# The Fall of the House of Usher (miniseries)

The Fall of the House of Usher (2023) is an American streaming television miniseries airing on Netflix, loosely adapting the works of Edgar Allan Poe into a narrative about the corrupt CEO of a pharmecutical company and his family.

### A Midnight Dreary [1.01]

    Roderick Usher: Cognac?
    C. Auguste Dupin: No, thank you. Listen, I'm sorry. For your loss. Your losses, rather...
    Roderick Usher: Henry IV Dudognon, Heritage Cognac Grande Champagne. Most expensive in the world. This bottle was four million Euros at auction. Produced since 1776, aged in barrels for more than a hundred years, the bottle itself is dipped in 18-karat yellow gold, inlaid with 4,100 high-quality diamonds. A single pour probably costs twice your annual salary. Have a glass. See what a few years of your worth tastes like.
    Roderick Usher: I'll tell you how my children died.
    C. Auguste Dupin: I know how they died, Roderick. Everybody knows.
    Roderick Usher: Believe me, Mr. Dupin, when I tell you, you don't know a thing.
    Eliza Usher: Remember what Mother Teresa said, "Pain and suffering are like the kiss of Jesus." It just means you've come so close to him that he can kiss you.
    Roderick Usher: [voiceover] If pain and suffering were the kisses of Jesus, then he kissed the living fuck out of my mother in the years that followed.
    Roderick Usher: Well, we were talking about my kids, weren't we? And... And this is important to know when we talk about how they died. And why I treated them the way I did. And why they were the way they were, was because of my dad. I just promised I would never do what he did. I wouldn't close the gates. If you're my blood, you're my blood. Doesn't matter how you got here, who your mother was. I have six kids. Six kids by five mothers. But they're all mine. And I treated them so. If you're an Usher, the gates are open. Period. Matter of principle.
    [Roderick's phone vibrates. He looks at the screen, then flips it over.]
    C. Auguste Dupin: Your granddaughter again?
    Roderick Usher: Yeah.
    C. Auguste Dupin: Mmm. The gates are always open, but that doesn't mean you answer the phone.
    Roderick Usher: No, it does not.
    C. Auguste Dupin: Day will come, she'll stop texting. They all do, sooner or later.
    Camille L'Espanaye: We're gonna find out who's talking to the Feds. Then I'll freeze their fucking head and give it to my father on a platinum plate. See if Cartier will make a platinum plate.
    Madeline Usher: The company is the family, and we expect you to defend it with your life. And if anyone, anyone comes after us, we will exhaust our arsenal until the threat's neutralized.
    Frederick Usher: By neutralized, do you mean sued into oblivion, taken out of the Board, out of the will, on the streets...
    Madeline Usher: Neutralized. Like dead.
    Roderick Usher: You know my favorite holiday? New Year's Eve. You know why? Resolutions. People take that word for granted, they don't realize just how heavy a word it is. Resolution. Resolve. Means being unwavering, determined, a firm commitment to do something, or... not to do something. And most people go their whole, wasted, stupid lives without one minute of true resolution. Not me though. Not me. And not Madeline.

### The Masque of the Red Death [1.02]

    C. Auguste Dupin: Was it ever going to be enough? Over the years, I've talked to a lot of people who have taken your drugs. Soccer moms with headaches. Accountants with carpal tunnel. Kids with sports injuries. Their docs prescribe them Ligodone, pitch it like extra strength Tylenol. Fast forward a year, they're shooting up heroin behind dumpsters. Or they're dead.
    Roderick Usher: Don't be naive. I'm not responsible if people abuse Ligodone. This is an old and boring argument. Do you know how much Ligodone my wife takes every day? She's fine.
    C. Auguste Dupin: Wasn't your wife a heroin addict before you met?
    Roderick Usher: She is a success story from every angle, I agree.
    C. Auguste Dupin: You knew the extended-release formulation created abuse potential. You knew it was highly addictive. You marketed it non-addictive anyway because you wanted more than the hundreds of millions you were pulling before Ligodone hit the market. That wasn't enough for you, so that's my question. Was it ever going to be enough? How much money would make you say, "We did it"? Does that number even exist?
    Roderick Usher: That's an idiot question. Course not.
    Roderick Usher: The first thing you have to understand about my son is that he was if nothing else... crazy.
    Perry Usher: Come on, man, I don't ask for much.
    Napoleon Usher: You want a little Molly, a little coke, a little pick me up, or a check me out, I'm your guy. But I'm not a fucking cartel, I can't supply your whole rave.
    Perry Usher: You know people who move that kind of weight?
    Napoleon Usher: "Move that kind of weight"? What? Have you been watching fucking Narcos or something? You should if you haven't. It's brilliant.
    Perry Usher: What about Viagra?
    Napoleon Usher: Mmm. Yeah, I've got a stash out back.
    Perry Usher: You do?
    Napoleon Usher: No, I don't. Because I'm a stallion in my fucking prime. And why the fuck do you need Viagra? You're in your twenties.
    Lenore Usher: How did you meet my grandpa?
    Juno: Well, that... That is a funny story. Actually, I was in this awful car accident. I was shattered. Inside. More than three dozen fractures, they just whipped off the old leg and your granddad happened to be visiting the hospital on business, and I guess they wanted him to see me because I was on this dosage of Ligodone that no one had ever been on before. And I was conscious and that was... Well, that was fucking bizarre, and the doctors, they were all gossiping about it. And he came to my ICU room, and he asked me how I was enjoying the pills. And I was like, "I literally fucking love the pills." And he said he was the one that invented them! And I said that I was just so grateful I could just blow him and... [She trails off, embarrassed] Yeah.
    Perry Usher: Who are you?
    Verna: [She removes her skull mask] I thought you'd never catch up.
    Perry Usher: Well, you don't make it easy.
    Verna: Hmm. Nothing worth having is ever easy.
    Perry Usher: You didn't answer my question. Who are you? I know everybody here. I chose this guest list very carefully and I have no idea who you are.
    Verna: You can take off your mask, Prospero.
    Perry Usher: [He complies] You know my name.
    Verna: I know everyone here. It's my kind of party. It's yours too, isn't it?
    Perry Usher: You like it?
    Verna: I do. The music. The lights. The beautiful flesh. So pretty and soft. But the smells of it. All that sweat, the perfumes, the lotions, the musk. Sex, yes. But with a dash of Rome. Tell me, and don't lie. Is it everything you wanted it to be?
    Perry Usher: Not yet. Almost.
    Verna: Nearly realized is the sweetest. It's better, I promise, in the moment just before than in the moment after. That is the truth of this world. But you did it. And it's everything you imagined. And there's still time.
    Perry Usher: To what?
    Verna: To stop it. Things like this, all things, in fact, have consequences.
    Perry Usher: Not this. I mean ... That's the whole point. You didn't read the invite?
    Verna: There are always consequences. Take you, for instance. Someone, a long time ago, made a little decision, and then another, and then a big one, and then one of absolutely no importance. And then by and by, you were born. On that day, you were the consequence of a harmless choice made by someone in a moment where you didn't even exist. And that choice defined your whole life. You are consequence, Perry. And tonight, you are consequential.
    Perry Usher: [Beat. He smiles.] Oh, you are one crazy, trippy, hot bitch. Aren't you?

