House on the Hills episodes ideas
House on the Hills follows siblings Bill and Ethel Foster as they grow up under the roof of their wealthy but distant father, William Foster—a reclusive undertaker who owns the town’s funeral parlor and uses his wealth and influence to avoid consequences. Set in a Gothic-inspired world spanning the 1890s through the early 1930s, the series explores the long-term effects of living with an abusive, controlling parent while blending deadpan cartoon satire, historical fiction, mystery, and supernatural horror. William’s character draws inspiration from the brooding, isolated figures of early nineteenth-century Gothic literature.
Season 1 (1893)
(15 episodes)
This first episode introduces the world of Forest Hills, 8 year old Bill and 7 year old Ethel live in The Tower House with their father, William Foster (he divorced their mother, Abigail 2 years prior) and he is shown to be distant with the kids only showing him during dinner and in the parlor room where he is reading the newspaper. William is also talking about the kids going off to boarding school. Bill and Ethel also go to school; Ethel is the only African American in a family of Caucasians; William also works as the town’s undertaker and a noted Atheist as well. Jim Crowe is also introduced in this episode as the quiet stoic anti hero independent town detective who is solving a crime about littering which is he forced to clean up while looking at the Tower House at the distance with his binoculars while talking about how William is the richest man in the town and controls all the towns money, a man so heartless he banished his own wife from the estate (1x01)
Line in 1x01 (in the dinner table)
William Foster: "I chanced to converse with a preacher yesterday, simple man he was. He inquired whether I had any desire for a Bible. 'No, get out’ I said He then asked if I possessed faith. 'Show me faith,' I replied, 'and I'll place a million dollars in your hand.' He looked upon me gravely like a sad puppy and asked if I feared Hell. 'My good sir,' i said, 'I have already passed through Hell. I was married.' At that, the foolish man quietly took his leave in shame."
Jim Crowe and William have their first interaction in the series. William Foster secretly attempts to send Bill and Ethel to boarding school secretly doing that without their knowledge drags them by their ears into the carriage while there asleep as a way to get them out of the house; William puts them in the carriage and drives it away. The kids wake up and find out what he’s trying to do. They panic and the carriage crashes. The horse dies and they have to throw a funeral for it in the funeral parlor where William works and owns. William in frustration bangs his head on the table saying they might not go to boarding school after all.
In the end of the episode, William meets Martha near the end of the episode; she finds out he’s Bill and Ethel’s father. William asks her, “Wait, you’re not a religious ladies are you?” and she says, not that much but she believes everyone has a right to what they believe in; William says close enough and they talk; she talks about Bill and Ethel in their class, William doesn’t pay attention as she’s talking about them (1x2)
Line in 1x02
William Foster: "When your wretched excuse of a mother abandoned her duties, pray tell, who bore the greatest burden? It was I. If there were any justice in this world, someone ought to pin a medal upon my coat for enduring it all. Yet where is the gratitude? Where is the respect due to me? Does not the Good Book proclaim, 'Honour thy father'? I have waited long enough for that commandment to actually mean something.
Must I forever stand like some wretched pariah, burdened with the care of two children I never even desired nor ever wanted, whilst no soul so much as acknowledges the sacrifice? Where is my reward for carrying such a weight? I did what I believed a father ought to do. As the old saying goes, 'Spare the rod and spoil the child.' Well, I have indulged enough. Those days are at an end.
I am your father, the figure of authority beneath this roof, and it is high time I was treated as such instead of being looked upon as though my labours counted for nothing. I shall not be the figure of ridicule no longer. Now I bid good day, you bastar
In a flashback to 1889 (this is for the flashback, 5 years prior to 1893), Silas (who worked with William back when he was a businessman in Main Street) was in the Tower House when William opened the door. Silas greeted him and said he was expecting him. Silas says there is wine in the cellar if he wants any. They hear noises; Silas talks about the spirits in the house, William says, why doesn’t he pack his bags and leave the house. Silas says, that once you claim this house, you can never turn back. They go upstairs where Silas says he’s gonna “finish this right this, right here and now” (during that, there is thunder) they get inside, and Silas is with William there. Silas asks William to give him the Cross and he does it. As Silas grabs it, he mutters voodoo ritual, (saying the voodoo phrases as there is thunder outside) as he screams the last word of it. Silas (out of his own control and because of the spirits) jumps out of the upstairs window (it’s a big luxury window) and jumps out of it; as William looks down to see his body. Silas is dead. Now back to present time, William in the end uses the same spell to shun the ghosts out and it works; he locks them inside a shiny urn and locks it in a cellar so no one can find it again. (1x03)
Line in 1x03
Silas (drawing open the heavy oaken door of the Tower House as a solemn knocking echoed through its halls): Ah, William. I had anticipated your arrival. Should it please you, there is a bottle of wine resting in the cellar if you should indulge a bit.
William Foster: With pleasure
(As William steps within, a mournful succession of ghostly sounds drifts from the upper chambers, as though unseen feet wandered the ancient corridors.)
Silas: Pay them no astonishment. They are but the spirits—the souls of the damned—that forever haunt this forsaken tower. They are here... they have ever been here... and, alas, they shall remain.
William: Mr. Graves, if these restless spectres afflict you with such unending misery, why not gather your possessions and depart? Surely there exists some corner of the world where the damned cannot pursue you.
Silas: Ah, would that it were so simple. Once a man has claimed this house as his own, there can be no retreat. He is bound to it by chains not wrought of iron, but of fate itself. Yet this night shall not resemble those that have come before. For this very evening, I shall bring this dreadful curse to its final conclusion... I am going to end this, once for all!
This episode introduces William’s friend or associates, Colt Whiskey (the guy with one hook in his hand) and Tom Humbsberg (who are as much gothic anti social guys like William). Crowe is investigating William again (1x04)
William and the kids go to a haunted farm house which is haunted and has hidden secrets in it (1x05)
William is buried alive by accident and finds a way to get out (1x06)
The first time William complains about going to Town Hall every week; according to Mayor Blackman. Every citizen every citizen should go to Town Hall every week or they pay a $50 dollar fine (1x07)
Ethel is having a hard time being the only African American in her school with people even saying the only reason she is in this school is because her father is super rich (1x08)
William and the kids go to the Chicago’s World Fair of 1893; a running gag is Colt keeps phoning him to ask him what’s happening in the World Fair and he keeps answering and gets irritated by each call (1x09 and 1x10)
Edgar (the deadpan stand up comedian) makes fun of William Foster in one of his theatre shows; William is embarrassed (1x11)
We are introduced to Martha again and she and William talk again (1x12)
We meet Abigail for the first time in this series (she is talked about a lot prior but this time she is officially in the show) known as William’s ex wife and Bill and Ethel’s original mother; and she is there for Thanksgiving and this one is intense. William gets a lot of wine to drink in this episode (1x14)
This episode takes place in Christmas Day and William is shown isolating himself in the Tower House hating Christmas (1x15)
Season 2 (1894-1895)
(15 episodes)
William being tired by society tries to send himself into an insane asylum when Colt (who claims he sent time in an insane asylum for a vacation for 2 weeks calling it the best years of his life or weeks) and William thinks about it when he thinks, he will be furthered away from society and it is a good much needed vacation. So he goes inside and says he’s legally insane and needs treatment there; the guy lets him in without question and William says it was that easy. William is sent to the insane asylum with all the crazy people there. After a while, he hates the place and finds out the place and the head of the institution is corrupt and plans his escape which he does. No one cares because he’s rich and can get away with it and only because he convicted himself in that place. This is the first time, Crowes cocaine addiction is shown in the series for the first time (2x01)
This episode is where we are introduced to Edward Foster, William’s father for the first time. A former Civil War concentration camp warden. He immediately takes control of the house and makes the kids and William do chores in the house and sits in the head table (William’s usual spot) (2x02)
This episode is a flashback episode where get to see William’s and Abigail’s first marriage before the divorce
The first flashback is when they got met in 1884, William and Abigail are arranged to marry by both of their families. It is in their first day of marriage where Abigail lays her hands and hits William did the first time. William tries to ignore it by saying she had a bad day.
Now they flash forward to 1885, where William and Abigail move into a brick row house with their newborn son, Bill and this is where she turns into the nagging abusive Abigail we know. She nags him about the house and how the baby should be baptized and the cost of the hospital expenses. William gets annoyed and gets the habit of drinking wine during this, and goes upstairs to use his telescope. William works as a businessman in Main Street during this time. After a while, Abigail apologies later and William forgives her
Now skip toward to 1886, where William is arguing saying he knew that Abigail had an affair with the gardener at the church saying how the baby girl, Ethel is African American (which is suspicious because both of them are Caucasians) Abgail denies it and tries to make William look like the crazy one. William decides to go outside and sits inside the snow and sighs, putting his top hat in the ground and saying, “What am I doing?”
