‘The Haunting of Hill House’ Recap: ‘Eulogy’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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​If there’s one particular horror trope that often irks me, it’s the ‘evil parent’ cliché. You know what I’m talking about, there’s either a mother or a father that’s an outright jerk, and they offer no real substance to the story outside of their jerkishness and their inability to grow or provide anything more than fury and ire is just downright annoying and well, this particular trope has left me extremely curious as to where exactly The Haunting of Hill House is going to go with Hugh Crain, the bumbling father of the family, simply because…he’s either going to end up being that irrelevant and annoying character, or he’ll offer more.
 
But up until this point, he’s been part of the shadows and a lightning rod for the family’s electric ire but at long last, Hugh’s day in the sun finally arrived with the seventh episode of the series, ‘Eulogy’. Because this particular tale focused heavily on Hugh, and his strange and quirky habits so that we could finally get to the know the man and know what he was thinking and as it turns out, he won’t be some silly fixture or cliché in this story, he’s…just like the kids, he’s broken and he’s hurt and lost in life and with good reason, because he in essence watched his wife outright disappear before his very eyes and that was the first real fascinating part of Hugh’s story, his perspective on things when his family was living at Hill House.
 
Because what we came to see during his time there, was that Hugh did everything and anything to ignore the warning signs surrounding the house. He simply believed that the trauma of moving and the hardships that came with trying to get the house ready for sale quickly had rattled his family to the point where their stress was manifesting these wild hallucinations. But a chilling chat with Mister Dudley, and a dark discovery in the walls alongside some terrifying behavior from his wife, started to make him wonder in regard to the power of the house and clearly, the last night changed him fundamentally, which brings us back to what we learned about the man in present day.
 
If anything, his interaction with his children and his sister in the here and the now, demonstrated the fact that Hugh has become a former shell of himself. Because younger Hugh, believed he could conquer the world with his wife and family at his side and that anything in life could be fixed with a little elbow grease and can-do attitude. But now, he lives life in sheepish fashion, and even when he knows what needs to be done to fix a particular problem, he refuses to take that path, instead opting to remain in the shadows and leave things broken. But, that may be changing, since Luke’s strange, drug related behavior at the wake, alongside Theo catching a glimpse of a twisted version of her mom from Hill House, prompted Hugh to say something for a change, and…be there for his kids.
 
Either way, this was another fascinating episode to say the least and kudos to this story for taking the time to change up the scares in this one since really, the ghosts don’t show up en masse until the end of the tale and most of the tension here comes about from what’s inside the basement wall at Hill House and that, and Mister Dudley’s terrifying tale, pay off in spades for certain. But what matters most, is that Hugh is a complete character at last, and he is equally as flawed and afraid as his children and well, now I’m rooting for the guy and I hope he finds redemption down the line. But that will likely have to wait, because Luke is missing, and we are all wondering now if he’s up to something new, or if he’s hell bent on returning to the power of drugs to ease his pain. Only time will tell, and well, it’s best I simply find out now, so if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to watch the next chapter in this incredible story. Until next time.

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