Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches – Curiouser and Curiouser

By starrymag | February 5, 2023

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

Last week’s episode found a drugged Rowan finally getting a taste of Lasher’s powers at a funeral celebration in New Orleans. This week is Deidre’s funeral and while her Uncle Cortland has his party shoes on for the big burial send-off, Rowan, Ciprien and Carlotta are the ones who turn up the heat on this funeral-family reunion in “Curiouser and Curiouser.”

Lasher on the Loose

 

“She’s in heaven,” the village priest tells the devastated Suzanne (Hannah Aline) as he gives a bear attack victim her last rights. Suzanne is tormented by the fact the woman died on her watch, but did she actually go to heaven? Not if you ask the coven of witches who secretly invite Suzanne to the actual funeral in the woods. From the light of the torch flames, she watches as the witches dance and scream in mourning. It isn’t long before Suzanne joins in and somehow her pain transcends time and meshes with Rowan Fielding’s (Alexandria Daddario) sex dreams. After imagining herself in bed with Ciprien Grieves (Tongayi Chirisa) wearing Deidre’s necklace, Rowan’s body morphs into Lasher’s (Jack Huston) and the shock from it wakes her from her dream.

In the kitchen things are less demonic as Ciprien makes breakfast and Rowan snoops through his apartment decor. He knows everything about her but all Rowan can figure out is that he is a fan of baseball and duck hunting and maybe knows a thing or two about maple syrup collecting. He assures her there is no maple grove in his past. In fact, memorabilia of his own isn’t his thing. “Other people’s memories are cleaner,” he admits. Today will be a memorable one, albeit not one that is accompanied by a smile. It is  Deidre’s (Annabeth Gish) funeral and Ciprien vows to be by her daughter’s side the whole time.

Cut to Aunt Carlotta (Beth Grant) who heads down to the basement where she locked Delphine (Deneen Tyler) in with Lasher’s necklace. After days of bashing her own head in, all that’s left of the housekeeper is a bloody stump where her head should be. And that isn’t the only thing that’s missing; Lasher’s necklace is also gone. That can only mean one thing: he is coming for Rowan.

Over at Cortland’s (Harry Hamlin) house, his daughter Josephine AKA JoJo (Jen Richards), tells him to get ready for the funeral because Rowan could use the support knowing Carlotta will swoop in before the rest of the family has a chance to speak with her. He isn’t jumping at the chance to say goodbye to his niece or be in the presence of his sister, but he does say he hopes they find the woman’s killer. JoJo says whether they do or not, the killer will be punished. Cortland is surprised by this and asks her if she saw it, and that’s when we cut to a parking garage with a crazed man screaming for help and holding his head. In a manic fit, the man tries to leap off the top floor of the garage but is tackled by two men before he can make it over the railing. He is tormented, but by what, whom, and why?

Still working on controlling her brain-zapping skills, Rowan pauses her lizard-exploding game to head to the worst family reunion/funeral combination imaginable. Coincidentally, as she is concentrating on little green brains, the man at the parking garage is losing his mind. Rowa is unaware of the connection or really any connection but thankfully Ciprien quietly tells her the stories behind some of the relatives at the service. It isn’t long before Carlotta approaches and escorts Rowan to the front of the church to give her respect. The whole family is watching, even Cortland, who practically hisses when he sees his sister guiding Rowan. We see him privately snip a lock of Deidre’s hair and cover her neck scar with his handkerchief. After saying his goodbyes, Rowan approaches the casket and immediately the doors to the church magically fling open and rain down rose petals. The moment is a reminder of his displays of love for Deidre from the first episode.

 

Strong Mayfair Women

 

Later, at the graveyard, Ciprien tells Rowan work called and he has to leave. They think they found the person who killed her mother in the elevator. What happened to Ciprien Grieves’ life’s work to protect the Mayfair child? Rowan is surrounded by warring witches and demonic love bombers, and now he decides to head into the office. After he leaves Rowan heads over to the family’s mausoleum where she spots her name, Rowan Mayfair, on a family gravestone. This must be why everyone keeps staring at her; it’s as if they saw a ghost. Her Aunt Carlotta says it’s not a ghost they’re looking at but a miracle. She goes on to say that Rowan must have questions and if she wants answers she can do so back at the house. She is planning a little get-together and invites her grandniece to join her. When Rowan hesitates, Carlotta says she has some of Deidre’s belongings she is sure the woman would want her daughter to have. This prompts Rowan to show up at the Mayfair house where she is welcomed into the library full of family photos and an eerily evil breeze blowing through the windows. Enter Carlotta with a rosary for Rowan accompanied by photos of Ellie (Erica Gimpel) who she says was the Mayfair’s cousin. Having no idea what Rowan knows about the family and legacy, she dives right into the truth about why she gave her away to Ellie. Carlotta never mentions his name-she doesn’t have to, Rowan makes it clear she knows a little about him- who shall not be named. This sets Carlotta’s mind at ease knowing the hard part of the story is over and now they can focus on educating her on her powers and the dangers that lurk. She says she is thankful that Ellie raised a strong and independent woman-someone Deidre never was. She has faith in Rowan’s ability to reject the advances of the devil just like she did when she was an 8-year-old girl. Deidre welcomed him forcing Carlotta to do everything she could to insure Rowan wouldn’t fall victim to that same fate. Their walk down childhood trauma lane ends abruptly when Cortland makes a boisterous entrance demanding his curmudgeon of a sister, lighten up, and give the dearly departed a joyful goodbye.

