A detail from The Fall of the House of Usher that I didn't catch until the second viewing: When Leo buys the black cat from Verna, he asks her to pose it for a picture that he can compare to Pluto.
It's adorable, too good to be true. However, after Leo dies, THIS is the picture that Pym finds in Leo's phone:
Verna had given Leo a rat, because that's what cat's do.
I'll admit I was initially surprised that it was Roderick, not Madeline, who was the first to say yes to Verna's offer of a consequence-free rise to the top of the company they viewed as their birthright (largely because Roderick never came across as that ruthless unless he was playing a part in Madeline's schemes), but the more I thought about it the more it makes complete sense.
Of course Roderick Usher, who never thinks beyond the moment in front of him and always rushes head-first at any problem that presents itself, jumps on a deal that gives him everything he wants and kicks the consequences of his actions down the road and onto the next generation (and then continues to add to that generation despite the memory of the deal still existing in the back of his mind). And of course Madeline Usher, who always sees the bigger picture and plays the long game to get what she wants, is hesitant to accept a deal that would end with that entire legacy falling out from underneath them (and then takes measures to ensure that she can't have children just in case she didn't imagine it).
madeline usher is actually great sapphic rep the more you think about it because who among us hasn’t found themselves in a messy situationship with the personification of death?
Mike Flanagan looking at Carla Gugino and immediately saying “You need to be cast as a mysterious and ambivalent supernatural milf.” is the biggest brain moment he’s had.
Man, this was staring me right in my face, but Usher's critique of people who sell their children's future for a more luxurious present isn't just like, the stuff of fairytales and bartering your first born to Rumplestiltskin.... it's literally what capitalists actually do.
Plenty of them *KNOW* what they're peddling is harmful, but their various poisons are slow acting enough that many of them figured THEY wouldn't have to reckon with the consequences in their lifetime ... no, leave that to burden the next generation with.
Other Flanagan shows: introspection on love and grief and life and death and the horrors of regret and the ghosts of the past lingering and—
FotHoU: Hey wanna see this hot goddess of death kill a douchebag billionaire every ep? Sure I'll sprinkle in all the usual flanaganisms but you're gonna be in it for the assholes who are given every chance to be redeemed die deaths befitting the stupid lives they led.
we seal mike flanagan away for a year and then every october he re-emerges like a progressively more insane little show business gremlin to put a curse on my bloodline
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 1x08 "The Raven"
Oh characters doomed from the start we’re really in it now
Verna to:
Perry: You sure you wanna use the sprinklers?
Camille: Don’t go see the chimps
Leo: That cat’s not available
Vic: Maybe it’s too soon for human trials
Tamerlane: You should really take a nap
Fredrick: Fuck you
I noted Mike Flanagan screamed "GAY RIGHTS! BI RIGHTS" on his way out Netflix's door, but he really did stick his head back in to say, "FUCK AI, FUCK BIG PHARMA, AND FUCK THE CAPITALISM THAT PROPS THEM UP" as well didn't he?
Carla Gugino as Verna in THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (2023)
Tara Carpenter x Reader
Summary: You meet with Tara on a cold day. She keeps you warm.
A/N: A very random drabble to distract my mind from the bigger projects a little. <3
Masterlist
New York was covered in a white blanket. Temperatures were frigid outside, the horizon with a soft white fog that didn't allow you to see much far.
It was one of those mornings where getting out of bed feels like a punishment and no matter how many layers of clothing you put on, it still feels like you were standing outside only in your pajamas as your bare feet disappear between the snow.
To put it simpler; it was cold, and it was snowing. And you had to go to class.
Truthfully though, it wasn't your chance at a better future that made you brave the unkind weather. It was the fact that, in that same university, you would see her.
friendly reminder that the writer’s strike didn’t ruin your show, unfair working conditions and the greed of the capitalist class did.
Gale Weathers, Channel 4.
SCREAM VI (2023) dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett
