The Haunting of Bly Manor Season 1 Episode 8 Recap – The Romance of Certain Old Clothes

[00:02:00] We go back to Bly, where Dani is being dragged across the graveled driveway by the lady in the lake. The narrator continued her story about the previous owners of Bly Manor: a widowed man named Mr. Willoughby along with his two daughters: Viola and Perdita. They lived at Bly during the 17th century, a time when women didn’t have many rights. Unless they could marry someone, Viola and Perdita would lose Bly. Many men lived in Bly, all sorts of men, and a lot of them courted the sisters. But Viola knew they were all opportunists. She thought this to her sister, so they didn’t choose anyone from Bly. Viola came up with a plan to retain the manor in their family.

[00:05:00] Viola invited a distant cousin: Arthur Lloyd, to visit Bly Manor. So he came to Bly. Viola left just before his arrival—it was all part of her plan where Perdita would entertain Arthur until her arrival. Viola arrived spectacularly, immediately winning Arthur’s heart. They eventually got married, and that concluded the business arrangement. Viola thought everything was just for show. She didn’t expect to fall in love with Arthur, but so did Perdita. Time went by, Viola and Arthur had a daughter. They named her Isabel. Viola loved her unconditionally.

[00:10:00] Change came to Bly, and as the narrator implied, no one knew when change would come. They would only notice it when it’s too late. Change came in the form of sickness and deceit. It seems that Arthur and Perdita were having an affair, but not only that, Viola fell terribly ill. The doctors at the time didn’t know how to cure her sickness, so they concluded Viola didn’t have the plague. But she still needs to be kept separated from the rest of the household. She refused to be separated, but they didn’t have any choice. Days went by, and her sickness worsened. Arthur eventually called the priest to have Viola say her final rites. Viola refused treatment as a dead person, and so did Perdita. She told her sister that if she didn’t want to leave, she wouldn’t.

[00:17:00] Isabel grew older as Viola held on. Isabel was under the care of Arthur and Perdita while Viola tried her best to recover from her illness. Viola surpassed the predictions of doctors and priests alike. Perdita asked Isabel to go to bed one night, but she refused—she wanted to dance first. Arthur allowed his daughter one dance before bed. Isabel asked her Aunt Perdita if she knew how to dance. Perdita responded she did, but Isabel didn’t believe her. Arthur invited Perdita to show Isabel how to dance. So they danced as Isabel happily watched them. Viola came out of her room to see her daughter. She wanted to speak to Isabel, but she was unable to. Viola vomited in front of Isabel. Arthur held Isabel back as Perdita walked her back to her room.

[00:20:00] Back in her room, Viola told her sister that she could still dance with her husband. Viola thought Perdita was taking her place. She would never take her place, Perdita told Viola. There was gossip around the town: they say death came for Viola every night, but she denied her to the point that death gave up. Viola roamed the halls of Bly at night. It’s the only time she could leave her room. She would go to the room where Arthur slept with Isabel. She cried at the sight of Arthur and Isabel, unable to hold them in her arms.

[00:22:00] Perdita took care of her sister. She bathed and cleaned up after her. Viola wanted to sleep with Isabel, but Perdita told her she couldn’t. She told Perdita she felt better, stronger, but she looked worse than ever. Viola no longer trusted Perdita. She called her the Lady of Bly manor despite her disapproval. Perdita told Viola she had no intention of becoming the Lady of Bly manor. She told Viola the only reason Arthur looks at her is that he’s lonely and human. Arthur remained faithful to Viola as her husband, but he could only mourn for her. Viola didn’t like Perdita’s statement. She tried to slap her, but Perdita blocked it. Perdita told Viola to think about Isabel. She pointed out that Isabel’s only memories would have of her would be her fragile and sickly self.

[00:23:00] Perdita crossed the line, so Viola slapped her. This time Perdita couldn’t block it. After her conversation with Perdita, Viola asked that all her belongings be brought to her room: jewels, dresses, silk, and satin. Viola placed all of it inside a chest and filled it with rose petals. Arthur went to Viola’s room and asked her what she was doing. Viola made Arthur promise he would keep an eye on her things and not allow anyone to have it except for Isabel. She no longer needed her things and finally accepted her fate. But she didn’t want Perdita to have it. Everything she ever owned would belong to Isabel until she came of age.

