Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches (2023) s01e05 Episode Script

The Thrall

1
Are you seeing my brother?
No, it's a work thing.
You go. I wanna stay to the end
just to see her put to rest.
The house belonged to Dierdre legally
which means it's yours now,
and everything in it.
You told everyone I was dead.
It's what Dierdre wanted for you too.
She wanted you free from this family.
- Free from him.
- Redeem her soul from evil.
For Rowan, redeem her soul from evil!
Help!
She's already mine.
Mi Daemon, ad me veni.
Mi Daemon, mihi labora.
Mi Daemon, me libera.
Mi Daemon, ad me veni.
Mi Daemon, mihi labora
We must be vigilant!
For in God's garden,
the devil's seeds will grow!
How is it possible you
haven't slept on a boat before?
I'm just not a water guy.
The Mississippi is right there.
I prefer snow.
- Crazy, right?
- Yeah.
Especially living in a place
where snow's never gonna happen.
Okay, you relax,
and I'll go make us some breakfast.
- You don't want help?
- Nope.
I want you to miss me.
Oh, do you?
So what shall we do today?
Oh, God.
- More of this.
- Yeah?
This is perfect.
I was a weirdo, too,
except I knew how to hide it.
I was on the swim team,
and I had AP classes.
Mm.
You know, I was, like, a rule follower.
I saw that when we, um
You know.
And the boyfriends?
Rowan!
Oh, they were frat boys.
And every time, I thought,
"This one'll be different.
He'll be kinder and smarter, funnier.
Maybe he'll have a personality".
But they were never different.
I'll go make us some breakfast.
So, what shall we do today?
Oh, my God.
How did it end?
I couldn't tell her about my work.
And she couldn't handle not knowing.
That's why I have
a three-week relationship cap.
I avoid the messy stuff.
Like, right now, what we're doing
because it's so terrible.
- It's terrible.
- Mm.
- It's so terrible.
- Oh, it's horrible.
I'll go make us some breakfast.
You okay?
Yeah.
Just tired.
Okay.
Hey, seriously, are you okay?
What's wrong?
I think you might have worn me out.
Oh, yeah?
Here. Let me check.
You have a fever.
Yeah.
I'm feeling pretty achy, too.
Could be the flu,
which means I'll get the flu,
which means more time in bed.
What is that?
Oh, I I must have cut myself.
Yeah, days ago.
On what?
You don't remember?
You don't remember any blood
or any bleeding?
No.
Do you?
Where are your clothes?
Over there.
Why?
That's a deep laceration.
We need to get you to a hospital.
Sorry, sorry, sorry.
At least it didn't puncture any organs.
How do you know?
Because you'd be dead
in hours instead
How long have we been here?
Where's "here"?
This is Carlotta's house.
I came here after the funeral.
How did we end up in bed together?
I think I stabbed you.
Bring it here.
We don't have to guess.
Carlotta tried to kill you.
And I got in the way.
You're in early sepsis.
We have to get you to a hospital.
A few days on IV antibiotics
and you'll be fine.
I'm gonna call an ambulance.
They'll take you there,
and you'll be okay.
Shit, it's dead.
Where is
Where even is Carlotta?
We're gonna call from a neighbor's.
- Can you walk?
- Yeah.
Don't, just come on.
Okay.
Nice and slow.
We need to keep
your blood pressure down.
He's doing this, isn't he?
Why would he want us to
spend days together in bed?
Because he wants me dead.
You're gonna survive this.
I promise.
Just sit down.
All right.
What the
No!
Okay, it's a big house.
There are other doors and other windows.
What?
Help!
Someone help us!
Someone help us!
Rowan?
What's going on?
The deal was I would make breakfast
and you would stay in bed,
desperate for my return.
You're not hurt?
I was hurt?
You were
Hey.
You were cut.
It was deep and infected.
It was inflamed, right
- It wasn't me who was hurt.
- Right there.
It was you.
You hit your head.
My head?
I don't remember hitting my head.
You have a concussion.
When did I hit my head?
The symptoms are memory loss, confusion.
At least that's what you said.
Come on.
Come on, come on, you need
to eat and then to rest.
Come on.
It's okay.
Yeah, it's okay. It's okay.
Have something to eat.
Antha!
Come on!
We'll be late.
Antha!
Antha's not here.
Stuart Townsend?
You're Talamasca.
You were assigned to to protect her
but disappeared.
Where'd you go?
You fell in love with her, didn't you?
You shouldn't have done that.
Why not?
He doesn't like it.
He'll trap you here.
Is that what happened to you?
What happened to you?
Don't die in this house.
Wait, wait
There.
- It was delicious.
- Good.
Coffee?
Sure.
Thanks.
No!
I'm sorry.
I got distracted.
You were upstairs, and
you were perfectly fine.
- And I
- It is him.
He wants me to die here.
No.
I won't let you die.
I think he's done this before,
when Antha was alive.
