Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House S1:E2 (Open Casket) recap

— Courtesy of Netflix

The Haunting of Hill House is now streaming on Netflix. Are you watching it? Here is a recap of episode two (Open Casket).

The Haunting of Hill House episode two opens with a scene from episode one, Shirley abruptly awakes, hand to her throat, and mutters, “Nell’s in the Red Room.” Later, she is talking to Alex, the boy who does not want to see his Grandmother in her “open castle.” He claims that she came to sit on his bed, and she didn’t have any hair or teeth. Shirley tells him that she is going to fix up his grandmother so she looks as she did in life, and seeing her that way might help him remember her in a better way.

Flashback to young Shirley with her mother. Olivia is sketching the Crain family’s “Forever House”, and tells Shirley that when Hill House is finished and sold, they can build their Forever House. Shirley agrees to go outside to play with Nell, and Olivia tells them they can go outside, but they must be sure to come back home when she flashes the front porch light.

While outside, Shirley takes photos of Theo and Luke. As she walks away, Luke sees a girl standing in the distance (is this the mysterious Abigail?). While photographing headstones, Shirley hears what turns out to be baby kittens in a small building on the property. She takes a photo, and a scary face shows up in the background. When Hugh and Mr. Dudley hear her scream, they come in, and find out that the “face” is a wasp’s nest build onto a Halloween mask. STILL scary, right?

Shirley begs Hugh to let her keep the kittens, as they won’t be safe from the dogs. Mr. Dudley says there are no dogs around, even though the Crain children hear them at night.

Adult Shirley’s son is upset with her because she gave him a blank mask instead of the Daredevil mask he wanted. We see that Shirley has a model of a Forever House, just as her mother did. She and her husband Kevin have a discussion about their finances; he tells her that she is not charging enough to their clients, and they are barely getting by.

Steven has tracked Luke down, and tells Shirley that he is in rehab again. She thinks back to another time they paid to put Luke in rehab. It cost them $6,000 per month. Back in present day, Shirley finds a checkbook in only her husband’s name, and she later tells Theo about her discovery.

— Courtesy of Netflix

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We flashback to Hill House, where Shirley is caring for the kittens, allowing Luke and Nell to help feed them. That night, Theo storms into Shirley’s room, angrily asking why she is banging on the wall and calling her name, but Shirley was asleep. As they argue, very loud banging begins, and they scream. When Hugh comes in, he says he did not hear the banging, but it is probably just water pipes.

Adult Shirley awakes to a phone call from Steven, who tells her that Nell has died. As Shirley walks towards the guest house (where Theo lives), the lights come on, as if Theo already knew what was up.

Young Shirley gets up one morning to find one of her kittens dead. Olivia finds a special box for her to bury the kitten in, and they ask her if she wants to say something nice about the kitten before it is buried. Olivia says everyone becomes a story when they die, and people will tell those stories, ensuring that a part of us remains when we die. Shirley suddenly exclaims that the kitten is alive, she sees its mouth moving. We see the mouth move, and then a bug crawls out (ugh).