Ranking Every Episode Of The Haunting Of Hill House

The shortest episode of the bunch, Witness Marks takes a moment to pause the action and allow some of the inter-character relationships to boil to the surface.

Dealing with the aftermath of Luke stealing Shirley's credit card and Theo's car, Steven and Hugh drive around all of Luke's old hot spots looking for him. In the process, they have a very tense and evolving conversation about what happened to Olivia, how Steven got a vasectomy years ago and never told his wife, and Hugh warns Steven that despite his disbelief, a good portion of Steven's memories in Hill House actually do contain ghosts.

This entire scene's strength is a testament to Michiel Huisman and Timothy Hutton's wonderful performances, as they keep the audience hanging on every word they exchange.

Meanwhile, Theo and Shirley are back at Shirley's house and the series takes the moment to replicate what is arguably the original film and novel's most infamous scene, as loud knocking surrounds the house on all sides. Flanagan recreates this moment perfectly, using the ghostly encounter to accentuate the already tension-filled relationship between Theo and Shirley.

This episode also gets bonus points for having the best jump scare of the series, as Nell's ghost bursts forward from the back seat of the car as Theo and Shirley argue later on and it is incredibly unnerving. Also, the episode's final scene of Luke attempting to burn down Hill House only for the flame to immediately flicker out is one of the series' best 'holy sh*t' moments.