S01.E05: The Tell-Tale Heart

[Guest]

Quote

Victorine inches closer to testing her heart technology on a patient until tensions erupt between her and Alessandra. Dupin makes a chilling confession.

Dropping on October 12, 2023

[Snazzy Daisy]

Jump scare #5 - Bloods starts coming out from Dupin’s shirt and his heart starts pounding out of his chest. Then Vic appears and starts screaming.

Dupin has finally confessed that there’s no informant. It’s just a tactic straight from the Usher’s playbook. With 3 episodes left, am expecting a twist on this. 🤨

What actually happened between Roderick and Annabel? They seemed in love and happy. At the funeral, Roderick is so frosty towards the mothers of his dead children.

What an interesting theory from Madeline after they figure out that Verna might be involved in the first 3 deaths. Nothing supernatural. It’s another illegitimate children of Roderick who bears an uncanny resemblance to her mother - a bartender they met on 1979 NYE. Madeline tells Pym Reaper to remove Verna’s eyes for revenge.

A flashback to 1979 shows young Madeline paid Rufus Griswold a visit to do some pitching on going digital. He’s so threatened by her that he started talking about William/Eliza office scandal. That visit was a part of the Ushers plan with Dupin to take Griswold down for good.

Verna continues with her MO to mind-f*ck the Ushers just to trigger their paranoia.

Tammy is on the brink of losing Bill after she angrily tells him that he has been handpicked to be her husband because he fits the brand. 

Frederick has no encounter with Verna yet but he’s dealing with his own paranoia. He is tormented by his wife’s lie that he takes her home against doctor’s advice. Is this some kind of punishment for betraying his trust?

Vic’s death is the creepiest so far. The pressure of failed trials and covering-up medical frauds, betrayal from a loved ones, trauma-blocking mind, that eerie mechanical chirping sound and crushed soul after realizing what she has done to Alessandra. The moment when Roderick opens the door to find Alessandra’s dead body with her chest open is gut wrenching. Vic stabbing herself in the heart is a parallel to earlier scenes where Roderick is contemplating to take his own life via stabbing etc.

*️⃣ 4 down, 2 to go.

 

QUESTIONS:

At one point, we see Roderick talking to a wall in the basement. Could it be possible that he’s talking to Rufus Griswold? What if the young Ushers buried him there on 1979 NYE? 🤔

[Guest]

I know I should have seen it coming but somehow the reveal of Alessandra surprised me. I think it’s because I was just so caught up in Vic’s performance I wasn’t trying to figure out the plot. The acting has just been amazing and she hit it out of the park. 

I find the last two children much less interesting than Leo and Vic so I’m more interested in the reveal of what is going on with Verna than that aspect. 

Alessandra’s end was brutal. The collateral damage has been rough. At least Julius and Pluto survived the last episode. 

[Bastet]

This one was a fabulous death reveal!

After watching Griswold with Madeline, I cannot wait to see what they do to him.

20 hours ago, Dani said:

I find the last to children much less interesting than Leo and Vic so I’m more interested in the reveal of what is going on with Verna than that aspect. 

Same here; with them being "Froderick and Maderlane", you'd think I'd be more into them since I'm fascinated by Roderick and Madeline, but they're not all that interesting to me.

20 hours ago, Dani said:

I was just so caught up in Vic’s performance I wasn’t trying to figure out the plot. The acting has just been amazing and she hit it out of the park. 

The actor had a small recurring role in Sex Education, but that's all I'd seen her in; I always liked her scenes, so I'm not surprised by how much I enjoyed her in this.

[Anela]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

This one was a fabulous death reveal!

After watching Griswold with Madeline, I cannot wait to see what they do to him.

Same here; with them being "Froderick and Maderlane", you'd think I'd be more into them since I'm fascinated by Roderick and Madeline, but they're not all that interesting to me.

The actor had a small recurring role in Sex Education, but that's all I'd seen her in; I always liked her scenes, so I'm not surprised by how much I enjoyed her in this.

She’s in the Bly Manor series, and also Amazon’s video game series. The peripheral. 

[Ohiopirate02]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

Same here; with them being "Froderick and Maderlane", you'd think I'd be more into them since I'm fascinated by Roderick and Madeline, but they're not all that interesting to me.

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.

[Bastet]

1 minute ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I interpreted the nickname as Frauderick

I just went with the closed captioning, and that works for me because Tammy said Frederick is as close a name to Roderick as their dad could get without making him a junior, so they call him Froderick.

