Mayfair Witches (Season 1 Finale), Episode 8: Tying up the loose ends shouldn’t have to be so drab. With six exceedingly enticing episodes, AMC’s gothic horror Mayfair Witches hinged itself to some of the unforgettable masterpieces of the genre and proved that it was more than just a fluke. Too bad a fantastic start and hopeful development don’t pledge an equally fulfilling epilogue.
Letting down Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe and the riveting characters the show painstakingly and loyally developed, What Rough Beast rains over the parade. Rowan is the only character, steady through and through, with a timorous edge that times her effervescent powers and epitomizes her fear of acknowledging her full potential, played by an incredible Alexandra Daddario, who is, hopefully, just getting started on the promising path she has long deserved.
Mayfair Witches (Season 1 Finale), Episode 8 Recap:
“What Rough Beast”
Rowan Through The Times
We probably had our hopes too high for Tessa’s chances of survival. Going through it all unlocked the rage that she herself keeps confined in Rowan. The fate that the hunters saw fit for Tessa is the same fate that Rowan wants for Tessa’s killer. Lasher couldn’t deny the fervid call of his favorite witch. Especially not when he has been called to do something for which he doesn’t need a nudge. Following his witch’s order, Lasher snakes through the woods to find Keith and burns him alive, along with the hut he was hiding in.
Healing Rowan’s wound may be easy as pie for Lasher, but he would rather she does so herself. She can’t be washed ashore when swimming in the erratic ocean of magic is her calling. Rowan is guided to a spectral state designed by Lasher. She has flown through time and landed in Suzanne’s home. The first Mayfair witch had left behind the formidable entirety of her mystical knowledge etched on the walls to be absorbed by the 13th witch, Rowan. Touching the scriptures of her ancestor, Rowan heals herself, and the smile on her face is of a witch bemused by the extent of her own power. She plays with a jittery flame in her palm before diving into hellfire itself and giving into Lasher’s ethereal charm.
It proves to be perplexing for Rowan as she wakes up to find that her pregnancy has skipped all the expected stages, and now she is almost about to go into labor. Eluding her visually, Lasher’s echoing voice promises Rowan that he will meet her at the witching hour. He doesn’t pause to allow Rowan the time to collect herself and thrusts her into a cruel passage of time. In a crumbling phantasm of being pushed and prodded, Rowan sees each of the Mayfair designees waiting faithfully for the unholy hour before reaching Deirdre, the only one with a discernible voice. Her despairing calls to Lasher weren’t answered because Lasher himself is the unearthly child who is growing within Rowan, waiting for centuries to gain his human embodiment.
Ciprien Hardly Knows Talamasca
Ciprien’s boss possesses a power that is hard for his secret organization to remember, for his power is memory erasure. Sitting helplessly in the car, Ciprien has come to know that it was Cortland who murdered Deirdre, and his boss scrubbed down the elevator and rid it of any trace of the crime. What doesn’t sit right with Ciprien is just one claim that the chief has made. If Talamasca is a silent spectator, why did he get involved in covering up a witch’s murder? Ciprien avoids getting his memory wiped by convincing him that Rowan being pregnant with his child makes him an essential part of the ancient prophecy’s fulfillment.
What Cip discovers through the mask that Cortland wore on the night of Deirdre conceiving Rowan comes as a jarring shock. Not only did he kill the man Deirdre went to bed with, but he also raped Deirdre in her sleep and impregnated her with Rowan. By the time Ciprien rushes out to find Cortland, he has already dragged Rowan to the Mayfair mausoleum and is waiting for the fulfillment of the prophecy. Odette has made a grave mistake. Anxious for her brother, she has given a call to Talamasca. While ridding her memories of any knowledge that can pose a risk to Talamasca’s secret endeavors, the chief finds a way for her to be useful to them.
Mayfair Witches (Season 1 Finale), Episode 8 Ending, Explained:
Who Does Rowan Give Birth To?
Worlds, times, and generations collide when Rowan’s ancestor Suzanne’s spirit, assists her in giving a prophetic birth. Before Rowan can even begin to expect what may be coming, she is knee-deep in labor. Suzanne gently guides the first-time mother through a difficult birth as Cortland watches it all take place away from everyone’s eyes.
As the awaited witching hour falls, Lasher is born in the form of a human child. From the moment Rowan holds him in her arms, her motherly instincts inevitably kick in, and all of her jittery doubts wash away. This isn’t the Lasher that Rowan has been caught up in a frenzied back and forth with. This is a child who holds more power than the world could ever imagine and a mother who is a ferocious witch.
It comes as no surprise that Cortland and the Talamasca have been in cahoots over the supernatural birth of the most powerful being on the planet. They have no use of Rowan. Any lactating woman would suffice. To have a hold on Lasher’s power and harness is all that the Talamasca wishes for. But they forget that the baby that was born isn’t without memories. And his mother isn’t an ordinary being. When Cortland celebrates the immortality that he has been granted for seeing to an uninterrupted fulfillment of the prophecy, Rowan turns him to stone.
Ciprien is doing exactly what Lasher warned him against. Though it is meant to be for her own good, Ciprien’s gesture comes off as controlling to Rowan. He means to take her child away from her so as to keep her from being controlled by Lasher. Rowan takes an offensive stance with thunder and lightning cracking down on earth. There’s no love on earth as precious to the powerful witch as the love she has for her son. Season 2 will probably have Lasher growing faster than even Rowan can imagine. The promise of an eerie mother-son dynamic keeps the hope alive for a season that will have a sterner commitment to the intriguing narrative.