### Murders in the Rue Morgue [1.03]

    Roderick Usher: It was the sprinklers. You see, he tied them into the tanks on the roof. But they weren't there to hold fresh water. We repurposed them when we closed the lab, tucked some unfortunate material away to avoid the EPA fines. The idea was we'd come back for it when no one was looking and dump it. Medical byproduct. Highly acidic. From a, uh, less than legal development process. Absolutely in violation of multiple environmental regulations. But we couldn't. We had to keep it. We couldn't ship it out because it was so fucking corrosive. I mean, we shouldn't have had it at all. And the fines would have come with charges. So, it was bad. And those tanks were barely up to the task. It was already eating through the tanks and the pipes. We only had another few weeks before we had a real fucking mess on our hands. So we were going to take it out while the building was being demolished, hide the extraction behind the demolition. With all the material going in and out of the demolition site, no one would notice.
    C. Auguste Dupin: Jesus, Roderick.
    Roderick Usher: And my son would have understood this if he'd paid a minute's fucking attention to the family business. But no, he went off and hired some friend's cousin's friend's friend to hook onto the main line, and they didn't test it. A horrible accident.
    C. Auguste Dupin: Except for one thing. There's one thing in there that doesn't jibe with the "horrible tragic accident" story.
    Roderick Usher: So you caught that, did you?
    Camille L'Espanaye: Perry's dead, the family's fucked, you're the frontline of my PR campaign, and you just took an edible?
    Leo Usher: You want some?
    Camille L'Espanaye: I mean, yeah, I want some.
    Roderick Usher: When life hands you lemons...
    C. Auguste Dupin: Make lemonade?
    Roderick Usher: No. First, you roll out a multi-media campaign to convince people lemons are incredibly scarce, which only works if you stockpile lemons, control the supply. Then, a media blitz. Lemon is the only way to say "I love you," the must-have accessory for engagements or anniversaries. Roses are out, lemons are in. Billboards that say she won't have sex with you unless you got lemons. You cut De Beers in on it. Limited edition lemon bracelets, yellow diamonds called lemon drops. You get Apple to call their new operating system OS Lemón, a little accent over the "o." You charge 40% more for organic lemons, 50% more for conflict-free lemons. You pack the Capitol with lemon lobbyists. You get a Kardashian to suck a lemon wedge in a leaked sex tape. Timothée Chalamet wears lemon shoes at Cannes. Get a hashtag campaign. Something that isn't "cool" or "tight" or "awesome," no, it's "lemon." "Did you see that movie?" "Did you go to that concert? It was effing lemon." Billie Eilish, "OMG, hashtag lemon." You get Dr. Oz to recommend four lemons a day and a lemon suppository supplement to get rid of toxins 'cause there's nothing scarier than toxins. Then you patent the seeds. You write a line of genetic code that makes lemons look a little more just like tits. And you get a gene patent for the tit-lemon DNA sequence, you cross-pollinate. You get those seeds circulating in the wild, and then you sue the farmers for copyright infringement when that genetic code shows up on their land. Sit back, rake in the millions, and then, when you're done, and you've sold your lem-pire for a few billion dollars, then, and only then, you make some fucking lemonade.
    Leo Usher: I'm not part of the whole Usher pharma-bollocks. I make video games. You know?
    Camille L'Espanaye: You don't make video games. You give money to people who make video games. You don't make shit. It's like how "Froderick" is this Roderick Usher cover band, and he's playing the hits, but it's sort of off-key. And Tammy is just Goop with a big golden bug sticker on it. And it's not even her face on the product. It's "BILLT," the fucking fitness clown. And Vic's heart mesh isn't even her heart mesh. It's the surgeon's. That's why she's fucking the surgeon. And you're, like, this amazing, I don't know, like Xbox Gatsby. And I just spin. Dad decided that I belong in a room of smoke and mirrors. And I'm like a ceiling fan. And I spin, and I spin, and I spin, and I don't go anywhere. Ushers don't make stuff. None of us do.
    Rufus Griswold: An idea is nothing. An idea is a fart that your brain makes. But if you patent an idea, well, then it's an asset.
    Camille L'Espanaye: I have specific needs. I have specific requirements for a very specific and unique fucking lifestyle. I think it's really convenient that you two were excited when you signed your NDAs and consent forms and that you two fell in love, Tina, one month after I finish paying off your student debt, Tina?
    Beth: My name isn't Tina, it's Beth.
    Camille L'Espanaye: I don't give a shit, Beth! Damn it, Toby and fucking Tina makes me laugh, so at work you're fucking Tina! Why is that so... [she pinches the bridge of her nose] Ow. I have a fucking migraine. Fine, okay, oh, okay, you're in love. You're in love. Adorable little morons. You would think that spending this much time around Fortunato Industries would teach the two of you a little bit about brain chemistry, you dopamine-riddled little fuck puppets. I'm just gonna Venmo you your severance.
    Toby: We're not quitting. We just needed you to know.
    Camille L'Espanaye: No, you're not quitting. You're fired because you're all but useless to me now, if you can't perform your designated tasks and I will not be able to fuck either of you from here on out without laughing so, boom, we're done. [groans] When the norepinephrine wears off and you are lying in bed next to each other and one of you lets out a long fart in your sleep, you're gonna look back at this moment and realize what a stupid, fucking decision you both just made.
    Verna: It could have happened quiet. Peaceful. In bed. But I get it's got to happen like this. I'm sorry. It's not personal. It wasn't with your brother either. It's just, well... Here we are.
    Camille L'Espanaye: [beat as Camille steels herself] Fuck it. I got mine. [She takes a photo of Vera, who is revealed to be a chimpanzee. The chimp lunges at Camille as the flash goes off]

