Ohiopirate02

I got the impression that Pym was a regular human who saw some shit on that trans-world journey and that fundamentally changed him.

If Meryl has been with Don for 45 years, then she met him not long after John died. Thirty-nine years is a hell of a run for a rebound relationship.

This is why all those "single big city girls who go home for the holidays for the first time in a decade" all work in publishing.

I agree that Verna is not evil, nor is she good. She exists outside of that moral binary as well as time and space. She shows up when people are at a crossroads and offers them a clearly outlined deal. If she was evil, there would have been some kind of last minute loophole buried in the fine print. As to Lenore being the last of Roderick's bloodline to die, Verna can see the future for all of our characters. She mentions to Frederick that he would have been a dentist if Roderick had not made his deal with her. Lenore's death is tied to what Morella will do in the future. I don't think Verna set out to collect the souls of the Usher children in reverse birth order, but each death happened in the order of Verna's master plan. I also think Verna's master plan is rooted in balancing the scales. Roderick and Madeline take her deal and millions of lives are lost due to their investment in Ligadone. Verna is setting the stage for both Morella and Juno to balance that out with their charitable foundations.

Juno is Roderick's special project to show the world his highly addictive opiate is safe to take in large doses for an extended period of time. He is not going to risk that by getting her pregnant.

Roderick wanted access to the phone to see if Morella was the mole, but Frederick was only focused on her infidelity. And as time went on with the rest of the Usher children dying left and right, who the mole was became less and less important while Freddy kept on trying to get into that phone. He wasn't doing it to help his father. I also have respect for Pym realizing Verna could not offer him anything and turning her down. He knew what he had done and had made is peace with it. I was expecting him to commit suicide after the deaths of Roderick and Madeline instead of taking the fall for their misdeeds.

That poem may have offered zero clarity, but I do love Verna whipping out some verse to a person like Madeline. Madeline, the over analytical one, the one who can creates algorithms after algorithms, the one trying to stop death through said algorithms. And Verna gives her poetry, the exact opposite of Madeline's analytics.

I gave up on trying to make the dates work when Mike Flanagan expected me to believe Henry Thomas could play a character that was in pre-school in late 1979.

Madeline knew that the deal included Lenore and she cared for her. Her AI project with Lenore as the beta tester shows this. She knew Roderick doomed her but had no idea when Verna was going to show up to collect. So, she created a way for Lenore to "live" forever.

Not only did he doom Frederick and Tamerlane without a second thought, he chose to have 4 more children knowing the deal he made. He could have gotten a vasectomy at any time after making that deal. At least Madeline got an IUD almost immediately after making the deal though she was never going to willingly have children before making the deal.

Perry's guest list was filled with others corrupt in their own ways. He carefully chose people with whom he could exploit with his hidden cameras. They were not random partygoers, and had their own deals and sins that needed to be accounted for by Verna.

Someone has to make up for all the lives lost due to the House of Usher. Neither one can do it alone.

I disagree that the deal is what corrupted the Usher children. We see Verna tell multiple Usher children that their choices are the reason for the manner of their death. Verna was going to collect their souls per her deal, but she did not necessarily set out to off the various Ushers in the most gruesome way possible. They may have had cleaner deaths similar to Lenore if they had not chosen to follow in their father's footsteps or chased his love and approval.

Annabel was done with Roderick as soon as he chose to screw over Auggie. I don't think she ever realized Roderick and Madeline killed Griswold. He mentions that he had very little do with his kids when they were children. It wasn't until they were older that he started throwing money at them. Which tracks with Roderick being a selfish asshole. Leave the parenting to Annabel while he makes his billions and beds every woman who catches his eye and never considering a vasectomy. Roderick's deal may have prevented her from moving on after their divorce thereby putting her in the position to where death is preferable to watching her children become their father. Or, she just "loved [Roderick] with a love that was more than love" and was doomed by that.

There's too many unknown variables to fully answer this--what was her actual advance, what are her contractual royalty rates, and who paid for the ghostwriter. From what I can research quickly, she's sold close to 60,000 copies since release date of the physical book. That is enough to earn out a typical 50k advance, and be very close to earning out a 100k advance with a typical royalty rate of 10% of the retail price. I'm leaving out all electronic formats because I can't easily find that number and they have their own rules for paying out and Amazon is going to Amazon at every turn. So, Jill might see a quarterly royalty check or two. I can't see her getting checks this time next year though.

I guess we are supposed to assume she committed suicide after Frederick and Tamerlane turned their backs on her in favor of their rich amoral father. I wish we could have seen some of that and why it would make her take her own life. What did they do? I can't help but think it was her children's rejection of her that spurned this and not something Roderick said or did.

I got the impression that Tamerlane's fantasy was that of a happy, healthy marriage. Something she did not experience growing up with her parents splitting up sometime in the early 1980s. So she pays a sex worker to play-act with her husband as she watches. Which is definitely strange and the show doesn't really explain why her husband had to be the one in this fantasy.

The phone found with Morella's effects was a burner phone given to her by Perry. All it had on it was the invitation to his orgy, but Freddy didn't know this. He was driving himself crazy imagining the phone held proof of her living a secret life, and he desperately wanted to know what was in it.

I don't see Verna as being truly evil. Hee terms are clear and she never shows any sign of changing them once she comes to collect. She also shows remorse at how some of the Usher children are killed. I got the impression that their deaths could have been more in line with how she killed Lenore if they had chosen differently.

I interpreted the nickname as Frauderick since it appears Frederick is rather inept at his corporate job and pales in comparison to his father. I also see how the "bastard" Usher children chafe at how much easier Frederick and Tamerlane had it compared to them.

I was really hoping for a last minute reveal that Lenore was not Freddy's biological child since she was the only good and decent Usher.

Thanks, I read that one wrong last night after a few beers. In my defense, having characters with similar names and multiple timelines with parties does add to the confusion.

As gruesome as the deaths were, I am loving how Mike Flanagan had adapted both "The Masque of Red Death" and "The Tale-Tale Heart." The spirit of the story is there while also fitting into the overall narrative.

That's his sister Madeline. Roderick wife is not at the bar. Roderick's wife is at home taking care of Henry Thomas's character, Frederick. He is way too old to be playing anyone born after December 31, 1979.

If Derick is telling the truth and their house is paid off, so are their cars, Derick has paid off his student loans, and they are properly insured. then 50k is enough of an emergency fund. Honestly, it's more than enough to cover their expenses for 6 months or less if Derick found himself unable to work.