. It is Madeline, blind and enraged.
She finds Roderick and begins to strangle him. Dupin runs for his life as the house begins to collapse. Once he is out, the house collapses entirely, just like in Poe's story.
Following these events, Dupin retires, no longer finding the need to continue the investigation on Roderick now that he knows what happened. Camille's files are out and Pym is arrested. Verna watches on with respect as Pym accepts his fate with dignity.
Dupin has no idea what to do with Roderick's confession on tape and leaves it at the grave site. He sees a raven and then leaves.
The raven takes Verna's form. She recites a poem as she leaves a mask on Perry's grave, a phone on Camille's grave, a cat's collar on Leo's grave, the heart mesh on Victorine's grave, a goldbug on Tamerlane's grave, a bag of substance on Frederick's grave, and a black feather with a white rose on Lenore's grave.
Madeline gets two blue stones while Roderick gets a whiskey glass.
The deal is now complete. The Ushers have taken a bow together. Verna transforms back into a raven and flies away.
The episode ends.
The finale of The Fall of the House of Usher was moving, dramatic and heart-wrenching. Madeline's re-entry is bound to jostle you.
The effects were however a bit clunky where the fall of the house was concerned.
But the last episode served as a fitting end to a brilliant series once again helmed by Mike Flanagan.
The Fall of the House of Usher deserves to be watched especially during the spooky season.
Scare Scale: 4.5/5
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