S01.E04: The Black Cat

[Guest]

Quote

Leo adopts a black cat who soon brings evil — and a mysterious woman — into his home, while Roderick struggles with terrifying hallucinations.

Dropping on October 12, 2023

[Anela]

I really like Malcolm Goodwin. 

geez, Rahul kohli was scary. 
 

 

[Guest]

This was probably my favorite episode so far. The interaction between Verna and the victim is increasing making those scenes a lot more compelling. Leo being driven to his own death and the way his hallucinations were only revealed at the end worked better than the gore and bluntness of the earlier episodes. It makes me question his entire plot. 

Are they dying in reverse birth order? Has Fred seen Verna yet? 

Bruce Greenwood is really selling his hallucinations and the jump scares. It’s hard for me to imagine that he was a recast and a lot of what we are seeing is reshoots. It would have played very differently with Frank Langella and I think this is better. I love the dynamic between Roderick and Augustine. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Jump scare #3 - Leo falls from the ceiling onto the floor right in front of Roderick and Auguste. It feels less scary this time because I’ve been waiting for it.

Jump scare #4 - Perry’s burned body appears in the middle of Roderick/Juno intimate moment. Not scary. 🙄

Another monologue and this time it’s from Auguste Dupin in the flashback, talking to Roderick about doing the right things. This Dupin guy was very observant, it’s impressive!

And thanks to Dupin, Roderick finally had some dirts on Rufus Griswold in the form of fraudulent scheme involving forged paperwork at Fortunato. How will he use this discovery to his advantage?

Quote

“We are a unit. This isn’t just about sticking together. This is about forming a fucking wall. We’re at battle stations. I am the commanding officer and I don’t wanna hear anything out of your mouth that isn’t “Sir, yes sir.” Do you get me?”

- Rufus Griswold

Roderick gives the same speech during the family meeting earlier. Obviously he has crafted his public persona based on his former boss. Will Fortunato Pharmaceuticals be the end of both Griswold and Roderick?

It’s now confirmed that Roderick has the same illness like his mother. His vascular dementia is at advanced stage, so he’s really counting on Vic’s heart mesh to work.

Leo takes a photo of fake Pluto with Verna. This photo will be a useful clue for Roderick and Madeline to confirm that’s indeed the same lady who the Usher children see before they die. From RUE cctv footage, they have already recognized the old face.

I like Leo as he isn’t as mean and obnoxious as the other Usher children. Yes, he has his flaws but he genuinely grieves over Camille and Perry. The way he’s being taunted and tormented by that Pet Sematary cat is just mean. His spiral into paranoia has interesting parallels with how Roderick deals with his illness/hallucinations and how Juno wants to cut back on Ligodone.

We see Leo falling to his death. Then suddenly the real Pluto walks over to him, meowing softly. Leo is killed by his own chaotic mind. Julius is right about the drugs. RIP Napoleon!

 

QUESTIONS:

• Since E01, Roderick keeps getting messages on his phone and if you look closely, it’s Lenore’s name that pops up. Is she in any danger? If it’s not her, then who would that be? Why Roderick doesn’t want to answer her?
• Re the noise in the basement, Roderick claims it’s Madeline. What is she doing down there? If it’s not her, could it be the informant? What if Madeline or Arthur Pym is the informant?
• Does Roderick really love Juno? I don’t think so. He just wants to keep tab and closely monitor the primary user of his Ligodone.
• After 3 deaths from Usher bloodline and 78 people as collateral damage - what does Verna really want?

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy

[Bastet]

Love the cat hopping up on Leo's dead body.

And I really love the scene between the siblings (as always) when Roderick tells Madeline he has the same thing their mom had.  Their relationship is fascinating.

Where did Madeline go when she got the picture of Verna (as an aside, I got a laugh at all the talk about how it's easy to enhance security camera images on TV) -- was it to where the bar they met her in that night had been?  Great talk between Verna and Madeline in the flashback, about Madeline as a queen without a crown.

On 10/13/2023 at 2:06 PM, Snazzy Daisy said:

Re the noise in the basement, Roderick claims it’s Madeline. What is she doing down there?