### The Black Cat [1.04]

    Napoleon Usher: "On behalf of myself and the Usher family, I'm saddened to announce the loss of our beloved Camille L'Espanaye, aged 35." What the fuck is this?
    Tamerlane Usher: Yeah, that really is awful. Are we going with 35?
    Napoleon Usher: A fucking robo-chimp rips off my sister's face and I'm "saddened"!
    Roderick Usher: Enough! Enough. Put it in your own words, then plagiarize "Candle in the Wind" for all I care, but everyone toes the line. This is not about sticking together, it's about forming a fucking wall. And in case you haven't noticed, Morella's in the hospital, Prospero is dead, and Camille is dead. So save the static until I figure out what the fuck is going on! And until then, I don't care if Madeline tells you to fart into a microphone on national television, you fucking do it. We're at battle stations, I'm the commanding officer, I don't wanna hear anything but "Sir, yes, sir." You get me?
    Frederick Usher: [meekly] Sir, yes, sir?
    Napoleon Usher: I can hear Camille's voice in my head right now. "Satin is silk for poor people. No one should wear it to a funeral, unless they died in it."
    Roderick Usher: Displacement. The other go-to coping mechanism in my family. It's when you direct your more intense reactions towards something or someone that doesn't feel threatening. So you get to react and be angry, be abusive, be violent, even, but you don't risk significant consequences.
    C. Auguste Dupin: I'm familiar.
    Roderick Usher: I bet you are. How many nights did poor Ernie bear the brunt meant for me?
    C. Auguste Dupin: Like I said, I'm familiar.
    Roderick Usher: Napoleon was most like me in this way. Of all of them. Denial, displacement, projection. But see, I wanted something better. Something better for him. For all of them.
    Frederick Usher: Hey, I was hoping for some drugs. Sorry to be blunt about it, but that's it. I... I want some drugs. I'm going through a rough time, and Morrie, you know, well... Morrie, she's melted, you know. It turns out she has this burner phone, and I can't help but wonder why she was even at this...
    Napoleon Usher: Perry's orgy?
    Frederick Usher: Please, don't fucking say that word.
    Napoleon Usher: Sorry, Perry's cuddle puddle. That can't be much better.
    Verna: Cats are actually apex predators, you know? It's all about hunting. They can lengthen their spines for short bursts of speed. Thirty miles an hour. They can narrow their shoulders and chests to squeeze into tiny spaces. Jump nine times their height from a standing position... and land on their feet almost every time they fall. They eat their prey to get taurine. An essential amino acid. Cats don't make enough of it, so they have to eat it. They're predators because they're deficient. A lot like your father. Aren't they, Leo?

