Like I was not prepared for an evil clown in the limo lmao

It’s good stuff, though, I’m intrigued

Going to organize some thoughts here.

So you have a brother and sister, Roderick and Madeline Usher. Their mother was a religious zealot, a former secretary to the owner of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, and also it’s implied that she was in an illicit relationship with her boss (is he the father of the siblings? There doesn’t seem to have been a dad around).

Mom has a strong religious aversion to any kind of medical care despite having some sort of horribly painful affliction, so when she seems to be dead the siblings make a makeshift casket and bury her themselves in the back yard so she wouldn’t get embalmed.

Surprise, she isn’t dead, she crawls out of the grave, scares the hell out of them, strangles her old boss to death, and then does in fact die.

This is a very spooky series of events but as far as I can tell it doesn’t really relate to any of the super natural stuff going on beyond, like, generally explaining why the Usher siblings are so fucked in the head

So far, anyway

So the kids grow up, it’s the 1970s, Roderick is working in the mail room at Fortunato and Madeline is doing...something with computers.

Madeline seems like a bit of a sociopath at this point

Somehow, Roderick hears about this drug, Ligadone. It’s a very effective opioid painkiller that is non-addictive (this is a lie), and it’s been patented by a chemist at a small drug company. He starts up some talks with this chemist, and then pitches this drug to the new CEO, saying they should acquire Ligadone.

He wants this to be his big chance. But the CEO rejects the pitch, and then turns around and buys out the other company anyway. The CEO does promote Roderick but it’s not the life changing win that he was banking on.

Up to this point, it doesn’t look like there’s any supernatural involvement at all, which makes me think that there wasn’t with their mother.

New Year’s Eve, 1979. The siblings have done...something that will result in them getting control of Fortunato. Something illegal.

Trying to establish an alibi, they step into a bar and order a few drinks. And this is the first time we have an overt impingement on their lives by the supernatural. The bartender, who takes a lot of interest in them, is a woman who subtitles have given the name Verna (anagram for Raven, naturally).

It’s not clear what her deal is, but she’s definitely not human. So far we’ve only gotten a few glimpses of the conversation they had as the 80s were kicking off, but it seems like the Ushers made some sort of deal with Verna.

The Ushers take control of Fortunato, and become insanely rich as a result. Ligadone is, it turns out, very addictive, and there’s an opioid overdose epidemic ascribed to them.

Roderick has six kids, two of them with his wife and then four illegitimate children with women he slept with. They are (and this is mostly to help me keep them straight)

Frederick - helps dad runs the business, just kind of hangs out in his father’s shadow and acts as his mini-me. The Michael Bluth of the set.

Tamerlane - Has her own Goop brand of lifestyle products. Married to a fitness influencer. Hires sex workers to have romantic dates and then sleep with her husband while she watches and masturbates.

Camille - Oldest illegitimate child, she runs PR for the family and company. She has two assistants, Toby and Beth, who she regularly sleeps with.

Victorine - Eldest illegitimate child, a surgeon who is trying to make some new heart implant that isn’t working out. Is actively fabricating results in chimp trials.

Leo (Napoleon) - Illegitimate British son. Produces video games. Has a serious drug problem. Cheating on his boyfriend with at least one woman.

Perry (Prospero) - Youngest child. Dipshit idiot party animal.

There is also one grandchild: Lenore, Frederick’s daughter.

And Arthur Pym, the family lawyer/fixer, is always lurking around.

Let’s jump ahead. Today, all six of Roderick’s children are dead, of separate incidents with no connection between them, but which happened with shocking speed.

The federal government brought a case against Fortunato because of efforts they made to cover up Ligadone’s addictive nature and other side effects.

This case failed; Arthur Pym is too powerful in court.

But the prosecutor, who has been trying to get Fortunato for decades, is summoned to Roderick’s childhood home for a confession from the man himself.

Roderick is old, and suffering from vascular dementia which causes hallucinations. He keeps seeing Verna, and his dead children, and his dead mother. It’s not clear if these are real visions or just hallucinations.

But he does also claim to be responsible for the deaths of his children. And sure enough, Verna is showing up in all of their lives and Final Destinationing them.

So I’m guessing that these deaths are a consequence of the deal the Ushers struck with Verna back in 1980.

Verna’s interesting. She keeps taking on different forms and personas, but she DOES appear to be real and physical. She shows up on tape.

I think Pym knows more about this than he’s letting on.

The other interesting thing about Verna is that she seems to be trying to minimize collateral damage among innocent parties? Like she got all the wait staff out before the sprinklers turned on. Of course like 76 rave-attendees did get got, but it’s an unusual move for an evil ghost

Tried to save Freddy’s wife too. Maybe because she hadn’t actually taken part in any of the rave debauchery?

Partway through episode four now. Leo’s fate is looking set to be extremely undignified

Getting mauled to death by a housecat is an embarrassing way to go