The Haunting of Bly Manor: The Characters I Fell in Love With

The Haunting of Bly Manor was created by the same people that made The Haunting of Hill House, the Netflix mini series that reinvented horror. This is a synopsis for the characters that made me fall in love with the series

As I was watching The Haunting of Bly Manor, I was expecting something different, something that will give me nightmares, as most horror films I watch do. This one; however, did keep me guessing. The suspense was there, the thrill, the intrigue, the mystery, but I wouldn’t call it “horror”. Although the title, synopsis, and trailers got my attention, I stayed for the characters.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Danielle Clayton and Jamie

Danielle “Dani” played by Victoria Pedretti was quite a treat to see in the perspective of someone who absolutely adored her role as Nell Crain. The Bent Neck Lady had haunted my dreams for several weeks after finishing The Haunting of Hill House. Although I did love her as Nell, I wasn’t too sure I really liked her as Dani. Occasionally, her performance was hit and miss.

Dani is a people-pleaser, so when she admitted how much she cared about how Jamie felt about her, I thought Dani just wanted to win Jamie, the crass gardener, over for that reason alone. Up to the point in their greenhouse scene, I was finally able to put the pieces together in my head and that’s when I saw their chemistry. I wasn’t very convinced about her performance when interacting with some of the other characters, though.

However, Victoria’s performance with all things unsettling was worthwhile to watch. She did an amazing job when she was trapped in the closet by the children. It was horrifying and I had expected some form of jump-scare, but it hit me psychologically. The writers and director did a great job honing in on my claustrophobia.

Amelia Eve, who plays Jamie, the gardener that prefers the company of her flowers more than people, did an outstanding job with her performance as a supporting character. Although there were a lot of memorable scenes that I’d like to share, I believe her greatest performance in the mini series was where she revealed her past to Dani. There’s something about two tortured souls interacting and trying to relate with one another that really pulled at my heartstrings.

Hannah Grose and Owen

Rahul Kohli played a gentle, soft spoken chef that was infatuated with the strong and kind housekeeper, Hannah Grose. As a supporting character, he blew my expectations out of the water with his performance, especially with the interview he had with Hannah Grose. The performance that needed an encore was that instantaneous change in tone, a bark, from Owen that caught me off guard, entrapped me even to finish the show.

Hannah Grose, played by T’nia Miller, did a stellar job at keeping me guessing about who Hannah was. As someone who enjoys psychological thrillers, I had made a prediction about Hannah Grose since the very beginning. The show continued to reinforce my belief when she refused to step foot outside the manor even after Owen’s mother passed away. For a bit, the series did make me believe that she might be going through dementia, the same illness that befell Owen’s mother, but as the show progressed it became clearer and clearer that I was correct about my prediction; Hannah Grose was a ghost.

T’nia Miller and Rahul Kohli had such an amazing chemistry together, chemistry that was really hard to shake. Owen, at first, gave me the impression that he would be Dani’s love interest due to his amazing charisma, on and off the screen. The chef’s side-long glances and heart warming exchanges with the housekeeper made me glad that he wasn’t.

There was this innocent budding romance between the two that made me think about the first feelings of being infatuated with someone. I, for one, can never forget that feeling; It’s that spark when you see them, it’s those butterflies when you think about them, those warm feelings when you hear their voice. I would have loved to see where the romance was going, but unfortunately it would never come to fruition.

Miles and Flora Wingrave

Miles Wingrave played by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth and Flora Wingrave played by Amelie Bea Smith, as far as children actors go, they weren’t all bad but not all that great either. When The Narrator played by Carla Cugino - another mentionable actress that played the mother in The Haunting of Hill House - says that there are children in her story, I was expecting disturbed children, children that see dead things, or even ghost children. I wasn’t totally wrong in that assumption.

However, The Haunting of Bly Manor has a way of throwing my expectations out the window.

When first introducing Miles into the show, I could already see that there was something off about that kid. Still, his character lacked a certain pull and I have to admit I really didn’t care for him as I did the others. I do remember the moment that Miles made me absolutely adore him, however. During his time in school, Flora had drawn him a crude message asking him to return home. Although he went about it all wrong, Miles got expelled so that they’d be forced to send him home. It was touching, in all honesty.

