Episode Two starts with a flash back to the first Mayfair witch, Suzanne, referred to in the books as a “naïve Scottish cunning woman” and portrayed similarly here. Suzanne in the books is barely touched on, and even the Talamasca’s own records begin after she’d been burnt at the stake as a witch. She was the first to call up Lasher, however, which is where the story began. The episode makes no real comment on Suzanne, save to hint that her abilities went beyond mere herbs and basic medicine for the time.
Back in the real world Rowan begins to learn that Ellie had lied to her about her adoption, which is a key aspect of her returning home, and plays out simply for show viewers. There’s also a subtle drop about a burned body found in the desert, hinting maybe that there are witch hunters about?
We also get another scene with mewly-submissive Rowan facing off against Dr. Keck. He’s not entirely wrong that after a major death in the family seeing a therapist is a good idea, also taking some time off is understandable. Keck also reaches for reasons, citing her surgical time, which feels ham handed. Meanwhile Ciprien sneaks aboard Rowan’s houseboat, which is a huge deviation from the Talamasca in the books. A lot of back and forth happens in The Witching Hour, between Aaron and himself debating the ethics of stalking this family as they have, to Aaron and Michael and Michael and Rowan talking about it when each read the file. Ultimately that they do little more than record gossip and purchase refused photos and publicly available art helps to hold them up as relatively harmless, and ultimately helpful in giving the family a lot of very valuable information about themselves. (At least until later books.)
Setting up Ciprien again as some sort of protective watcher of Rowan is a very curious. It very well may completely change the spirit of the tale, as much as the actual events.
Likewise, the choice to allow Deidre to wake from her forced sedation…well, it’s almost like sad wish fulfillment. A huge part of the first third of the book was the horrible knowledge that Deidre was, in fact, completely fine and sane, but Carlotta was using the leverage of crap psychology and new therapeutic meds to control her niece. In fact in the book Carlotta outright confesses to Rowan that she purposefully broke the spirits of Antha and Deidre in order to try to keep them from turning to Lasher. She also confesses that she never could break the connection. I feel the show shows this extremely well by actually getting in the head of Deidre in the first and second episode and portraying how alone she is, but Lasher, of course, is always at and on her side.
Did they miss an opportunity to add horror by allowing Deidre to wake up from her stupor? The thought of being controlled by adults in power over you (Antha was, I believe 4 when Carlotta gained custody over her and Deidre was only a few weeks old when Antha died.) and those adults being able to drug you into submission should you fight them is terrifying. I firmly believe despite Carlotta being correct that there was a lot of horrible stuff going on in the family that needed to be stopped she is ultimate the most evil character in the book–even including Lasher himself. But, perhaps the visual medium allows for other cues to including horror, such as how this episode ends. I honestly thing the ending of the episode captures in a moment the same horror that Rice meant readers to feel when Rowan had secrets withheld from her so long that she missed the possibility of saving, or even just meeting, her mother.
Setting questions of Deidre aside (though it was very nice to have her established as a more solid character, give her the opportunity to establish more memories to the viewers, as well as outright prove the Mayfairs are witches) there’s then the question of Cortland also being alive. In the source material Cortland was killed by Carlotta (wielding the same weapon perhaps as Rowan has) at eighty years old around Rowan’s birth. Again, at the end of this episode it’s hard to see how this change will affect the story, but Hamlin is a perfect gem for this role and it’s nice to have an “Old Mayfair Guard” to set up against the destructive force of Carlotta (also Beth Grant does a brilliant job playing Carlotta.)
I think, so far, the changes still outweigh and serve a purpose in the narrative. The soul of the story remains true, and the visuals and mood are completely perfect.
One last note: The emerald necklace itself was also changed. In the books it’s a huge square old fashioned thing. The show makers have turned it into a key necklace, which is a direct reflection to the idea of the 13th Mayfair witch being “the key”. While I would have liked to see the necklace as written, establishing it (and the Key idea) as a symbol of the show and the witches is exactly how it’s used in the books.