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

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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Normally, when I start to watch a television series, I get a pretty solid feel for its overall tone and design, simply due to the fact that most T.V. shows have a specific structure that they tend to follow to a tee. But when it comes to The Haunting of Hill House, the only constant that I am finding when it comes to this particular series, is that it is going to disturb and unsettle me, and that’s basically it. How it achieves that goal, and how it tells its story is going to be a unique and dynamic experience and for proof of this, look no further than the next episode of this show, ‘Touch’, since this particular tale managed to throw me for a loop, once again.
 
Which is funny, because at first glance, it seemed as though the series was going to give all of us more of the same, as in, an in-depth character study revolving around a member of the Crain family that showed us how they were formed into who they are today by their experiences at Hill House. And while this episode did indeed focus its attention on Theodora ‘Theo’ Crain, everything we learned about her in this story was surprisingly unique to say the least. Because instead of giving us a parable about another rattled child that let their fear form their future, Theo turned out to be quite the badass in this tale, one that harbored quite the special gift.
 
Because as it turns out, Theo is clairvoyant, and by touching an object or a person, she can seemingly understand something special about said object or person, giving her all kinds of unique insight and this gift is something that quite frankly, made her fearless in life at a young age, to the point where she was able to face the places of Hill House that some of her family were afraid to go and as she matured into an adult, she took that ability and found a way to use it for good by going back to school for her PhD in Psychology before dedicating herself to a career helping troubled children, making Theo the first real hero of the show since she is able to truly understand and help kids with their issues. 
 
However, what made Theo truly stand out in this episode, is the sheer fact that she took her abilities to the next level by using her clairvoyance as an investigative tool to dig deeper when it comes to the children that she cannot reach and that allowed her to discover in this particular tale that a foster child was being abused by her foster father and her track record in being right about such matters, allowed for her to involve the police and bring down this disgusting piece of human garbage with minimal fuss and well, while this was disturbing to watch in its own right, it was also extremely satisfying to sit through at the same time, simply because she put a child abuser behind bars. 
 
Yet, one has to wonder after reading that summary, as to whether or not there were any scares present in this episode. And the answer to that question is a terrifying yes. Because Hill House upped its game in this tale when the creepy thing in the speakeasy basement came after Theo’s brother Luke, and that sequence was squirmy in its own right since it was handled with ambient noise and let’s be honest, Theo’s takedown of the creepy foster dad was quite twisted since it featured some real-world monsters for certain. Either way, this really was quite the incredible episode when all is said and done. It was bold, and different and I love the fact that this series is working hard to give us something new when it comes to horror and once again, I am dying to know what other surprises this series is to going to send our way, which means it’s high time to settle in and endure more horrors from this twisted and compelling universe. Until next time.  

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