Open Casket is the second episode of The Haunting of Hill House.
Synopsis[]
A devastating family tragedy stirs memories of traumatic losses, reminding Shirley of her first brush with death -- and awakening long-dormant fears.
Plot[]
Shirley holds a session for a young boy who tells her that on numerous occasions, he has been seeing his deceased grandmother. Shirley tries to convince the young boy that he is simply dreaming visions of his grandmother, rather than seeing a physical manifestation of her as a ghost. Shirley explains the process of preparing a body for an open-casket funeral.
Back in the “then”, Shirley interrupts her mother whilst she is drawing a blueprint for their “forever house”. Olivia explains the logistics of the house, explaining that they will be building the “forever house” once Hill House is fixed and ready to be sold. Nellie interrupts the two, asking if Olivia will have a tea party with her, however she refuses, citing that she must work. Instead, Olivia allows them to play outside, but instills the rule that they must return home when the porch light is flashed twice.
Outside on the lawn, Shirley sees Luke playing. She tells him to remember the rule: two flashes of the porch lights and it is time to come home. Just as Shirley leaves, Luke catches a glimpse of a young girl in the distance of Hill House but receives no response when he waves. Meanwhile, also on the lawn, Hugh questions Mr. Dudley about the master key, asking if he has anything that is able to open the red door, but he remarks that he doesn’t.
Shirley is distracted by sounds coming from an outhouse off the grounds of Hill House. She goes to investigate and finds numerous young kittens alone without a mother. Behind, she is startled by a wasp nest, causing her to shriek. Mr. Dudley and Hugh hear the shriek and come to investigate, assuring Shirley that the object she has found is harmless. Shirley questions what they should do with the kittens, warning her father that they may become prey to the dogs they have been hearing on the grounds. Confused, Mr. Dudley tells Hugh that neither he nor his wife have ever seen any dogs on the grounds of Hill House.
In the “now”, Shirley talks with her partner at the funeral parlor, Kevin. Kevin tells her that their profits are slipping due to Shirley offering funeral services at cost, or below cost on more than half of occasions for last quarter. Shirley tells Kevin that she is trying her best to help families in need who sometimes cannot afford expensive funerals, however Kevin assures her that they will be heading into financial difficulties if she continues. The two are interrupted, however, when a customer enters the parlor with a box containing photographs and keepsakes of his mother.
A flashback to six years prior shows Shirley and Steven at a rehabilitation center where they are writing a cheque to cover Luke’s rehab. Both are unsettled by the price of $6,000 a month, but Shirley assures that Luke will take the first month, and they will return in a couple of weeks to see what else can be done. The Crain children bid goodbye to Luke as he leaves to give a urine analysis and start his first month at rehab.
Back in the “now”, Shirley looks through Kevin’s briefcase at documents pertaining to the funeral parlor. Inside, she finds a cheque book belonging to someone she doesn’t recognize. She talks with Theo about the revelation, who tells her that her best option is to ask him about it.
A flashback to the childhood of the Crain children shows Theo waking Shirley from her sleep to ask why she is banging on the wall. Shirley tells her that it is not her, and she doesn’t know what she means, but alerts her to the dogs barking again. The two are interrupted, however, when the banging on the wall continues; this causes sheer panic for the two who scream out for help. Their father arrives moments later but tells the two that he couldn’t hear the banging despite the volume at which they believe it to have occurred. Shirley wakes moments later by the ringing of her phone, and it is revealed that she was reliving the moment in her dream.
Shirley answers the phone to a distraught Steven who tells her that Nell killed herself moments earlier. Shirley is reluctant to believe Steven and asks how he knows, implying that their father, Hugh, is lying and couldn’t possibly know. As the truth sinks in, Shirley becomes increasingly angry at the fact that she had told Steven to find Nell as she was in trouble. Shirley hangs up the phone and leaves to the outhouse to comfort Theo.
