Bev is the type of villain who falls into the frustrating, “Oh, I know someone JUST LIKE THAT!” category. We all have met the person of false faith, these monstrous petty small people who take the faith that some people, like Annie in the show, have to get them through struggle and to make everything in life beautiful- the Bev’s of the world take that truly lovely belief and corrupt it to their own social, economic, and sometimes even darker gain. And every one of us, whether we are religious or not, has met a version of her. It’s great writing, it’s great acting, but it’s also PERSONAL.
I remember those words from the sermon. "Do you know what Psalms are? They are songs. The word 'Psalm' from the Greek 'Psalmoi' it means 'music'. Songs of prayer. Songs of praise. That's who we are. That's who we must be. That's what it means to have faith, that in the darkness, in the worst of it, in the absent of light and hope, we sing. 'Restore us', we sing to the sky. And He will, my friends. He will. That same hand that dealt you your hardship, that same hand will make you whole." As a lapsed Catholic myself, that line was the most significant line during the whole show.
If you are paying close attention, you can see a woman's (Bev's) skirt and a hand dropping a hot dog for Pike at the picnic. So, it was definitely Bev. I didn't catch that until my second or third viewing, though.
That's a great detail and it is exactly the kind of thing I often miss. Any time there's establishing shots, my mind usually just filters it as establishing and doesn't engage to look for important details. I should work on that because I have a few times missing significant details.
Also, I love the fact that you appreciate the great dialogue in this show. To me, the dialogs and monologues are really what makes this show Flanagan's best, and one of the best limited series overall. Many viewers were "bored" by the monologue and dialogue scenes. By not paying attention to those scenes, they completely miss the whole point of the series. Plus the writing and acting is so good that they're just riveting to me.
5:26 "smoke in the background" damn, I love when people points out those little details I miss! It's one of those things that makes reaction channels so much fun!
So glad you are enjoying this series! I was a PK and appreciated this show wrestling with some of the more difficult discussions about faith and understanding a troubled world. Even though Flanagan deals with supernatural horror he doesn't miss that sometimes the greatest horrors are man made.
Happy to see someone appreciate Riley asking Tara Beth (the ghost) “how are you?” It’s one of those moments that just hits me. Also fun to see someone with religious background (current?) watch this because I’m sure it works on even more levels for them.
I feel like this show is the perfect example of something so well written it truly speaks to everyone. I had a lot to say throughout this show and I am really excited to see what other people with different backgrounds take away from it.
Hill House’s Cast is VERY WELL represented in this show. (Steve’s Wife) Plays Bev Theo plays Erin Hugh plays Ed Mrs. Dudley plays Sarah or Dr. Sarah And Mr. Dudley plays Joe You also have The Sheriff who was Owen in Bly Manor
This show is a masterpiece. Your perspective, as a former minister, is very intriguing. One thing I love about Mike Flanagan is that he takes religion seriously as a potential force for good or for evil.
Henry Thomas really is one of Flanagan’s most versatile performers ❤ due to his supporting roles I feel he’s sometimes overlooked but man deserves his props!
I remember a Brazilian comedian who went through cancer giving an interview on how annoyed she was, while fighting cancer, that people would try to comfort her by claiming "God will cure you because you are a good person/loves your children/has faith/has such good humor..." and she would go "SHUT UP! That means that, if I die, I am a bad person, don't love my kids, hate God, and failed as a comedian???"
I tried to make this point as kindly as I could during lockdown. I live in a very religious area and everyone was talking about how God kept them healthy or God cured them of the virus and I GET that it’s a coping mechanism. But it’s also a giant middle finger to those who died and their families. Most people, I still hope, mean well. But that doesn’t excuse it.
Rewatch the episode if you want to see what happened to Pike. BTW, Samantha Sloyan gives an Emmy-worthy performance as Bev Keane, as does Hamish Linklater, as Father Paul.
Uhhhh, I'm pretty good with actors names and faces and Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorites. I did not recognize Michael Trucco at all. You said it, I had to double check and then it was him in the very first scene. That mustache did a ton of work.
27:39 well, there is this one shot, very brief, of the dog being given a bit of food at the pot luck, shortly before he dies. We don’t see who gave it to the dog, but we see the hem of a dress. The color of that dress matches a person present… actually, screw it: it’s Bev. It’s 100% Bev Keane. It’s her dress, she’s feeding the dog. She didn’t seize an opportunity to spread poison around, blaming it on the cats, etc. etc.. No, no, she actively, deliberately fed the dog poisoned food directly from her hands, simply because she doesn’t like him or his owner.
I'm a teacher (adolescents), and I tell my students, if they change their hair or suddenly start or stop wearing glasses, I will ask who the new student is. I tell them it's a great way to fool me (and it is...). ** I am really enjoying your reaction to this.
So before I watched this series I watched the Netflix trailer, which was a mistake because it showed the scene where Father Paul calls upon the girl to stand up from her wheelchair and she walks in church. So going into this show I knew she was going to walk again from the first moment I saw her, and I was just waiting for that scene to happen. Wish I could have watched this episode without knowing that, and gotten to experience that scene as it was intended.
Have you watched "Hush"? It is a Mike Flanaghan movie in which a serial killer stalks a deaf writter. I mention because the character of the writer, in Hush, is writing the final chapters to her next novel. A horror story called "Midnight Mass", and we see her writing a very important scene starring... Erin. So, in universe, Midnight Mass is a horror novel.
I was 2 or 3 in before I recognized Henry lol Just to make you feel better ;) I know you don't know me but I have Foot in Mouth Syndrome - chronic - and once I was THIS CLOSE to offending someone and humiliating myself (as always). Now, I am a Christian - my whole life - but never really had the opportunity to interact with people in other faiths. So, it's around Easter time and I was working the night shift at the library (my first job) when this man approached the circulation counter with the books he wanted to check out. As I was doing that, I noticed he had a smudge of something black on his forehead. I was embarrassed for him so I was JUST about to whisper, "Sir. You got some dirt on your forehead," but something interrupted me and he walked away. To my surprise and confusion, shortly after this a woman walked in with the same dirt! And then another and another. I turned around and asked my co-workers, in a quiet library, "Why does everyone have a dirty forehead?" lol I still get taken off guard every Ash Wednesday, though. I STILL want to tell the first person I see that there is something on their forehead, then I remember why.
interesting that you mentioned Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a comparison to alcoholism, since that story *is* a metaphor for addiction...and the primary inspiration for Bloodborne, which extends that metaphor as the main theme throughout the game...
Heh I’m the same when it comes to hair, somebody changes it a little and I’m incapable of recognizing them. There’s one actor here that then plays a role on The Fall of the House of Usher and to this day I won’t accept he is the same person since he doesn’t have a beard on TFHU 😂
Ok I KNOW who you are talking about and I would have NEVER imagined they were the same person. Even knowing it, I'm not 100% sure I believe it lol. Such a different character.
I really love how this show portrays both theists and atheists as reasonable characters, that can think, rationalize, and have quite the backstory, as opposed to other shows/movies that use reductivism to portray one side or the other as caricatures.
The "god works in mysterious ways" explation for why there's awful stuff in the world is a bad explanation, but even as an Atheist I can see how "why's there bad stuff" is answered from a Christian ethos: Humanity chose to be like God, eating from the Tree of Knowledge. How can you not know all things like God does if you don't know the bad stuff too? FFS, it's in the damn book but people ignore it.
That still doesn't explain WHY bad things happen. The tree of knowledge gave humans the consciousness of good and evil, good and evil had already existed before them both being aware of it. The serpent was right there.
@@jackg.1683 To me the fact that "it can exist" means that "it must exist" since the theoretical God is omnipotent and then we must be able to know it too. That's "why".
I forgot how clenched my fists get whenever Bev starts talking….great acting…. ☠️☠️☠️
She nailed the role. Every scene!
Bev is the type of villain who falls into the frustrating, “Oh, I know someone JUST LIKE THAT!” category. We all have met the person of false faith, these monstrous petty small people who take the faith that some people, like Annie in the show, have to get them through struggle and to make everything in life beautiful- the Bev’s of the world take that truly lovely belief and corrupt it to their own social, economic, and sometimes even darker gain. And every one of us, whether we are religious or not, has met a version of her. It’s great writing, it’s great acting, but it’s also PERSONAL.
Out of the three Flanigan show's I've seen, the 'A.A.' scenes is one of the best. Up there right next to Theo talking about the 'nothing'.
The sermon and the AA dialogues are amazing in this episode!
And the "death" dialogue.
I remember those words from the sermon.
"Do you know what Psalms are? They are songs. The word 'Psalm' from the Greek 'Psalmoi' it means 'music'. Songs of prayer. Songs of praise. That's who we are. That's who we must be. That's what it means to have faith, that in the darkness, in the worst of it, in the absent of light and hope, we sing. 'Restore us', we sing to the sky. And He will, my friends. He will. That same hand that dealt you your hardship, that same hand will make you whole."
As a lapsed Catholic myself, that line was the most significant line during the whole show.
It was really a great scene.
Love how much of a slow burn this story is, then goes straight off the rails in the last few episodes. It’s frigging bananas.
So accurate!
Such an incredible series, I'm so glad they didn't attempt to extend it.
This show never ceases to amaze me with how moving and captivating it is. So good!!
If you are paying close attention, you can see a woman's (Bev's) skirt and a hand dropping a hot dog for Pike at the picnic. So, it was definitely Bev. I didn't catch that until my second or third viewing, though.
That's a great detail and it is exactly the kind of thing I often miss. Any time there's establishing shots, my mind usually just filters it as establishing and doesn't engage to look for important details. I should work on that because I have a few times missing significant details.
Came here to comment the same thing. You can see her skirt when the hand puts the hot dog in front of poor Pike.
You can catch a lot on rewatches of this. It’s PACKED and you’ll never catch everything on the first go.
That opening one shot is *chef's kiss*
Flannigan and his freaking long shots …. Just gorgeous.
Also, I love the fact that you appreciate the great dialogue in this show. To me, the dialogs and monologues are really what makes this show Flanagan's best, and one of the best limited series overall. Many viewers were "bored" by the monologue and dialogue scenes. By not paying attention to those scenes, they completely miss the whole point of the series. Plus the writing and acting is so good that they're just riveting to me.
I can't imagine anyone being bored by those scenes, they are the most engaging!
@@CasualNerdReactions Hard agree!!
5:26 "smoke in the background" damn, I love when people points out those little details I miss! It's one of those things that makes reaction channels so much fun!
The “RUN!” …”He didn’t run” absolutely sent me!
So glad you are enjoying this series! I was a PK and appreciated this show wrestling with some of the more difficult discussions about faith and understanding a troubled world. Even though Flanagan deals with supernatural horror he doesn't miss that sometimes the greatest horrors are man made.
Riley going in at AA about suffering is one of the great things about the story. I just kept saying with that scene and other here "He's not wrong."
This show is so incredibly well-written and acted.
Happy to see someone appreciate Riley asking Tara Beth (the ghost) “how are you?” It’s one of those moments that just hits me. Also fun to see someone with religious background (current?) watch this because I’m sure it works on even more levels for them.
I feel like this show is the perfect example of something so well written it truly speaks to everyone. I had a lot to say throughout this show and I am really excited to see what other people with different backgrounds take away from it.
Oh the chills I got the first time I saw Leeza saying amen for that last shot 👏🏻👏🏻
Hill House’s Cast is VERY WELL represented in this show.
(Steve’s Wife) Plays Bev
Theo plays Erin
Hugh plays Ed
Mrs. Dudley plays Sarah or Dr. Sarah
And
Mr. Dudley plays Joe
You also have The Sheriff who was Owen in Bly Manor
This show is a masterpiece.
Your perspective, as a former minister, is very intriguing. One thing I love about Mike Flanagan is that he takes religion seriously as a potential force for good or for evil.
It’s almost like when he’s talking about the alcohol “which isn’t good or bad,” it can be applied to religion, too.
I love that, if you know what is happening, you can see that this show allready told you what is going on
Henry Thomas really is one of Flanagan’s most versatile performers ❤ due to his supporting roles I feel he’s sometimes overlooked but man deserves his props!
I remember a Brazilian comedian who went through cancer giving an interview on how annoyed she was, while fighting cancer, that people would try to comfort her by claiming "God will cure you because you are a good person/loves your children/has faith/has such good humor..." and she would go "SHUT UP! That means that, if I die, I am a bad person, don't love my kids, hate God, and failed as a comedian???"
I tried to make this point as kindly as I could during lockdown. I live in a very religious area and everyone was talking about how God kept them healthy or God cured them of the virus and I GET that it’s a coping mechanism. But it’s also a giant middle finger to those who died and their families. Most people, I still hope, mean well. But that doesn’t excuse it.
Rewatch the episode if you want to see what happened to Pike. BTW, Samantha Sloyan gives an Emmy-worthy performance as Bev Keane, as does Hamish Linklater, as Father Paul.
