Mayfair Witches (Season 1) Episode 2: It may not be an easy ride for Rowan, but it’s an intriguing ride for us. The second episode of the AMC gothic drama hits all the right notes and reassures the promises it had made with the fantastic pilot. Rejecting the norm of choosing a side right off the bat, Mayfair Witches provides a fair ground for both sides to submit their cases.
While it may be too soon for us to pick a side, the moral dilemma only adds to the fascinating tension the show has built around its enigmatic characters. Despite the narrative’s rapid pace, we can still hardly claim any intensive knowledge of their inner workings. Here’s to the possibility of a charming, revelatory ride down the line as well.
Mayfair Witches (Season 1) Episode 2 Recap:
The Dark Place
We are brought back to a gloomy 1681 Scottish forest to witness what I presume is the origin story of the Mayfair witches. Foraging for herbs in the woods, a girl sees a man lurking in the background, waiting for her sister Suzanne’s attention. Suzanne seems to be in an unpleasant but pre-planned sexual arrangement with the man.
As she performs the service that is asked of her, a wave of mystique washes over them with flying flocks and whispers of her name. While that is all we see of the olden days now, Suzanne’s story is something that is likely to come up again.
In the present day, Rowan (Daddario) channels the aching grief of her adoptive mother’s death through an extensive look into her birth. But calling the agency that supposedly was responsible for her adoption only confuses Rowan even further.
The agency that Ellie claimed to have found her from wasn’t even established when Rowan was adopted. If the death of Ellie and learning that she had been lying to her wasn’t hard enough on Rowan’s mental state, she is also increasingly visited by Lasher (Huston) in her fevered state of being.
Drowning herself in work isn’t really working out for Rowan either, especially with Dr. Keck keeping his hawk eyes on her. When she is sent to talk to the workplace therapist, agitated Rowan ends up giving the therapist what seems to be a migraine at first but turns into a scary nosebleed with the blink of an eye.
Running out before she causes yet another death, Rowan finds her car covered in bird droppings. The flock of birds and the ghostly whispers of her name take us back to the first sequence of Suzanne experiencing the same. Her anxiety-induced mystical powers make birds drop dead on her car, and the miserable Rowan takes them to the beach for a frantic burial.
Ciprien Grieve (Tongayi Chirisa) has been keeping an eye on Rowan. We also get a clearer look at his powers. His telesthetic abilities allow Ciprien to know of the happenings in Rowan’s life just by touching the objects in her boat. He insists on telling Rowan her truth before she goes down the rabbit hole of psychosis but is stopped by another agent.
When she wakes up from her nap on the beach, Rowan notices Ciprien. However, she thinks that he is someone Dr. Keck has sent to keep an eye on her. In any case, it isn’t her own safety she is worried about around Ciprien. It is her fear of accidentally killing him like she did Lemle that compels her to keep a distance. When Ciprien does grab her arm, the cryptic visions he gets are too much for his mind to bear, and they make him pass out.
While Ciprien is unconscious in the ambulance, Rowan manages to obtain his phone, only to discover pictures of her and Ellie and Deirdre in New Orleans. Before she can catch up to Ciprien, he has already fled. New Orleans-bound Rowan is completely in the dark about the unnerving truths she will find once she gets there.
Deirdre, on the other hand, is getting close to waking up from her comatose state. Her mind is a refuge for her consciousness to roam free in the soothing presence of Lasher. Knowing that her daughter is near only makes her even more impatient to break free. And she does so through the sheer will she derives from her longing for Rowan. With Deirdre now awake, so is Lasher.
Deirdre and Rowan are getting increasingly closer to finding each other, with Lasher being the bridge that binds their subconscious together, and that, too, psychosomatically. As we see in the disturbing montage of Deirdre being intimate with Lasher and Rowan feeling it physically on her flight, the mother and daughter are coiled together in the creepy designs of the devil.
When Deirdre does wake up, the first thing she does is run to her uncle Cortland’s house. There she finds the enabling nudge and her agency over her abilities to unleash the powerful witch that she is. Through Lasher’s eyes, she sees Rowan in the New Orleans hotel. But Ciprien Grieve has also found her, and he convinces her to meet with him. What Rowan learns about her house from a deceptive hotel tour guide does not surprise the girl who is already experiencing unexplainable abilities.
Mayfair Witches (Season 1) Episode 2, Ending, Explained:
How close does Rowan get to finding her birth mother?
Lasher thrives in the darkest corners of his two favorite witches’ minds. It isn’t that he intentionally places them in the grim circumstances of instability. But in their lowest state of being, Rowan and Deirdre are the most vulnerable to Lasher’s schemes. He notices how protective Deirdre is of her daughter already.
Nevertheless, he still needs her to get close to the young witch. At the hotel lobby, Deirdre runs into a shocked Carlotta. Carlotta wonders if the new doctor is behind it all, not knowing what has really happened. While the doctor’s refusal to administer the paralyzing medication may have contributed to Deirdre’s awakening, she would not have found the strength to fight back if it hadn’t been for Lasher.
Rowan, having no clue how close she is to her birth mother, gets ready to go out and meet Ciprien. Carlotta continues to try and convince Deirdre that her daughter is dead and she should go back home. With Lasher having her back, Deirdre isn’t giving in to the manipulations of her aunt anymore. She has been abused and shackled to a wheelchair for the longest period of her life.
As she goes up to the elevator to finally meet her beloved daughter, Deirdre is brimming with excitement. The door opens to a smiling Rowan, instantly realizing that she is looking at her mother, only for a mysterious cut to appear on Deirdre’s neck. In front of Rowan’s horrified eyes, Deirdre falls prey to the cruel claws of death.
The cliffhanger of Deirdre’s murder appears to be balanced on a fine tightrope. With both sides having more than enough reasons and prowess to pull off the monstrous gruesomeness, the identity of Deirdre’s murderer remains a mystery. If we are to consider that her aunts murdered Deirdre’s mother to stop her from giving in to Lasher’s seduction, it is fairly reasonable to assume that they would do anything they could to stop Deirdre.
But at the same time, Lasher also could’ve killed Deirdre to make sure that she couldn’t stand in the way of him seducing her daughter. Lasher’s long-drawn scheme of bringing Deirdre to that particular circumstance might have been a part of his plan to get hold of the infinitely more powerful witch, Rowan.
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Mayfair Witches (Season 1), Episode 2 Show Links – IMDb, Wikipedia
Mayfair Witches (Season 1), Episode 2 Show Cast – Alexandra Daddario, Jack Huston, Tongayi Chirisa, Beth Grant
Where to watch Mayfair Witches
