Plotlines

In this episode, it finally happens—we get a bit more insight into Tamerlane’s life, and Juno gets a bit more screen time. However, the most interesting part for me is Pym, Arthur Gordon Pym (and that’s important, remember it!).

Just a heads-up: Juno sticks to her role as a side or outsider character, even though she gets a bit more screen time. We only learn that she might not be as happy with her life as she initially appeared to be. On top of that, she wants to get off the extremely high dose of Ligodone, though everyone around her tells her that it’s not a great idea.

I’m curious to see if we’ll find out how that turns out. I’m also wondering if Juno is even really married to Roderick. There’s been a lot of talk about a wedding, but did they actually go through with it?

Tamerlane is completely stressed out because of an upcoming presentation and suffering from a lack of sleep, making her an easy target for Verna’s visions. At first, Tamerlane experiences brief moments of sleep and minor blackouts. The presentation is a disaster, and back at home, Verna plays her usual tricks, leading Tamerlane to smash the ceiling mirror above her bed, falling onto the shards, which pierce her back.

Now, only Frederick is left, and the family is also starting to have problems with the company since he’s the only child, and therefore the only remaining board member.

Roderick and Madeline have a deeper conversation about Verna and are no longer sure she couldn’t possibly be the same woman from New Year’s Eve 1979. When Pym digs deeper, he finds photos of her that trace back to the 19th century. Roderick doubts it, but Madeline is convinced that something isn’t right. Through the flashbacks and Verna’s interactions with the children, it becomes clearer that there must have been a pact or something similar in the past.

We then shift back to Roderick and Auguste, and it’s at this point that Roderick gives a more detailed description of Pym. He tells Auguste about a journey to the North Pole, the northernmost island called Ultima Thule, and an underground world inside the hollow Earth. At least, that’s how Pym described it to him.

Ultima Thule stuck with me, and after a quick search, I found that it directly references a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, along with many other references. The short story is called The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, and this rang a big bell for me. That story is also about the Earth’s interior, another clue that I need to dive deeper into these connections, especially when they’re presented so clearly. I already knew the series was inspired by Poe, and that the episodes were named after his short stories, but now we’re also seeing the character names and their backgrounds, which is fascinating!

One thing that really stood out to me, and deserves some applause, was the different photos of Verna that Pym shows. Usually, when present-day people are inserted into old photos, it looks like terrible Photoshop. Not here! They did a great job, placing the actress in the images so well that you only notice on a second or third look.

Funny detail: When Lenore is looking after her mom, and they’re watching old films and TV shows together, you see her scrolling through a Netflix-like menu at the end of the movie. She lands on Gerald’s Game. As mentioned earlier, Bruce Greenwood (Roderick Usher) and Carla Gugino (Verna) star in that film.

For the first time in this episode, I’m starting to feel like Verna and her visions might not even be visions. I mean, sure, the show heavily implies and shows them as such. But what if all this stems from what happened on New Year’s Eve? Years of mistrust, always looking over their shoulders, wondering if someone is coming after them.

If I say this is the “most boring” episode, I don’t mean it negatively at all. Sure, more things are being explained, and the info we get is becoming more significant, but my initial thought is coming true: each child gets their own episode, but the others are still dealt with along the way. It’s still enjoyable—don’t get me wrong—but the balance from the earlier episodes feels a bit off. Maybe it’s because there aren’t as many children left, so there’s less variety. They tried to offset this with Juno and Lenore, but it only worked to a limited extent.

That said, the show is still running on a high note and is excellent. What I’m doing here is nitpicking at a very high level. I’m just glad that shows like this still exist and that not everything is becoming uniform!