Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for the first six episodes of The Fall of the House of Usher.
What is madness? This question, asked by Madeline (Mary McDonnell) and lifted straight from the pages ofThe Fall of the House of Usher’s inspiration,Edgar Allan Poe, is quite fitting for the plot of the series' sixth episode, “Goldbug.” It is a question that pervades the stories of both Madeline herself and her brother, Roderick (Bruce Greenwood), the first insisting that there is a century-old woman chasing the Usher family while the latter refuses to accept this truth even while his mind shows him the wildest of hallucinations. It is a question that flows through the narrative arc of Tamerlane (Samantha Sloyan) in her final moments, as she is tormented by the presence of a woman who may or may not be there, a woman who may or may not beher. Finally, is it or is not madness that has taken over Frederick (Henry Thomas) as he torments Morelle (Crystal Balint) in her sickbed, lying to his daughter and closing his eyes to the horrors that have brought forth the destruction of his family?
Tamerlane Usher isn’t exactly the greatest of Roderick Usher’s children. From her mistreatment of her husband to her Goop-like wellness empire to her calling Juno (Ruth Codd) “it,” audiences aren’t actually given many reasons to sympathize with her, and neither is her family. Still, she probably deserved a little more of the spotlight in the episode that culminates with her death. As it is, “Goldbug” feels more likeThe Fall of the House of Ushersetting the scene for what’s to come, Frederick’s demise and Madeline and Roderick’s inevitable face-off with Verna (Carla Gugino), than as a story in and of itself. Not that a TV episode can’t and shouldn’t be both, mind you, but Tammy’s plot should’ve definitely been given more screen time than it got.
Pym Uncovers More About Verna, But Roderick Refuses to Believe Him
There are two stories that take up the central stage in Episode 6 ofThe Fall of the House of Usher: Frederick’s tormenting of Morelle and Pym’s (Mark Hamill) investigation into Verna’s true identity. After Victorine’s (T’Nia Miller) apparent murder-suicide, Pym does his usual round of the crime scene and uncovers some documentation pertaining to the patient that Victorine wanted Alessandra (Paola Núñez) was just about to operate on. The patient in question, Pamela, is of course one of the many disguises of Verna. And since the documentation found in Victorine’s apartment features things like Pamela’s alleged home address, Pym goes on a trip to find out where this elusive woman — who has been popping up around the deaths of all Usher kids — lives. But the address Verna gave Victorine is actually a fake one. It leads Pym to a house in which no one lives anymore. It is, however, a house that used to be inhabited a long time ago by none other than Roderick and Madeline Usher.
Related:Mike Flanagan’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’: What Is Edgar Allan Poe’s Short Story About?
This isn’t the only search done by Pym that ends up being kind of a wild goose chase. The Usher family attorney also goes looking for the bar in which Roderick and Madeline first met Verna all those years ago only to find out that said bar never existed. He then goes digging for similar venues near the path that Madeline and Roderick claim to have walked on that fateful 1979 night, but finds no trace of Verna nor of anyone that looks like her. What he does find, however, is a series of interesting results doing a search for Verna’s likeness in face recognition apps. Apparently, she has been stalking powerful people all the way back to the dawn of the 20th century, from Mark Zuckerberg to Edgar Queeny, the founder of Monsanto.
Having seen Victorine kill herself with his own two eyes, Roderick refuses to believe what Pym has to show him. Claiming that he could forge such pictures himself if he only had the time to spare, he shuts off Madeline’s calls to reason — reason that feels as mad as Roderick’s constant visions of his dead children or his auditory hallucinations in the Fortunato basement. Could it be his vascular dementia flaring up? Or have those ghosts really been sent to haunt him? Considering his claims that his children told him about the path leading them to their deaths after they died, we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the second alternative.
Tamerlane Faces Off Against Candy — Or Maybe Against Herself?
While Roderick deals with these matters of the mind, Tamerlane goes through her own “maybe it’s madness, maybe it’s Maybelline” journey. Sleep-deprived and abandoned by Bill (Matt Biedel), she tries to put together the launch of her new wellness subscription service, the titular Goldbug, on her own, but things haven’t really been boding well for her. Tamerlane has been dozing off, having blackouts, and seeing things that may or may not be there, from people walking through her empty house to a Goldbug box filled with maggots and insects.
Still, with the incentive of her aunt Madeline, who wants the Usher family to prove that it is still going strong even amidst all the chaos, Tamerlane pulls through. Or, at least, she does the launch. Whether it goes well is another matter entirely. While on stage, surrounded by admirers and reporters, Tamerlane catches glimpses of the woman she knows as Candy — another one of Verna’s disguises — in the audience and begins to flip out. When her carefully curated slideshow begins to show images of Candy instead of her, things get even worse. It all reaches a breaking point when the screens begin to show what looks like a sex tape featuring Candy, Tarmelane, and Bill. Horrified, Tamerlane grabs her microphone with its pedestal and throws it in Candy’s direction. She ends up hitting poor Juno, who had naively shown up at the event to support her stepdaughter. Chaos ensues, and Madeline is the only one who seems to know what to do but ends up doing nothing either way. She catches sight of Verna, now without her Candy disguise, and runs toward her. Alas, just as she reaches out to grab her, Verna disappears in a puff of smoke.
As suggested by her fetish that involves watching her husband have sex with women dressed like her, Tamerlane’s whole thing is about seeing someone else take over her life. So, this is precisely what Verna taunts her with, not only by replacing Tamerlane’s face with hers in the slideshow but also by pretending to call Bill and apologize for treating him so poorly, something that Tamerlane is too proud to do. But is Verna (or Candy) really someone posing as Tamerlane or is she a projection of Tamerlane herself? As the oldest Usher daughter walks through her house with a fireplace poker, smashing mirrors in which she sees not her reflection, but the image of Candy, that question lingers on. Though we know that there is such an entity as Verna picking apart the Usher family, we can’t help but wonder whether she is truly there taunting Tamerlane or whether her job is already done.
As the glass shards fall to the floor and penetrate through her skin, Tamerlane grows more and more anxious about the presence of Candy in her house. Eventually, she sees her in the giant mirror that hangs over her bed. Jumping to catch her, Tamerlane falls to the bed and is trespassed by giant pieces of glass, as well as by her fireplace poker.
Frederick Continues to Torture Morelle
Five down, one more to go, and “Goldbug” lays down the groundwork for Frederick’s demise beautifully. The episode centers a lot of the action around his growing paranoia over his wife’s alleged cheating and his refusal to cope with what’s been happening to his siblings. Chatting with Lenore (Kyliegh Curran), he reasons that everything is fine because Prospero (Sauriyan Sapkota), Camille (Kate Siegel), Leo (Rahul Kohli), and Victorine weren’t “right” and not actually full Ushers. He also promises his daughter that she will be okay and that the doctors will be coming to check in on her mom soon.
But when Lenore is not around, Morelle’s well-being is the last thing on Frederick’s mind. As a matter of fact, he’s been feeding her a paralyzing medicine in order to keep her from getting better and tormenting her with endless questions about whether she was sleeping with Prospero. It is pretty clear that Frederick isn’t “right,” as well. And, after Tamerlane’s death, there’s no reason for him to believe that full Ushers have any kind of protection.
