Mayfair Witches Episode 4 Recap: Mourning Two Mothers

"Things don't end well for the women in this family."

Last week's episode of Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches brought Rowan (Alexandra Daddario) and Lasher (Jack Huston) close together at a New Orleans celebration, and Ciprien (Tongayi Chirisa) saw the memories of the recently-deceased Deirdre (Annabeth Gish). Carlotta (Beth Grant) attempted to get rid of Lasher by bonding him to Delphine (Deneen Tyler) via the necklace, leaving poor Delphine to repeatedly bash her head against the cellar wall. The episode ends with Rowan seeking refuge at Ciprien's apartment, and the two share an intense moment of connection. What did they see? It's time to unpack Episode 4, "Curiouser and Curiouser."

We start the episode on a bit of a darker note back in Scotland. That woman that was mauled by a bear? She didn't make it. A woman takes Suzanne (Hannah Alline), who is horrified that the woman died on her watch, into the woods to be part of this free-spirited gathering with strange dancing. Suzanne is freaked out, but the attendees assure her it is the funeral the deceased woman would have wanted. As people dance around the memorial and speak in a peculiar tongue, Suzanne can't help but weep and fall to her knees.

In the present, we are dropped into a very confusing dream that Rowan is having. She's having sex with Ciprien, who is wearing the necklace. During sex, Ciprien flashes to Lasher, and this freaks Rowan out. She wakes up on a pullout couch in Ciprien's apartment and is (understandably) quite frazzled. Ciprien makes breakfast, and they talk about their intense connection from the night before. Rowan admits she might’ve overshared, and wants to know more about Ciprien through the random objects in the house. He admits that they are all good memories from people he's known, and that going into his own memories is often too dangerous. Now we head to the cellar of the Mayfair mansion, where Delphine was last seen bashing her head against the wall after Carlotta locked her down there with Lasher's necklace. Carlotta creeps down the stairs and is—given the look on her face—preparing for what is to come. Delphine lay in a pool of her own blood, with a bloody stump left in the place of her head. Carlotta goes to retrieve the necklace, but the necklace is missing. Lasher is on the loose.

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It's the day of Deirdre's funeral, and Cortland (Harry Hamlin) is putting off getting ready because he doesn't want to see Carlotta. Cortland's daughter Jojo (Jen Richards) wants them to get there before Carlotta so they can give Rowan a proper introduction to the family. At the apartment, Rowan holds her temples and stares at a lizard on the outside of the window of Ciprien's place and says she was able to see inside its body as it was working. Simultaneously, a frantic man forcefully grabbing his head and screaming in pain runs through a parking garage, almost getting run over several times. Right before jumping off, two men run to his safety. What was that all about?

Deirdre's funeral is sensory overload for Rowan. Once people make the connection that she is the deceased's daughter, murmurs fill the room. (Remember, Carlotta sent her away right after she was born and told people she died.) Cortland is distraught as he leans over Deirdre's cold body. He cuts a lock of her hair and puts his handkerchief on her neck's stitches before saying his final farewell. When Rowan stands near the casket, the doors to the church fly open, coating the attendees in sunlight followed by a burst of rose petals that flew through the door. As they lay Deirdre to rest, Ciprien gets a work call and has to leave, but Rowan understands. She proceeds to a tombstone that includes the names of her ancestors and one name, in particular, stands out: her own.

Carlotta explains that the weird looks she's been getting from people are because it's a miracle she's alive. A woman shrouded under an umbrella leaves a note on the tombstone, and a mysterious man in the bushes takes pictures. Though skeptical, Rowan ventures to the Mayfair house for a reception in her mother's honor, and Carlotta is excited to share more information on Rowan's adoptive mother, Ellie (Erica Gimpel), who she explains was a Mayfair cousin. Carlotta swore her to secrecy, which is why Rowan had no idea about Ellie being a Mayfair. This one-on-one with Carlotta actually shows her softer side, as she explains how most of her harsh behavior is driven by genuine fear and protection. She's amazed (and relieved) that Rowan made it "out" of the family and has become an independent woman and a successful doctor. People in the family will tell her that Lasher is there to protect her, Carlotta warns, but she can't get sucked in. "The devil comes in many forms." Will Rowan be strong enough to reject Lasher?

