【1996 Archives】

As well as being full of scares996 ArchivesWTF moments, The Fall of the House of Usheralso has a fair bit of political commentary.

The gloves really come off in the series finale, which not only has a Trump reference and scathing commentary on the U.S. opioid crisis and America's corrupt politicians and industrialists (of which the Usher family is one), but also a very grim monologue from Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell), who pretty much lays all her nihilism and bitterness about the state of the world out on the table before her death.

Her speech is a dark one that says a lot about her character's lack of remorse and the way she justifies her own actions. We've recapped the whole thing, in full, below:

Madeline Usher's final speech:

Fucking people. Fucking people out there, Roderick. You don't want Ligadone, 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, news flash, it's our only fucking job. These people... They want an entire meal for $5 in five minutes, and 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.

And 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 more minutes. What's the market share on wimpy dicks, Roderick? 60, 70 percent of the healthcare industry. The 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 inventedus. They begged for us. They're begging for us still.

So I say we stand tall and proud, brother. 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. Don't care if it's death herself, she wants Madeline fucking Usher? She's going to have to have to look me straight in the eyes.

The irony of that last bit, of course, is that it's Madeline's own brother Roderick (Flanaverse favourite Bruce Greenwood) who triggers the chain of events that ultimately lead to her death in the finale. And to start with, he removes her eyes.

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How to watch:The Fall of the House of Usheris streaming now on Netflix.