S01.E05: The Thrall

[Mr. Sparkle]

Trapped in the First Street House, Rowan and Sip must confront its many mysteries in order to escape; Rowan grapples with an inconceivable offer; Sip's sister Odette makes a horrifying discovery.

Streaming on AMC+ 23.02.02 and airing on AMC 23.02.05. 

Proceed at your own risk for spoilers before the AMC airdate.

[Ohiopirate02]

Good lord, this episode was bad.  The show keeps on getting progressively worse, and I am left wondering if the writers even read the book they are adapting.  The Susannah flashbacks continue to add nothing to the narrative and read like they could be from any other IP dealing with 17th century witches.  Nothing is making them read as something coming from Anne Rice.  Lasher's plans for Rowan remain vague and nonsensical.  I'm also wondering where the show is wasting their budget, because that head necklace from Claires was bad. 

And the reveal that Carlotta murdered Antha fell flat.  This version of Carlotta reads to me like she should be one of the Lifetime V.C. Andrews villains instead of something from Anne Rice.  There's no menace just crazy religious freak.    

[Glade]

The Scottish flashbacks are so tedious, so generic.  Compare them to say, the flashbacks that we got in Penny Dreadful and it's atrocious.  Lasher looked like a middle aged Italian opera singer this episode.  So have Sip and Rowan ever had sex or even kissed outside of dream-states?  I like them together, but I've lost track of what is supposed to be real or "count" as far as their relationship goes.  I guess the scenes with the two of them and Ciprien interacting with the Talamasca ghost were an improvement from last week, but everything else was really bad.   Does Lasher have fire extinguishing powers that also cleaned up the fire/smoke damage? The bottle episode setup is itself a tired cliche.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Every time I think "hey, maybe this isn't so bad!" it gets bad. It's really Lasher that's killing this show, but Rowan isn't much better. The scenes with the two of them were laughable. 

[snickers]

On 2/3/2023 at 9:22 AM, Ohiopirate02 said:

This version of Carlotta reads to me like she should be one of the Lifetime V.C. Andrews villains instead of something from Anne Rice.  There's no menace just crazy religious freak.    

🤣 at least she’s no more - I hope

this show is still a big bag of problems - but- I actually felt this was the best episode so far 🤷🏽‍♀️ from what we’ve been given which sets the bar very, very low 

but we had sip ( I guess this is what we are calling him now 😆) and Rowan action for a lot of this episode ( can’t stand Rowan but she’s tolerable with sip) and I liked the whole “spell over the house” aspect of the episode 

but the lasher and Rowan scenes are horrid! 
 

i saw 

Spoiler

this show got renewed….how?

 

[ZeeEnnui]

On 2/3/2023 at 6:22 AM, Ohiopirate02 said:

This version of Carlotta reads to me like she should be one of the Lifetime V.C. Andrews villains instead of something from Anne Rice.  There's no menace just crazy religious freak.    

Agreed. Carlotta is starring in a low-energy production of Flowers in the Attic, and Courtland is doing Tennessee Williams Dinner Theatre on a cruise ship. I would love to see the script notes given to the actors because the acting is wildly inconsistent. 

The star of this episode for me was the sick flapper outfit that Lasher styled for Rowan. 

As a horror movie nerd, this was just disappointing. There was such a missed opportunity to create this incredibly creepy fever dream all while building suspense over the course of the episode that builds to something shocking. Instead this deflated quicker than the Chinese spy balloon. 

I've been thinking this over a lot. If you compare Interview with the Vampire to Mayfair Witches. You have one adaptation that is dynamic while this show is inert. This obviously has everything to do with the showrunner. Damn, even Interview's after show was really interesting. But I think that was the difference. The Interview team not only understood the book but how to make necessary changes that would honor the original work, but modernize and improve upon it. They also embraced the horror and the camp aspects, which is why Interview was scary, thrilling, funny, and intense. All emotions that Mayfair is missing. I don't know if the producers behind this show are chained to the book series or they just lack the vision to let this show become its own thing. Honestly, it's not just the showrunners, it's the direction. All of these actors can act. I mean, Jack Huston was the tragic heart and soul of Boardwalk Empire. Imagine if they let him go wild the way that Sam Reid has with Lestat. Immediately, this show becomes more interesting (and dangerous). Alexandra Daddario has done good work in past projects, maybe spike her notes with Red Bull and lets see if she can put some energy into Rowan. Someone upthread mentioned Penny Dreadful. If any show needed Eva Green and her brand of fucking crazy, it is this show! I saw that Mayfair was renewed for a second season, and has inexplicably better viewing numbers than Interview (mind boggling). All I can say is, that if that's the case, AMC needs to consider firing the current showrunners and bringing in someone new because this show is like being stuck in Deirdre's magical coma-land week after week. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by ZeeEnnui

[AnimeMania]

Jay Howard Thames as Village Glovemaker

[snickers]

19 hours ago, ZeeEnnui said:

I saw that Mayfair was renewed for a second season, and has inexplicably better viewing numbers than Interview (mind boggling). All I can say is, that if that's the case, AMC needs to consider firing the current showrunners and bringing in someone new because this show is like being stuck in Deirdre's magical coma-land week after week. 

Whoa! What?This cannot be true! 😐

That is BEYOND mind boggling- if so, is it the gay thing? The race thing? Something else? Interview has always been the more popular and better known story 

I think some people just won’t admit the changes bothered them (what I said above) I had some relatives that loved the 1994 movie that gave up on the show after 1 episode - I tried to tell them, “give it time, not all the episodes are that like” but they just weren’t having it 

[ZeeEnnui]

3 minutes ago, snickers said:

Whoa! What?This cannot be true! 😐

That is BEYOND mind boggling- if so, is it the gay thing? The race thing? Something else? Interview has always been the more popular and better known story 

I think some people just won’t admit the changes bothered them (what I said above) I had some relatives that loved the 1994 movie that gave up on the show after 1 episode - I tried to tell them, “give it time, not all the episodes are that like” but they just weren’t having it 

I find it strange. I couldn't stop talking about Interview to my friends. I read the books when I was in junior high, and was unfamiliar with Mayfair Witches book series. Everyone I know that watched Interview was super into it. Must see watching. I truly don't get it. It's possible the changes bothered them, but if it's the gay thing. That was already present. Unless it was making Louis black, and changing the timeline? To me, that made so much sense and I thought was a brilliant update. Maybe, others didn't? 

This show can be good. It just needs to be in better hands.  

[Scarlett45]

21 hours ago, ZeeEnnui said:

Alexandra Daddario has done good work in past projects, maybe spike her notes with Red Bull and lets see if she can put some energy into Rowan.

Word. 

 

21 hours ago, ZeeEnnui said:

Someone upthread mentioned Penny Dreadful. If any show needed Eva Green and her brand of fucking crazy, it is this show! I saw that Mayfair was renewed for a second season, and has inexplicably better viewing numbers than Interview (mind boggling). All I can say is, that if that's the case, AMC needs to consider firing the current showrunners and bringing in someone new because this show is like being stuck in Deirdre's magical coma-land week after week. 

Ditto. 
 

The pacing is SO OFF. We could’ve had a flashback to Scotland in episode episode 4, giving us how Lasher got in bed with this family, and how certain members are able to escape him. 

[Eeksquire]

I enjoyed watching the (unnamed) members of the Talamasca heal Cip's magical wound. And... that's it. The rest of the show is so bad I'm going to just go ahead and drop AMC+ until IWTV comes back for its next season. This thing's a mess, I certainly don't need early access to it.

[Scarlett45]

54 minutes ago, Eeksquire said:

I enjoyed watching the (unnamed) members of the Talamasca heal Cip's magical wound. And... that's it. The rest of the show is so bad I'm going to just go ahead and drop AMC+ until IWTV comes back for its next season. This thing's a mess, I certainly don't need early access to it.

The gentleman was named, he is Samir. He’s easy on the eyes. 