### The Tell-Tale Heart [1.05]

    Victorine LaFourcade: You remember when they showed up? The Littles, I mean.
    Tamerlane Usher: I remember when you showed up.
    Victorine LaFourcade: God, how annoyed we were. And watching them trying to fill that hole. The drugs, the fame, the spending. All of it, just fucking sad, man.
    Tamerlane Usher: You have the same hole, Vic. I don't know if you see it, but you have it too. Camille tried to fill hers with information, Perry tried to fill it with... anything really, and Leo tried to fill his Dad hole with the love of his fans.
    C. Auguste Dupin: You know, I think I see where they get it. The Pym Reaper. If only we had a chessboard and a beach.
    Arthur Pym: Hmm. Love Bergman.
    C. Auguste Dupin: Can I ask you something man to man, Arthur?
    Arthur Pym: Yes, Auguste.
    C. Auguste Dupin: You're a smart man. You could be anywhere, doing anything. You know what they are, why do you do this?
    Arthur Pym: I wouldn't be where I am today without Roderick Usher. Neither would you, by the way.
    Roderick Usher: Who was it, by the way? I mean, things all got so ... well, you know how they got, I guess it got lost in the shuffle. But it doesn’t possibly matter now, Auggie. Just out of curiosity, who was it? Who was your informant? Come on. I get why you didn't answer that day. But now, Auggie, it’s done. It's all over.
    C. Auguste Dupin: There never was an informant.
    Roderick Usher: Oh, I'm impressed, Auggie. I didn't think that you had it in you.
    C. Auguste Dupin: Come on. There's no ethics whatsoever to your defense, and I'm supposed to run my case by the book. There's even more scrutiny on me because you're so damn unscrupulous. So, yeah, one time, one time I play your way!
    Roderick Usher: Relax, Auggie. I mean it. It was good. This would've been a fun one. I'm just as sorry as you we couldn't play it through. Watching you shit on your own principles would have been worth every fucking penny.
    C. Auguste Dupin: Oh, fuck you.
    Roderick Usher: Drag me, you fucking honey badger! We finally got you off your white horse and down here in the mud!
    C. Auguste Dupin: I shouldn't have pointed at the kids. But, Roderick, if I’d thought for a moment they'd start dying...
    Roderick Usher: Easy there.
    C. Auguste Dupin: No. Let's play in the mud. You're right. I pointed at the kids. Figured it would stir you all up. Pressure the fault lines. Maybe even pitch you against each other. Hell, you might eat each other alive but, hey, it could finally crack the fortress. Let you all knock it down from inside. But, Roderick, I didn't imagine for a moment the kids would start dying. Figured you might torture them a bit. But I never imagined in a million years any of them would end up dead.
    Roderick Usher: You really stepped it this time. Why, if it weren't for you, they would all still be alive today. [He trails off. Auguste's chest has begun to beat visibly, as if his heart is pounding against his ribcage. A spot of blood appears on his shirt. Suddenly a dead Victorine is sitting across from Roderick. She lets out a wail. Roderick starts back, horrified. A beat as Auguste looks at him concerned.] Auggie, let me relieve you of that burden. No one died for your lie. So don't carry that. You see, one had nothing to do with the other, so just ... You can let that go. The mind of guilt is full of scorpions, and I wouldn't wish their sting on anyone. Never waste your time on guilt or shame. Their alchemy is a savage cross to bear.
    Verna: Do you know the term "operant conditioning"? It's what a horse has that lets them know a rider might be nervous or hesitant. They read erratic behavior. Not fear, not exactly. But animals learn real quick to avoid that person. That's you. In a nutshell. You're so out of touch with your human side... you can't even listen to anything outside your own head.
    Tamerlane Usher: Did you just say do it for you? For you? [chuckles] I'm sorry, Bill, just who do you think you are in this? You have one job, you smile, you jazz-ercise, and you bring that army of fitness fuckers with you. You are a face, you're not a mouthpiece, so just smile and shut the fuck up.
    Bill Wilson: Okay, then. From a strictly business perspective, you can't sell health unless you look healthy.
    Tamerlane Usher: If you try to tell me what to do with my business one more time...
    Bill Wilson: Our business. Ours.
    Tamerlane Usher: That's cute. I have hand selected every single aspect of this company. Every single aspect, including you. BILLT.
    Bill Wilson: Hey now.
    Tamerlane Usher: Let's just finally say it. You were selected. You were chosen. You headhunted. Baby, we met at VidCon. Did you think that was an accident. I had a list. I think I still have the grid I made. It was between you and Yogi Yohann.
    Bill Wilson: You are just trying to hurt me.
    Tamerlane Usher: No, honey, it's true. You fit the brand better than Yogi. And you were so eager. And it worked out pretty well before the head got boring, but never forget, I can easily replace you. I'll just find another fitness guru with a hot ass and a snappy slogan.
    Roderick Usher: [[to Victorine] Look, I'm shit at preambles. I made a life by getting to the point, so I'll get to the point. I'm sorry. You and your brothers and your sisters, I always thought of you as a pride of lions. And a young lioness has to grapple with her... She has to grapple with her siblings before she goes off to hunt, right? Just learn how to use her claws and... and her teeth and her strength, before she can go off and slaughter the water buffalo. I... I want to apologize. For turning you kids against one another. I... I wanted to make you stronger. And I was... I was wrong. And your work... Well, I may need your work more than you know. I am not strong. I am... I am not brave. And your work... Well, it can make a big difference for me, so I am here to support you with everything... everything I've got.

