Shirley takes on a difficult job and reflects on the near and distance past.
I found this episode to be on par with the first. The focus on Shirley is good and reveals several experiences that seem to have defined her character and shaped some of her choices in life. Both Elizabeth Reaser and Lulu Wilson play the part well.
We are again drip-fed information from different points in time about characters, but it's still too early to tell what's really going on.
The horror factor is not quite as jumpy as previous, but it retains that sense of creeping dread that comes with most of the shot framing, camera movement and lighting. There are one or two horror movie cliches but it's not overdone. I think Mike Flanagan takes pleasure in creating enough tension to coil his audience up and then when the shock feels like it should come it actually doesn't. As it's early days I feel we are being softened up ready for some big scares later in the series.
For me the best bits are not connected to scares but the emotions relating to the things that happen. One sequence involving a transition from one scene to the next where someone is applying make-up to the same person is an excellent piece of visual storytelling.
Still intrigued.