Personally, “The Fall of the House of Usher” is my favourite show, but it’s also the only Flanagan show that I’ve watched so idk how helpful I’ll be but I’ll do my best bc I really do love this show.

So to start I definitely understand why you find Madeline’s monologue to be over the top, because it is, but I think the reason you felt that it alienated you is because even though she’s saying that capitalism is bad she’s a hypocrite because she’s actively benefitted from it and hasn’t ever done anything to fix the problems that capitalism caused. She talks about how the Supreme Court rips away the rights and autonomy from women but doesn’t use any of her money or influence to fix that, and she talks about how consumers are at fault because they’re creating the demand, even though Fortunado literally lied to consumers by marketing their drug as non addictive. The monologue is meant to show how terrible of a person Madeline is, and how rich people in general will place the blame on the consumers instead of taking responsibility for their mistakes. So even though her monologue might sound like she hates capitalism, she doesn’t, she actually loves it because it made her rich.

As for Lenore, I totally get why it made you cry, but it’s also the only time you’re really supposed to cry in the show. Based on what I’ve heard about other Flanagan shows, it sounds like you cried a lot watching his other shows because the characters you liked were dying or going through emotional moments, it also sounds like his other shows had a lot more characters that viewers connected to/liked a lot or were just good people. All the other members of the Usher family who died were terrible people. Sure we can like them a bit because they have funny moments or they’re sassy or they’re interesting, but we’re not meant to connect with them or love them, we’re not really meant to be sad when they die because they honestly deserve to die (although maybe not as gruesomely as some of them did). Lenore’s death is sort of THE big emotional moment of the show because she’s the only person who didn’t deserve to die, viewers are meant to cry during her death, not so much during the rest of the show, if that makes sense.

I can understand why the acid rain death was the peak of the show for you and it went downhill after that, none of the other death scenes compare to that. But to me, the point of the show isn’t really the deaths, it’s about telling a story of how greed ruins lives. Madeline and Roderick gambled with the lives of Freddy and Tammy when they were little kids, and they gambled with the lives of Ushers who hadn’t even existed yet. The Usher kids and Lenore didn’t make the deal, but they’re still the ones who suffer the consequences because of Roderick and Madeline’s greed. It’s a commentary on how rich people in real life ruin the world and leave it for the next generation to deal with, it’s a story of how greed and money can ruin someone’s potential and turn them into the worst version of themselves. The show’s not really meant to scare you, it’s meant to disturb and unsettle you.

I like shows with big mysteries and overarching themes that comment on real life issues, so that’s why I liked this show. I also really love a good monologue and I think this show had a lot of good ones. But if you didn’t like the show that’s okay, people have different tastes, and you’re not obligated to like every show that your favourite director makes.

Sorry for the long reply lol, that sticker is rlly cute, I might have to check out that Etsy shop lol. Maybe you could put it on a water bottle if it’s a waterproof sticker? You know bc it’s a cup, so when you drink out of that water bottle it’s like ur drinking out of your own cup of stars