The Haunting of Bly Manor episode review — 2.3 — The Two Faces, Part 1

Original air date: October 9, 2020
Director: Ciaran Foy
Writer: Diane Ademu-John

Rating: 7/10

This episode focuses a lot more on the past than the present. Well, I guess the whole series focuses on the past, since there’s a narrator telling this story, but this one in particular takes place mostly about a year before Dani’s at Bly Manor. We focus on Peter Quint (Oliver Jackson Cohen), Mr. Wingrave’s righthand man and the ghost that Dani had seen from the previous episode, as well as Dani’s predecessor, Rebecca Jessel (Tahirah Sharif).

The two develop a relationship much to the disapproval of the other workers at the house. And we also learn a year later that though Quint is apparently still alive, apparently he stole a bunch of money and took off.

Dani and Jamie wander around the grounds looking for him, after the police investigate things, but they don’t find anything.

A year ago, Rebecca gets along great with the kids, particularly Flora.

But she also gets along well with Owen, which makes Quint jealous.

The episode is very slow, and it plays out much more like a domestic drama than horror, for the most part. But the best moment is a recreation of a scene from the novle, when Flora sees Rebecca’s ghost across the lake.

There isn’t too much of a psychological element here, unlike the novel, but that’s just a result of the story being told the way it is, I suppose. I don’t think you can truly create the magic of Henry James’s work.