Edgar Allan Poe's influential work becomes the backdrop for a thrilling series, "The Fall of the House of Usher", where viewers are promptly introduced to a rich tapestry of interwoven tales of melancholy and mystery. The series, within its initial moments, is quick to flash allusions to Poe's legacy, merging the evident with the obscure and thus, challenging even seasoned Poe enthusiasts.

Show creator Mike Flanagan, familiar with transforming iconic horror literature into fresh narratives, tactically modernizes Poe’s story, offering a multifaceted series that explores the grim repercussions of corporate greed in the pharmaceutical industry while concurrently incorporating elements from various Poe narratives. The montage at the onset not only serves as a narrative device but also sets a complex puzzle for the audience, enticingly asking: How well-acquainted are you with the universe of Poe?

The series plunges into the depths with its main characters: Roderick Usher, a pharmaceutical magnate burdened by grief, having witnessed the passing of his six children in a mere fortnight, and Charles Auguste Dupin, an assistant District Attorney attempting to hold the Ushers accountable for the opioid crisis seeded by their company. There's a subtle undertone, inviting no rewards for recognizing the striking resemblance to the real-world Sackler family and their opioid crisis ties.

In a somewhat unexpected move, Roderick reaches out to Dupin, promising a confession to all 73 accusations, spanning from defrauding the government and more, only if Dupin lends an ear to his lengthy tale over a luxurious bottle of cognac. He insinuates that his narrative is extensive enough to span eight hours of television time. The story winds back to 1953, detailing the lives of a young Roderick and his sister Madeline under the care of their single mother, Eliza. Eliza's complex relationship with Longfellow, the brash leader of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals and their secret biological father, casts a long shadow over the children’s lives.

Eliza, ardently religious, shuns medical intervention, seeing it as an affront to divine design, and this devout belief extends to her burial - no embalming, just a backyard internment carried out by her children. A tempestuous night reveals a horror, an empty grave, and Eliza, only just clinging to life, unearths herself to exact a violent retribution on her son and Longfellow before succumbing to death.

Dupin’s hope for straightforward answers gets entwined with an eerie recounting of trauma, as the show, shuttling between timelines, provides glimpses into the lives of Roderick’s offspring. Although each child is uniquely troublesome, the roots of their dark destinies seem sown long before their existence.

The scene shifts to a pivotal moment on New Year's Eve, 1979, where Roderick and Madeline, immaculately dressed, interact with a bartender, Verna, whose name intriguingly rearranges to spell 'raven'. Verna cryptically comments on promises to the future, and though unexplained apparitions of Verna, the deceased children, and a ghastly jester recurrently appear, they seem to hint at a mysterious, perhaps supernatural, debt due.

Concluding, "The Fall of the House of Usher" artfully intertwines stories of familial greed, untimely deaths, and possibly, supernatural consequences, perhaps suggesting that the Usher's financial empire was built upon spectral dealings. Roderick and Madeline, once on the precipice of a vast fortune that felt unjustly denied, may have entwined themselves in a dire pact where “pay later” is a devilish agreement and the Usher lineage is now held accountable to a spectral creditor. What unfurls is a dark tale, blurring the lines between human avarice and ethereal vengeance, which will undoubtedly unravel further as the series progresses.