S01.E06: Transference

[Mr. Sparkle]

Desperate to relinquish Lasher, Rowan reaches out to her extended Mayfair family for help; Rowan must trust their unique process, a sacred ritual; Sip's search for answers takes him back to the Talamasca.

Streaming on AMC+ 23.02.09 and airing on AMC 23.02.12. 

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

[Ohiopirate02]

The first five episodes made me wonder if the showrunners and writers had even bothered to read the source material.  This episode proved that they did and decided they knew better than Anne. 

[Glade]

Rowan showing confidence/competence at the beginning of the episode was an improvement...but then half the episode was Tuvok from Star Trek Voyager walking onto a really bad holodeck program where some not too wealthy guy traveled around between muddy villages with a priceless emerald embedded into a key that only opened some little cage...seriously the key was dumb but I could understand if it opened some fancy mausoleum or something not a rickety, disposable hunk of metal.  The 'girl talking about the burning times vs. drooling rednecks' storyline was dumb, derivative and stereotypical as well. 

[snickers]

Does anyone else at this point feel they are watching a soap opera?

Rowan having her melt down at Sip taking away the necklace, then apologizing.....man that was a bad acting scene-

Still so meh on this show....

Edited February 11, 2023 by snickers

[Snazzy Daisy]

OMG! I cannot stand Rowan’s screeching voice while she’s reciting the chant.

Rowan vomited out that necklace. Without washing it, then they made Tessa wearing it. Why? Yuck! 🤮 

 

[ZeeEnnui]

You know, I've been defending Alexandra Daddario's acting because I've seen her be better than whatever this is, but....I think what this series has shown me is that a good director is everything. Girlfriend needs a good director because that scene with Sip was just YIKES. 

I understand not wanting to be stuck for the rest of your life with Disco Demon, but it's not going to be that easy for Rowan to lose Lasher. Sorry, cousin Tessa! This won't end well for you (as anyone who has watched a TV show could tell you). 

Now that we know the origin of  Lasher and the Claire's President's Day Sale Key Necklace does this mean we're finally finished with these Notlander flashback scenes? I've heard enough of whatever they think Scottish people sounded like back in the day, thank ye very much. 

[Scarlett45]

On 2/10/2023 at 11:19 PM, snickers said:

Does anyone else at this point feel they are watching a soap opera?

Rowan having her melt down at Sip taking away the necklace, then apologizing.....man that was a bad acting scene-

Still so meh on this show....

So bad. Cringeworthy. She sounded like an 3yrs old having a tantrum. 
 

Edited to add- I did feel for Tessa. She seems like a passionate young woman, who wants to do the right thing for other witches. But she was stupid AF, she admitted she had no other powers than glamouring yet she went ALONE to meet a guy who claimed he hated witches??? Girl you are DUMB. Please don’t let them kill her next episode. 

[izabella]

I haven't read the books, nor did I have any idea what this was about going in.  I'm glad I binge-watched because I probably would have been even more confused watching week to week because I'd forget things. 

Lasher is most confusing as I don't really understand what he is.  Throughout most of it, I wondered if the witches had more control over him than they realize.  Since a witch summoned him, can't a witch send him away?  Lasher needs the witch to voluntarily take on the necklace/him, so if they all just rejected him, would he disappear?  For the transfer, they said Lasher needs to choose the new designee and she needs to choose him.  So it seems like choice and  will is involved, and it seems like he needs a witch in order to exist.   Courtland's daughter said some would kill for that power, which sounds like they think they can wield it/him?  What do they think they can do with Lasher?

Seeing the backstory on the key necklace, finally, it seems like that might be something that could be destroyed or de-cursed?  It's not like Carlotta wasn't already making blood sacrifices. 

 

 

[Ohiopirate02]

13 hours ago, izabella said:

I haven't read the books, nor did I have any idea what this was about going in.  I'm glad I binge-watched because I probably would have been even more confused watching week to week because I'd forget things. 

Lasher is most confusing as I don't really understand what he is.  Throughout most of it, I wondered if the witches had more control over him than they realize.  Since a witch summoned him, can't a witch send him away?  Lasher needs the witch to voluntarily take on the necklace/him, so if they all just rejected him, would he disappear?  For the transfer, they said Lasher needs to choose the new designee and she needs to choose him.  So it seems like choice and  will is involved, and it seems like he needs a witch in order to exist.   Courtland's daughter said some would kill for that power, which sounds like they think they can wield it/him?  What do they think they can do with Lasher?