[bosawks]

“Oh, fuck off Ray-Bans”

”I don’t care what Pym says, it was her, she’s the informant.  Do you think that the 50 mil is still on the table.”

”Probably not, not with all the dead people and stuff.”

It is sequences like this that will always have me look forward to a Mike Flanagan experience.

Perfect.

[Bastet]

43 minutes ago, bosawks said:

It is sequences like this that will always have me look forward to a Mike Flanagan experience.

I've never seen anything else of his, but if the fantastic humor in this series is typical of him, I may have to check out more.  There are so many wickedly funny lines!

[Schweedie]

18 hours ago, Bastet said:

I've never seen anything else of his, but if the fantastic humor in this series is typical of him, I may have to check out more.  There are so many wickedly funny lines!

I do think this series is darkly funnier than his previous Netflix ones. I cracked up at how the mention of Frederick being called "sweaty Freddy" in the first or second episode because of his being afraid of elevators and always taking the stairs paid off in the previous ep, with him outside Leo's door all out of breath. Gave me a good giggle.

[bosawks]

I really liked the ending payoff in this one, they really got me when Roderick said he heard it too.  I was like, "what, wait a minute", and then to see that implant in Al's chest, yup, you got me show.

Well done. 

[Paloma]

On 10/13/2023 at 8:57 PM, Snazzy Daisy said:

A flashback to 1979 shows young Madeline paid Rufus Griswold a visit to do some pitching on going digital. He’s so threatened by her that he started talking about William/Eliza office scandal.

Did Roderick and Madeline know they were the children of the former CEO (that their mother was secretary to) before Griswold talked about this scandal? If they could prove it was true, wouldn't they have a right to part of the former CEO's estate and maybe also part ownership of Fortunato?

[Bastet]

On 10/16/2023 at 2:11 PM, Paloma said:

I'm having a hard time seeing him as anyone except Starbuck's boyfriend in Battlestar Galactica.

From another thread, re. Michael Trucco as Griswold, the asshole CEO.  BSG is the only other thing I've seen him in, so he's Sam Anders to me, too, which makes for an odd disconnect in this one when he's being so awful to Madeline -- even though it's not (BSG star) Mary McDonnell he's interacting with, since it's the young version of Madeline, I still had a "Watch it, buddy, she'll airlock you" moment.

On 10/16/2023 at 2:18 PM, Paloma said:

Did Roderick and Madeline know they were the children of the former CEO (that their mother was secretary to) before Griswold talked about this scandal? If they could prove it was true, wouldn't they have a right to part of the former CEO's estate and maybe also part ownership of Fortunato?

They knew well before then, yes, at least as far back as when they go ask him to try and talk her into the medicine she's refusing.  As for proving it, no DNA testing back then.  Blood tests could prove a man could not possibly be the biological father (because his blood type plus the mother's blood type could not result in the child's blood type), but could not prove with certainty that he was.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Bastet

[TeslaNewton]

Ok, Madeline asking for Verna's eyes is Myca from The Crow.

I think the theme for Frederick is the second movement "Allegretto" of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Sarah Brightman sang a song based on this (thank you Wikipedia). Here are the lyrics: 

Spoiler

The Lost Son

Walls of wind

Night has fallen

Father and son are together

 

With a horse

They proceed

Through this intense darkness

 

But suddenly

The boy trembles

With fear

It gets cold

 

Father oh father

Haven't you seen

The king of the elfs

There he is

 

Lost son

Do you want to play?

I bring you joy

Come with me

 

Father oh father

Did you hear

What he said

And what he will do?

 

Lost son

If you don't come with me

I will use the power that I have

 

Father oh father

The king of the elfs

Is touching me

He hurts me

 

And the boy

Eyes closed

He doesn't move

He's already lost

 

Son

Lost son

If you don't come with me

I will use my power

 

Father oh father

The king of the elfs

Is touching me

He hurts me

 

And the boy

Eyes closed

He doesn't move

He's already lost

 

... he's already lost

The song is "Figlio Perduto."

 

Edited October 17, 2023 by TeslaNewton

[DearEvette]

Ooh I liked this one.  And what a neat detail to use the chirp-chirp of Vic's artificial heart instead of the usual beating of an organic heart to symbolize Vic's sins.

I thought she'd hit Ali during at the beginning when we see the start of the whole argument, but then the next scene was Vic pleading with her to call her back.   I thought the throwing of the statue was the fake out.  Turns out to be it wasn't a fake-out after all, jut a false scene transition.