### Goldbug [1.06]

    Roderick Usher: Oh, isn't it beautiful? It's fit for a queen. Queen Twosret, actually. Pharaoh of Egypt, 19th Dynasty. Two giant sapphires were placed in Twosret's head when she was mummified, in place of her eyes, to give her power and sight in the afterlife. Now that's how you send off a goddess. Priceless, they said. But you have to ask the right questions. Not, "What do the sapphires cost?" But, "What does the Supreme Council of Antiquities cost? What does the Coalition to Protect Egyptian Antiquities cost? What does the Minister of Antiquities cost? What does the Secretary General cost? What do the Egyptian National Police cost?" Answer those questions, one at a time. And in just a few years, those "priceless" sapphires are a birthday gift for my sister. I reached through time, and ripped the eyes out of a Goddess with my pocketbook and some patience. Does that make me a God?
    Madeline Usher: [sees the bloody heart mesh on Roderick's desk] That's not what I think it is.
    Roderick Usher: It's Fortunato property, it's not for the police.
    Madeline Usher: Did you remove it yourself?
    Roderick Usher: I was going to have an intern do it, but this was faster.
    Madeline Usher: I can't believe it. I can't believe she got to them. I'm going to annihilate that security company. The guard was feet away.
    Roderick Usher: There was no one in there. I saw it with my own eyes. She did it herself. I saw Victorine push the knife into her own heart. And no ... No one helped her with her girlfriend. That much was clear.
    Madeline Usher: Four deaths in a row is not a coincidence. We don't need to know how it's happening to know it's happening. We are under attack and if that doesn't snap you out of this, remember, Vic had a board seat. [Roderick looks up] Now you're listening. Yes, brother dear, has it not occurred to you that if these coincidences keep happening, that family firewall you've always talked about is being dismantled one brick at a time? We could lose control of the board. That woman from the bar, if we don't find her, if we don't stop her right fսcking now, you won't have a family left.
    Bill Wilson: Tammy, this isn't the time. Let's set our shit aside and take stock of what just happened. You are not okay. I know that you think you're tougher than this, but you're not. And you have not been okay for a while now. But you're not alone in this. I am here with you, and I love you.
    Tamerlane Usher: I don't. So can we put this out of its misery, please?
    Bill Wilson: What did I ever do that was so egregious? Can you even tell me that? Because I feel like all I've ever done is try to work on our marriage. And all you've ever cared about is our brand.
    Tamerlane Usher: "Our" brand? Read your prenup, Bill. You leave with the clothes on your back. If that. [starts to cry] I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just having a really hard time here. And this thing, this Goldbug...it's different than anything else my family has ever done. And it is more important now than ever that the world sees that we...that we're more than just Fortunato. We're not just pill-pushers. We can be about health and about beauty and the Usher name is more than just Roderick and Madeline. And I'm scared, Bill...
    [she looks up and Bill is gone]
    Lenore Usher: Why is this happening?
    Roderick Usher: [shrugs] Life is insane. It is madness. And the sooner you understand that, the better off you'll be.
    Lenore Usher: I'm worried, Grandpa.
    Roderick Usher: The world might not be safe, but listen to me, and listen carefully. I won't let anything happen to you.
    Lenore Usher: I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about my Dad. Something's...off with him.
    Roderick Usher: Well, sometimes things are just "off." Reality's not what it used to be. "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream." For example, do you see them too? [indicates the vision of his dead children behind Lenore] Daydreams. Because I'm not sleeping at night. But that's...that's an edge. "As those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."
    Lenore Usher: Grandpa...are you okay?
    Roderick Usher: I am. I'm fine. I'm just...it's been quite a week.
    Juno: You ever been alone in this house? It's fucking huge. A lot of stairs. Quite cold. Makes me feel small, I guess. No one ever sees me here. No one is here in general. I'm rambling. I'm sorry. I'm sorry is what I meant to say. I'm sorry about Victorine. And Camille. And Leo. And Perry. All of it. All this madness. It's just weird to me. I guess all these terrible things and... I thought, that's when people come together. But we've never been further apart.
    Tamerlane Usher: I'm sorry... that he doesn't answer his phone. It's not you. It's all of us. It always has been.
    Juno: I know. I've never had much in the way of family. I thought when we... got together, "Well, his family's fucking huge, isn't it?" Just to... be part of a group. Be really part of something, you know? [clears throat] Silly, aren't I? [chuckles softly]
    Roderick Usher: How much do you know about Arthur Pym?
    C. Auguste Dupin: I expect he's the kind of man you call if you, I don't know, accidentally kill a prostitute and need to dismember the corpse?
    Roderick Usher: No, he's not nearly that boring. Do you remember the Transglobe Expedition? '79 to '82? Circumnavigated the globe? UK to the South Pole, to the North Pole, and home again. Around the world.
    C. Auguste Dupin: I remember. One hundred thousand miles. Across the Sahara, swamps and jungles of Mali and the Ivory Coast. Unexplored crevasse fields in Antarctica. The Northwest Passage, graveyard of so many famous adventurers. And then, into the hazards of the Artic Ocean. I remember it, Roderick.
    Roderick Usher: Arthur was there. He was barely 25. He put law school on hold to elbow his way onto the expedition, and he saw the fucking world. While you and I were dicking around with our petty little dramas, digging in the basement at Fortunato, Arthur Gordon Pym was bending the planet over and taking his piece. The things he saw. And he'll talk about them too. To a point. He always stops telling it as he gets to the North Pole. It used to be a fun game when the kids were growing up, trying to finish Arthur's story. I like to think he killed someone. I like to think he's eaten human flesh. I like to think he took a piss on the tip-top of the world.
    C. Auguste Dupin: A guy can dream...
    Roderick Usher: He told my kids that the Earth was hollow. And I don't even know if he was lying.
    C. Auguste Dupin: He was lying.
    Roderick Usher: He told Tammy the Earth was hollow. And that he found an island at the top of the world, that he called "Ultima Thule." And that it was the realm of beings who lived beneath us. Out of time. And out of space.
    C. Auguste Dupin: Cute.
    Roderick Usher: We didn't send a private investigator to find that woman. We didn't send the police, we didn't send a hitman, we didn't send a mercenary. We sent Arthur Gordon Pym. Of course he found her.
    Madeline Usher: Don't be such a fucking child. This is the same woman, Roderick. Remember what happened that night Remember what she said.
    Roderick Usher: You're the COO of a Fortune corporation and you're talking like a crazy person.
    Madeline Usher: You remember that conversation, I know you do.
    Roderick Usher: We were out of our minds, Madeline.
    Madeline Usher: Maybe. "Men have called me mad but the question is not yet settled as to whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence"
    Verna: No one can take being shot down, scorned, and attacked 24/7 like you do to yourself. And if you could hear that, you'd know. It's your last chance to be perfectly still. And breathe before the inevitable. Sweetie, you might not believe me, but this part has nothing to do with you.
    Tamerlane Usher: I fucked it all up. I've ... I fucked it all up. I fucked it all up. I fucked it all up. I just, I just want...
    Verna: Some sleep?
    [Tamerlane looks up and sees Verna in the mirror above her. She jumps up and swings the firepoker in the mirror. It shatters and as she falls back onto the bed, Tamerlane sees a giant shard falling towards. Her eyes widen in horror as she lands on the bed covered in glass. The shard impales her in the throat.]