It's clear that Cortland and Carlotta aren't on the best terms. He arrives late to Deirdre's reception and brings more of a "party" energy than he does a "mourning" energy. Meanwhile, Ciprien is told about the parking garage man and that a higher-up named Albrecht (Dennis Boutsikaris) wants to observe him on the job. In an interrogation room, Ciprien reads the man from the parking garage, who is writhing in incredible pain by an invisible force. Ciprien manages to see that he killed Deirdre in the elevator, and was likely hired to do so. Right as Ciprien says that he wants to get him help, the man's neck snaps, and a ghostly figure of Lasher emerges.

Back at the reception, Rowan is gawked at and questioned by some of her judgmental and curious relatives. Tessa (Madison Wolfe), the young woman who left a note at the Mayfair tombstone, can't contain her excitement around Rowan, as she sees her as an inspiration and as someone who could be the family's "designee" who could possibly help identify the people behind the burnings that have been happening. (Remember Rowan heard about those on the news?) Jojo saves Rowan from the loaded conversation and takes her to the wall of portraits of the twelve Mayfair matriarchs, who are considered "designees" because the will designates them. Strangely, Deirdre isn't included on the roster. Jojo says that Carlotta never let Deirdre get her portrait done, nor told her that she was the one who owned the house. Who should we believe? Regardless, Jojo tells Rowan to speak to Cortland about her inheritance and find out where the family heirloom necklace is at.

It turns out that the elevator man was indeed hired to kill Deirdre, and that Lasher "possessed" him as punishment. Ciprien wants to pursue this further, but Albrecht wants him to focus on Rowan. Rowan, meanwhile, has an incredibly contradictory conversation with Cortland. He explains how his father believed he would throw all his money away and how Carlotta kicked him out of the house. But the most unsettling is how he describes Lasher. He believes he is a gift, an extension of herself, and a way for her to connect to past Mayfair matriarchs. Carlotta tries to pull Rowan away from Cortland, which leads to an argument between the siblings. Cortland claims that Carlotta purposely kept Deirdre under her watch to control her, but Carlotta argues that she was taking care of her and keeping her alive. Deirdre was not well, and Carlotta has the medical records to prove it. Cortland ends the party and leaves with Jojo, who worries about Rowan being left with Carlotta. She isn't alone, he reminds her. Lasher is always there.

Creepy whispers and vibes fill the air as Rowan takes a walk through the mansion that evening. She looks around Deirdre's bedroom and finds the necklace, and makes the very dangerous decision to take off the rosary beads Carlotta gave her and put the necklace on instead. Rowan has a "moment" with the necklace (and likely Lasher), which Carlotta sees. At work, Ciprien goes through ancient Mayfair family documents in order to get more information on what they are all about, and finds love letters, diary entries, and a sketch of a woman wearing the necklace. During this research, Rowan sends him a text of the necklace in her hand and explains how it was in her dream. Concerned, Cirprien heads to the mansion.

Carlotta and Rowan share an awkward dinner, with Carlotta admitting to Rowan that Deirdre ended up being the bane of her existence, as she made everything difficult from the moment she was born. She regrets spending so much time praying for her when she could have prayed for someone more deserving. She prays one last prayer and asks for the Mayfair women's souls to be saved. Things quite literally heat up when Carlotta lights the wall on fire and Rowan can't escape. Right as Carlotta is about to stab Rowan, Ciprien breaks through the door and ends up getting stabbed by accident. Rowan drags him out of the room as the Mayfair home goes up in flames, and Lasher appears to Carlotta and whispers that Ciprien is already his. With a sinister smile on his face, he shuts the front door of the house, trapping everyone inside. No one is going anywhere.

Emily Bernard is a NJ based Features Editor and Peer Mentor for Collider. Tig Notaro and Cheryl Hines referenced an article of hers on their podcast, Tig & Cheryl: True Story. Hearing them talk about it was an out-of-body experience of which Emily is still recovering. Her words have also been recognized by a number of other famous folks, including Emmy-nominated actress and Werewolf by Night star Harriet Sansom Harris, director and composer Michael Giacchino, Sarah Sherman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Melanie Lynskey, and Judy freaking Greer.

She's also a screenwriter & playwright, and her scripts have placed in several festivals including the Nashville Film Festival, Big Apple Film Festival, and Houston Comedy Film Festival for Best Comedy Feature Screenplay. She hopes that one day a fancy producer person will be interested in her work. When Emily's not writing her own stuff, she's overthinking her coffee order, listening to podcasts, catching up on movies and TV, and feeling guilty she's not writing.Some of her current favorite shows include Succession, Severance, Hacks, A League of Their Own, What We Do in the Shadows, Stranger Things, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and anything Kristen Wiig does, really. She's not totally sure how she feels about this whole "writing in the third person" thing, but it sounds more professional, so she's going to stick with it.