Yep, more American Horror Story; thoughts which mostly revolve around the second episode, although bits of the third might creep in. Watched them back to back.
I really think I should just give up on defining Constance and Addy. I don’t think they’ve died–the interactions with others and the very prosaic baking scene kind of killed that theory for me–but the way Constance especially shows up inside the house at the oddest moments is seriously uncanny. And given the end of the “Home Invasion” episode and her discussion with Tate and Moira, she pretty clearly knows what they are and is dealing with it jest fahn, as George Stark would say in a rather heavy Southern accent.
(Constance was the source of one of two “oh right, that’s what this reminds me of” moments this episode, too. Blanche. She’s so very much Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire.) And I think that’s about as far as I can get without spoilers, so ahoy the cut.
Alright. Constance and Addy are alive, but Constance especially (Addy is hard to read) strikes me as some kind of acolyte of the house; she knows that it keeps its ghosts, she knows what effect it has on people, and she sure as hell is not warning anyone. Coming across Ben and telling him (basically) that it’s not time to burn the house down yet indicates that she knows what it’s drawing him to do.
Her showing up when the house is… I want to say winning? When Moira’s body is reburied and her escape route’s cut off, Constance is there. When Ben’s swayed enough to be walking around in the middle of the night and lighting fires, Constance is there. One of John’s arguments for her being a ghost after the first episode was the age she and Addy looked, younger than you’d expect; perhaps she’s simply preserved by her association with the house in some way. Hell, perhaps she simply didn’t age while in it…
John points out that it’s early days in the show yet, and perhaps the writers simply haven’t thought out all the rules. I grant this is possible, but even if they haven’t. I’m (possibly overthinking and) having fun dissecting what can be inferred from what’s shown.