Summary
Episode 9 is an ending that surfaces a tragic love story rather than a horror; it’s a chapter that will resonate with viewers. Despite all the dramatics, the series ends on a soft note, choosing to rely on character choices rather than hauntings and it works in its favour.
This recap of Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor episode 9, “The Beast in the Jungle” — the ending explained — contains significant spoilers.
We recapped the whole series — check out the archive.
The opening
Where The Haunting of Bly Manor starts and where it ends is world’s apart — what we have is a finale that will leave a slight lump in your throat.
Hannah admits that she is dead and that she wants to help the others — she is upset that she’s slipping away and Owen tells her that she can’t stay. She talks about how she thought of Owen often as he is a charming man. Hannah admits to loving Owen and that she wishes she had told him. Owen says she has to help him “out there”.
Flora needs help
It would not be a finale without the dramatics and episode 9 delivers, showing the faceless woman that we learned so much about cause havoc with ease.
Hannah runs outside and tells the faceless women to let Dani go but she walks right through her. Dani is dragged up the stairs, still choking. The faceless woman brings her to the abandoned part of the manor. Flora jumps on the bed and begs the faceless woman to let go of her. Suddenly, the faceless woman remembers that she was Viola and sees visions of her daughter. She grabs Flora as if she was her own and walks outside. Henry then turns up and sees the faceless woman head towards the lake. She grabs Henry by the neck and throws him to the ground.
Breaking the spell
The ending of The Haunting of Bly Manor shows a courageous sacrifice that signifies the entire ending — it had to be Dani…
Jamie and Owen return and Hannah tells them that they are needed at the lake. Rebecca follows Flora and the faceless woman into the lake — she asks Rebecca to let her in. Flora says, “It’s us”. Flora is tucked away in a memory with her mother. Dani runs to the lake and says, “It’s you, it’s me, it’s us”. The faceless woman comes out of the lake with Flora and faces Dani. Meanwhile, Owen manages to resuscitate Henry.
Miles wakes up and Peter apologizes to him. Dani now has Flora in her arms. Jamie joins them and they embrace. The narrator explains that the au pair had invited Viola into herself, and the invitation had been accepted. The spell that Viola had cast over Bly was broken. All the spirits that were trapped were released. Owen asks where Hannah is — she told Henry where to find her before she disappeared; the next day they lifted Hannah’s body from the well.
She’s inside of me, waiting
The narrator explains how the air was lighter at Bly Manor. Owen stayed by Hannah the whole way until she was buried. Jamie asks Dani what’s wrong as she is shaken still. Dani explains how she can feel the faceless woman inside her — “It’s quiet but it isn’t. Peaceful but rage; this angry, empty, lonely beast. It’s watching me. Matching my movements”. Dani knows she’s waiting and that the woman is going to take her at some point. Jamie asks if she’d like company until she waits for the beast in the jungle.
The Haunting of Bly Manor episode 9 is starting a course of events of unrivaled love between two characters that could lead to a tragedy at any moment.
The end of Bly
Dani leaves with Jamie — Flora hopes to see them again one day. Henry gives Dani a hug — he is thankful. Dani is glad the family all have each other. Dani and Jamie then leave the estate.
Essentially, what Dani has done is save this family.
Days turn to years
Jamie and Dani embark on a road trip. Jamie wants to plan Christmas but Dani wants to be realistic, and take it one day at a time. The narrator explains how days turned to months and then a year passed. Jamie admits to being in love with Dani — one year became five years and then it turned into peace in Dani’s heart. In one of the scenes, Dani sees the faceless woman in the window but she perseveres.
Forever
The ending of The Haunting of Bly Manor highlights how love can lead to understandable naivety, despite when there’s a large elephant in the room. The writing has ensured that Dani and Jamie had a sense of longlasting love when they met each other, meaning that they would have tried to make it work regardless of the situation.
Dani asks Jamie to sort the roots in a plant pot but embedded inside the soil was a ring. She turns around and Dani says she is the love of her life — she recognizes that they cannot technically get married but they can both wear rings and recognize that they are together forever in an official union.
They don’t remember
Dani and Jamie share the news with Owen who runs a restaurant now. They do a toast to Hannah. Dani keeps seeing the faceless woman’s reflection. Owen shares the news that Flora has a boyfriend — he also mentions how the family remembers nothing about Bly. The children know they used to stay at Bly but they don’t remember the details. Owen believes they shouldn’t tell them and let them be.
I’m fading
It was always going to happen but it does not make it less tragic — by Dani inviting Viola inside her has caused repercussions later in life. There’s a constant inevitability about it.
When they get home, Dani tells Jamie that she saw her and that she keeps seeing her. Jamie tries assuring Dani that they can have more years together as long as they keep an eye on it. The next day, Jamie comes home with the paperwork that declares their union but then she sees the bath has flooded — Dani is looking at the bath full of water and she tells Jamie that she’s so tired and feels like she is fading away every day. Dani isn’t scared of the faceless woman anymore and she’s finding it harder to see herself. Jamie offers to feel for both of them. Dani wonders what happens if she becomes her but Jamie says, “One day at a time”.
At this point, Jamie is doing everything in her power to keep hold of the woman she loves.
The new Lady in the Lake
In the middle of the night, Dani wakes up and sees her hands around Jamie’s neck. The next morning, Jamie woke up and Dani had left a message — she didn’t want to risk it and she has left for good.
Jamie returns to Bly Manor. She storms to the lake on the estate and goes underwater; she sees Dani laying there lifeless but with her eyes open — she asks the Lady in the Lake to take her but she will not accept the request because the lady was now Dani. No-one would be taken again. Another sacrifice by Dani, showing how she’s put bitterness aside for the greater good.
Dani kept waiting for her lover to return and years went by. We then return to episode 1, with the narrator telling the story to wedding guests after the rehearsal dinner — she explains that the au pair’s memories faded. She explains how Dani will walk through Bly harmless for years. They ask the narrator if it’s true and she answers vaguely.
Hold on to the memories
It’s at this point that after the jump scares and spooks and dramatics that The Haunting of Bly Manor is a love story.
The groom wants to go to bed but the soon-to-be bride wants to stay behind and talk to the narrator. The bride tells the narrator that she likes her story but she set it up wrong at the beginning — “You said it was a ghost story. It isn’t. It’s a love story”. The bride goes on that she got lucky to find a man that loves her just as much as she loves him. She starts sobbing, terrified that she will lose him one day. The narrator tells her to enjoy that easy silence and that one day she will hold the memories tight. The bride-to-be hugs the narrator.
The ending
The next day is the wedding. The narrator imagines Flora, Miles, and Owen at the event. The narrator then reveals herself to be Jamie. She returns home and tries to see Dani in the bathwater and then in the sink. She’s refusing to give up. As the series ends, Jamie falls asleep and you can see a hand on her shoulder.
The Haunting of Bly Manor episode 9 is an ending that surfaces a tragic love story rather than a horror; it’s a chapter that will resonate with viewers. Despite all the dramatics, the series ends on a soft note, choosing to rely on character choices rather than hauntings and it works in its favor.