The show has not made this explicit yet, but the Mayfair witches have been using Lasher to build their empire for centuries.  We see Suzanne (I keep on wanting to call her Susannah, Suzanne does not feel early 18th century Scottish village) unkempt living in the backwater in Scotland and somehow her descendants are living in luxury in 21st century New Orleans.  Rowan inherits a million-dollar plus home in perfect condition in the French Quarter, Courtland has his own multi-million dollar mansion, and Courtland's daughter is on the board at the local hospital.  The characters are in the low budget version of Old Money clothes dripping in again low budget jewels.  Even cousin Ellie had access to the Mayfair fortune in California.  They are supposed to read as uber wealthy, and how the family got that way is due to black magic and Lasher.  I wish the show would spell this out more, and also have taken a longer look at Julian's study with that head in a jar and that doll.  

[Scarlett45]

On 2/12/2023 at 11:44 PM, izabella said:

I haven't read the books, nor did I have any idea what this was about going in.  I'm glad I binge-watched because I probably would have been even more confused watching week to week because I'd forget things. 

Lasher is most confusing as I don't really understand what he is.  Throughout most of it, I wondered if the witches had more control over him than they realize.  Since a witch summoned him, can't a witch send him away?  Lasher needs the witch to voluntarily take on the necklace/him, so if they all just rejected him, would he disappear?  For the transfer, they said Lasher needs to choose the new designee and she needs to choose him.  So it seems like choice and  will is involved, and it seems like he needs a witch in order to exist.   Courtland's daughter said some would kill for that power, which sounds like they think they can wield it/him?  What do they think they can do with Lasher?

Seeing the backstory on the key necklace, finally, it seems like that might be something that could be destroyed or de-cursed?  It's not like Carlotta wasn't already making blood sacrifices. 

 

 

Lasher is a demon. Yes witches can reject him, but many dont want to, because in exchange for the devotion he has given the family things- wealth, status, protection from illnesses, fertility. The statistically likelihood of ALL of the eligible Mayfair witches rejecting him seems very low.

What makes Lasher dangerous is that he CAN give you want you want, but there is a price for everything. 

19 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

The show has not made this explicit yet, but the Mayfair witches have been using Lasher to build their empire for centuries.  We see Suzanne (I keep on wanting to call her Susannah, Suzanne does not feel early 18th century Scottish village) unkempt living in the backwater in Scotland and somehow her descendants are living in luxury in 21st century New Orleans.  Rowan inherits a million-dollar plus home in perfect condition in the French Quarter, Courtland has his own multi-million dollar mansion, and Courtland's daughter is on the board at the local hospital.  The characters are in the low budget version of Old Money clothes dripping in again low budget jewels.  Even cousin Ellie had access to the Mayfair fortune in California.  They are supposed to read as uber wealthy, and how the family got that way is due to black magic and Lasher.  I wish the show would spell this out more, and also have taken a longer look at Julian's study with that head in a jar and that doll.  

I think the show has done a pretty good job establishing the Mayfairs as wealthy, and Lasher having a lot to do with it, thats why he's got such a hold on the witches through the generations. While I didnt blame Suzanne for calling on him when those dudes were going to kill her (self preservation and all) BUT again, all magic has a price. 

 

[Glade]

2 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

 Rowan inherits a million-dollar plus home in perfect condition in the French Quarter,

Is it in perfect condition though?  I thought it was described as dilapidated and moldy, unkempt, though surely valuable.

[Ohiopirate02]

Just now, Glade said:

Is it in perfect condition though?  I thought it was described as dilapidated and moldy, unkempt, though surely valuable.

The book version of the Mayfair Family Home is described as dilapidated and unkempt, not what we have seen.  That dining room looked immaculate before Carlotta lit it on fire.  This is one of those things that has bothered me about this adaptation, the show is choosing to forego the various genre conventions of gothic literature.  The sets are too sterile when they should be teeming with life in all its forms.  I want to see the circle of life with bugs and spiders, various rodents, snakes, cobwebs, the desiccated carcasses of things long dead, mold and other fungi, the overgrown garden choked with weeds, etc.  

[iMonrey]

Quote

Lasher is most confusing as I don't really understand what he is.  Throughout most of it, I wondered if the witches had more control over him than they realize.  Since a witch summoned him, can't a witch send him away?  Lasher needs the witch to voluntarily take on the necklace/him, so if they all just rejected him, would he disappear?  For the transfer, they said Lasher needs to choose the new designee and she needs to choose him.  So it seems like choice and  will is involved, and it seems like he needs a witch in order to exist.   Courtland's daughter said some would kill for that power, which sounds like they think they can wield it/him?  What do they think they can do with Lasher?

