Spoiler-free review:
Rating out of 10: 6 and ½
Likes: the inclusion of Josephine “Jojo” Mayfair and Jen Richards, the soundtrack, Alexandra Daddario and Jack Huston.
Critiques: the lack of understanding of the myriad of source material, this particular adaptation likewise was sanitized and didn’t feel like a labor of love compared to the AMC adaptation of Interview With The Vampire.
Spoiler review:
AMC’s Mayfair Witches is enjoyable enough to watch as purely a tv show, the performances and soundtrack are top tier. However it misses far too much about the source material and though it claims to be a loving tribute to the late Anne Rice it most certainly does not feel that way.
It is hardly brilliant, but it isn’t terrible. My main problem with the tv version of the lives of the Mayfair Witches is the lack of effort from the creative team and lack of understanding from the writers. I hope this will be fixed by season 2.
Lives of The Mayfair Witches is like its more well known bisexual and more obviously queer vampire counterpart The Vampire Chronicles built on trauma. The family tree of the Mayfair Witches is built on demon deals and (or ghost) sex, trauma, felonies, more trauma and generational baggage, abuse of power and societal expectations and nonconformity such as what plagues Rowan Mayfair, Mona Mayfair and Merrick Mayfair in Anne Rice’s books: “One minute you want me to grow up; the next you want me to behave. What am I to you a little girl or a sociological problem? I don’t like to conform Aunt Gif. Take a look at men today on the news. Never in history have all the men in a nation’s capital dressed exactly alike. Ties, shirts, coats of grey. It’s apalling,” (Anne Rice, Mona Mayfair, Lasher). The show however does not understand the demon Lasher as an allegory for non-consent and abuse and it sanitizes the history of the witches beyond recognition. Rowan likewise here seems to lack adjacency, even though she had that to an extent in the trilogy. In conclusion, AMC’s Mayfair Witches is an enjoyable enough watch. It is, however, for lack of better wording “medium.” This show gets a 6 and ½ out of 10 from me.
Lives of the Mayfair Witches – books – Wikipedia information https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lives_of_the_Mayfair_Witches
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