It’s also worthy to note that Benjamin did a wonderful job portraying the random switch in personalities within Miles. I can tell when he was Miles and when he wasn’t.

Although Dani was the focus of the show, Flora was probably the runner-up in total screen time; however, Amelia did have her flaws. Unlike Benjamin’s performance as Miles, Amelia wasn’t so strong in portraying the switch in personalities between herself and Rebecca. I can’t fault her though because it might also be due to the fact that Peter and Rebecca's characters are polar opposites of one another. It may be easier to express such a strong and disturbing character than it is a timid one. However, Amelia did such a good job in expressing how charming Flora was that it was hard for me to be angry at this character even after all the stunts she pulled, but like everyone else, she had her reasons.

Peter Quint and Rebecca Jessel

Rebecca Jessel, played by Tahira Sharif was the first au pair that mysteriously committed suicide at the manor. Tahira Sharif played a very bright and intelligent character, portraying someone that had all the ambition in the world, someone that all little girls can truly look up to... Until Peter Quint. There were a lot of rumors from the staff about what happened, but nothing really prepared me for the truth. Rebecca Jessel’s death had been the most tragic of them all. She loved him so much that she let him in. She let him in ...

Peter Quint played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, another familiar face from The Haunting of Hill House, is a character that I loved to hate. Due to that reason, I recognized Oliver to be a great actor, second to Rahul’s performance. Throughout the show, there were whispers of Peter Quint from the beloved staff of the manor and how horrible he'd been to the staff and Rebecca. At first, I had sympathized for him, especially his untimely death by Viola but that feeling had been brief. I absolutely hated his guts for what he did to Rebecca, how manipulative he was, and how disgusting it was for him to take that choice from her. Oliver played Peter Quint in a way that I can absolutely say I despised his character.

Viola Lloyd and Perdita Willoughby

Viola Lloyd, originally ‘Willoughby’, played by Kate Siegal, defined what it really meant to be a violent ghost. I really loved Kate Siegal’s portrayal of Theodora “Theo” Cain in The Haunting of Hill House only because of how strong and resilient Theo was when it came to facing the unknown. Like its predecessor, the writers gave the ghosts of The Haunting of Bly Manor a vivid backstory.

To better understand why Viola was a great ghost, one must understand her backstory. Viola was strong, resilient (like Theo), and confident. She was calculating and took very good care of her sister and assets. She was the ‘it’ girl within her society and due to her inheritance of Bly Manor, all the men sought her hand in marriage.

When she finally decided to marry a distant cousin so that she may protect their way of life, love was never a factor, but it still found a way. In their marriage, came a daughter. Everything had been perfect …until it wasn’t.

Up until her last days, Viola was a character that I admired. She was far from perfect, her stubbornness echoing across the multiple ghosts trapped within the house.

Perdita Willoughby played by Katie Parker took me by surprise. She supported everything that Viola had ever done because Viola’s aim had always been to protect Perdita and their way of life. Born with a silver spoon in her mouth and never having to work hard for anything skewed the way Perdita conducted herself. She appeared fine living beneath Viola’s shadow, thriving even. Still, I was able to read between the lines and saw how jealous Perdita had been. She was able to contain it very well and probably accepted that things were the way they are until she wasn’t able to handle it anymore.

It could have been the seeds of jealousy growing or it could have been the way Viola treated Perdita towards the end of Viola’s life or it could have been Perdita showing Viola mercy. The fact of the matter was that Perdita took Viola’s life. It made too much sense as to why Viola became a violent ghost and why all the ghosts and memories of them in the manor became trapped in her gravity; everything about Viola's death was incredibly tragic.

However, as The Haunting of Bly Manor was trying to teach us, all things fade.

The Haunting of Bly Manor is a slow burn psychological drama. Although there had been jump scares and some amazing camera direction, I would not categorize this Netflix mini-series a “horror” like its predecessor The Haunting of Hill House. Although it wasn’t what I was expecting to watch, I stayed because I was rooting for all of them. I sympathized with their plight, and ultimately fell in with them.

The Haunting of Bly Manor is....