[peridot]

I still don't know what motivates Rowan.  She knows that Lasher is a monster, but is still dancing, smiling, and eating cake with him??  It would be great if they somehow make her the villain of the show, with Ciprien and the Talamasca bringing her and the rest of the family down.

I really hope that Ciprien and Rowan didn't have magically-induced sex, but it looks like Lasher forced them too.  I really hate that Rowan isn't showing more anger about her situation. 

It was interesting to see the ritual that the Talamasca performed.

[Scarlett45]

44 minutes ago, peridot said:

I still don't know what motivates Rowan.  She knows that Lasher is a monster, but is still dancing, smiling, and eating cake with him??  It would be great if they somehow make her the villain of the show, with Ciprien and the Talamasca bringing her and the rest of the family down.

I really hope that Ciprien and Rowan didn't have magically-induced sex, but it looks like Lasher forced them too.  I really hate that Rowan isn't showing more anger about her situation. 

It was interesting to see the ritual that the Talamasca performed.

So I’m pretending that I’m writing this, and I’m thinking that what makes Lasher so dangerous and so intriguing is that he plays into the darkness that exists in EVERYONE. Meaning that yes, you can reject him (I’m sure a couple have, I don’t think Carlotta was lying about that), but he is able to give you what you want, the darkest parts of you, and by the time you realize that you’ve compromised yourself for that, it was all your choice and the guilt gets you. But he needs you alive long enough to reproduce, because the family has to keep going. Each designee has had at least one daughter (of course many people have more, hence the branches) but I wonder what would happen if Rowan was childfree and died with no daughter. Would Lasher move onto another branch of the family?

 

Edited to add- I enjoyed Aunt Carlotta as a character. She was not “good” (what she did to the housekeeper was awful), but she wasn’t always “wrong”. Lasher is evil and needs to be stopped! She was also looney tunes which was FUN, you saw why her brother couldn’t stand her, I wonder if she killed her other sister too (the one that was fading in and out) or she just died a few years ago of natural causes and was tied to the earthly plane. 
 

The other cousin, the younger blonde woman seems interesting, and Uncle Cortland’s daughter seems to have the gift of premonition, he told her “you saw it”, I took that to mean “supernatural sight” not that she literally saw the murder. 

[Scarlett45]

On 2/3/2023 at 8:22 AM, Ohiopirate02 said:

Good lord, this episode was bad.  The show keeps on getting progressively worse, and I am left wondering if the writers even read the book they are adapting.  The Susannah flashbacks continue to add nothing to the narrative and read like they could be from any other IP dealing with 17th century witches.  Nothing is making them read as something coming from Anne Rice.  Lasher's plans for Rowan remain vague and nonsensical.  I'm also wondering where the show is wasting their budget, because that head necklace from Claires was bad. 

And the reveal that Carlotta murdered Antha fell flat.  This version of Carlotta reads to me like she should be one of the Lifetime V.C. Andrews villains instead of something from Anne Rice.  There's no menace just crazy religious freak.    

(bolding was mine) YES, but compared to some of the recent V.C. Andrews lifetime adaptions this is an INSULT. lol. Anne Rice can write better than this. 

Also, we have had a few Susannah flashbacks and dont know anything but that she was the daughter of a midwife, her mom died, and she danced in the woods. The pacing of this I so OFF, I dont know anything about these people and its episode 5 of 8!

[TexasGal]

When they realized what was going on in the house - Ciprien (I can't call him Sip, sorry!) didn't think to say TAKE OFF THE NECKLACE?!

[iMonrey]

Most of this episode was simply a waste of time. It's bad enough, we're this far into the season and the story itself is still so murky and vague. Then to have an entire episode that seems to consist of a fever dream, or hallucination, or enchantment, or whatever - so we don't even know what's real and what isn't - is a monumental step in the wrong direction. 

Quote

And the reveal that Carlotta murdered Antha fell flat.

Who? Is Antha the sister who was in the bathtub fading in and out?

If so, she is the most unhelpful ghost I have ever seen.

