It’s strange to be halfway through the second season of a TV show, and it still lacks a coherent focus and rhythm. Yet here we are with Mayfair Witches, still walking the line between interesting characters and ideas, with too much going on to focus on a particular direction. “Julien’s Victrola” is a perfect example, giving some characters a chance to shine while burying others (some literally), leaving you again wondering what the endgame is here.
Most of the episode is a cat-and-mouse game between Rowan (Alexandra Daddario) and Cortland’s father, Julien (Ted Levine). Rowan has moved into Julien’s world via his victrola, and she needs answers regarding Lasher, specifically about where to find him. However, Julien is pretty crafty for a dead guy and makes Rowan work for the answers. As it turns out, when you enter this world, you leave a part of yourself behind. Rowan must maneuver through two worlds while only having an hour to get all the answers she needs about Lasher and herself.
So, while her intellectual part is stuck playing dangerous games with Julien, her emotional part is still in the real world, where she is discovering how much she misses the other half of herself. Meanwhile, Lark (Ben Feldman) comes unannounced at the Mayfair house and surprises everyone. We get to see the real feelings she has for Lark. Without her intellectual side, she is free to explore her heart with no boundaries, but is it real without being whole? It is an interesting idea to explore and it was fun the way it played out.
Speaking of fun, the back-and-forth between Rowan and Julien was enjoyable to watch and listen to, even if it was short-lived. They are both clever and mischievous and enjoy the game, except Julien has plans for the family that they don’t know about. Enter Moira (Alyssa Jirrels), who, with the help of some pharmaceuticals, gets Cortland (Harry Hamlin) to dig through some information buried in his mind. Here, he discovers he has a brother, Ian, who his dad always thought was his favorite. It seems Ian would go to any lengths to win, something Julien was, and still is, all about.
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Rowan finds out where Lasher has been taken in Scotland and escapes from Julien just before her time runs out. Conversely, we see Lasher (Jack Huston) in Scotland, carefully tucked away by Albrecht (Dennis Boutsikaris), and seemingly presented to Cortland’s brother Ian for unexplained reasons. Ian is so impressed he calls Albrecht outside Lasher’s room, and once the door is closed, he promptly kills Albrecht by slitting his throat. He was two-faced and a bit slimy, but I must admit, I will miss Albrecht. Of course, in this show, is anyone ever really dead?
All these pieces made for an interesting episode, but the show has this weird habit of turning scenes into almost gothic soap operas instead of strong, emotional moments. Granted, there weren’t nearly as many characters kicking around in “Julien’s Victrola,” but they bounced around too much. As moments would get into a good flow, they would be left hanging and cut to another scene.
The Julien/Rowan scenes were good enough that they could have been a bulk of an episode on their own, but instead, we have the weird Lark subplot and Cortland, who just seems to be a victim of something every episode. I enjoyed the moment when the cameras focused on painting the butterflies. The nerd inside me hoped this was a nice ‘glad to have you aboard’ moment to Ted Levine, a nod to his unforgettable performance as Jame Gumb, aka Buffalo Bill, in Silence of the Lambs.
“Julien’s Victrola” gave us some great moments from Daddario and Levine, and it was nice to see Rowan show off all sides of who she is instead of the usual tortured witch. But the dynamic between Lasher and Rowan has disappeared over the last two weeks, along with the initial hints of horror. It’s hard to imagine everything coming together nicely with only two episodes left. So many storylines, so little time…
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
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