![]() ![]() ![]() (Yes, there are references to Donald Trump and his shocking ascent to the White House.)īy channeling modern anxieties around capitalism through a wealthy and highly dysfunctional family, House of Usher will also inevitably draw comparisons to Succession-something that Flanagan hasn’t exactly shied away from. In House of Usher’s supernaturally inclined universe, the rich and powerful aren’t just bound together by the same tax bracket-they’ve all made a deal with the devil, swayed by greed at the expense of their souls. But while the implications of the opioid crisis make up the show’s main hook, Flanagan argues that the Usher family is symptomatic of a larger evil that the very worst of society continues to exploit: capitalism. Purdue’s reckless promotion of Ox圜ontin has been the subject of several documentaries and docudramas-including Netflix’s own limited series Painkiller, released over the summer. With their immense wealth, which is owed to the creation of a highly addictive opioid, the Ushers are a clear stand-in for the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma. Basically, imagine if a bunch of amoral 1-percenters were caught in a Final Destination death loop. Tying all of these threads together is Verna (Carla Gugino), a mysterious figure whose appearance precedes every calamity that befalls the family. From there, House of Usher weaves through various points in the Ushers’ lives, showing how Roderick (played by Zach Gilford in the earlier timeline) and his sister, Madeline (Mary McDonnell in the present, Willa Fitzgerald in the past), became the heirs of the pharma empire under nefarious means and how each of Roderick’s offspring met their brutal end. ![]() Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly), an assistant district attorney who’s been trying to hold the Usher family accountable for decades, to his dilapidated childhood home for a long-overdue confession. In the midst of his grief, Roderick invites C. Loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story of the same name-as well as other works by the legendary author- House of Usher begins as the aging CEO of a shady pharmaceutical company, Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood), mourns the deaths of his six children under bizarre circumstances. There’s a lot of TV out there. We want to help: Every week, we’ll tell you the best and most urgent shows to stream so you can stay on top of the ever-expanding heap of Peak TV. That House of Usher is such a strong send-off for Flanagan will be bittersweet for Netflix: a potent reminder of all the great work he’s done over the years and just how challenging it’ll be to replace him. ![]() Somehow, that combination works like gangbusters. A sprawling tale of greed, addiction, and vengeance with some not-so-subtle allusions to the perpetrators of America’s opioid epidemic, House of Usher has the trappings of a prestige drama and the body count of a slasher flick. ( Quentin Tarantino and I are in agreement: The Haunting of Hill House is an all-timer.) Flanagan’s latest project, the eight-episode miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher, is among the best of the bunch. Perhaps the single most industrious horror auteur of the past decade, Flanagan has been a major boon for Netflix: Since 2016, he’s been responsible for three films and five series released on the platform, all of which were well received by critics and audiences alike. While Ryan Murphy’s departure to Disney is taking most of the headlines, Mike Flanagan’s move to Amazon’s Prime Video could cause Netflix even more headaches. And that’s where Netflix’s newest crisis may lie: losing the minds behind some of the company’s buzziest original programming. Although the Netflix model favors quantity over quality, the streamer does make exceptions for high-profile showrunners, tying several of them up to exclusive deals. (The common denominator with these changes: trying to get-or keep-as many subscribers as possible.) Of course, what really matters to most consumers is what Netflix can still offer: a dizzying number of original shows and movies. A platform in which an ad-free experience was one of the biggest selling points began offering a cheaper, ad-supported tier the company has also cracked down on the sacred tradition of password sharing. When the streaming bubble officially burst last year, Netflix made some concessions that were once unthinkable. ![]()
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