The Crains return to Hill House for one final confrontation with the evil that has been ruining their lives, but first let’s find out what exactly happened to Olivia.

What a thing to do! At the end of Episode 8, Luke is at the house, ready to immolate it, and this episode… pauses at that point, focusing instead on mother Olivia (Carla Cugino). But this isn’t a tricksy tease, rather the much-needed explanation as to why she was behaving the way she did, leading to her fateful outcome. We revisit scenes we’ve already experienced, but through a different set of eyes, and no wonder she was troubled.

The rat poison tea party is the most upsetting scene to date as the entranced mother invites her twins to drink a fatal brew and also finally provides an answer to who Abigail is. Director Mike Flanagan has a thing about mirrors (used to great effect in Oculus) and he again uses reflective surfaces to reveal different points of view that shift your perspective.

Episode 10 resumes the activity from the end of Episode 8, and initially follows each member of the family in their own dream-state, as induced by the house. For some it’s an alternate, skewed future, others it’s revisiting a key moment in their life where things could have gone a different way, but time is running out for Luke as he lies dying on the floor.

The final resolution is a tricky one, and ultimately suffers the fate of most ghost stories – once you know who the ghosts are and why they’re doing what they’re doing, they stop being scary. The final ten minutes might feel a letdown after the horror that has gone before, but surely this family did finally deserve a break, and a happy-ish ending was the right outcome.

Verdict: Spooky, engaging and full of rounded characters, Mike Flanagan’s Hill House is another success for Netflix, providing just the right amount of jumps and scares to earn the Hill House name. In truth, it’s a long way off Shirley Jackson’s source novel, but there were a few nods along the way, and if you’re going to top your hat, it might as well be to a classic. 8/10

Nick Joy