Let me start with another story; the third book in Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series: Iron Crossed. While it’s faded now, since the series has moved on, the penultimate scene in this book involves the main character being mind controlled and violently, repeatedly raped. When confronted about the choice, Briggs said that the character was too strong, and never would have given into her feelings for the love interest if she wasn’t victimized in some way. The backlash was, understandably, vocal.
The last episode of season one of Mayfair Witches has the same feel.
Now, I have taken huge issue with The Witching Hour and Rice’s own treatment of “super smart and strong” Rowan Mayfair. It’s clear to me from the book that Rice didn’t like writing women and possibly struggled to understand them. Much of her characterization of Rowan comes off like a Men Writing Women post.
But Tessa’s death being the impetus sending Rowan to Lasher is…well, it’s a disappointingly Anne Rice thing to do. I thought Lasher’s slow seduction of Rowan was a degradation of the hundreds of pages Rice spends putting her on a pillar as the brilliant neurosurgeon who is the most powerful witch ever. It’s exactly like the chapter in Queen of the Damned where Rice gives readers the entire life story of Baby Jenks, only to have her be burned, unseen, by Akasha as she is purifying the world of vampires. As emotional of an effect it has in the moment, as soon as one thinks even a bit of it, it’s a ham handed fridging of a character just to get the main character onto the plot. I thought we were better writers than that these days. Sadly we aren’t.
And while, yes, again, that is on brand for Rice, as much as the creatives behind the show talk about bringing the Mayfair witches to a modern audience, this is weak string pulling for the sake of drama.
Just as clumsily the show offered us InstaKnowledge Plot Armor to eradicate all the tension of Rowan being shot and bleeding out in the woods. Might as well just popped up on the screen and yelled “Psych! Do Over!”
The only saving grace in this conclusion to the tale of how a powerful, modern, feminist witch becomes a literal barefoot mother and slave #BoyMom is Cortland. Harry Hamlin’s performance is the only thing that I 100% approve of.
Still, not even he can make up for Rowan’s lightning and stone-turning powers, magical Suzanne the midwife, and…everything really. What a totally off the rails, completely bungled finale. Rowan’s pregnancy should have been the final reveal of the season, leaving the second to begin on the tension of will the baby be safe? While those of us in the know waited for the other shoe to drop. Instead the writers threw any bit of credit they earned with their update out the window in an effort to…I dunno, turn this show into Real Wives of Anne Rice drama. What a horrible thing, to lose every bit of slow tension and gothic beauty they built up for an action movie fart of a conclusion.