Distraught over the news of her deceased sister, Shirley has a flashback to the summer in which she took in the numerous kittens from the outhouse and the morning she found one of them dead. Back in the present, she tells Andi to pick up Nell’s body and bring her back to the funeral parlor where they can begin the proceedings. Despite Theo and Kevin’s remarks that Shirley should let another branch handle the funeral, Shirley is adamant that she will be hosting the funeral. Shirley is caught up in a flashback to the day of her mother’s funeral in which she found it difficult to see her in the open casket.
Nell's body arrives at the funeral parlor, where she is met by Shirley and Theo. Theo is unable to bare the experience and, after apologizing to Shirley, leaves the house. Shirley orders that the body be taken downstairs to ensure they can start the proceeding immediately. Downstairs, Shirley begins working on Nell. During the work, she has a flashback to the "then", a day in which they found all of the kittens dead. Back in the now, Shirley tells Steven to return home as quickly as they can.
Back in the then, Olivia and Hugh argue about the kittens and the experience of death Shirley has experienced from keeping the kittens. Olivia believes that it was reckless for Hugh to allow Shirley to care for diseased kittens that were destined to die, however Hugh argues that it was a simple mistake that will not happen again.
Shirley is interrupted by her children, Jayden and Allie, entering the room in which she is preparing the body. She stops what she is doing and leaves the room to console them. She tells the two that she will not lie and that they can asks any question they like; she is unable to answer, however, when the children ask about the whereabouts of their auntie after death. Shirley tells the two to find their favorite photograph with Nell and she will hang it at the funeral.
A flashback to Nell's wedding day shows Shirley preparing Nell's makeup ahead of the big day. Shirley is distracted, however, when she notices a cab pull up outside and Luke exit. She immediately rushes outside to confront Luke, remarking that he is high and ran away from the hospital. Luke explains that he wanted to be there for Nell's big day, but Shirley rebukes him, remarking that the day is about Nell, not him. She passes him money to pay for the cab and remarks that he can use the rest to purchase drugs, but it is the last he will get from her. With this, he reluctantly takes the cash and leaves the house, with Nell unaware that he was even there. Inside, Shirley passes the whole ordeal off as "bridesmaid stuff". Back in the now, Shirley apologizes to Nell's corpse, but is distracted when she begins experiencing visions of insects crawling from Nell's mouth; she investigates but finds nothing of the sort present.
Just as Shirley finishes and is about to leave the room, she begins to see a vision of her dead mother holding a box. She stares, but the vision quickly disappears upon hearing a cat shriek nearby.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Michiel Huisman as Steven Crain
- Carla Gugino as Olivia Crain
- Henry Thomas as Young Hugh Crain
- Elizabeth Reaser as Shirley Crain
- Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Luke Crain
- Kate Siegel as Theodora Crain
- Victoria Pedretti as Eleanor Crain
- Lulu Wilson as Young Shirley Crain
- Mckenna Grace as Young Theodora Crain
- Paxton Singleton as Young Steve Crain
- Julian Hilliard as Young Luke Crain
- Violet McGraw as Young Nell Crain
- Timothy Hutton as Hugh Crain
Guest Starring[]
- Anthony Ruivivar as Kevin Harris
- Samantha Sloyan as Leigh Crain
- Robert Longstreet as Mr. Dudley
- James Lafferty as Ryan
- Jordane Christie as Arthur
- James Flanagan as Funeral Director
Co-Starring[]
- Olive Elise Abercrombie as Abigail
- May Badr as Allie Harris
- Tenaya Cleveland as Rehab Coordinator
- Brittany Godfrey as Andi
- Lauren Halperin as Staff Member
- Arianne Martin as Max's Mother
- Trace Masters as Max
- Logan A. Medina as Jayden Harris
- David Shae as Max's Father
Notes[]
- The episode switches between the "then" and the "now" frequently as Shirley prepares her sister's body for the funeral.
Gallery[]
References[]
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| Episodes of The Haunting of Hill House |
|---|
| "Steven Sees a Ghost" • "Open Casket" • "Touch" • "The Twin Thing" • "The Bent-Neck Lady" • "Two Storms" • "Eulogy" • "Witness Marks" • "Screaming Meemies" • "Silence Lay Steadily" |