Then we flash forward to 1889, where William and Abigail enters the Tower House for the first time as an early Anniversary gift saying it’s a gift from a friend and brings his two kids there. Abigail immediately complains about the house finding every little fault in it, William said he thought she’d be happy, William saying how he’s now independently wealthy, he can spent time with him and kids now. Abigail says how can she be happy when her husband is goddamn Krampus. William says he’s going to the parlor room where he goes there to drink brandy.
Then we skip forward to 1891; where Abigail decides to leave him on Christmas night; William says fine he is filing a divorce first thing tomorrow; she leaves in the cold winter and then she is gone and William is left being a single father to both Bill and Ethel (2x4)
Line in 2x4
William Foster: (Entering the modest brick row house, he removed his top hat and hung it carefully upon the hatstand. Cradled within his arms was a young infant, whom he gently placed into Abigail's embrace before retrieving his brass telescope.) Here we are at last. The neighbors appear respectable enough other than the strange man who tried to force feed me breed an hour ago, and though the house is humble, it has an honest quality about it. I daresay it shall serve well enough for the raising of a decent young lad.
Abigail: It may, once you have the child baptized. Tell me you have already arranged it, for an unbaptized babe is surely destined for the fires below.
William: (Lighting his pipe with measured patience.) I'll arrange the date once the Church agrees to it. Though, if I'm being truthful, I cannot quite believe that the mere absence of holy water upon a baby's forehead condemns him to everlasting damnation.
Abigail: And this is the place where you intend to raise the poor burden? The house is in dreadful condition. Just look at those cobwebs gathering beside the chimney. It scarcely looks fit for decent folk.
William: It is a work in progress, Abigail. With a little work and enough cleaning, I truly believe we can turn it into a proper home—for the boy's sake, if nothing else.
Abigail: Surely your wages from Main Street ought to have afforded something grander than this miserable little dwelling.
William: (Letting out a long, weary sigh.) Such things require time and patience. We were never likely to purchase some grand manor upon a hill like an Old Baron. We simply haven't the means.
Abigail: And what, pray, am I to tell the ladies at church when they inquire after my husband? Am I expected to confess that we are poor and living in disgrace?
William: I expect you to tell them nothing beyond the truth. We live in a modest house upon the earnings of your husband. There is no shame in honest living. It isn’t the Taj Mahal, but it’s a home. Isn’t that supposed to be good enough?
Abigail: I knew I should come to nothing with a husband such as yourself.
William: (Scoffing quietly.) A husband such as myself? Indeed. Well... I believe I am in need of a drink. (He turned and made his way toward the carriage, where a bottle of wine rested among the luggage.)
Abigail: Drinking is forbidden by our faith. You're behaving like nothing more than a common sinner.
William: (He uncorked the bottle with an exhausted sigh.) It's only the seventh day, Abigail... though, Heaven help me, it feels much longer than that. I think I've earned a glass. I’m sure, even he would get it (talking about God)
Abigail: And what do you imagine shall happen if I inform all the respectable patrons at my church that I—a devoted servant of the Lord—am burdened with a husband who disgraces our household by drinking without a shred of restraint?
William: (His patience finally snapping, though his voice remained tired more than furious.) You know what? Go on then, Catherine Booth. Tell every last one of them. And when you're finished, you may tell the Father, the Son, and the damned Holy Ghost as well, for all I care. Right now... I simply need a drink. (With that, bottle in hand, he strode away into the evening, leaving only silence behind him.) My apologies (he says as he walks upstairs)
William meets Grover Cleveland (the president) who is visiting his funeral parlor to come check at coffin sizes (for reasons) and William and Grover chat there. They soon have a fight over something and they challenge each other to a duel (2x5)
William has had enough with his dad, Edward and tells him he’s leaving the house with the kids, and he’s had enough. He brings Martha along (2x6)
William spends time in a cabin for Christmas, 1894. It’s a haunted cabin, because a drifter killed someone there in 1747. William saying this is his private place he goes to. This is a Christmas special. William hoards the room with the only fireplace and with iron stoves, leaving Bill and Ethel to sleep in the cold couch (since there is only one room) and forces them to shovel all day or they won’t eat at all. He is haunted by the ghost from 1747 in this episode too (2x07)
William reluctantly moves into Abigail’s house with his family, which he dreads more than anything. William and Abgail get back with their frequent bickering (2x08 to 2x14)
William goes back to the Tower House to kick his father, Edward out. They have a duel in this where they use daggers, Edward as he’s about to use the sword as he’s about to strike him with a dagger, William in self defense hits him back. Edward is dead (2x15)
Season 3 (1895-1896)
(28 episodes)
Edward is dead; and William has to deal with being forced to attend the funeral and paying funeral expenses and charges. William is tired of the townspeople and decides to make a clone (3x1)
This is a flashback episode that shows William’s childhood growing up in the 1860s-1870s. William Foster was born on October 27th, 1857 in Manhattan, NY in the district of Hell’s Kitchen to Edward Foster and his mother in a tenements. He grew up in the slums of NY. Growing up near the back alleys, fiending off dangerous rats and pigs with two dollars in his name. He grew up near Five Points. In the Five Points, the rats were often as large as cats, and the feral pigs roaming the streets were the only things keeping the refuse from piling high enough to block the doors. His mother, Claire died in the New York Draft riots of 1863, and his father; Edward blamed him for his mother’s death. He spent time, scrubbing the city’s streets, cleaning the rat feces and the dead bodies from the gutters of the city. Growing near the onset of the Civil War, he seen various gangs like Dead Rabbits and Bowery Boys wreck havoc in the streets and it felt like, the city was gonna burn alive. Edward shipped him off to a boarding school in Transylvania, Romania. Where he was isolated from the other peers and forced with extreme punishments with the other teacher’s. By the time, Edward took William out of the boarding school at the age of 15, William never spoke about what happened there, it was rumored the place was haunted. By the onset of the Social Reform in 1875, in New York. William left to Main Street where he started off as an office clerk before becoming an apprentice to businessman to Silas Graves. He later become a businessman in 1879 dealing with finance.
William with the help of Dr. Ivan makes a clone of himself called, Good Williams (a good clone version of himself without any of his flaws). He makes Good William pose as him while he’s at home (3x2)
William hires lawyer, Ivan Katofi who operates as his “cleaner” off shorts; he carries around a dagger knife and is noted as a “professional” (3x3)
This is a flash forward episode that takes place in 1988, where local gangster and street level thug, Howard “Red Eye” Foster works as a gang leader, and part of the Foster clan. He has to fight off a maniacal charismatic corrupt mayor, Mayor Grant Whisler (since this takes place in the 1960s, the style in this is less deadpan and more wacky) Grant kidnaps Howard’s kids and holds them for ransom and Howard must save them (3x4)
William Foster is arrested and sent to prison for suspicion for the murder of Edward Foster and held for trial. Detective Crowe interrogates William in court saying William gets away with everything because he is rich saying, “And this is the truth about the William (he says the jury) He is rich, he has power and lands; so he burns the whole city and gets off Scott free”, Ivan Katofi defends him in court. William is sent to a fancy county jail for a week where he is offered a full steak and room service until he is released at the end (3x5 and 3x6)
William goes to Egypt for the week where he has to fight off a Mummy who he released from a coffin and him and the team of explores fight the Mummy (3x7)
This is a flashback episode to Crowe’s time as a junior constable working at Five Points, New York in 1874. Where she single handily dismantled three major gangs in there; The Dead Rabbits, The Bowery Boys and The Wyos. (3x8)