[tennisgurl]

I know that this was deliberately supposed to be confusing, but I think it might not have been in the way the show wanted. It didn't feel like a distorted fever dream so much as a bunch of random sequences and images sliced together by an editor who had a few too many drinks before entering the editing room. There were some cool ideas, but nothing that actually worked to make me care about what was going on. 

Lasher is supposed to this seductive force of dark sex appeal, but he comes off more like a pervy band teacher than anything else, and it makes Rowan look like an idiot for falling for his bullshit. He does at least have great taste in women's clothes, that flapper dress he got Rowan was fire. 

Why would Rowan even be in the house anymore at this point? She knows Carlotta is a lunatic who tried to kill her in the house, she's already been told that the place is filled with evil spirits and bad juju, why is she still hanging out there? Just find a damn hotel, leave the evil house that's trying to eat you!

I just keep on waiting for the flashbacks to have some kind of point, but we have yet to find one. I was hoping that the flashbacks would be worked into Rowan's weird visions of her families history, but nope. 

[Ohiopirate02]

28 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Who? Is Antha the sister who was in the bathtub fading in and out?

If so, she is the most unhelpful ghost I have ever seen.

No Antha is Diedre's mother.  She died falling from the third story window when Diedre was a baby.  Carlotta convinces everyone that Antha was driven mad by Lasher and committed suicide, but that was not the case.  Carlotta pushed Antha out of the window in her quest to stop Lasher which I think the show said happened at the same time Stuart Townsend of the Talamasca was attempting to help Antha flee the house and Carlotta.  Stuart is the ghost that Sip sees at the bottom of the stairs calling out for Antha.  

The other ghost that keeps on popping up is Millie Mayfair.  Millie was a Mayfair cousin who lived with Carlotta at the First Street House for years helping Carlotta raise Antha and Diedre.  She died at some point and Carlotta has bound her to herself.  

[BigBlueMastiff]

Glad I'm not the only one disappointed in this show. I keep hoping it will get better, but this episode was awful. Ciprian is the only interesting character. The actress playing Rowan is awful, and ruins the scene every time she opens her mouth. I was hoping she would jump off the balcony.

[snickers]

So, is Millie Mayfair that woman in the tub? We know this with absolute certainty ? She is a ghost then?

this is why this show blows, nothing is explained, except Sip is part of the Talamasca, Lasher is bad, and Rowan is a surgeon who apparently is on an indefinite leave of absence from work who is scared of her shadow 🙄

On 2/5/2023 at 7:55 PM, ZeeEnnui said:

find it strange. I couldn't stop talking about Interview to my friends. I read the books when I was in junior high, and was unfamiliar with Mayfair Witches book series. Everyone I know that watched Interview was super into it. Must see watching. I truly don't get it. It's possible the changes bothered them, but if it's the gay thing. That was already present. Unless it was making Louis black, and changing the timeline? To me, that made so much sense and I thought was a brilliant update. Maybe, others didn't? 

This show can be good. It just needs to be in better hands.  

About the gay undertones in Interview novel, to me it was just that- undertones and the movie underplayed it even more.

I’ve seen on the fb groups, that some seemed to be not happy with the race change, which I still find so unfortunate - seems to be the thing now in tv (lord of the rings/house of the dragon) 

[anoninrva]

On 2/3/2023 at 3:21 PM, Glade said:

The Scottish flashbacks are so tedious, so generic.  Compare them to say, the flashbacks that we got in Penny Dreadful and it's atrocious.  Lasher looked like a middle aged Italian opera singer this episode.  So have Sip and Rowan ever had sex or even kissed outside of dream-states?  I like them together, but I've lost track of what is supposed to be real or "count" as far as their relationship goes.  I guess the scenes with the two of them and Ciprien interacting with the Talamasca ghost were an improvement from last week, but everything else was really bad.   Does Lasher have fire extinguishing powers that also cleaned up the fire/smoke damage? The bottle episode setup is itself a tired cliche.

I'm really struggling to appreciate this show as its own story, loosely based on a memory of Anne Rice, but, no, it doesn't seem like they were able to consumate the deed because Ciprian was too busy bleeding to death on the stairwell.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Why would Rowan even be in the house anymore at this point? She knows Carlotta is a lunatic who tried to kill her in the house, she's already been told that the place is filled with evil spirits and bad juju, why is she still hanging out there? Just find a damn hotel, leave the evil house that's trying to eat you!

