She Comes at Night
Pat wakes up from her sleep, and sees a figure looming over her. She taps Terry on the back multiple times, as if to say “Help me!” ..
Pat wakes up at 3.33am to find a yellow ribbon leading her into a closet playing old music. She’s encouraged to “use her words,” but she has a cigarette burn on her arm from the dream.
That morning, Gaynor’s new friend from school, Ryan, showed up. Ryan and Gaynor were both members of the Chastity Club, with Gaynor even changing her attire completely, with a cross around her neck. However, Valerie’s appearance caused Ryan’s Mum to show up. Valerie claimed that something was closing in on Pat and that the house wasn’t right. Pat inevitably jumped all over this, reinforcing her own insecurities. ..
In the latest episode of “Therapy Sessions with Pat and Terry,” the two continue to discuss their issues. Terry admits he chops wood when he’s stressed, while Pat opens up about the 50’s housewife she’s been seeing across the house. ..
The therapist decides to increase her dosage of antidepressants, while Trish urges Pat to lean into the trauma she’s experiencing, given her first chapter (the one she wrote while seemingly possessed) is actually really good. ..
Terry marches over to Frank’s place to return his drill - and call him out for drilling his wife. As compensation, Terry takes the coffee machine… which Frank has to help him with because it’s so heavy. ..
Pat heads out to meet the Shining Vale Auxiliary Club. They’re the middle-aged housewives of the town and they exhibit concerns about Pat moving into this house – but don’t exactly reveal why.
While this is going on, another subplot stems from Gaynor making an online friend from Fred. Terry believes he could be a paedo but when he shows up at his door – with his eccentric and weird father Laird – then they both have a good chuckle about the same thing. Laird is undeniably creepy and weird though.
Patricia realizes that the words she uses stem from grabbing her scrabble tiles. Rearranging the tiles, they spell out “Daisy was the last to die.” Now, Daisy was actually the 8 year old we heard about earlier in the episode. As Pat heads into the closet, the door slams shut, and a strange housewife appears. The housewife tells Pat she’s not crazy. ..
The show is in a state of flux, and it seems to be trying to find its tone. The first chapter was very straight-forward, while the follow-up leaned into the comedy and satire. It’s a bit of a whiplash effect in truth, one that can’t quite make up its mind what sort of show this wants to be.
Paranormal Activity is a show about ghosts and spooky activity, while Haunting of Bly Manor is a show about a family’s horror experience. Both shows are completely straight forward, but they both have their own unique elements that make them stand out.
It’s still too early to tell if this show is actually going to continue flirting the tightrope between the two or lean into the comedy more. We’ll have to wait and see but for now, this follow-up is a marginal improvement. Let’s hope next week’s chapter knocks it out the park!
