Flanaverse - Blog Posts
My thoughts on
The Midnight Club (2022)
I just finished watching The Midnight Club last night and couldn't help feel how it was like a beautiful work of art left unfinished. When I started the show, I was really impressed by the way the foundation was laid but several things were left unexplained but we'll get there later.
First off, let's talk about the true essence of the show; the stories. While I absolutely loved the way the characters expressed their unconscious/concious desires through the stories knowing that they wouldn't come true, that the future they paint will continue to remain trapped behind words, I couldn't help but feel that we could've been introduced to this world in a better way.
By the time we learn about Natsuki's story regarding the Japanese myth, it's already progressed into a "frenzy of jump scares" which completely ruined the atmosphere for me and I found myself wanting it to be over as soon as possible.
The next thing I wish to address is Ilonka's character. She is a complex teen who is unable to accept the terminal nature of her life and that she cannot be saved. Initially, I liked her drive to survive but as the episodes carry on, we see her completely lose herself in the desperate attempt to grasp what's left of her life. Her character itself had multiple flaws which were further enhanced by the fact that so many things about her were left unexplained.
Why was Ilonka having visions?
Was it because of her medication? Maybe. But it could also, be due to her being most open to the spiritual aspect of the place. She openly sought to achieve wellness through the nature and was engrossed by the past which might've manifested in the form of visions. Maybe her sharing these thoughts with Kevin was the reason for his own visions.
Another aspect of the show I really wanted to see were the stories coming together in the end (as we had in the haunting series) but was really underwhelmed. There were too many plot holes which raised a lot of questions.
Who is Dr. Georgina Stanton?
In the final episode, her ties to the Paragon are hinted at. I personally found myself drawing ties between her and Regina Ballard (Aceso). Regina, upon performing the ritual had lost her hair which kinda made me think if Stanton had also tried to do the same for her son (resulting in the loss of her hair, being the only survivor).
Who are the old ghosts?
This really got me scratching my head finding answers. Maybe they're yet again manifestations of the negative emotions arising in the kids but I'm not sure. Also, how is Kevin connected to the old woman and why does Ilonka keep seeing her where Kevin is?
All these are left unanswered which really irks the viewers to know more.
(I have not read the books and all my interpretations are solely based on the show)
Episode 5 of the Haunting of Bly Manor makes me sick. Hannah, sweet Hannah, spending the episode in confusion slowly realizing she’s dead. She’s dead and she’s been dead and yet even in death she isn’t free. The cruel irony of discussing a future in Paris with Owen. And yes she turns him down but even if she hadn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered. None of it matters cause nothing could be avoided. She speaks of the mouse and the glue trap and that was always supposed to be her fate. Things change and life moves forward and sometimes you can’t move with it. And what are you supposed to do with that? What can you do?
HE EVEN LOOKS LIKE JAMES POTTER ARE YOU KIDDING ME
i’m rewatching the haunting of bly manor and even though he only gets about five minutes of actual screen time, dani and edmund’s storyline is so jily-coded. Edmund (James) obsessed with this girl he found so cool and ambitious, Dani (Lily) a closeted lesbian who’s too scared to come out and ruin everything. Like his speech at their engagement party where he talks about proposing to her, and getting rejected, from the time they were 10 until their mid 20s when she finally says yes. Maybe i’m just too obsessed with james potter and now i’m seeing him everywhere, but tell me i’m wrong??
i’m rewatching the haunting of bly manor and even though he only gets about five minutes of actual screen time, dani and edmund’s storyline is so jily-coded. Edmund (James) obsessed with this girl he found so cool and ambitious, Dani (Lily) a closeted lesbian who’s too scared to come out and ruin everything. Like his speech at their engagement party where he talks about proposing to her, and getting rejected, from the time they were 10 until their mid 20s when she finally says yes. Maybe i’m just too obsessed with james potter and now i’m seeing him everywhere, but tell me i’m wrong??
when i feel a slight crisp breeze and suddenly the voices are telling me it’s time for a full flanaverse rewatch
the most devastating trope in my opinion is when characters spend the whole story haunted by a ghost or entity only to realize at the end that it was themselves the whole time
only kind of bingo i play
house of usher comes out next week so it feels like the right time to break out the old mike flanagan bingo board.
filled out to the best of my memory. love when a dude is obsessed with themes and imagery <3
watching the last episode of midnight mass right before church on a sunday was perhaps not my smartest idea…
If i had a nickel for every time i cried my way through the last episode of a mike flannigan series, i would have two nickels which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened two times
Mike Flannigan you’ve done it again (i’ve been sobbing violently for the last hour with no signs of stopping soon)