Episode 3:
Murder in the Rue Morgue
It won't end well for Camille beyond that door.
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Written by: Justina Ireland and Mike Flanagan
Paris! In Paris it was, in the summer of 1840. There I first met that strange and interesting young fellow, August Dupin.
- The opening paragraph in The Murders in the Rue Morgue
In charge of the Ushers' publicity, Camille conspires to spin controversy in her family's favor and expose the grim details of her sister's experiments.
This episode incorporates elements from C. Auguste Dupin's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
The page is currently under construction.
Tropes that are present in this episode:
- Adaptation Species Change: The killer ape in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" was an orangutan, while in this episode Camille is killed by a chimpanzee. This was probably done as chimpanzees make more sense as subjects for Animal Testing and can be far, far more vicious and violent than orangutans.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: A peek at the inner workings of Camille's extensive PR machine reveals that she is extremely good at her job, including a knack for manipulating just about anyone (from low-level lab employees all the way up to Fox News anchors) into doing exactly what she wants. At the same time, she makes no secret of the fact that she's a Manipulative Bastard, she carries on an extremely unethical threesome with her assistants, and she does not hesitate to point the full might of her resources and talents at family members she doesn't like—in this case, uncovering exactly what Victorine might be up to in her lab. It gets her killed.
- Didn't See That Coming: When grilling her assistants on Victorine's lab activities, Camille is shocked when they start explaining the rumors that Victorine is dismembering chimpanzees and smuggling the body parts out in her bag, and visibly has to take a moment to process the information.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: Despite being an asshole who brought it on himself, Perry is mourned by Leo, Roderick, Camille and to a lesser extent Vic.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Camille and Leo share one of the only scenes in the series where two Usher siblings spend time together without devolving into fighting, and in the same scene Camille becomes the only sibling besides Leo to openly express sympathy for Perry.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Camille seems genuinely taken aback when her assistants offer her condolences for Perry's death.
- Exact Words: A humorous example: Toby has to clarify if Camille actually wants him to send an Edible Arrangement to a reporter who helped them out, because she usually has Edible Arrangements sent to people she hates.
- Face Death with Dignity: Zigzagged with Camille; she's visibly shaking and clearly terrified throughout her final conversation with Verna, but once it sinks in for her that she's about to die, she quietly recomposes herself, says her Famous Last Words, and takes one more picture.
- Ignored Epiphany: During Camille's drunken rambling about the Ushers, she realizes how morally and creatively bankrupt they all are, herself included. And she just goes ahead with her plan to destroy Victorine anyway.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When her siblings start grilling her about not knowing Perry was throwing a party in a condemned Fortunato building, Camille rightly points out that Perry probably wouldn't have gone out of his way to tell his sister he was throwing an orgy.
- Killed Offscreen: The sequence itself of the chimp mauling Camille to death is substituted for a quick cut to next morning, when her corpse is discovered.
- Not So Above It All: When Camille goes to Leo's apartment to prep him for interviews and finds him in the process of getting stoned:Camille: Perry's dead, the family's fucked, you're the frontline of my PR campaign, and you just took an edible?Leo: ...You want some?Camille: ...I mean, yeah, I want some.
- Not So Stoic: The barely-alive Morella reaching for Arthur Pym's leg is one of the very few things to get a serious reaction out of him.
- Red Herring: In-universe, the main characters immediately notice that the wait staff all left before the sprinklers were started at Perry's party and suspect them of being involved; however, the audience knows that the wait staff left because Verna gave them a mental suggestion, in order to spare them.
- Horrifically deconstructed with the burner phone Perry gave to Morella in the previous episode. When Frederick gets ahold of it, it looks like Morella cheated on him at Perry's party, even though she ultimately didn't. Frederick, however, takes the phone at face value and more or less goes insane as a result, and his resentment of his wife quickly devolves into literal torture.
- Stealing the Handicapped Spot: Camille parks her sports car diagonally across two parking spaces when she shows up to the lab—one is a disabled space, the other is reserved for Victorine.
- Womanchild: Camille throws a full screaming tantrum when her assistants inform her that they won't be having sex with her anymore. Once she's calmed down, though, she does seem genuinely hurt that they have "left" her.
- "Fuck it. I got mine."