The most I've liked Freddy was his matter-of-fact talk with Lenore about what comes with being a member of their family and how Pym operates for them.  But Poor Lenore.  She is too good for this family.

I liked the camera work in Roderick's office when he was contemplating how to kill himself.  It looked like his entire office became a glass elevator.

Again, another Usher child dies because of their own family's creation. Perry and Camille's death's  have been quick, violent, gory and something was obviously done to them.  While Leo and Vic's went on a bit longer, had a taunting edge,  had been marked by paranoia and hallucination,  and would be considered suicide.  Wonder if Freddy and Tammy's deaths will take a different turn as well.

Also been wondering about who gets to be saved from being collateral damage?  Verna apparently warned the wait staff and Morelle to leave Perry's party but not the rest of the party goers.  I can understand the wait staff -- they were just doing their jobs.  But why not just the random party goers?  Is it because they willingly signed on to be part of Perry's debauchery and/or are corrupt (per Verna) in their own way?  And why not Morelle -- even though she was married into the house of Usher.  Was she gonna be spared because she was basically decent and really the only thing she did was bake cool looking cakes and wasn't really involved in the family business?

Julius wasn't ever even introduced to the family formally and just seemed to be Leo's live in boyfriend so he isn't even tangentially involved with the family.  So that could be why he was spared.  But Ali of course was part of the testing on the animals so I could see why Verna would not spare her.

Which leads me to wonder if Bill will survive.  Based on the convo with Tammy in this one, it is as I suspected and he wasn't on board with the hookers.  He was just doing it to please his wife.  And his fitness empire was his before she came and took it over.  He seems harmless enough.  I hope he did leave and it saves his life.

So little has been revealed about Tammy that I am very curious how she will go.

[Ohiopirate02]

26 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

Also been wondering about who gets to be saved from being collateral damage?  Verna apparently warned the wait staff and Morelle to leave Perry's party but not the rest of the party goers.  I can understand the wait staff -- they were just doing their jobs.  But why not just the random party goers?  Is it because they willingly signed on to be part of Perry's debauchery and/or are corrupt (per Verna) in their own way?

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.  

[Snazzy Daisy]

In episode 4, Leo asks Verna to pose with fake Pluto, just to compare with the real Pluto.

 

In this episode, this is the photo that Pym Reaper finds in Leo’s phone.

Verna has given Leo a rat because that’s what cats do??!

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy

[Bruinsfan]

On 10/17/2023 at 1:33 PM, DearEvette said:

I thought she'd hit Ali during at the beginning when we see the start of the whole argument, but then the next scene was Vic pleading with her to call her back.   I thought the throwing of the statue was the fake out.  Turns out to be it wasn't a fake-out after all, jut a false scene transition.

I knew Alessandra was dead the instant the scene cut after the throw. But I thought Vic was making all those voice mail messages for show, to throw suspicion off herself once the authorities started investigating the disappearance/death. Turns out she completely snapped and thought she'd Frankensteined her wife back to life!

[Lady Calypso]

As The Tell-Tale Heart is my favourite Poe story, I was quite excited for this one. Honestly, I did figure out what happened because of the immediate cut to black after Vic threw the object at Al, but they definitely didn't have me expecting the full reveal of what actually happened after that. 

The artificial heart sound throughout the episode was chilling. I didn't even connect what it was until the end. They even used Verna a bit more sparingly this episode, though still extremely poignant as this probably did the best job at explaining Vic's demise to me. Vic's purpose was always about success, being successful no matter the cost, especially to her humanity. And though this episode did make me believe that she finally had some feelings for Al, it also became clear that her feelings for Al weren't enough to overcome the feelings for success and her selfishness. Vic was so selfish, even in Al's final moments, she was making it all about her and her needs. While she watched her girlfriend gasp her final breaths, she was justifying the action that she caused. It is what makes Vic the worse, but also made the entire sequence the most tragic so far. Perry's death also caused nearly one hundred lives to be lost as well. But what Vic did was of her own doing to the person she seemed to love the most. Vic was so comfortable taking animal lives, it translated into taking human lives as well. 

The ending was fantastic. Bruce Greenwood and T'Nia Miller were nothing short of fantastic, especially with Roderick's horror upon discovering Al's dead body with the open artifical heart beating and Vic's complete delusional state.