I didn't really get this either so thanks for the clarifying posts above. Still, some of them act like they are terrified of Lasher and some seem to want him transferred to them? I mean, would ALL of the potential designees agree to have Lasher transferred from Rowan to themselves? And it clearly didn't give Tessa any extra powers, she was captured by the modern day witch hunters quite easily.

Speaking of which . . . modern day witch hunters? Really?

Quote

some not too wealthy guy traveled around between muddy villages with a priceless emerald embedded into a key that only opened some little cage

 LOL thanks for the laugh.

[izabella]

9 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I think the show has done a pretty good job establishing the Mayfairs as wealthy, and Lasher having a lot to do with it, thats why he's got such a hold on the witches through the generations.

I understood that some of the Mayfairs had money, but I didn't get a sense for how wealthy they are.  I did not connect their wealth with Lasher at all.  But that does help explain why they don't reject him if he is actually benefiting them in some way.  I feel like I haven't seen enough of those ways to really understand, so I have been handwaving it as Lasher's special powers.

He has mostly been shown working Dierdre and Rowan into choosing to be his witch, so his other attributes and powers are unclear to me.  He wasn't able to do anything for Dierdre - not when her baby was taken from her, not when she was held hostage by Carlotta, and the lithium, and not when she was killed in the elevator, so I don't see him as a protector.  I was not thinking financial advisor!

Can he exist outside New Orleans?  Because why wouldn't he have found Rowan while Dierdre was incapacitated if he could have gone to her? 

[Ohiopirate02]

7 hours ago, izabella said:

Can he exist outside New Orleans?  Because why wouldn't he have found Rowan while Dierdre was incapacitated if he could have gone to her? 

Lasher follows his witch around the world from Scotland to Haiti to New Orleans, and he did appear on Rowan's boat.  He binds himself to one witch a generation usually the daughter of his previous witch.  

 

7 hours ago, izabella said:

I understood that some of the Mayfairs had money, but I didn't get a sense for how wealthy they are.  I did not connect their wealth with Lasher at all.  But that does help explain why they don't reject him if he is actually benefiting them in some way.  I feel like I haven't seen enough of those ways to really understand, so I have been handwaving it as Lasher's special powers.

He has mostly been shown working Dierdre and Rowan into choosing to be his witch, so his other attributes and powers are unclear to me.  He wasn't able to do anything for Dierdre - not when her baby was taken from her, not when she was held hostage by Carlotta, and the lithium, and not when she was killed in the elevator, so I don't see him as a protector.  I was not thinking financial advisor!

The finanacial advisor part is a benefit of him protecting the bloodline.  The Mayfairs knew when to GTFO of Haiti before the Haitian revolution, and they prospered in New Orleans between 1790ish and the present day.  

Lasher was unable to help Diedre because Carlotta was using her own magic to prevent him in addition to pumping Diedre full of drugs to keep her in a catatonic state so Diedre couldn't ask Lasher for help.  

[nodorothyparker]

Reminder that this is an episode thread. Your post should be about what you've seen on screen. If you want to discuss book plotlines or book characters that haven't shown up here, it belongs in the book thread.

[txvoodoo]

Harry Hamlin's accent is SO BAD. A "cher" here and there isn't New Orleans.

Ugh, why has this turned into the most cliched, trope-ridden witch show? It wasn't supposed to be *this*. 

It's just all....WRONG. 

Lasher should be elegant and otherworldly.

I'm really disappointed with the musical score, too. 

Why is there something that looks like a World War I cenotaph from a modern village? 

This is like a crazy quilt of bad accents, bad history, bad effects, bad music, bad lighting. 

Why am I still watching? 

 

[nodorothyparker]

I'm mostly disappointed, among so many many other things, that the showrunners apparently have no comprehension about what makes Anne Rice's writing so compelling. She doesn't write straight movie monsters. She doesn't write witches dancing around a cauldron or chanting nonsense. Oh, a few characters may try because because they know the tropes too but it never amounts to anything. There's just nothing that's gothic or smart or darkly funny about this.

I've sat for days trying to articulate anything about this episode but there really isn't much to say. It's just that bad. I'd call the cliche rednecky witch hunters laughable but eh. I guess if you're going to toss everything else out in favor of cheap tropes you might as well have cliche rednecky witch hunters too.

[txvoodoo]

On 2/19/2023 at 8:53 PM, nodorothyparker said:

She doesn't write witches dancing around a cauldron or chanting nonsense.

All I can think about is how Lestat would be laughing at all the tropes.