The 10 best new television shows of 2020
By Shaun Stacy
Best new television shows of 2020: The Haunting of Bly Manor
Platform: Netflix
Cast: Victoria Pedretti, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Amelia Eve, T’Nia Miller, Rahul Kohli, Tahirah Sharif
The second entry of creator Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting anthology series, The Haunting of Bly Manor is a liberal adaptation of the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.
The story follows a young American au pair named Dani Clayton (Pedretti) who is hired by a man to look after his orphaned niece and nephew at their family country home, only to find that the place is crawling with ghosts who have the ability to possess the living. The additional staff at Bly Manor includes housekeeper Hannah Grose (Miller), cook Owen Sharma (Kohli), and gardener Jamie (Amelia Eve).
Like it’s predecessor, The Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor relies heavily on a blend of supernatural scares and complex exposition, with the story moving back and forth between the past, present, and future. The chemistry between the main cast members is perhaps stronger this time around, particularly between Pedretti and Eve, as well as Miller and Kohli, giving each character the opportunity to shine alone and along with their respective partners.
While the show has been criticized for not being as scary as Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor did give us one of the most beautiful (if tragic) queer love stories of the year with the slow-burning romance between Dani and Jamie. Conversely, it also acted as a cautionary tale about the dangers of engaging in toxic relationships, which is horrendously depicted in the fateful pairing of Peter Quint (Jackson-Cohen) and Rebecca Jessel (Sharif).