They are building up to Frederick and Tammy's demises quite well. Tammy, especially, was cruel to her husband and didn't hold back on how she truly feels about him. He's only a means to an end, which....yeah, I thought they couldn't get an Usher sibling even close to the horror of Vic's actions and although Vic is still worse, Tammy's almost indifference to Bill is worse than I thought. She basically has no connection to him, only enamored with their image, rather than the person he is. Not connecting with him in any other way and using escorts to get turned on to the idea of them is disturbing. It makes you wonder, if Vic is capable of killing animals and killing humans for success, what is Tammy willing to do to keep her reputation? 

Frederick's slimy and weaselly and I'm not sure how much he truly cares for his wife. He was trying to paint a more negative image to Lenore, rather than show her true comfort. But Frederick hasn't shown much emotion toward anyone besides himself, so I guess it's very Usher-like that he's probably screwing things up just to protect the family name. 

The flashback with young Madeline and Rufus was good. I think it's clear that Rufus will die by the Usher hands; how else would they get their hands into the company and grow to the people they are in present day? But they're doing a good job setting it up, and I suspect there's more to it than them murdering him and using the bar at New Years as a cover. I wonder what the extra stuff will be with Rufus and how it gets to that point. But young Madeline interests me way more than young Roderick.

Seriously chilling episode, probably the best of the series thus far. 

[Chaos Theory]

Having Vic and Al fight to the background of "Total Eclipse of The Heart" was all kinds of weird.  I liked the skip jump to what happened later.  It made it all the more tragic.  The Ushers really are monsters.  

The episode flashback went a long way to explaining Madeline's motivation and what she wants in life.  Its  always been hinted at.  Being a woman she can't just demand it like Roderick.  But what she wants is enough money and power so that she can focus on her own interests.    

Tammy was cruel to her husband in a careless way.  

 

Madeline is the more interesting of the two siblings.  

 

The ending of the episode was fantastically acted.  Brutal, sad, and tragic in all the right ways.  The Ushers really are monsters.   

 

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Chaos Theory

[tennisgurl]

I was really excited for this shows take on the Tell Tale Heart and this did not disappoint. I wondered if it would turn out that Vic accidently killed Al when we got that hard cut from her throwing something to the next scene, but I so did not see it coming that she stuck her heart pump into Al's dead body to try and bring her back. What a creative modern take on the classic story. 

Its interesting that Perry and Camille got nastier deaths but they happened seemingly out of the blue while Leo and Vic got less vicarly horrible deaths but spent their last day being driven to madness. That's four down two to go. 

The chat between Vic, Freddie, and Tammy was really interesting, it gave a lot of insight into their family dynamic, especially between "the bastards" and Freddie and Tammy, and how their dad always looked at them differently because they came from beloved saintly Annabelle Lee and not the random women that Roderick hooked up with who he didn't even say hi to at the funeral.  

Total Eclipse of the Heart and Hard on the Heart were certainly darkly appropriate musical choices for this episode, I love this shows fucked up sense of humor, like when Freddie kept being grossed out by the phrase "dad hole". 

A lot of great acting in this one, especially from Bruce Greenwood and T'nia Miller. That last scene was an absolute killer, as Roderick realized how far Vic had lost her grip on reality, like it was fully truly hitting him how badly he failed as a father and what is happening to his children. Was Verna possessing her or something right before she stabbed herself? 

[Ohiopirate02]

35 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

A lot of great acting in this one, especially from Bruce Greenwood and T'nia Miller. That last scene was an absolute killer, as Roderick realized how far Vic had lost her grip on reality, like it was fully truly hitting him how badly he failed as a father and what is happening to his children. Was Verna possessing her or something right before she stabbed herself? 

I honestly was expecting Vic to stab Roderick with the knife there at the end.  Roderick was the one applying pressure to her to advance her research in unethical ways, and that pressure increased after Roderick got his diagnosis.  Everything Vic does leading up to this moment is her trying to gain her father's approval and love.  But, in the end she realizes she was the one who chose to do all those things including murdering her wife, so she kills herself.  That wasn't Verna but Vic

[Milburn Stone]

On 10/14/2023 at 7:43 PM, Bastet said:

This one was a fabulous death reveal!

I knew she was dead, and that Vic's phone messages to her were either alibi-setting or denial, but I did not see the device-implant coming. Wow. Perfect. (And maybe the truest to Poe of the episodes so far.)

On 10/14/2023 at 7:43 PM, Bastet said:

After watching Griswold with Madeline, I cannot wait to see what they do to him.

😂