Every time I watch this, I try to figure out which performance is most astounding. The actors who play Joe and Leeza knock it out of the park, too.
Uhhhh, I'm pretty good with actors names and faces and Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorites. I did not recognize Michael Trucco at all. You said it, I had to double check and then it was him in the very first scene. That mustache did a ton of work.
27:39 well, there is this one shot, very brief, of the dog being given a bit of food at the pot luck, shortly before he dies. We don’t see who gave it to the dog, but we see the hem of a dress. The color of that dress matches a person present… actually, screw it: it’s Bev. It’s 100% Bev Keane. It’s her dress, she’s feeding the dog. She didn’t seize an opportunity to spread poison around, blaming it on the cats, etc. etc.. No, no, she actively, deliberately fed the dog poisoned food directly from her hands, simply because she doesn’t like him or his owner.
I'm a teacher (adolescents), and I tell my students, if they change their hair or suddenly start or stop wearing glasses, I will ask who the new student is. I tell them it's a great way to fool me (and it is...).
** I am really enjoying your reaction to this.
So before I watched this series I watched the Netflix trailer, which was a mistake because it showed the scene where Father Paul calls upon the girl to stand up from her wheelchair and she walks in church. So going into this show I knew she was going to walk again from the first moment I saw her, and I was just waiting for that scene to happen. Wish I could have watched this episode without knowing that, and gotten to experience that scene as it was intended.
In the first episode there's a scene where Bev complains about Joe's dog.
You can actually see her poison the dog.
Well you can see her boots giving the dog something to eat, shortly befor he dies.
Have you watched "Hush"?
It is a Mike Flanaghan movie in which a serial killer stalks a deaf writter.
I mention because the character of the writer, in Hush, is writing the final chapters to her next novel. A horror story called "Midnight Mass", and we see her writing a very important scene starring... Erin. So, in universe, Midnight Mass is a horror novel.
I was 2 or 3 in before I recognized Henry lol Just to make you feel better ;) I know you don't know me but I have Foot in Mouth Syndrome - chronic - and once I was THIS CLOSE to offending someone and humiliating myself (as always). Now, I am a Christian - my whole life - but never really had the opportunity to interact with people in other faiths. So, it's around Easter time and I was working the night shift at the library (my first job) when this man approached the circulation counter with the books he wanted to check out. As I was doing that, I noticed he had a smudge of something black on his forehead. I was embarrassed for him so I was JUST about to whisper, "Sir. You got some dirt on your forehead," but something interrupted me and he walked away. To my surprise and confusion, shortly after this a woman walked in with the same dirt! And then another and another. I turned around and asked my co-workers, in a quiet library, "Why does everyone have a dirty forehead?" lol I still get taken off guard every Ash Wednesday, though. I STILL want to tell the first person I see that there is something on their forehead, then I remember why.
I've got a mild case of faceblindness, and there were several actors I didn't catch in this one until I'd sat through a few eps!
interesting that you mentioned Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a comparison to alcoholism, since that story *is* a metaphor for addiction...and the primary inspiration for Bloodborne, which extends that metaphor as the main theme throughout the game...
Such a great show!
Heh I’m the same when it comes to hair, somebody changes it a little and I’m incapable of recognizing them. There’s one actor here that then plays a role on The Fall of the House of Usher and to this day I won’t accept he is the same person since he doesn’t have a beard on TFHU 😂
Ok I KNOW who you are talking about and I would have NEVER imagined they were the same person. Even knowing it, I'm not 100% sure I believe it lol. Such a different character.
❤❤❤
I really love how this show portrays both theists and atheists as reasonable characters, that can think, rationalize, and have quite the backstory, as opposed to other shows/movies that use reductivism to portray one side or the other as caricatures.
The "god works in mysterious ways" explation for why there's awful stuff in the world is a bad explanation, but even as an Atheist I can see how "why's there bad stuff" is answered from a Christian ethos: Humanity chose to be like God, eating from the Tree of Knowledge. How can you not know all things like God does if you don't know the bad stuff too? FFS, it's in the damn book but people ignore it.
That still doesn't explain WHY bad things happen. The tree of knowledge gave humans the consciousness of good and evil, good and evil had already existed before them both being aware of it. The serpent was right there.
@@jackg.1683 To me the fact that "it can exist" means that "it must exist" since the theoretical God is omnipotent and then we must be able to know it too. That's "why".