[00:26:00] Days became months, months became years. Arthur needed to expand his business to keep the money flowing. He would leave Bly manor more and more often, leaving Isabel and Viola in Perdita’s care. The sister who once loved and cared for Viola was no more. She came to her tipping point. Perdita has had enough of her sister’s stubbornness and took matters into her own hands. Instead of caring for her, she killed Viola, choked her while she laid helplessly in her arms. After Viola’s death, Arthur locked her chest and sealed the keys in an envelope, keeping his promise to Viola. Still, Perdita saw the keys. Months passed, and everyone knew that the new Lord of Bly would need to marry again.

[00:29:00] Women came to Bly hoping to capture his heart, but no one succeeded, for his heart already belonged to someone else long before Viola’s death. Arthur married Perdita in secrecy, not because of what people would think, but because they didn’t want Viola to hear about it. Perdita couldn’t bear a child with Arthur, and Isabel refused to see Perdita as her new mother. Six years after Viola’s death, Arthur failed miserably to keep Bly together. His businesses began falling, and they were steadily becoming poor. Perdita knew that the dresses and jewels Viola kept in her chest would be enough to save them, but Arthur didn’t want to break his promise to Viola. Perdita insisted they open the chest and salvage what they could of it, but Arthur refused.

[00:33:00] Once again, Perdita took matters into her own hands—she went to Arthur’s office, took the keys to Viola’s chest, and went up the attic to open the chest. The next day, Arthur went looking for Perdita. He couldn’t find her anywhere in the manor, so Arthur decided to check the attic where he found Perdita’s rotting corpse beside Viola’s opened chest. We return to the time Viola died. She woke up in bed, not knowing she was already dead. The door to her room remained locked, and all her jewels and belongings filled her dresser. She took one of her dressed and looked at the mirror, only to see her rotting face. Viola covered the mirror up before going back to bed. Each day she would wake up and continue to a meaningless routine of trying out her different dresses and jewels.

[00:41:00] Viola finally accepted her fate. She knew she was dead, and her room was her chest—locked and kept safe, waiting for Isabel to come of age. Each day, Viola woke up and went with her routine. One day, she heard keys jangling outside her door. Viola happily waited for Isabel to open the door. As the door opened, she saw her sister, Perdita. Rage befell Viola—seeing the woman who killed her. She took matters into her own hands and killed Perdita herself before returning to her slumber. Once again, the days passed, and Perdita was buried beside her sister. Arthur’s business failed and left him with no other choice. He sold the mansion and took whatever belongings they had, and left.

[00:44:00] Viola thought the day finally came: she would be with her husband and daughter as her room rocked back and forth. Arthur and Isabel took the chest from the attic and carried it out of the mansion. Viola didn’t care if she couldn’t see or feel them. She knew she was with them, and that was enough for her. Sadly, it was the last time she would be with them. Arthur grew to be a superstitious man. He saw what the chest did to Perdita, and he didn’t dare risk anything for Isabel. Arthur and Isabel threw the chest into the lake at Bly manor.

[00:46:00] Being abandoned by her own family broke Viola’s heart. She continued onward, waking up, walking back to Bly manor, entering their bedroom, and looking at an empty bed. She hoped her daughter would return one day, but she didn’t. Decades passed without Viola knowing. New people filled the halls of Bly. They, too, would suffer her wrath, for she didn’t know what was happening around her. First, the doctor who used Bly as a house for patients suffering the plague—Viola killed him without any hesitation. The doctor’s soul became trapped in Bly, just like her. Next would be the Vicar, the next tenant to befell Viola’s rage. As time passed on, so did Viola. She lost her face and became forgotten like her victims.

[00:50:00] Viola continued onward, losing her memory along with her face. She couldn’t remember why she came back to Bly manor. She saw a child sleeping on the bed—she thought the child must be why she returned. So she took the child back to the lake. Just like her sister, who lived in the attic, she too became forgotten, faceless, and purposeless. Years had passed, and Viola would claim another in Peter Quint. There was no hope for the victims of Bly. Even Hannah continuously roamed the halls without purpose, succumbing to her memories.

[00:53:00] Just like all the victims of Viola, Dani would join them as she grasped her throat and pulled her back inside the manor.