Edmund
We begin episode 4 of Haunting Of Bly Manor with another glimpse of the past as we see Dani and her partner Edmund hand in hand celebrating their anniversary. As Dani’s given a dress by her Mother, we skip forward to a juxtaposing funeral in the present. It’s a rare day off for Dani and she intends to leave the grounds to pay her respects. Only, upon seeing the ghostly shadow (which looks a lot like Edmund, to be honest) Dani decides against going. She stays behind but continues to see the strange apparition, this time while she’s washing up. Catching her breath, Dani notices Peter walking up toward the house. Grabbing a poker, it turns out it’s actually Owen. As they sit down to eat, Flora discusses the idea of death and how she felt like she was dying along with her parents. Only, at this point she learned “the secret.” This secret happens to be the same one Miles muttered from before; “dead doesn’t mean gone”. When Miles chirps up and asks for a drink of wine, Dani has enough and sends the kids to bed. Upstairs, Dani looks in the doll house but grabs the Peter doll. Flora’s not happy about her moving the dolls around though but Dani is persistent in following through with what’s up with her. She asks Flora about Peter but she’s distracted by someone over her shoulder. For now, she doesn’t let up what it is. Dani shrugs this off and speaks to Miles about her past instead. She admits to losing people in the past, including her own parents. However, she remains cagey and sceptical about what happened with Edmund. As we cut back in the past, we see Edmund and Dani starting to fall out. She didn’t want to hurt him but during their break-up, he steps out his car and is hit by a truck. It’s a pretty shocking moment and one that sees the glint of light reflected off his glasses. Now it’s confirmed what some of us may have known already – the shadow is Edmund. Dani is wracked with guilt though, knowing Edmund’s last moments were of sorrow and heartbreak. She’s haunted by his ghost which lingers over her shoulder ever since. That night the staff join around a bonfire and discuss the ones they’ve lost in the past. Jamie turns that on Dani though and heaps praise on her for doing a good job with the kids. Dani refuses to speak but Owen does. He mentions his Mother but Dani can’t help shaking what happened with Peter earlier in the day. Dani speaks to Jamie that night privately and mentions Edmund. After admitting the truth, Dani kisses Jamie but midway through she sees Edmund again, right in front of her face, which causes her to gasp in shock. While Jamie leaves, believing she’s the one responsible for the outburst, Dani heads back to bed but finds herself unable to sleep./ Wide-eyed, she stares at Edmund’s glasses on the dresser. Ignoring what Flora told her back in episode 1, Dani goes walking through the house in the middle of the night. The kids rush up to find her and Flora talks to her about her dream involving her Mother. However, a strange woman in a white robe walks past prompting the kids to distract Dani long enough to let her pass. Not long after, Dani takes Edmund’s glasses and throws them in the bonfire. As Edmund’s ghost appears, she looks at him nonchalantly and declares that it’s just them now.
The Episode Review
While the flashbacks are good to flesh out this story, there’s also a distinct lack of urgency to be had here. Everything feels so slow and methodical with little horror to back up these sustained moments of tension. The reveal with Edmund completely destroys any frightening chills this may have had and those ominous moments he pops up are so frequent that even Dani is nonchalant to his arrival by the end. The children are excellent though and it’s a pity they haven’t had a lot to do to really lean into that creepiness. This has undoubtedly been quite disappointing so far. I wonder if there’s a twist to come yet though.
