Netflix has just dropped a lot of paranormal tv shows: A Discovery of Witches, Interview with a Vampire, The Preacher...I'll start with Mayfair Witches, which is based on a trilogy of books by Anne Rice, so there's bound to be some gay characters.
Scene 1: A sagging Gothic mansion. A man in a Depression-Era robin's egg blue suit appears on the front porch to give a staring, catatonic woman her Thorazine shot. He's new, and can't believe that this is the patient: her file is so big, he thought she was elderly.
He reviews her file, and snoops among the weird books and artifacts in her library, including a photo of her as a 1920s flapper. So she's immortal. Out on the porch, a man is talking to her, but when the doctor comes out, he is gone, and the maid says there was no man. Eerie!
The rest of the episode juxtaposes stories of two women who look alike, so the only way to tell them apart is by their timelines: the first is contemporary, and the second looks to be in the 1950s. I don't know which is the catatonic one.
The Story of Woman #1: Rowan
Scene 1: Rowan pilots a boat into San Francisco Bay. Her girlfriend arrives via Uber. Nope, it's her mother.
Scene 2: A surgeon, Rowan is comforting the young boy she'll be operating on. Wait -- a male surgeon, Dr. Keck, took over the case to impress the sexist Board, but he's not operating right. She argues, but to no avail, and the boy almost dies "Keck is a menace!" she exclaims.
Scene 3: More tearjerking: Mom's cancer is back! Plus we've only seen two male characters, neither cute.
Rowan tells the menace Dr. Keck that David Lemle was observing the surgery. His company does research with stem cells for cancer patients, so could Dr. Keck arrange an introduction, so she can apply for a job as his research associate, so she can get her mother into the trials? That sounds unethical, and really far-fetched. But Dr. Keck thinks she's arrogant, with a superiority complex.. As he is tearing into her, she hears whispers, something happens inside his brain, and he falls over dead!
Scene 4: Rowan thinks she caused Dr. Keck's death. Maybe her powers are genettc, but she's adopted, and there's no way to determine who her birth parents were.
But the moment she leaves the room, Mom calls a facility and asks who Rowan's case worker is now: Ciprian Grieves, played by Tongayi Chirisa, left. That's a totally made up name. She leaves a message: "My daughter is hurting people. I need to know if something has changed."
Scene 5: In a bar, Rowan asks the bartender, Max (Jordan Cox) to have sex with her, but he has a date tonight. So she goes after a random guy, and he relents.
After sex, he wants to stick around, cuddle, and discuss their feelings, but she kicks him out: she's only in it for sex, not a relationship. That's why she never sees the guy a second time.
Scene 6: Caseworker Ciprian Grieves goes to a house in New Orleans and uses his magic powers to look at the spirit world. A mysterious spirit, played by Jack Huston, is lurking in the back yard. He calls Rowan's Mom and tells her that He is nowhere near her daughter. That's a good thing, right?
Mom notes that she's dying of cancer, so who will protect Rowan when she's gone? Ciprian volunteers.
More after the break