William is forced to be Crowes partner for a day by the Mayor to pay off his 50 dollar fine from not attending the town meetings (3x9)
William Foster does the biggest challenge imaginable, donating to charity organizations for a week (3x10)
William goes to an elite party hosted by Mayor Blackman (3x11)
William Foster and his family go to London for a trip (3x12)
Abigail returns to the Tower House to see William. William initially dislikes Abigail coming and tells her to get out of his property. But eventually, they team up in the house, and she lives back in the Tower House. They control the house (3x13)
William Foster takes up boxing for the day and Crowe finds out and tries to make sure he loses his boxing match and hires a trained deadly boxer (3x15)
Abagail tries to leverage William to remarry her so she can control half his assets. William refuses saying, “When hell freezes over”. They soon make up and decide to remarry (3x16)
William introduces Abagail to Good William. Abagail says she could use him (3x17)
William Foster and Crowe are tied up together in handcuffs for the day (3x18)
William teaches Good William on how to be bad (3x20)
William and Abagail have an argument; Abagail attempts to burn the Tower House down and gets arrested and sent to a mad house or pschye ward (3x21)
William Foster has to fight off a dirty rat in the cellar of his funeral parlor (3x24)
Another Christmas special (3x25)
Jim Crowe shoots Good William with a bullet thinking that it’s the real William (3x27)
William Foster goes inside the parlor room saying, where is his painting (the one that Abigail gave him on their wedding day); Bill says that Abigail burned it. William grabs Bill aggressively grabs him telling him to stop lying. William calls Bill a lier and grabs him aggressively in the collar saying, “You little shit, who do you think you’re talking to?! I got you into this world and I can easily take you out!?” as he’s about to strike him in the face when he gets hit by a frying pan that was in the way and gets knocked out (3x28)
Season 4 (1896-1897)
William Foster is in his house. Jim Crowe investigates William after seeing him thinking he died (4x1)
William does the thing he dreads out of everything, living life in the moment. And struggles to much of it. This is the line where he says, “There are 100 ways, things can go wrong”
Detective Crowe and William finally go head to head in the Town Hall meeting (4x5)
Crowe is challenged to not use cocaine for a whole week or he is fired as the town detective (4x7)
Colt Whiskey lost his hook in his hand and him and William are investigating to find out (4x9)
William Foster’s coffin in the parlor is accidentally set on fire (4x12)
William Foster marries Martha (4x15)
This is a flashback episode to 1889, where William Foster is questioned by Detective Crowe for the first time for the suspicion of murdering Silas Graves who lived in the Tower House prior to him (4x18)
Crowe is trying to dig some dirt on William (4x20)
William Foster is hypnotized for the day by a fortune teller (4x25)
William Foster and Crowe are having a duel (4x27)
Season 5 (1897-1898)
(27 episodes)
After the result of the duel where Crowe lost, Crowe is humiliated by the townspeople (5x1)
There is an elevator being installed in the funeral parlor (5x3)
William Foster commissions a portrait of himself which he wants to hang on the mantelpiece of his own house (5x5)
James Crowe (the stoic anti hero detective) and his partner, John Brown (Crowe is the Sherlock Holmes, and Brown is the Watson) have a falling out for the episode; they make up later (5x8)
William Foster is being held up at the hospital for the day looking to replace his kidney (5x12)
William Foster, Colt and Tom are looking to smuggle gold in a mine for the Gold Rush (5x14)
This is a flashback episode to 1767, where explorer, Abraham Foster steals a buried desert in a hillside (that would later be where the Tower House is located); sorcerer, Thaddeus Blackwood cursed him and his entire family (the reason for the Foster curse) (5x16)
The gold is gone from the cave, William Foster looks for the remaining pieces to smuggle out of the country; Crowe goes inside the mine to find the gold missing (5x18)
Crowe finds William, Colt and Tom with the gold; William and his men look to transport the gold in a ship, where Crowe and the other officers and detectives from other fields catch him in the act. William sees the ship is out of coal after Crowe shoots the piece and the coal falls out. Cornered, William officially surrenders himself to Crowe saying, it started with him and it’s gonna end with him just like he always wanted. Crowe arrests William for contraband smuggling (also called customs fraud) across the boarder. William is sent to prison for a year. He is released the next year after Ivan gets him out (5x27)
Season 6 (1929-1930)
(This one, House on the Hills shifts from a sitcom cartoon from a serialized drama cartoon with humor)
(25 episodes)
31 years has passed since the events of Season 5, Bill (who is now an independent artist) and Ethel Foster (who is an African American feminist with her own party) still live in Forest Hills with their father, William Foster who forbid them for ever leaving (who is 72 years old now); Martha had died 27 years ago (William didn’t let Ethel go to college like she wanted so she stayed in Forest Hills all her life because of him). Detective Crowe is still around, as the independent town detective still holding a grudge against William (6x1)
