#it'll be interesting to see what amc does without a text to fully base it off

[pynkhues]

I haven't watched Mayfair, but did you see the first season of White Lotus? AD really impressed me in that (thinking of one scene in particular but I don't want to spoil anything if you haven't seen it and might), but that's really the only thing I've seen her in that I can think of. I want to watch MW to support the larger universe AMC is trying to create or whatever, but I just keep hearing such mediocre things. Hopefully Talamasca will be better.

I have not seen The White Lotus! Or, well, I did watch the first ep I think when the show dropped, and just wasn't in the frame of mind for it, and have struggled for some reason to return to it? It's definitely still on my list though, and I keep meaning to watch it properly. I've seen AD in a lot though over the years, and - - yeah. I don't think I find her as outright bad as some people do (I do think better directors draw better performances out of her / good scene partners make her better, which as I mentioned in the tags of the last post, definitely happens in Mayfair), but I don't think I've ever been impressed by her either? I'm pretty open-minded with actors though - I strongly believe that they can grow and evolve and different creative teams can coax different performances out of them! - so I'm definitely keen to check out her performance in The White Lotus given what you've said!

As for Mayfair Witches, I'm now halfway through s2, and I think I can pretty comfortably put it in the category of shows which I find the most frustrating, because I actually don't think it's mediocre. I think it's got sumptious production values and interesting stories and a rich world, and a constant flirtation with a show that's better than it is. It's certainly not at the calibre of show that IWTV is, but it also does genuinely have these moments where it's really, really good! There have been a number of sequences that I've thought were pretty great television - the first and last thrall sequences in 1.05 in particular really stand out to me as being very well done (so the one with Rowan and Ciprien, and the one with Rowan and Carlotta - again, it's the sequence with Rowan and Lasher in the middle that didn't work for me [also I LOVE the bit where Arjuna pulls the knife in Ciprien out of herself during the spell, that's what I want out of my witchy show!!]) - and I genuinely love the sequences whenever they let Rowan be a doctor, especially because they always make it about her being a witch, even when she doesn't realise she is one.

I really think the show thrives too when it lives up to its title and is about the Mayfair Witches, not so specifically about Rowan. I think most of my favourite scenes have been the 'full-house' sequences, where the NOLA townhouses have been packed to the rafters with witches. It feels like the writers, actors, and directors are all having the most fun when they're balancing the need for these characters to cast joint spells with the interpersonal family dynamics, and it brings an energy to the show that doesn't exist in scenes focused just on Rowan, Lasher or Ciprien. It works for me too, because I feel it's in those big coven sequences that the show feels most in conversation with IWTV in rich and rewarding ways - it's dealing with similar themes of familial trauma, abuse, identity, abandonment, sexual violence and incest, but where IWTV explores it through such tunnel vision as those characters outlive their families, those sequences in MW remind us that it's just as isolating when it happens in a huge family, where you are constantly entangled with, and still dependent on, each other.

There's a suffocation in both, but it's different, and I think that's the most interesting territory for these two shows to explore together. It's really pretty similar themes, but the contexts are so different that they reveal more of each other in that way than the silly little creature crossover they just did in 2.03 did. It's not the monsters sharing these worlds that are interesting, its the idea that these same traumas exist despite power, despite sex, despite era, despite family size, despite species.

Creatively, I think that's exciting, but unfortunately, that's not what they're focused on, and a lot of the stuff around what's really good is pretty definitively Not Good. A lot of the characters are underwritten, they minimise the big family sequences when I really feel the show would be better leaning fully into them, they frequently isolate Rowan, Lasher and Ciprien as characters, while just....honestly not making their individual stories compelling enough on their own to follow. It's - - yeah. Not mediocre, I don't think, but more frustrating, because I really do think there's a great show in here somewhere, and you occasionally get glimpses of it, but yeah. Not often enough unfortunately.

I do think it's actually worth checking out though, and I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people are saying it is at all. I also do think s2 is better than s1 (so far at least), so hopefully if it gets renewed for s3, it'll keep getting better :-)