While Anne Rice Mayfair Witches It’s been a bit of a slow burn on the three episodes of the first season of the AMC series so far, which all changed this week. This week’s episode, “Curiouser and Curiouser,” saw Rowan finally meet Mayfair as she attended her biological mother Deirdre Mayfair’s funeral and woke up, for the first time, to truly grasp the complexity of family dynamics — not to mention Lasher’s shadow cast over everything. But as an emphatic Rowan grows closer to her family, things take a dramatic turn between her and her great-aunt Carlotta and a conversation with ComicBook.comBeth Grant breaks down this major shift and what it means.
Warning: spoilers for the fourth episode of Anne Rice Mayfair Witches“Curiouser and Curiouser”, after this point.
In the episode, Rowan decides to go to a sobriety at Mayfair House and eventually chooses to stay for dinner with Carlotta. As she explores the house, Roan finds herself led upstairs to Deirdre’s room where she finds the emerald necklace. Rowan gives up the rosary Carlotta gave her for protection and puts on the necklace, which Carlotta witnesses. It’s a moment that clearly devastates Carlotta, and soon after, we see the two women at dinner. As Rowan asks Carlotta questions, the older woman appears to struggle with her thoughts and emotions before finally snapping out. Carlotta tells Rowan that Deirdre was the bane of her existence and that she gave everything to protect Rowan and the women in the family, but she did. The scene culminates in Carlotta offering a final prayer and incantation to the women in the Mayfair family before setting their locked dining room on fire, and while Cyprienne manages to break into Rouen, Carlotta stabs him. The episode ends with Rowan and Cyprienne heading towards the door while Lasher appears to Carlotta to taunt her, telling the older woman that Rowan is indeed his.
For Grant, the entire chain of events just goes to show how human and heartbreaking the situation is for Carlotta—someone she said she personally sees neither as a villain nor a victim, but as someone who has lost his way by his own attempts to do the right thing.
“I think she’s kind of excited. I brought her home and the family and invited her to the funeral. And she showed up and I think when she comes to the funeral, she’s really excited and feels there’s hope. And [she] He warned her, “Don’t believe everything you hear, there are people who can’t be trusted.” Grant said, and I thought she was standing next to me and I let her run out of the house. “And then I go up there and that door opens and I see she’s wearing that necklace and my heart is broken. As an aunt, as a mother figure, my heart is broken. I have to give Axel Caroline, the director of that episode, she allowed me, she encouraged me to be vulnerable in that moment.” .
She continued, “I don’t think she actually necessarily planned to burn down the house, but she makes the decision at the dinner table, and then through prayer, through incantation, through prayer for Antha, prayer for Stella, it happens. And she certainly didn’t mean to stab Cyprian.” … I think it’s a very spontaneous moment in this moment and it’s a very sad moment for her. She’s heartbroken. She’s human.”
Grant also said that she understands that people enjoy her portrayal of a very complex Carlotta and can appreciate why people love to hate her.
“It feels great,” she said. “I don’t see her as a bad guy at all.” Therefore, I understand that there must be complex characters in the story [Rice’s] mythology. And she is well-intentioned. She is just misleading, and she herself will riot. She tries to do what she thinks is best for everyone, but you can’t suppress your dark side. Unfortunately, I have been led astray by, ironically, the person who is trying to be good and save the family. But yeah, I get that people enjoy hating her.”
Anne Rice Mayfair Witches It airs Sundays at 9pm ET on AMC and AMC+.