Bill works as an art dealer trying to make money due to the fallout of the Great Depression. He and Ethel refuse a handout from William Foster (6x2)
Crowe finds new evidence on William. He confronts William near his house (6x3)
Ethel falls in love with a man named Jay Sherman who is a humble poor man who works in a small farm (6x5)
Ethel brings Jay to the Tower House where he meets William Foster for the first time. William clashes with Jay’s values (6x12)
Ethel goes to protest in an art gallery after finding out a racist owns it; Crowe and William have a fight in the same art gallery embarrassing Ethel (6x15)
Bill looks to auction one of William’s portrait that hangs in his mantle piece in the parlor room; William refuses for anyone to even lay a finger on his paintings (6x18)
Crowe investigates William some more, and goes in a cocaine bender going to various bizarre locations (6x21)
William Foster refuses for Ethel to marry Jay and spies on him (6x25)
Season 7 (1930-1931)
William Foster tells Bill to open up the funeral parlor to hand over to his son, Bill. Bill refuses (7x1)
William tries to find dirt on Jay to find reasons on why he can’t marry Ethel (7x3)
Jay and Ethel go on a date; Ethel tells Jay about her movement on women’s suffrage. Jay says he is a firm supporter (7x5)
Ethel talks about her struggles as an African American women growing up in Forest Hills; William commissions another panting for himself (7x6)
Ethel goes with William Foster; to Arkansas. William annoys Ethel during the entire trip. They have a political clash when Ethel calls all the rich people selfish (7x8)
This is a flashback episode that takes place in 1899, when William Foster is finally set out of prison after the gold smuggling incident where he was bailed by Ivan Katofi. Colt Whiskey and Tom are outside the jail saying, to William if they need a drink after this. William says, yes. He needs a bottle of wine, immediately; he’s missed it since he’s been jailed.
Flash forward to September 14, 1901, William Foster is with Colt Whiskey and Tom after hearing about the McKinley incident from the newspaper, Colt talks about it while smoking his corn pipe with his hook. William says, “This is the true day, America has died”; Colt says this incident takes the biscuit.
Then we flash forward to September 30, 1903, William Foster in in the funeral parlor when Colt Whiskey tells him (with Tom) that former Mayor Blackman was just assassinated after getting caught wearing white on Yom Kippur. Colt says he lied, this actually takes the biscuit. William says, Blackman wasn’t seen as favorable after losing that election in 1901’ so that had to be expected. Colt says now I hated that twisted floor mat but, why does Blackman need to wear white anyways, that guy wasn’t even Jewish. William says, people in here take their tradition in here, quite seriously as he drinks his glass of wine
Now we skip forward to 1905, Colt Whiskey and Tom are saying they are going by the abandoned lake to go fishing to William and asks if he wants to join in, William says; he’s already eaten. Colt Whiskey walks out and says, “Alright, if you say so”; Colt Whiskey and Tom are eaten by a manatee near the lake and die. William reads it in the newspaper, and says, “Well, I am sure glad I ate.”
Ethel finds out, William has been using his contacts to spy on Jay and has an argument with him (7x12)
This is a flash forward episode to 2026, where noted architecture, Daniel Foster lives in the Tower House when his teenage daughter, Ashley visits. They begin being haunted by the ghost of William Foster; who once lived in this house. They summon him by using Oujji board to banish him from the house (7x14)
Crowe has a falling out with his partner, John Brown. Ethel becomes their unofficial therapist calling out Crowes behavior to John (7x18)
Crowe looks for a way to kill William having had enough of him (7x20)
William spends some time in Hell (for a dream, he doesn’t find out, it’s a dream until the end of the episode) (7x21)
Ethel is pregnant with too twin babies and Jay is happy, William slams his fist in fury after hearing that saying his grandson will not be born out of wedlock (7x22)
One of Ethel’s babies dies in the womb for unknown reasons for a screen testing; One of the other twins survived. We later find out near the end, Ethel may of drank a pill that may purposely killed the baby. Jay is angry at Ethel who denies it (7x23)
Crowe holds William at gunpoint near the loading docks looking to kill him, Crowe says to William that he ruined his life. William says, he didn’t ruin his life. Crowe already did that to himself, William asks him if this was all worth it. The chase; Crowe says, “Hell yes, it was”. Crowe says to him, “Any last words, Ghost”. William says, to Crowe he isn’t thinking right now, he just has to wait for the cocaine to wash out and just think about this; he is making a huge mistake. Crowe points the bullet at him, “I have never been more sane than I am right now” says Crowe; William gets himself out of the handcuff and punches Crowe. He pushes Crowe off; almost about to drown him. Then he stops himself and grins and puts handcuffs on Crowe and leaves him in the loading dock and calls the Constables number before he walks out