I don't think it's her.  I think she's dead, because he wouldn't be confessing if she could still get in trouble.  But, then again, if it's not her, I have no idea who'd be in their childhood home.

[Brn2bwild]

On 10/13/2023 at 2:06 PM, Snazzy Daisy said:

Then suddenly the real Pluto walks over to him, meowing softly. Leo is killed by his own chaotic mind. Julius is right about the drugs. RIP Napoleon!

Was that Pluto, though, or the imposter cat?

Also, is it just me, or is Griswold giving off major young Harrison Ford vibes?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Brn2bwild said:

Was that Pluto, though, or the imposter cat?

It was Pluto. She had the Gucci collar. 

[Brn2bwild]

5 minutes ago, Dani said:

It was Pluto. She had the Gucci collar. 

Ah, thanks.

The kiss between Verna and Madeline makes me wonder whether Madeline might be partly behind the deaths - or her wish to not have any man be more powerful than her and to live forever.  If the male heirs take over the company, wouldn't that put them above her?

[Bastet]

I love that when Verna was the animal control worker, her necklace was a collar and tag or bell (I can't remember).  I also can't remember if she had it on at the shelter, or just when she came to the apartment to kill him.

[Emmybean]

7 hours ago, Brn2bwild said:

Was that Pluto, though, or the imposter cat?

Also, is it just me, or is Griswold giving off major young Harrison Ford vibes?

I don’t think Leo ever killed Pluto, it was a drug-endured hallucination (Monty, maybe?). There were no dead animals in the tub after Leo died. 

[greycoupon]

Is it me or was Pluto at the end stepping on Leo's body really bad CGI?  I watch on my dinky old computer monitor and still looked so fake to me.

[Snazzy Daisy]

14 hours ago, Brn2bwild said:

Was that Pluto, though, or the imposter cat?

As confirmed above, it’s indeed the real Pluto. Other than her Gucci collar, her mannerism is totally different than the Pet Sematary fake Pluto.

[Paloma]

On 10/13/2023 at 5:06 PM, Snazzy Daisy said:

I like Leo as he isn’t as mean and obnoxious as the other Usher children. Yes, he has his flaws but he genuinely grieves over Camille and Perry.

It's hard to rank the children in terms of meanness and obnoxiousness because they are all pretty bad. I don't see Leo as one of the better ones, but maybe I'm biased because I hate anyone who hurts an animal (even if it's because he is delusional). On the other hand, I guess I can cut him some slack because...

 

10 hours ago, Emmybean said:

I don’t think Leo ever killed Pluto, it was a drug-endured hallucination (Monty, maybe?). There were no dead animals in the tub after Leo died. 

I hope you're right.

17 hours ago, Brn2bwild said:

Also, is it just me, or is Griswold giving off major young Harrison Ford vibes?

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

[DearEvette]

I have to say, outside of the big storytelling... I am liking the little things. 

For instance, Leo bashes trough his walls to get at the cat with Mjollnir (Thor's hammer). 

And the bits where the show making fun of  'tech that works on tv shows but not in real life' The first time was when they were looking at the security cam footage of Verna at the lab and Roderick wonders what he is saying. Pym reminds him it is just security camera footage there is no sound. And then when Roderick sees Verna he tells Pym to 'Enhance it' and Pym exasperatedly tells him they can't enhance it, they can zoom in but it won't enhance it.  And then the second time was when Bill asked if Tammie 'freeze framed' the girl and she says 'it was a live stream there is no freeze framing.'  And then we get poor hapless Freddie who tries to unlock the phone using face ID on Morella who is a) prone b) eyes closed and c) welll... her face is kinda all melted off.

And so far they are all being killed by their own products.  Which is great, imo.

The little scene of August correctly figuring out Roderick and Annabelle's home dynamic was great.

Really happy that Leo's boyfriend wasn't collateral damage!!

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Paloma said:

I hope you're right.

It’s been officially confirmed that the end shot means that Pluto was not killed. No clue if she happened to escape or if Verna removed the cat to make Leo believe he killed her.  