Also, how did the fire in the dining room get put out? The whole house should have burned to the ground. I didn't see any fire trucks showing up.

[Mr. Sparkle]

47 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Also, how did the fire in the dining room get put out? The whole house should have burned to the ground. I didn't see any fire trucks showing up.

That did cross my mind. Maybe it was a magical, imaginary fire, like Sip's wound, which seemed real, but was healed by.... 

[Dream Boy]

At this point, both Rowan and Sip are too stupid to live.

[nodorothyparker]

So ... near 30 something minutes of is this a fever dream? Did I somehow miss an episode after the last one that ended with the dining room fire? Wait, when did these two become a thing? and the show still couldn't manage to put together any coherent motivation or story for any of these people. I guess Lasher magicked the fire out but didn't think it worth mentioning while doing his sleazy lounge singer act.

I get what I think the show was going for with Rowan deciding well, if I really have to I can surely harness this power to wrap all of this up. But I'm just too clever to be taken in or seduced by it. It's a running idea in the source material, after all. But again, this Rowan is so weepy and big eyed and just reactive that it was hard to take her big walk of I guess triumph out the front door at the end seriously at all. 

The Scottish wayback story is taking forever to come to any kind of point or tell us anything about why it matters at all. I agree that this version of Carlotta has been more of a run of the mill Lifetime religious fanatic villain than anything Anne Rice would have dreamed up. The characters are saying all the words to tell you that this is a person who devoted her entire life to destroying successive generations of her own family line in her effort to quash Lasher, but they're not really showing us the full scope or tragedy of it. If I hadn't read the books and knew the story of the character, I'm not sure the Antha story really would have landed much with me. 

For the last time, show, there are NO basements in New Orleans and even if there were, it's going to take more than a DIY exorcism with a handful of basement herbs to be rid of whatever the show seems to be suggesting Lasher is this week.

[Eeksquire]

Quote

her big walk of I guess triumph out the front door

And even THEN, the way she's walking makes it look like this is the first time she's ever worn heels in her life - she doesn't have boss energy, she has baby deer energy! I like Alexandra D'Addario and I keep trying to make excuses for her, but it gets harder and harder every week, although the blame should surely fall on the whole team from writing, directing, casting... the whole show's a mess. (And were I Jack Huston, a handsome man, I would be considering litigation for how terrible they have made him look in this show!)

[nodorothyparker]

I've apparently never seen Huston in anything before because I wouldn't have gotten that from this portrayal thus far. He's coming off as a malevolent skeezy lounge act. There's nothing seductive about him at all or anything that would make you understand why a modern educated woman would be taken in by him.

[Rahul]

Good lord this show is absolutely atrocious. I had been looking forward to this show with bated breath ever since it was announced as I love supernatural fantasies featuring witches but this has been a supreme disappointment from the beginning and devolving into even more of an insipid mess each week. I’m actually glad Anne Rice never lived to see this rubbish. Esta Spaulding and her producer cohorts have taken rich source material and turned it into a very poorly written and directed, incomprehensible bore.

The only highlight of this episode for me was seeing Sulekha Mathew in a cameo wearing a sari chanting some Sanskrit spell. Oh, and my mother entirely perplexed by Lasher’s thrall and calling him ugly. 😅

 

 

[rhygirl720]

I give up. just not good.

[Scarlett45]

On 2/8/2023 at 9:08 PM, Rahul said:

The only highlight of this episode for me was seeing Sulekha Mathew in a cameo wearing a sari chanting some Sanskrit spell. Oh, and my mother entirely perplexed by Lasher’s thrall and calling him ugly. 😅

 

I am not familiar with this actress but she was good!

My Mom and I concur Lasher isn’t doing it for us. I blame the writing, he was pretty good at being swarmy yet charming in Pride & Prejudice and Zombie’s, but they barely give him anything to do but stand around and stare!