No spoilers (as difficult as it is to write this without saying anything about what happens in each episode…)
Check out my Season 1 and 2 Discussions
In my Season 1 analysis I stated, “Just when you think a character is one thing, they become something different.” In my Season 2 analysis I wrote, “At the end of Season 1 it seemed transference was the culprit and Leanne was an unknowing leader. In Season 2, she is less a leader and more of a catalyst for inaction and action. As Season 2 ends paranoia becomes the driver vs fear and it seems ignorance is no safe harbor as Leanne’s decisions have made her the home and as her mental stability crumbles this house of lies grows more fragile.”
Season 3 is aligned with the House is not a Home aspect of analysis. While I initially tied the home to mental fragility, in the finale leaders have been supplanted and the home is a self-inflicted prison of the mind’s design. This season is a more focused narrative delivering deeper insight into these characters. While the first two seasons held unpredictable moments in response to traditional tropes, Season 3 is tense because there is a constant correct anticipation of the events about to take place by the watcher, but as a viewer the lack of control in preventing the actions hitting Leanne and Dorothy is paralyzing. The Sisyphean turns in Season 3 force you to roll downhill at each moment when the house seems to be getting better.
It’s extremely frustrating to recognize that the original sin hasn’t come to the forefront even when things get so far out of hand for every person who knows. The Police sang a line in the song Wrapped Around Your Finger. The entire series could be pulled from the lyrics. In my earlier reviews I couldn’t decide who or with whom the evil lies. That is still unclear, but there isn’t a more appropriate verse for where Season 3 ends:
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air, you’ll never find me
I will turn your flesh to alabaster
Then you’ll find your servant is your master
The end of Season 3 is an unpredictable, expected moment of literal collapse and the original sin is the architect of the fall.
