Mayfair Witches Season 1 Ep 1 is the first chapter of an American supernatural thriller drama television series created by Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford, based on the novel trilogy Lives of the Mayfair Witches by Anne Rice. The series stars Alexandra Daddario as Dr. Rowan Fielding, Harry Hamlin as Cortland Mayfair, Tongayi Chirisa as Ciprien Grieve and Jack Huston as Lasher. It is the second television series set in Rice’s Immortal Universe. (Wikipedia)
S P O I L E R S
Entitled “The Witching Hour”, Mayfair Witches Season 1 Ep 1 failed miserably as a series introduction. The background to protagonist Dr. Fielding was a confused mess. Two similar incidents are presented to demonstrate Fielding’s supernatural powers. Essentially, in a fit of anger, Fielding visualised body parts bursting in her ‘enemies’ and two men die in front of her. However, the depictions came across more like super-powers than magical, which was strange.
In order to explain Fielding’s powers, Mayfair Witches Season 1 Ep 1 flashbacks to show her birth mother Deidre’s relationship with the enigmatic Lasher – who is either a warlock or demon of sorts, not very clear – and her subsequent pregnancy engineered by her uncle Cortland Mayfair. Deidre’s daughter is taken from her by her Aunt and she is kept in a catatonic drugged out state for decades. Apparently, Fielding’s powers have been dormant for years but has suddenly returned. Could this have anything to do with the mysterious new doctor helping Deidre to wake up from her catatonia? Who knows?
Two main problems we have with this opening chapter. One, there is no witchcraft being shown at all. Where’s the spell-casting, magical symbols or the ritual objects commonly associated with the genre? Non-existent. That’s why Fielding comes across more like a superhero than a witch. Ridiculous. Second, while Alexandra Daddario is certainly easy on the eye, her wooden performance conveys very little of the internal conflict that her character must be experiencing with the traumatic return of her powers.
There’s nothing much in Mayfair Witches Season 1 Ep 1 to suggest that this series would be worth the time and effort of diehard horror enthusiasts or Anne Rice fans. It has to get a lot better to do that.
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