A Ghostly Game
Episode 7 of Haunting Of Bly Manor begins with Dani awakening to find herself tied up and gagged on the floor. Miles and Flora both plead with their possessors – Rebecca and Peter – who both appear out the shadows. It’s obvious now that Peter and Rebecca have been doing this for quite a while but the dream-hopping is difficult to master. Rebecca is certainly not of sane mind and she hears Hannah’s echoing voice and fades from view. Back in the attic, Peter persuades the kids to help him but it’s obvious that this memory jumping is having its toll on him too. Knocking builds up to a dramatic crescendo, as Peter jumps back through time to see his Mother free and bringing up ghosts from his past. Specifically, those ghosts relate to his juvenile record. Rebecca meanwhile, finds herself speak to a policeman about how Peter has gone missing but his behaviour is suspicious. Shouting, the scene shifts forward slightly as Miles arrives and promises that Peter is still there. Rebecca takes his disappearance badly too, isolating herself from the others and standing by the lake. Jamie shows up and tries to give her some positivity. After all, this may be just the opportunity she needs now to go and get her barrister job up and running. That evening, Peter appears in Rebecca’s room and shows that he’s not alive, much to her shock. With a lot to think about, Rebecca eventually reconvenes with him in the off-limits wing and pitches a new idea. She wants them to go to America together but unfortunately Peter is stuck in Bly Manor. The place is completely surrounded by some sort of forcefield that prevents him from leaving. After a week of no contact, Peter returns before Rebecca and pitches a new idea to her. She wants them to be truly together and in order to do that, she lets Peter possess her. With Rebecca tucked away in memories, reliving the different moments of them together, Peter walks her into the lake and essentially kills the girl in a bid to keep them together. With Peter’s body underwater too, this explains how Rebecca died. Only, Rebecca is caught in this same nightmarish web that Hannah is too, reliving the different memories of her time with Peter repeatedly calling her beautiful and snapping her photo. Rebecca confronts him about what happened and how she didn’t agree to this. Midway through talking, Peter winds up stuck in his own hell as he keeps seeing the moments with his Mother over and over again. Abused as a child, Peter is constantly haunted by these memories and his voice breaks and quivers, telling her he “didn’t know any better.” And then Peter jumps back to the attic. Rebecca returns too and Peter tells them they’re out of time. The kids are unsure but Peter is convinced that this is right. The faceless dolls are explained as those who passed away at the Manor in the past. Apparently, everyone who dies there ends up that way. With the promise of being with their parents, Flora and Miles are possessed by Rebecca and Peter who both settle into their new skins. Upon hearing Hannah’s voice, Miles takes her outside where they talk openly. He wonders out loud how she managed to keep dreaming this whole time. Miles convinces her to look down in the well to break the façade of her wandering around as if nothing has happened. Back inside though, it turns out Rebecca and Flora are working together. Rebecca never possessed Flora and it was all a charade to fool Peter. Unfortunately his grip over Miles is too much but Rebecca wants Dani to save Flora while she still can. Together, they leave the mansion but as Flora screams out for Miles, she turns straight into the icy cold grip of the white woman who starts dragging her away.
The Episode Review
While it’s interesting to piece everything together, the fact that we know all of this already and see the drama behind these actions loses the initial horror vibes. There’s a much bigger undercurrent of romantic drama here instead. This will almost certainly push away die-hard horror fans. There’s just no scares at all and instead this is replaced by a tragic tale of two lovers caught in very difficult circumstances. The editing is good but the constant flashbacks back and forth can sometimes disrupt the flow of pacing. This episode, for example, is an hour long but a lot of this is repeating events we already know, albeit with a bit more clarity and longevity. A nice little twist involving Rebecca working against Peter is good though and the cliffhanger ending will almost certainly see you scrambling to watch the next episode.