Back to Ciprien and Samir (Ravi Naidu) is eager to tell him the news: they found Deidre’s killer hiding in a man they stopped from throwing himself off of a parking garage. Bound to a chair, the man is in obvious torture as he jerks back in forth begging for someone to end things. Ciprien takes off his gloves to read his memories and sees he was the one who killed Deidre, but it looked like a professional hit. Odd, considering the distraught man’s neck instantly snaps and we see the hazy form of Lasher shed his skin like a snake. We later find out that the man was in and out of prison and in fact hired to kill Deidre Mayfair. Who hired him, they aren’t sure but Lasher possessed and killed him as payback for the murder. That doesn’t explain the fact Cipren couldn’t see those images when he tried to read the elevator. Someone with paranormal powers washed the imprint off and he is ready to look into it. That idea is squashed by a higher-up named Albrecht (Dennis Boutsikaris) who reminds him that his job is to keep the young Fielding woman safe.

Back at the funeral, things get very awkward when the family members start talking Rowan’s ear off. One young Mayfair who goes by Tessa (Madison Wolfe), seems star-struck over the Stanford-educated doctor and calls her the perfect “designee” for the family. Josephine steps in to end that line of conversation by offering the overwhelmed doctor a drink-which she gladly accepts if only to remove herself from the confusing family vibes. She recognizes JoJo as someone she saw at the funeral procession the night before and asks the woman if she happened to notice a man with her. The whole graveyard congo line was a bit hazy but Josephine says she didn’t see any man. Then Rowan asks her what “designee” means and the woman takes her to the dining room adorned with family portraits hanging on the walls. One by one she describes each of the twelve women but points out Deidre was never allowed to hang her image on the wall. In fact, Carlotta never even told her she owned the house they’re standing in; the same one that has now been passed down to the designee. “That’s you,” she says because this family has a 300-year-old tradition of women passing down everything to their daughters. Josephine tells her she needs to speak to her father, Cortland, who is the executor of the estate. Not only is the house hers, but so is that necklace she sees painted around the necks of all 12 of her ancestors. A necklace that Cortland is tearing Deidre’s dressers apart looking for.

 

The Devil Loves a Good BBQ

 

Rowan does talk to Cortland-who blows her mind with his own takes on their family dynamics and the evil being her aunt wants her to fear. He claims Lasher is an extension of her now and a gift that could tie her to past Mayfair matriarchs. Carlotta spots the two chatting and freaks out. She pulls Rowan away from her uncle but the two siblings start to fight over her. Cortland blames Carlotta for locking Deidre up like a prisoner, but his sister fires back that she was just making sure Deidre survived. She says their niece was mentally unwell and she has the medical records to back that up. With that half-truth, Cortland ends the festivities and leaves with his daughter JoJo-who worries over leaving her new cousin with her fanatic aunt. Cortland reminds his daughter that Rowan is never alone; Lasher is always with her.

And he is always watching, as Rowan meanders her way through her mother’s home she hears his whispers that lead her to Deidre’s bedroom. There, she finds her mother’s necklace and in the worst decision she could make, takes off the rosary Carlotta gave her and replaces it with the necklace. Rowan instantly has a moment with Lasher where Carlotta sees her worst nightmare unfolding.

Meanwhile, Ciprien is still at work and discovers a series of letters tucked inside the Mayfair files. Love letters, diary entries and even a sketch of one of those matriarchs weaning the necklace captures his attention. He is determined to learn as much as he can about this family if he is going to protect Rowan. Speaking of, she interrupts his studies by sending him a photo of the necklace from the sketch. She lets him know it is the same one from her dream that morning. This is enough for Ciprien to leave work and head over to the mansion to check on her, but he is too late. Carlotta and Rowan just sat down to a very awkward meal where her aunt defames her mother’s memory by saying Deidre was the bane of her existence. She calls her a waste of time and prayers when she could have been focusing on her daughter instead. Carlotta starts praying and asks the matriarch’s souls to be saved, and that’s when her aunt turns on her. Carlotta sets the room on fire, trapping Rowan inside! The crazed woman goes on the attack and just as she is about to stab Rowan, Ciprien comes crashing through the door to save her but Carlotta stabs him instead! Rowan manages to drag Ciprien out of the room before the entire home starts to go up in flames. That’s when Lasher shows himself.  He whispers to Carlotta that Ciprien is his now and then slams the door shut, trapping them all inside. No one is leaving the Mayfair Mansion alive.