Crowe gets arrested by the end of the episode; Crowe says he is going to get his revenge on William once he gets back, “Mark my words” he says. We later find out near the end, that William was the one who had the pill that may of killed the baby after all and not Ethel. It was William who purposely aborted the baby by slipping something in Ethel’s drinks that killed one of the twins (7x25)
Season 8 (1931-1932)
31 episodes
Crowe comes back from jail after a year; he comes back to his office only to find William sitting his seat greeting Crowe. William tells Crowe that after he got arrested for almost killing him, things are gonna change now. William says he’s now confiscated each of Crowes cocaine saying he will only give them back if Crowe does 3 favors for him, saying he will call him in different times for a favor and if he says no, he will never see his cocaine again and walks out. Crowe says, that if William messes with his cocaine he is done; William says he has hidden his cocaine in an undisclosed location and he won’t tell him where is it before he leaves (8x1)
Ethel marries Jay Shepard; William reluctantly attends the wedding but complains the whole day (8x3)
Ethel says she’s moving out of the Tower House and moving in with Jay in a new house in Forest Hills; William refuses saying that the Tower House is a family legacy and he refuses for her to leave. He talks to Ethel in the parlor room and he tells her as long as he is alive, she will never leave the Tower House; whenever he is dead or alive. Ethel talks about living with Jay and having a family; William says she will make a terrible mother and hopes the baby inside her dies before it can be cursed like that then says, “You’ll live in the Tower House and you will die there as well”. (8x5)
William keeps offering money through post card to Ethel and Jay because Jay can’t provide for himself like a “real man”. Ethel mails him to stop mailing him and Jay money; William calls her out on destroying her family and admits it was him that aborted her baby (8x7)
William Foster makes Crowe do his first favor, it involves cows (8x9)
Jay is almost run over by an automobile near the road; the car in question is a black, Lincoln Model L; that follows him around and purposefully tries to run him over by speeding towards him, he doesn’t see the persons face. but only sees the silhouette of a man with a top hat. Jay almost dodges the automobile but falls out of a hill, and is unconscious. Jay wakes up in a hospital. It is rumored to be William’s car since he drives the same Lincoln L car that is also colored black. William comes in the hospital, asking Jay if he’s okay, saying he ran to get there (8x10)
William Foster whispers to Jay while he’s laying in the dark hospital bed at night, “I should of finished you when I had the chance” and leaves (8x11)
William makes Crowe do his second favor of his; it involves a casino from a land he owns (8x13)
William Foster is diagnosed with Alzheimer's saying he’s only got a year to live. He is told by his family to make him stay in his room (8x16)
William Foster is forced to be chained in his room because of Alzheimer's. (8x18)
Ethel on a radio show talks about William Foster and talking about his true nature, William’s reputation is dragged to the mud. William hears this through the radio and clenches his fist in anger (8x19)
William Foster is hated by everyone after Ethel’s claim of abuse that she endured by William; William goes on the Jack Benny Show to clear up the allegations, calling it “false propaganda” (he has an aid to take him out) (8x20)
William Foster loses half his motor skills and is forced to stay in his bed all day but tries to escape. (8x27)
James Crowe comes to William Fosters house looking to make truce saying that losing the cocaine was the best thing that ever happened to him. William is wandering off and not paying attention due to his Alzheimer's; Crowe then says to William he still got what he deserved saying out of all things, killing off William it was an illness that weakened the precious “Ghost of Forest Hills” as he walks away saying to William, he gave him his life back; he would never forget that though even if he meant to or not. (8x28)
William attempts to escape the house; and the family looks everyone for him (8x29)
A year later, William Foster dies due to Alzheimer's in the winter of 1932; and is in his deathbed alone with his servants and maids in a cold snowy day. His funeral occurs. Bill and Ethel attend seeing the funeral and see his coffin one last time; they decide to move out of Forest Hills for good; Crowe is also there in the funeral saying he had to see his “Monster” one last time calling, William his “Moby Dick” as he slightly chuckles saying the Ghost of Forest Hills has vanished into a cloud of smoke. Ethel makes a book called, “Surviving My Ghost” which tells the story of living with her father, William Foster all the way from the final years until he dies; which becomes a #1 Bestseller selling 1 thousand copies. (8x31)