I don't need a hospital.
I'll treat you myself.
Just let me find what I need.
I I can't hold on without her.
Who can't you hold on without?
Have you done this?
Where is she?
What have you done with my sister?
Nothing. I don't know.
Tell me where Carlotta is
Before I vanish.
It's like I'm dying all over again!
Here.
For the pain.
And here.
- Okay.
- Wait wait.
Look first, please.
It might not be what you think it is.
What if I hurt you?
No way to go but up, I think.
You're right.
What I saw doesn't make sense.
It makes sense.
He wants you.
I'm in the way.
Hey.
If this is the only way
to get you out of this house,
so be it.
I know what to do.
- Lasher, where the hell are you?
- No.
Let Sip go.
No, stop.
Do it, and I will stay here
playing whatever game this is.
Stop.
Rowan!
Okay.
So what's the game?
What do you want from me?
No masks this time.
Where did you send him?
Where did you want him to go?
Home.
Then he's home.
Is he alive?
If that's what you wanted, he is.
Mortal men are fragile.
There's never been one who can
contend with a Mayfair woman.
"Contend with"?
Is that how you think of love?
No, it's not.
Did you enjoy your time together?
Was it just how you fantasized
there in your mother's room?
What are you doing? Is this a trick?
No tricks.
Everything that is happening here
is what you want.
I don't want any of this.
You wanted him. You got him.
Now what do you want?
To leave.
- Really?
- Yes.
Because I think
what you want
is to dance.
When our world falls to pieces ♪
And the moonlight starts to hide ♪
In a million little splinters ♪
In the corners of our mind ♪
Where endless colors ♪
They are swallowed by the sun ♪
In a trail full of echoes ♪
What are you?
I don't know.
What are you?
I'm a woman. I'm a person.
Ah.
You want so many things.
You want pleasure.
You believe what you see ♪
You want sovereignty.
You want to be adored.
You want cake.
What?
I'm not six.
My heart's desire is not cake.
Yes, it is.
Don't be embarrassed.
Depth of my soul ♪
Ooh ♪
The depth of my soul ♪
Karma's just a key ♪
Unlocking every gate ♪
What else do I want?
This day.
The feeling of elation.
I remember that.
How are you inside my head?
It turned to sorrow.
You couldn't save it.
You can be like them:
brief and beautiful.
Or you can be more.
What do you want from me?
Only this.
But what is this?
Us.
The depth of my soul ♪
You healed it!
We did.
And you want this, too.
What did you do to her?
I didn't do anything.
Let her down.
If you wanted her down, she'd be down.
I'm not gonna kill her.
That's not who I am.
For 30 years, she drugged your mother,
kept her from using her power.
You want me to kill her.
No.
Yes, you do.
Her whole life was about stopping you.
You can't leave, Rowan.
You don't want to leave
until you finish this.
There is another way out.
No, no, no, no.
Oh, no. What happened?
Who did this to you?
Go.
You can't be here.
No, no, you need to be in a hospital.
This isn't something that
can be fixed at a hospital.
I was in the house
The Mayfair house.
Oh, God.
Why would you go in there?
- Locked.
- Do you have the code?
I called for help.
Hide.
From who?
Work.
And whatever you hear,
do not come out
or I'm in worse
I'm in worse trouble.
Sip?
Sip! Sip, no!
Well?
Do you know what being did this?
We had him watching the Mayfair.
How many more agents are we
gonna sacrifice to that family?
Clear a circle.
Element of air, I call on you.
Element of fire, I call on you.
Element of water, I call on you.
Element of earth, I call on you.
I found your sister. He has her.
I know where she is. I can help you.
No one can help me now.
He's done this before. What happened?
Tell me what happened.
Sweet Antha, our baby sister.
How did it end?
How did Carlotta get
control of the house?
What's in there you want?
No!
We're on the same side.
I want him gone, too.
In here?
Is it in here?
What is it?
These?
No?
This?
This?
Here?
Is it?
You can't do what she did!
Why not?
Because you're his.
No, I'm not.
It says we need holy water and herbs.
Where does Carlotta keep them?
Please.
Hundreds of years
I've been with this family.
You can't get rid of me
with a handful of lettuce.
Do you recognize that?
An autopsy table.
Antha, your grandmother,
she was just like you,
smart, curious.
Not easy things to be
under Carlotta's thumb.
She would have been a doctor, too.
Instead, she threw
herself off the balcony.
Hey!
Carlotta did this, too.
Get me out of here!
He locked the door!
I didn't lock you in. She has.
That's what they do to people.
If I'm in charge then I can
I want the door to open.
I told you.
You did that to make me think I did.
This wound is bound by magic, as am I.
I unbind. I unbind. I unbind.
This wound is bound by magic.
I unbind. I unbind. I unbind.
I consume this evil through my body.
I consume the bread of the beast.
I consume this evil through my body.
I consume the bread of the beast.
Not yet.