So far each of the kids has been given the opportunity to walk away before suffering a gruesome death and it seems Leo’s test was how he would react to believing he killed his partner’s cat. It makes sense given Leo didn’t seem to be violent but was selfish. 

It’s interesting to me that Leo’s death was entirely set in motion by Verna while Perry and Camille appeared to have more agency in their own deaths. 

[shrewd.buddha]

I liked Leo using Mjollnir to destroy his walls - - and wow, those walls were very, very deep, like, hide the dead body in the wall and brick it back over deep. 

Verna's creepiness factor is increasing with each manifestation. Nice.

The boyfriend dodged a bullet with Leo jumping off the balcony.
I also enjoyed a previous episode when the bastard Ushers discussed the fact that none of them created anything - they only bought things that other people created and then exploited  them.

Edited October 17, 2023 by shrewd.buddha

[Paloma]

27 minutes ago, shrewd.buddha said:

those walls were very, very deep, like, hide the dead body in the wall and brick it back over deep. 

Was there really a dead body in the wall, or was it another delusion? Either way, did it look like Verna or someone else to him? It went by too fast for me.

[shrewd.buddha]

I seem to recall one of Leo's hallucinations was the black cat sitting on the dead body of Verna in one of the walls. 
I wasn't sure if the show was trying to make some specific point about Leo's drug abuse problems but the drug mixing seemed to be the source of his blackouts and hallucinations. 

[Schweedie]

14 hours ago, Dani said:

It’s interesting to me that Leo’s death was entirely set in motion by Verna while Perry and Camille appeared to have more agency in their own deaths. 

I thought that, too. With Perry and Camille, Verna just kind of let things happen that they set in motion themselves, but she really screwed with Leo, seeming much more mean-spirited. He didn't kill Pluto, but she -- made him think so? So I suppose it was a test, to see how he'd handle it, and the fact that he chose to try to trick his boyfriend meant he failed that test and would be punished. If he'd chosen one of the other cats that needed a home, he would've been given a kinder death.

But setting a guy up to think he's killed his boyfriend's cat, in a horribly way, and then driving him insane because he decides to keep that from said boyfriend... That's pretty heavy entrapment and a harsh punishment.

[HelloooKitty]

But I think that speaks to who Leo was. If we match each child to one of the seven deadly sins, he would be Sloth. Most of what we see him do is sit around his house and occasionally play a video game. There’s an inertia there. He has no agency bc he takes no action. He cheats on his boyfriend and does a ton of drugs. He lives an unexamined, privileged life and expects to continue doing so and receive all the benefits thereof while he does nothing. 
 

and I think that plays into why he seems “less evil” than his siblings. We don’t necessarily see him actively doing deliberate harm to others. Yes, people may be hurt if they find out about his actions. He probably isn’t super nice to service workers. But it feels easier to excuse that than say, someone sticking it in every hole he can find and then blackmailing the people after. 

[Schweedie]

1 hour ago, HelloooKitty said:

Most of what we see him do is sit around his house and occasionally play a video game. There’s an inertia there. He has no agency bc he takes no action.

That's a great point right there. I guess you could say Verna forces him to take action, to see what that action will be.

It's interesting how she basically taunts him throughout the episode, though, seemingly enjoying it. She never points out that he had a chance to do things differently, change his outcome, the way she did with Perry and Camille. I wonder if that means she believes (or knows?) that in his core, he's worse than they were.

[Lady Calypso]

This episode really triggered two of my deepest phobias: dead animals and groteseque eye popping. So this one was rough to watch, for sure, even if the dead animals were hallucinations for Leo, rather than being real.

 With how Verna appeared around Leo this episode, I agree, it's different than how Verna appeared around Perry and Camille. But I guess different siblings needed different interactions. With Perry, Verna appealed to his sexual promiscuity right before his death, but he also first saw her when they were scoping out the location. That was supposed to be his first sign that death was impending. With Camille, I believe she only appeared at the very end at RUE Morgue. I need to think a little more on how Verna appeared to Camille and its importance.

With Leo, because his siblings are much more active than he is, I guess Verna's purpose was to push Leo to act and not live in denial about his role. I agree with other interpretations; Leo appears to be "better" but he hides away, he doesn't take the action he should, he keeps the peace but that's about it. 

