In "The Fall of the House of Usher," the economy of punishment seems perplexingly skewed. Consider Prospero, the least seasoned in wickedness among his kin, yet his demise is exceptionally brutal. Leo's greatest sin appears to be merely existing as an Usher heir, yet his life is claimed. Morrie, connected to the Ushers only through marriage, endures the most harrowing fate.
One might posit that the Devil, the architect of their doom, isn't known for fairness. As "The Pit and the Pendulum" episode emphasizes, isn't it the essence of the Devil to dispense malevolence indiscriminately? However, this theory wobbles when she protracts Freddie's end, citing his vile treatment of Morrie. So, does the severity of their punishments actually correlate with their misdeeds?
Ultimately, the specifics might be moot. The Usher progeny are not paying for their individual transgressions, but rather for the ancestral sin: a pact made with the Devil by Roderick and Madeline. This curse, akin to a malignant hereditary trait, was passed down through generations.
The episode pulls back the curtain on the origin of this family affliction. Amidst a scheme against Fortunato, Roderick betrays Auggie during a crucial hearing, with Madeline as his accomplice. This revelation shatters Annabel Lee, Roderick's wife, who recognizes the stranger her husband has become.
Juno, too, faces her reckoning. After an injury-induced epiphany, she resolves to quit Ligadone, despite Roderick's gruesome warning of a three-year withdrawal ordeal. Undeterred, she bravely chooses this torturous path to freedom.
Roderick's plans unravel further when he learns his imminent ousting from the family board, triggered by the deaths of his offspring. Amidst this turmoil, both Madeline and Freddie conspire against him. In a dramatic turn, Madeline poisons him with a fatal Ligadone dose, aiming to nullify their infernal contract through simultaneous death. But the Devil intervenes, resurrecting Roderick for a final, revealing dialogue with Auggie.
Concurrently, Madeline negotiates with the Devil incarnate at the ancestral Usher residence. Amidst recitations of Poe's "The City in the Sea," she learns of an alternate reality where Roderick, unburdened by darkness, flourishes as a poet.
The episode, penned by Mike and Jaime Flanagan, also humorously discloses that Freddie might have been a dentist in a different world, an ironic twist given his barbaric extraction of Morrie's teeth. Henry Thomas, portraying Freddie, delivers a performance that peels back the layers of a man who is both pitifully ineffective and disturbingly malicious. Freddie, devoid of the complex emotional tapestry granted to his siblings, evokes pure revulsion, resembling a sloth igniting an orphanage - a spectacle so jarring that his gruesome end feels almost gratifying.
This indiscriminate retribution, meted out to both villain and victim, encapsulates the true horror of the Usher saga. The Devil, it seems, does not discriminate; her wrath consumes both the culpable and the innocent, ensnaring Freddies and Morries in the same cruel fate.
