The Woman in the House likes to ease viewers into its particular brand of madness, which could explain why the epitaph on Elizabeth's gravestone keeps changing. Kristen Bell's new Netflix show is packed with sight gags. From the title of the book Anna is reading to Buell finding more and more absurd ways to put off fixing Anna's mailbox, watching what's going on in the background of the show is just as much fun as watching what's happening with the actual plot.
Case in point: the increasingly silly epitaphs on Elizabeth's headstone. Poor Anna lost her daughter in the most horrific way possible, and it's her grief that won't allow her to move forward with her life at the start of the series. For that reason, it's not at all surprising to see her make multiple visits to Elizabeth's grave.
What is surprising is how the engraving on the grave keeps changing. At first, the epitaph is totally serious, much like the show itself. While there are a few gags sprinkled throughout the first two episodes, most of the first hour feels like an actual thriller as opposed to a thriller parody. But once Lisa is murdered at the end of the second episode things get weird fast — and so does Elizabeth's headstone. Coincidence? I think not.
1.A Parents' Goodbye
The first epitaph reads: "If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever." That's actually quite touching, and it highlights the sheer amount of grief Anna and Douglas must have felt when they lost their daughter. However, had either of her parents exercised even a modicum of common sense, Elizabeth wouldn't be dead in the first place, but hey, Anna had to earn her unreliable narrator badge somehow.
2. Things Get A Little Twee
By the time Anna turns up at Elizabeth's grave the second time, things have gotten weird. Lisa is dead, no one believes Anna actually witnessed a murder, and she's questioning her own memory. At this point, the show is no longer being shy about the fact that it's a thriller parody, hence the second epitaph: "In Heaven you can dance like no one's watching." It's a little twee, but you still feel like someone, somewhere could actually have this saccharine adage on their gravestone.
3. Forget It, Anna, It's A Parody
The last time Anna visits Elizabeth's grave, the show is fully embracing its silliness. At this stage, no one is meant to take The Woman in the House seriously, which is reflected in the final epitaph: "There's no 'I' in Heaven." Is it a factual statement? Yes, but it's also totally nonsensical, which sums up the remainder of this thriller spoof nicely.
Even though the show keeps its poker face firmly in place during the opening episode, by the end, there's no denying The Woman in the House has been pure comedy all along, as those revolving epitaphs illustrate so nicely.
Images: Colleen E. Hayes/Netflix; Netflix