The Fall of the House of Usher
The Usher family is never far from controversy. The fortunes of siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher were made through Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, a company whose products are often under scrutiny due to health concerns. Assistant District Attorney C. Auguste Dupin is determined to land a conviction and his case against Fortunato and the Ushers has gone to trial. Now, right in the middle of the trial, Roderick's children are dying under mysterious circumstances. Roderick Usher knows who/what is behind the deaths and meets with Dupin to reveal all.
- Metascore73
- 2023-2023
- 1 season
- Netflix
- Drama, Horror, Suspense
- TV-MA
The Usher family is never far from controversy. The fortunes of siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher were made through Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, a company whose products are often under scrutiny due to health concerns. Assistant District Attorney C. Auguste Dupin is determined to land a conviction and his case against Fortunato and the Ushers has gone to trial. Now, right in the middle of the trial, Roderick's children are dying under mysterious circumstances. Roderick Usher knows who/what is behind the deaths and meets with Dupin to reveal all.
Season 1 Episode Guide
8 Episodes 2023
Episode 1
A Midnight Dreary
Thu, Oct 12, 2023 56 mins
Roderick Usher, a super-rich Big Pharma executive mired in grief after burying all six of his children in the span of two weeks, calls Charles Auguste Dupin, an assistant DA. He vows to confess to all 73 charges, including defrauding the U.S. government, if Dupin will just come to his decrepit childhood home and hear the whole story over a bottle of expensive cognac.
Episode 2
The Masque of the Red Death
Thu, Oct 12, 2023 61 mins
In 1979, Dupin investigates grave exhumations linked to a drug trial. The younger Roderick, living with Madeline, his first wife Annabel Lee, and young children Frederick and Tamerlane, fails a pitch of Ligadone to Fortunato's CEO, Rufus Griswold, who succeeded Longfellow. In the present, Perry, Frederick, and Pym must deal with environmental concerns involving their properties. When Frederick insults Perry, Perry decides to host a masquerade-themed party at one of the condemned properties to prove his worth, using water from the facility's tanks to signal an orgy. Roderick, suffering from CADASIL, pins hope on Victorine's experimental heart mesh, while Madeline seeks to create AI using Lenore's memories. Perry invites Frederick's frustrated wife, Morella, to his party, planning to seduce her as revenge for his brother's disrespect to him. Verna arrives at the party in disguise and tries to convince Perry to stop the party, to no avail. The sprinklers' spray turns out to be acid and chemical waste, the consequence being death for all but one guest, including Perry. Verna gives Perry a kiss as he dies.
Episode 3
Murder in the Rue Morgue
Thu, Oct 12, 2023 60 mins
In a flashback, Griswold takes credit for Ligadone, forcing Roderick to accept this in exchange for potentially increasing his influence at Fortunato. In the present, Pym identifies Perry's body and a badly-burned Morella, the only survivor. Roderick confesses to Dupin that he hid the corrosive waste in those tanks to avoid federal regulations; Frederick's negligence in removing those properties resulted in Perry's death. Camille discovers that Victorine's illegal heart mesh tests on animals were unsuccessful. Verna poses as the first human test subject for Victorine, who books the illegal surgery without informing her girlfriend and co-worker Dr. Ali Ruiz. Verna also poses as an escort for Tamerlane's husband, Bill, to fulfill Tamerlane's cuckquean fetish. Leo believes he killed Pluto, the black cat of his partner Julius, in a drug-fueled stupor. Camille encounters Verna posing as a security guard at Victorine's lab, who asks why Camille hates her half-sister since the two are in fact similar. One of the tested chimpanzees mauls Camille to death.
Episode 4
The Black Cat
Thu, Oct 12, 2023 62 mins
After Camille's death, Roderick rallies the family. Leo refuses, and is soon plagued by a black cat that he buys to replace his lover's missing pet. The mysterious Verna sells Leo the cat, and pays him a visit when the cat indulges in strange behavior.
Episode 5
The Tell-Tale Heart
Thu, Oct 12, 2023 61 mins
Roderick, Madeline, and Annabel Lee join forces with Dupin to uncover Fortunato's hidden files. The surviving Usher children devolve into jealousy over their father's favoritism. Frederick has the hospital discharge Morella into his care. Victorine admits that she forged Ali's signature to hurry Verna's surgery. Dupin admits he lied about the informant's existence to pit the family against each other. After an argument, Tamerlane and Bill break up. Roderick meets Victorine for the heart mesh but she is distracted by a ticking noise. Her memory then comes back: after Ali said she was going to reveal the corruption behind the Usher family and the heart mesh trial, Victorine threw a bookend at her head, killing her. Desperate, she used the heart mesh on a dead Ali and was driven to madness by the mesh's chirping. Upon realizing this, Victorine commits suicide in front of her father.
Episode 6
Goldbug
Thu, Oct 12, 2023 58 mins
After breaking up with Bill, Tamerlane launches her new Goldbug program, but receives a visit from Verna which disrupts the launch. Meanwhile, Pym discovers some unsettling information about Verna's past, and turns it over to Roderick and Madeline.
Episode 7
The Pit and the Pendulum
Thu, Oct 12, 2023 59 mins
Madeline tries to convince Pym to elect her as CEO after Roderick is pushed out due to his illness; she wishes to pivot Fortunato to a tech company focusing on artificial immortality. Frederick - now hooked on Leo's cocaine - continues to torture a helpless Morella. In 1979, Roderick betrays Dupin at the court hearing to take down Fortunato, saving the company and earning its gratitude. Shocked and disappointed, his wife Annabel Lee leaves him. In the present, Roderick refuses Juno's request to get off Ligodone, admitting he only married her because he was fascinated by her body's affinity for the drug; she leaves him too.
Episode 8
The Raven
Thu, Oct 12, 2023 76 mins
In 1979, Griswold makes Roderick his right-hand man after he saves the company at the court hearing. On New Year's Eve, Madeline and Roderick serve Griswold poisoned amontillado and wall him into the basement, murdering him. They plan to frame him and have Roderick replace him on the board, taking over Fortunato. The siblings spend time at Verna's bar to establish an alibi and make a deal with her for wealth and power; in exchange, the Usher bloodline will die right before the siblings do, who will die together. In the present, Verna offers Pym a deal of immunity for his crimes, but he refuses. Verna regrets having to kill the innocent Lenore and reveals that her mother will recover and form a beneficent foundation in her name before granting Lenore a peaceful death.