I'm calling the police.
She can explain the body in the basement
and what she did to Sip
and what she almost did to me.
Let her die in jail.
I want her down.
Ah!
No!
Please.
I don't want to kill her.
I don't want to kill anybody.
I know.
You're a good girl.
You didn't ask for any of this.
There's a way out.
You go. I have to catch my breath.
How do I get down?
You didn't think you could just leave,
just go back to San Francisco?
That life is over.
He is bound to you now,
like he was bound to your mother
- and to hers.
- What?
You saved me from him.
Now, I'm going to save you.
There's no happiness ahead
for you in this life,
but there is in the next.
It's the right thing to do.
Antha didn't kill herself, did she?
Lord Jesus Christ.
You were with her.
Let me pray for Rowan, your servant.
I'm not like Antha.
We commend her to your mercy.
I will not let you do to me
what you did to her.
I should have killed you
when you were a baby!
Oh!
I didn't want this.
You did this.
"Talamasca"?
I knew the secret agent part,
but I just assumed FBI, CIA,
spy movie stuff.
Nobody can know.
Nobody would believe me.
Okay.
Come here.
You're going out?
I'm good.
See?
Not even a scar.
You're going back
to find that Mayfair woman.
Why rush back to that house?
Stay away from her, Ciprien!
Don't go near her.
She's dangerous.
On the next episode
of "Mayfair Witches"
Any woman that makes a deal with
the devil gets burned!
They'll destroy us.
It's what they've been doing
for centuries.
We have to do something.
If you want this to work,
you need to behave like a Mayfair.
Okay, you relax and I'll go
make us some breakfast.
So, this episode is called "The Thrall",
and The Thrall is the word that we used
in the writers room
to describe the spell
that Lasher puts over this house.
Lasher has powers inside of this house
that are different from powers
anywhere else in the world.
And a spell is cast at the end
of Episode 4, the doors are shut
and Lasher has kind
of constructed this thrall.
So, what shall we do today?
Oh, God.
- More of this.
- Yeah?
The hope is that
the audience is wondering
how the heck did we get here.
And it becomes more and more sinister
as we see that Cip is wounded
and that Cip and Rowan
are utterly oblivious to this.
So something should
feel very, very wrong,
and then you see Cip walk
through the burned dining room
where the terrible end
of Episode 104 happens,
and of course it's like how
can Cip and Rowan
not know what's happening.
What is that?
The doctor in her sees that wound,
and it snaps her to.
You don't remember?
You don't remember any blood,
any bleeding?
No. Do you?
How long have we been here?
Where's here?
They're piecing together the
story of what we've seen,
but we saw a door slam
at the end of Episode 4.
We certainly thought something
much different
would be happening at the
beginning of this episode.
You think I stabbed you?
Bring it here.
We don't have to guess it.
Carlotta tried to kill you,
and I got in the way.
Here.
She is really functioning as a doctor.
She knows that the absolute urgency
is not to solve a question about Lasher
or even to get out of the house.
It's to make sure that she cures Cip.
This is a wound unlike anything
explained by science.
This is magical wound. This is Lasher.
What I saw doesn't make sense.
It'll make sense.
He wants you.
I'm in the way.
That's when she knows
that what she has to do
is bargain with Lasher.
Lasher, where the hell are you?
No. Let Cip go.
No, stop.
Do it and I will stay here
playing whatever game this is.
Stop it. Rowan!
Where did you send him?
Where did you want him to go?
- Home.
- Then he's home.
Every single one
of these moments could be
a manipulation by Lasher,
but it could also be
that The Thrall is Lasher's
spell over the house
to make it do whatever Rowan wants.
Whatever it is that happens,
should be did Lasher
make it happen or did Rowan
make it happen.
Did you enjoy your time together?
Was it just how you fantasied
there in your mother's room?
What are you doing? Is this a trick?
Everything that is happening
here is what you want.
I don't want any of this.
It's really beautifully
played by Jack Huston.
Lasher is kind of like, "Can't
you believe that this is you?"
And Rowan's absolute insistence
that this is not her,
that she would never want these things.
What are you?
I don't know. What are you?
It's not for another three episodes
until we truly understand
which of them is right.
He is offering Rowan her own
power magnified.
He seems to know inside her mind
and to truly be connected to Rowan.
You can be like them,
brief and beautiful,
or you could be more.
Is it a version of herself
that's further empowered
or is he a kind of soulmate?
It's unclear, but it's very,
very seductive.
There's no happiness ahead
for you in this life,
but there is in the next.
Did Rowan want Carlotta
to die or did Lasher
want to Carlotta to die?
Is this Rowan's will or not?
Lasher says he's showing her
her true self through this exercise.
That is the game they are playing.
Rowan opens the door and walks outside,
and in this shot you see that, yes,
she's free of the house, but everything
is completely upside down.
She has slid into this other world.
What is the next episode like
I hope the audience will wonder.
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