Review
So how do you adapt a book of over 1,000 pages chronicling generations of Mayfair women who are haunted by a familiar whose ultimate goal is to get one of them pregnant long enough for him to take over the foetus and be reborn? You do it by completely stripping out most of the content of the book and creating insipid characters who are nothing like their book counterparts. I can’t remember the last time I was so disappointed in a book adaptation and it underlines the risk inherent when a book you enjoyed ends up getting so badly treated. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, they do the unforgivable and write out one of your favourite characters, Michael Curry, so they can create a whole new love interest in the shape of Ciprien Grieve, an agent of the Talamasca, who doesn’t even exist in the trilogy.
The first episode introduces us to Rowan Fielding, a successful neurosurgeon, who is unaware of her connection to the Mayfair family and is becoming increasingly confused by her abilities to heal during surgery when she pictures the neural pathways inside her head. Rowan is even more worried when an argument with her immediate superior results in her almost killing him wth the same power. As Rowan struggles with her powers and the news her adoptive mother is terminally ill, the story moves to New Orleans where we learn Rowan’s real mother, Deirdre Mayfair, has been in a catatonic state for decades after being told her baby died in childbirth. Through flashbacks, we get a glimpse into the manipulative machinations of the Mayfair family and meet Lasher for the first time.
Rowan finally makes her way to New Orleans where Ciprien tells her about the Mayfair family, Lasher and the Talamasca, however her newly awakened mother is murdered before they get to meet each other. Drawn into the family after the death of Deirdre, Rowan learns that she is the 13th Mayfair witch and the new designee. Not everyone in the family is happy that Rowan has returned and many of her new relatives have their own agenda, but Rowan becomes increasingly troubled when she has disturbing visions of the witches who came before her. Before long, Rowan discovers she is pregnant and it appears an ancient prophecy is about to be fulfilled.
One of the biggest problems in this show is with the casting because as pretty as Alexandra Daddario might be, she is just not convincing as Rowan Mayfair and comes across as rather bland. Ciprien is given the same psychic power as Michael Curry so he can see images when he touches objects and this is used as a plot device to reveal details about some of the previous witches along with Rowan’s visions. As well as being a replacement for Michael, Ciprien was also blended with the elderly Aaron Lightner, the original Talamasca agent in the novels. The flashbacks are mainly to do with Suzanne, the first Mayfair witch, who was tried as a witch in Scotland in 1681 – don’t even get me started on the bad Scottish accents.
Then we come to Lasher, the demon spirit called up by Suzanne, who has attached himself to the Mayfair witches for generations and manipulates each designee into carrying out his will through seduction. The Lasher we are presented with on the show is none of these things and is a huge disappointment in his complete ordinariness. Lasher can appear to more than one Mayfair and we are introduced to a dizzying array of them who come and go throughout the series, some of whom have no book counterparts, and others like Cortland Mayfair who are surprisingly alive since he died the same year Rowan was born in the book.
I don’t mind changes to a book when it is being adapted for television as it is sometimes necessary to simplify things to drive the narrative forward but it is hard to accept that all that rich mythology in the book was just thrown away. Some of the previous witches in the book were fascinating characters in their own right, like the cross-dressing Mary Beth or the only male designee, Julian, and it is a shame we are not getting to meet them. Sadly, the series we do get is a bit of a mess.
