‘The Haunting of Hill House’ Recap: ‘The Twin Thing’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Recently, I took a moment to make mention of the fact that I could not figure out any discernable storytelling patterns or designs when it comes to The Haunting of Hill House and well, the fact of the matter is, I should not have fussed about this in the slightest. Because as I continue my journey through this magnificent and harrowing story, I’m coming to learn that expecting the unexpected when it comes to this particular series is quite frankly a grand blessing in disguise since every single episode of this show is providing us with something downright fascinating and unique.
 
Take for instance the fourth episode of this series, ‘The Twin Thing’, since this particular tale did a fine job of distancing itself from some of what this saga stands for by focusing heavily on Luke, the addict of the family and his unfortunate journey through life and in doing so, the series brought forth one incredibly dramatic character study, one that took the time to examine the power of addiction and how different kind of ghosts haunt us since Luke was not only working to run from his past experiences in Hill House by using drugs, but the mistakes he made in order to ease that pain and well, that made for one heartbreaking tale.
 
But before we get too deep into Luke’s powerful story, it does need to be noted that this episode did a fine job of figuring out how to tie scares into an addict’s story since this particular tale introduced us to ‘The Floating Man’, a creepy ghost in a bowler hat who seemed to take a liking to Luke, to the point where it followed Luke wherever he went and well, that chilling introduction when Luke was a young boy is likely what started Luke’s downward spiral in life, and forced him to make mistakes that hurt his family and friends and for a brief moment there, I wondered if this story was going to give us a bleak journey involving a lost soul, one that was unable to redeem himself because of his pain. 
 
However, once again, this series found a way to surprise and this story served as a desperate tale of redemption, wherein Luke tried to help someone other than himself for a change, and he steered clear of drugs to make that happen and well, this was actually quite a bittersweet portion of the story. Because his efforts to help a pseudo girlfriend/addict in Joey, while noble, put Luke in quite the precarious situation, one where he was left destitute and injured and despite the darkness present here you came to realize in this moment, that Luke was finally on the right path in life because he didn’t turn back to drugs despite the odds being stacked against him and all he needed was another shot to set things right but the hits kept coming for Luke in this tale since his shining moment of redemption and shred of hope were dashed when he came to learn Nell had passed away…
 
If anything, I’m quite impressed with the fact that this series continues to stay heavily invested in its characters and I really appreciated the fact that the ghosts featured in this particular tale were of a greater variety than the standard fare and well, what’s equally amazing is that this series is finding ways to become better as the story progresses and clearly, it is starting to build toward something. Because I get the funny feeling that the Floating Man’s appearances around Los Angeles are more than a mere coincidence. It’s almost as if the House is calling to Luke and all of the Crain family for that matter since all of the kids are having interactions with these spirits or seeing strange things and well, this one was so damn good, that I’m in need of another fix if you will, so, on that note, it’s time to return to Hill House and all the horrors that lurk within its walls. Until next time.     

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