But it's weird; Leo's death from Verna seems almost worse than Camille and Perry's deaths, in a way where Leo was tortured by the hallucinations for over a day. Though, at least his death was quicker than Camille's or Perry's. 

Maybe I'm not quite seeing it now, but I thought each death would somehow be directly connected to the Usher siblings' personalities and the way they live their lives. Camille being mauled by a chimp and Leo throwing himself off of his balcony don't quite work for me, but maybe because I don't see the full picture yet. It's going to be a rewatch series, for sure. I'm sure there's connections I'm not even seeing quite yet. 

As for the rest of the episode, a lot of dark humour involved. I had a good laugh at the "enhance" scene. The scene with young Roderick, Madeline and Dupin was very well done. That plot is finally heading in an interesting direction, and you can see Rufus influencing Roderick in his older years the speeches Roderick gives to his children. 

It's interesting that Verna CAN be seen by other characters, with her physically appearing in footage and pictures.

At least Julius and the real Pluto made it out alive.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Maybe I'm not quite seeing it now, but I thought each death would somehow be directly connected to the Usher siblings' personalities and the way they live their lives. Camille being mauled by a chimp and Leo throwing himself off of his balcony don't quite work for me, but maybe because I don't see the full picture yet. It's going to be a rewatch series, for sure. I'm sure there's connections I'm not even seeing quite yet. 

 

Camille lived her life preying on others and she died as prey of a more powerful creature. 
Leo’s a harder one to connect but I’d say he lived his life trying to maintain illusions and he died trying to kill an illusion. 

[tennisgurl]

On 10/16/2023 at 4:55 PM, DearEvette said:

For instance, Leo bashes trough his walls to get at the cat with Mjollnir (Thor's hammer). 

 

While Leo was yelling about how he can get "Hemsworth to get me another one" as he was cracking the walls open! I appreciate the little bits of dark humor we get from the show, especially as its creepier and creepier. 

I did end up feeling bad for Leo, he is certainly selfish and privileged like the rest of his siblings and isn't a very good partner, but he does actually seem to care about his family (he was clearly heartbroken about Camille) and he really got put through the wringer by Verna. His death was less viscerally horrible than Camille's or Perry's but he was being driven insane and clawed up for at least a whole day due to her hallucinations, which is a pretty shitty way to spend your last day. I would say that, of the siblings we've spent time with so far, Leo doesn't really cause harm, but he doesn't do any good either. He spends his time just doing drugs, having sex, being rich, snarking, and funding video games and playing them as his rich kid job, he isn't putting anything out into the world despite all the money he has. Like Camille said, the Usher's don't create things, they just throw money at stuff. 

I'm glad that Leo's boyfriend survived, and even Pluto turns out to be fine! Getting a cat, especially one that frequently goes outside in a major city, a Gucci collar seems like a recipe for disaster, but its certainly on brand for the Ushers. 

The Usher's dynamics with each other is so interesting, I loved the talk between Madeline and Roderick about him having the same illness as their mother, there is so much going on between all of them. 

I loved when Roderick and Madeline were all "enhance imagine" while Pym, sounding very long suffering, has to explain that you cant actually do that like on TV.

Roderick basically repeating the speech he got from his boss about being a "team player" to his family certainly says a lot.

Edited October 25, 2023 by tennisgurl

[chediavolo]

On 10/15/2023 at 11:22 PM, Dani said:

It was Pluto. She had the Gucci collar. 

So was he hallucinating the bloody cat and Pluto was just lost? 

[Ohiopirate02]

40 minutes ago, chediavolo said:

So was he hallucinating the bloody cat and Pluto was just lost? 

Yes.  Leo hallucinated everything from killing the cat to the rat being identical to Pluto to all the gifts Pluto left to all the injuries Leo sustained by "Pluto."

[fastiller]

On 10/13/2023 at 6:04 AM, Anela said:

I really like Malcolm Goodwin. 

geez, Rahul kohli was scary. 
 

 

I also really like Goodwin.  Even though he & Kohli had no scenes together, I imagined a mini- iZombie reunion on-set.