### The Pit and the Pendulum [1.07]

    Frederick Usher: I heard Tamerlane killed herself with a fireplace poker and, I swear to God, I can't ... I can't figure out what that means. I mean, how do you ... How do you even do that? [sighs] I knew I wanted to marry you the first time we met. Do you remember? At the photoshoot? You came up to me, and I'd been approached and chatted up by grifters and groupies before, but you smiled and it was so real. And I asked you why you did it, and you said that you saw me standing there alone and you thought, "That looks like a guy who could use a friend." [chuckles] And you were right. That smile. The smile stole my heart. Do you know what the headline was that morning? When I took my board seat from my predecessor? Business section of The Times. "From ruthless to toothless." Is that how you see me? Toothless?
    C. Auguste Dupin: Annabel Lee. You know, I've thought about it over the years, because I've got a good sense for people. I ask myself what went wrong. What malfunctioned with me back then to make me trust you? And I figured it out. It was her. I trusted her. So I trusted you. I mean, if that woman loved you, if she trusted you? Fucking fool to lose her the way you did. As much as I lost after what you did (and I lost a lot, damn near everything) it sustained me a bit knowing you lost her.
    Frederick Usher: You know one thing Dad was really big about? It was a lesson he taught us all, one of the first things he taught us. If you want to test a bond, you don't really need to break it. You just...crack it a little. He put me one rung higher on the ladder than Tammy, then he sat back and watched. Cracked, but it didn't break. It did make it stronger. The second lesson Dad was big on was getting your house in order. You don't have to be a tyrant. But if you don't want to be consistently cruel, then you have to be sufficiently brutal at least once, to establish authority. [He holds up a pair of pliers.]] Your fucking smile. I don't want to be consistently cruel. That's not me. I won't break our bond. You already cracked it. So I've just got to put our house back in order. [[Morella's eyes widen] I'll strike one solid blow, sufficiently brutal. So...let's do this once, let's do it fast, and let's do it quiet. Then we can start to heal.
    [Some time later. Frederick closes a small box. The bandages around Morella's mouth are bloody.]
    Frederick Usher: I've got another house to put into order. While I'm there, I'll look for your ring. Maybe it's still there. If not, I'll get you a new one. But if I do find it, I'll bring it home. And if you ever take it off again... I'll weld it to your fucking finger.
    C. Auguste Dupin: I don't know what you're playing at with me tonight, but I've just about had enough.
    Roderick Usher: We're almost there, Auggie.
    C. Auguste Dupin: You know what? No. [turns off the recorder]
    Roderick Usher: Please sit down.
    C. Auguste Dupin: I'm wondering why you're dragging this out, why the cat-and-mouse, and I know the answer. Because you're getting something out of it.
    Roderick Usher: It's not like that...
    C. Auguste Dupin: And if you're getting something out of it, whatever it is, I don't have to give it to you.
    Roderick Usher: Please...
    C. Auguste Dupin: Goodnight Roderick. Good luck with the dementia. [makes to leave]
    Roderick Usher: You'll have me on murder. That's where we're going. You'll have me dead to rights on murder. More than one, actually.
    C. Auguste Dupin: And here's where I stop in my tracks, slowly return to the chair, sit down, and start the recorder again? That's what I do now, right Roderick? In your little script?
    Roderick Usher: I mean...it'd be nice.
    Madeline Usher: Jesus. I thought it was an act. I figured you just played the housewife so you could keep a roof over your head. Spread your legs or suck his dick twice a week and you're set. You never have to work a day in your life. And I thought, "Good for her, she found her angle," but... [sighs]...this is really you. Isn't it? I thought you only existed in the movies.
    Annabel Lee: You are so...small, Madeline.
    Madeline Usher: It really is you. It's amazing how much I've denied. But it is you. And somehow I knew you'd be here.
    Verna: Well, I left you the address. Don't pat yourself too hard on the back. Go ahead, say your piece.
    Madeline Usher: I want to ask you to stop.
    Verna: Come on, "ask" me? That isn't you. And frankly, I think you've forgotten what I am.
    Madeline Usher: Fine, then. I want to renegotiate.
    Verna: You can't.
    Madeline Usher: Why not?
    Verna: The ink is dry.
    Madeline Usher: For him or for me?
    Verna: Oh, Madeline...
    Madeline Usher: Words got us into this, words can get us out.
    Verna: Are you blaming Roderick, or rhetoric?
    Madeline Usher: I want new terms, and I shall have new terms. Or have you forgotten what I am?
    Juno : You're a monster, you know that? I married a monster.
    Roderick Usher: No, my dear. I'm Victor Frankenstein. You're the monster. You are my perfect creation. What was left of you after that accident was a corpse on a slab. And Ligodone was the lightning. I threw the switch and you sat up, and look! It's alive!
    Juno : I thought that you loved me.
    Roderick Usher: You are a miracle. Your body just soaks it up. Like nothing I've ever seen. Like my drug is water and you're a flower. You are the most perfect and beautiful thing I've ever seen. You know, a huge part of you is Ligodone. How could I not marry you?
    Juno : Three years? Okay. I can do three years. 'Cause yeah, I've had a hard life at times. And I've made mistakes, but that's what I thought you saw in me. Because that shit made me fucking strong. So, I will take three years of hell over a lifetime with you.
    Verna: You, your brother and I, we share something. I recognized it the moment I laid eyes on you. Pain. You might accuse me of being the broker of suffering. I could say the same of you. But I consider myself more its witness. You're in pain. You're exhausted. Uncertain. Frightened. For the first time in years. I can't take that pain from you. But I can give you something for it. And it's not a drug. Years ago, I offered you certainty. Tonight, clarity. No strings [...] Do you know what your brother would have been? A poet. That's where his talent was. A broke poet, sure, but frankly, is there another kind? He and I share that as well. We both understand that language, in its highest expression, is musical. So, some clarity for you. What's a poem, after all, if not a safe space for a difficult truth?
    Verna: You know, I could have done this just about any way I wanted to. Could have had a heart attack in your car. Coke would have teed that up nicely. Could have been hit by a bus. But then you had to bring her home. And you had to grab the pliers. I'm gonna head out. I've got an appointment with your dad. He did you wrong, Freddie. You only ever wanted to be loved by him. You only ever wanted his approval. [She stands up.] And it's still no fucking excuse. [Verna disappears. Frederick lays there as the swinging fixture gets closer and closer to his stomach...]

