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The second season of AMC’sMayfair Witcheshas been a bumpy ride thus far, with ups and downs and abrupt twists and turns. The TV series, adapted from Anne Rice’sLives of the Mayfair Witchesnovels, has taken creative liberties to engage new viewers unfamiliar with the source material and attempts to stay true to some aspects of Rice’s original writing to entice fans of the book series. The execution of creative freedom blended with the source material from the bookshas received mixed reactions, especially in the most recent episode, “Julien’s Victrola,” where shocking revelations were made and left fans divided on the showrunners' vision for the storyline.
Episode 5 of Season 2 saw the return of fan-favorite character Julien Mayfair (Ted Levine)as Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario) seeks answers from him about the whereabouts of Lasher (Jack Huston) and the Talamasca. Since he was once the head of the Mayfair family, Julien knew everything about Lasher as he formed an intimate connection with him that earned him Lasher’s trust and quickly became his confidante. Rowan knows that to find where the Talamasca has hidden Lasher, she has to communicate with Julien. Once again, Levinegave a delicious performanceas Julien. Still, some family secrets surfaced in this episode that left fans disgruntled about their favorite character and the pacing of Lasher’s storyline.
Dark Family Secrets Find the Light in ‘Mayfair Witches’
Mayfair Witches
Episode 5 picked up right where Episode 4 left off. Rowan casts a spell to send her consciousness into Julien’s victrola, and the two come face-to-face, a highly anticipated meeting. The meeting between the two is contentious, and Levine and Daddario’s chemistry is palpable on the screen, giving viewers an exciting episode.
Rowan has her work cut out for her as Julien has his guard up, creating a game of cat and mouse.He’s a manipulative characterwho takes joy in creating hurdles for people he doesn’t care for, and Rowan appears to be just that. Once she notices that this meeting isn’t going anywhere, Rowan decides to leave Julien’s netherworld, forgetting that once someone is in his territory, he has complete control. She decides to defy him and ends up splitting her personality in two: her intellect remains with Julien while her emotions return to the land of the living.
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As she “wakes up” from the spell, she’s not herself, and no one around seems to notice that the spell has backfired. Julien’s intent is for the hourglass to run out and Rowan to die, and she’s in a panic for most of the episode while attempting to outwit Julien to get the answers she needs to find Lasher. While Rowan is entertaining Julien’s scheming, Cortland Mayfair (Harry Hamlin) and Moira Mayfair (Alyssa Jirrels) are working to unlock the hidden memories in Cortland’s mind, which was courtesy of his father Julien.
Both Rowan and Cortland uncover Julien’s plan to keep his secret familyhidden from the Mayfairs. Julien’s family is hidden away in Donnelaith, a mythical place in Scotland, and that’s where Lasher was taken to by the Talamasca. With little sand left in the hourglass, Rowan’s emotional self puts the puzzle together and pulls herself out from Julien’s netherworld. Cortland, Rowan, Moira, and Sam “Lark” Larkin (Ben Feldman) plan to head to Scotland to get Lasher back.
Creative Freedom Comes With a Price in ‘Mayfair Witches’
It’s no secret thatMayfair Witcheshas disappointed some fans with the creative liberties the showrunners have taken for the sake of following a formula while other creative choices have elevated the storyline.The decision for Julien to have fathered a family outside of the Mayfairs and become a villain who turns against them resulted in a negative response from the fans. Tumblr user@sam-reidsaid:
AMC Mayfair Witches gave me the gift of Ted Levine who plays julien so brilliantly, with all his flamboyance and razor-sharp wit and cunning, but then they go and fuck me (and him) over by including some bullshit plot twist that he has a secret family in Scotland and doesn’t care about the family in New Orleans at all
ESTA, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME
Also, how the hell are you including the Taltos and lasher being st. ashlar this early in the story, and you can’t even get JULIEN RIGHT. Why does Esta like to grossly mischaracterize all my faves?
Another fan account from Bluesky expressed that Albrecht and Julien being lovers gave the storyline more depth and is tying loose threads together, creating a cohesive narrative.@gorrei-vc.bsky.socialsaid:
Albrecht being a past lover of Julien was not on my bingo card, but made so much more sense to the story.
The show is struggling to find its footing, and every episode breeds some form of disappointment from the viewers, whether they are fans of the source material or new to Rice’s universe.
Is Lasher’s ‘Mayfair Witches’ Storyline Introduced Too Early?
The last two episodes of the second season of the AMC series reference an entity called the Taltos. The first mention comes in Episode 4 when Moira touches Julien’s victrola and seemingly reads his mind. The second reference is in Episode 5, when Rowan is trying to pry answers from Julien and when Ian Mayfair (Ian Pirie) and Albrecht are talking to Lasher at the end of the episode. What is a taltos? A taltos in Rice’s universe is an ancient race of humanoid creatures born from a crossbreeding between a human and a non-human entity, and all signs point to Lasher being one of these creatures, as he’s born from a Mayfair witch.
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Hints of a crossover between Anne Rice’s witches and vampires have been in development for a while.
As mentioned before,some fans think this storyline is being introduced a little too earlyand are concerned about how this will impact the future of the series. This creative choice could stem from wanting to keep new viewers engaged with the overall story and taking the risk of losing lifelong fans ofRice’s original work. The only thing to do is to keep tuning in to see how the creators see this storyline unfolding for the remainder of the season and how it could lead into a potential third season.Mayfair Witchesis streaming onAMC+.
