Who is the Worst Usher? The Case for Freddy.

The Fall of the House of Usher is the most recent Netflix masterpiece from the mind of Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass) is a macabre mash-up of Edgar Allen Poe’s greatest hits with Flanagan cleverly naming the characters and the episodes from Poe’s works. It tells the tale of the Usher family, from twin siblings Roderick (Lincoln Russo, kid – Graham Verchrere, teen – Zach Gilford, Young adult – Bruce Greenwood, Old adult) and Madeline’s (Kate Whiddington, kid – Lulu Wilson, teen – Willa Fitzgerald, Young adult, Mary McDonald, Old adult) humble beginnings to, well, let’s just say their story’s conclusion.

The following has spoilers to the plot so tread lightly.
From their literal conception, Roderick & Madeline have been tied to the medical firm, Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. Through flashbacks, we learn how the twins grew up, worked for the company, and ultimately seized total control of Fortunato. Roderick has six children, with all but two being illegitimate. Frederick (William Kosovic, kid – Henry Thomas, adult) is the oldest, and his full sister Tamerlane (Samantha Sloyan) are the results of Roderick’s first marriage to Annabel Lee (Katie Parker). Each of the rest: Victorine (T’Nia Miller), Napoleon (Rahul Kohli), Camille (Kate Siegel), and Prospero (Sauriyan Sapkota) are from Roderick’s various affairs.

All of the Usher clan are the most rotten, despicable humans that you will ever come across. Except it seems for Freddy. He is not the strongest, smartest, or wisest Usher, but from the onset, he seems very devoted to his family and to his wife Morella and daughter Lenore. He is the heir apparent to the Usher Empire and pretty much does whatever his father and aunt dictate, although he does let important tasks fall through the cracks.

Freddy is devoted to his siblings, although fairly indifferent in regards to how they live their lives. The exception is Prospero. He sees Perry, Prospero’s nickname, as stupid, lazy and a leech just waiting for his slice of the inheritance. Perry decides to host an epic orgy party with the city’s elite, using an abandoned Fortunato lab that Frederick was supposed to have demolished. As a way of possible blackmail, Perry invites Morella to the party in hopes to capture himself having sex with her on camera. Morella attends, but the night ends in tragedy as Perry is the first of Roderick’s children to meet a gruesome demise. Morella is also badly wounded, but when Freddy rushes to her side at the hospital, his reaction is one of concern and caring.

As the story continues each episode showcases the circumstances that each child, from the youngest to the eldest, are killed. The malevolent force behind the deaths is revealed like a puzzle until all that is left are the founders, Roderick & Madeline. Before we get there, however, I feel the show becomes a diagram of how absolute power corrupts absolutely. With each passing day, Freddy begins to exhibit erratic behavior. His initial reaction of concern towards his wife’s condition begins to turn cold when he realizes what the party was for, and the fact that Morella does not have her wedding ring on her finger.

He becomes more unbalanced, from equal parts rage and for the drug use that he begins to partake in to help him cope. He uses his influence to have Morella removed from the hospital and returned home so that he can care for her. He begins verbally abusing her, while using a low dosage of nightshade that paralyzes her so that she can neither resist nor object. He stops showering, becomes more disheveled, and denies any kind of medical care for his wife.

The apex of his decent into power hungry madness is his stated plan to exhibit dominance over his situation by strong arming the demolition crew to dispose of Perry’s nightclub building, and then to perform a horrific act of physical violence against his bedridden and drug induced paralyzed wife. He then leaves to personally oversee the destruction of the old lab, but because of his inhuman cruelty towards his wife, Death decides to personally oversee his demise. While all he ever wanted was his father’s love and approval, he earned a horrible death orchestrated by a supernatural force due to his own actions. As the eldest child to die, the cycle is complete and all that is left is for Roderick & Madeline to meet their fate.

The rest of the children were absolutely terrible humans, who, despite having actual talents and wanting to help others eventually become sexual deviants, drug abusers, liars, cheats and criminals. For this writer though, Frederick Usher was the worst of them all.

What do you think? Was Freddy the worst Usher or did anyone else strike you as equally terrible? Were there any that were your favorites who you would’ve liked to see make it out alive? Let us know in the comments!