### The Raven [1.08]

    Roderick Usher: It's really you.
    Verna: I'm sorry I couldn't accept your resignation. I tried to explain that to your sister. That she wasn't going to change the math. She had it in her head that...
    Roderick Usher: That if I die, this stops?
    Verna: Which is bad faith, isn't it? She tried to "loophole" me.
    Roderick Usher: Name your price.
    Verna: Oh, sweetie, you are funny. The numbers are already locked in. There are only a few more transactions left. And listen. There's the opening bell. Rung today by a representative of Fortunato Incorporated.
    Lenore Usher: I don't care what's good for the company or the family. This is about my mom. And if you think you're coming near her with another pair of pliers, over my dead body, you fucking ghoul.
    C. Auguste Dupin: Your own sister cut off your head. That's what did it in, you know. My boss said we'd already won once you were on the plate. No point in pushing the case. The dragon was slain. I told him he was wrong. He says, "Roderick Usher lost his children, and his company too. What else do you want?"
    Roderick Usher: What else did you want?
    C. Auguste Dupin: Justice.
    Roderick Usher: And what does that look like?
    C. Auguste Dupin: For what you've done? I don't know. I suppose I'll know it when I see it.
    Roderick Usher: I hope you do. See it. I'm pretty sure you will.
    Annabel Lee: "He's rich." When people asked how you took them, how you convinced them away from me. "He's rich," I'd say. "He's rich." And you don't understand what that word means. They were young. They only knew appetite, and "Here," you said, "come with me. Gorge yourselves." How could I compete with that? You didn't feed them, though, did you? You starved them. Less and less of them came back each time until one day, they were empty. They were siphoned. You started filling them up with ... What did you fill them up with, Roderick? What did you have to fill them with? Because you weren't rich, were you? I thought you were a rich man all this time, but I ... I see you now. I look at you, and I see you. The poverty of you.
    Roderick Usher: Annabel...
    Annabel Lee: Maybe this is a kindness in disguise. Maybe they died in their childhoods.
    [Rufus Griswold suddenly wakes up, chained to the wall. In front of him are Madeline and Roderick, laying down bricks. The new brick wall is up to his waist.]
    Rufus Griswold: What is this?
    Madeline Usher: Look Roddy, he's awake.
    Rufus Griswold: Did you drug me?
    Madeline Usher: I like how you pretended to be impressed with the bottle. Like you can tell the difference between sherry and amontillado.
    Rufus Griswold: What...what the fuck is this?
    Madeline Usher: It's a hostile takeover.
    Rufus Griswold: [nervous laughter] Seriously, what is this?
    Madeline Usher: I thought we were going to see all the stages, but at this rate we may never get out of Denial. We're gonna be finishing this wall and still be hearing, "Seriously, what is this?"
    Rufus Griswold: [lunging] HEY! HEY! HEY!
    Madeline Usher: There we go.
    Rufus Griswold: You let me out of here right fucking now! I will fucking kill you!
    Madeline Usher: Definitely not, then. And actually, I think that makes this self-defense now. So thanks for that.
    Rufus Griswold: You...fucking...fucks! I will dismember you and fuck each piece! You hear me?
    Madeline Usher: Anger is going great.
    Madeline Usher: Here's the thing, Rufus. Roderick threw himself in front of the Feds, took the bullet, got everyone clear. But that doesn't mean the Feds weren't right. Falsifying data, forging signatures, fraudulent studies, and, well, grave robbing?
    Roderick Usher: Corpses disappearing after participating in Fortunato trials? I imagine because the chemicals in their bodies would be incriminating.
    Rufus Griswold: But you stopped all that! You fixed that!
    Madeline Usher: Yeah, but only so far. We go to the Board and say we dodged a bullet. But the cancer runs deep. And the man behind it all, the man responsible...well, he's got to go, doesn't he? For the good of the Company.
    Rufus Griswold: So you want me to, what? Resign? Confess? What do you want me to do?
    Madeline Usher: Nothing.
    Rufus Griswold: [starting to panic] All right, listen to me, okay? I get it. I never should have made Roderick take the fall for this. Right? That's what this is, isn't it? And you're right, that was fucked. But I didn't know, did I? I didn't know who I was dealing with. I picked the wrong patsy, okay? But that's over now. That's behind us. And now I know, okay? I misjudged you. Listen to me! I can get you whatever you want! Stock options, promotion...Madeline, you should come work for us! How does VP sound?
    Madeline Usher: I was thinking COO.
    Rufus Griswold: Yeah! Fuck...I mean, yeah, okay, why not? I mean, that'll, you know, take a minute, but that's a great goal...long term. Stop. Stop. Stop! Stop-stop-stop! Okay, three million dollars. Fucking each! To start!
    Madeline Usher: The Board will be disturbed when they learn what you've done. And that you disappeared. Ran off to a beach somewhere without extradition. Company's in a tailspin. Can't promote the existing brass, they're all tainted goods.
    Roderick Usher: All named in the file too.
    Madeline Usher: Plus, no one wants to put their head in that noose. Not if the Feds decide to tighten it again. Unless...what if there was a candidate who already escaped the hangman once?
    Roderick Usher: Maybe someone the Board's already heard a lot about?
    Madeline Usher: Someone even Rufus Griswold admitted was a cut above? Bulletproof. Trustworthy beyond a fault.
    Roderick Usher: And given my celebrity status right now, I'll be on the fast track.
    Madeline Usher: Especially after you talked him up so damn much. And now, like you said, you can make all the noise you want. No one's due back at work for a week. So... Happy New Year. Wait
    [Rufus visibly deflats, the reality of situation has finally sunken in. Madeline places his jester mask back onto his face.]
    Madeline Usher: That candle will last you about an hour. After that, I'm afraid you're in the dark.
    [She turns back to the bricks but as she picks up the trowel, she gets an idea. She begins carving something into one side. Once finished, she lays the brick right in front of Rufus's face. It reads "YOU ARE SO SMALL".]
    Roderick Usher: It faded like a dream. And by the time we got home, it didn't feel real at all. And a day or two later, we were so worried about someone finding Gris, we both kind of blew it off. We were drunk, maybe we were stoned, we remembered it differently. It was a folie a deux, a delusion shared by two, and then we never talked about it again. They never found Gris, the cops never came, and the Board voted me in. And the work began. Ligodone began. And over the years it was just...a weird dream. Nothing more.
    Verna: There's a file. Camille L'Espanaye was very good at what she did. She had a file on everyone. Even you. It barely scratches the surface, but the surface alone will get you twenty to life. It gets found, or it doesn't. So, you can either ride the phoenix out of Fortunato's ashes, or you can watch it fly away from a federal prison cell. This I can do.
    Arthur Gordon Pym: What are you asking in return?
    Verna: What do you have, Arthur, in this life you've built for yourself? What assets have you acquired? I'm not interested in money, property, or stock options. True assets. What have you got? No spouse, no children, no familial connections, at least none that you care about. But everyone loves something. And in that love, there's collateral.
    Arthur Gordon Pym: No. I have no collateral. Collateral is leverage, and I won't be leveraged. No man or woman has ever leveraged me in seventy years of life. And I'm not going to cede that ground. Not this close to the end. So thank you for your consideration and for your generous offer. But I think I'll play out my hand if it's all the same to you.
    Verna: Fair enough [She gently touches Pym's cheek] This has been a pleasure.
    Lenore Usher: Grandpa, I say this with love. Let it go. Let it all go. You've got more money than you'll ever be able to spend. Than I'll ever be able to spend. Let's put it to work. Try to fix things. Let go of Fortunato, and Ligodone, and all the bad stuff. We did bad stuff, Grandpa. Our family did bad stuff. It's not too late to fix it.
    Verna: [to Lenore] There is a lot about my job I love. But there are moments like these that bring me no joy. I hope you know that. Let me tell you a story about your mother. See, she recovers very well now that she's in the clinic. Takes three years, more than 100 skin grafts, physical therapy, reconstructive surgery. But she endures it. She's strong. Her battle scars become armor. She inherits a sizeable fortune when Fortunato collapses. She puts it to work immediately. She gives most of it away, domestic violence and abuse charities, but keeps enough to start a non-profit. She sets up chapters all over the world. She calls it the Lenore Foundation. After her daughter. And she saves a lot of lives. Would you like to know how many? Dozens in the first year. Then hundreds. Thousands soon after. And then a major burst of growth. 600,000 five years in. And in a decade, it's millions. More than 3,000,000, in fact. Then, it gets hard to count. Because the people she helps help others who help others and others. And so on and ... This is the part I really want you to hear. You did that. When you got her out of the house, when you defied your father, you did that. You saved those people. That choice you made echoes through millions of lives. I thought you should know that.
    [Lenore smiles, unsure. Verna reaches out and touches Lenore's forehead. She falls back onto the bed, dead.]
    Roderick Usher: I guess we've finally come it, haven't we? A world without pain! That was the whole point! Nobody can stomach a little discomfort. It hurts. It hurts, and they cry and cry, and I took it away! I reached in and snuffed out those flames in their backs, in their joints, in their heads and their hands. I waved my wand, and it wasn't enough! It was never enough! They just kept wanting more! More and more...
    Verna: Oh honey, don't kid a kidder. Did you drive here like that? When was the last time you drove your own car? And tonight, you do it barefoot? Good for you. You know, I've worked with a lot of truly influential people over the years. But when it comes to sheer body count, you're in my top five. Take a look. [Roderick looks out at the city landscape. Dead bodies begin to fall from the sky.] Those are your bodies. They'd each be alive today if it weren't for you. A new one every five minutes just in the States, but open it up to the world? Why did you come here tonight on your way home? Your real home. Was it to say goodbye? One last look at your great tower? Your pyramid? That's your true monument, Roderick. Out there. It's a wonder of the world. And it's eternal. That's your legacy.
    Madeline Usher: The fucking people. The fucking people out there, Roderick. You don't want Ligodone, don't buy it. You don't want to get addicted, don't abuse it. They're mad because we made it available and desirable. Hey, newsflash: it's our only fucking job. These people, they want an entire meal for five dollars in five minutes, then they complain when it's made of shit and plastic. McDonald's would serve nothing but kale salad all day and all night long if that's what people fucking ate. It's available. No one buys it. Sure, we'll get around to funding AIDS research, and diabetes, and heart disease, just as soon as we figure out how to keep our geriatric dicks harder for a few minutes. What's the market share on wimpy dicks, Roderick? 60, 70 percent of the healthcare industry? Pentagon spent $83 million on Viagra last year. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, the fucking Supreme Court does its part. Tears the autonomy, rips the liberty away from women, shreds not just their choice, but their future, their potential. We turn men into cum-fountains and women into factories, cranking out, what? An impoverished workforce, there for the labor and to spend what little they make consuming. And what do we teach them to want? Houses they can't afford. Cars that poison the air. Single-serve plastics. Clothes made by starving children in third-world countries. And they want it so bad that they're begging for it. They're screaming for it. They're insisting upon it. And we're the problem? These fucking monsters. These fucking consumers. These fucking mouths. They point at you and me like we're the problem. They fucking invented us! They begged for us! They're begging for us still. So I say, we stand tall and proud, brother! The bill's come due. Let's not hide here in the basement like we've got something to be ashamed of. No, not us. You and me, against the world. I don't care if it's Death herself. If she wants Madeline fucking Usher, she's going to have to look me straight in the eyes.
    Roderick Usher: I promised my confession. Here it is. I knew. Deep down, in the Witching Hour, I knew. I knew I would climb to the top of the tower on a pile of corpses. We told them it was about soothing the world's pain. That's the biggest lie we told. You can't eliminate pain. There's no such thing as a painkiller. Imagine if we put that on the bottle. I bet I still could've sold it.
    C. Auguste Dupin: The regulators are working. Trying to stop the bleeding. Opioid epidemic's with us now. You tattooed it on the world, but they're trying to take it down. Take it apart. Heal it. Didn't know what to do with this. [He places his recorder on Roderick's grave.] Because it don't matter in the end why you did any of it. I don't fucking care why you did it. We don't want your confession, or your rationale, or your explanation. So take all that with you, why don't you? Goodbye, Roderick. I'm going home. To my husband, my kids, their kids. I'm the richest man in the world, you know that?

## External links

* The Fall of the House of Usher quotes at the Internet Movie Database