Mary McDonnell Is an Outstanding RWRD In 'The Fall of the House of Usher'

By Chris Revelle | TV | October 19, 2023 |

By Chris Revelle | TV | October 19, 2023 |

Not too long ago, I lit candles at my altar devoted to RWRDs (Ridiculous Women in Ridiculous Dresses) to sing the praises of Elizabeth Perkins as a powerful presence on both Minx and The Afterparty. As I described then, an RWRD is not ridiculous in the sense that they deserve ridicule but as an expression of their undeniable power. You can’t miss an RWRD; they’re dressed too notably for that, and you can’t deny their gravitational pull either. I’m happy to announce that Mary McDonnell’s performance as the imperious Madeline Usher on The Fall of the House of Usher has made the actor the RWRD of the Halloween season.

It’s possible I have a soft spot for McDonnell because she bears a resemblance to my own mother, but she doesn’t need that to be incredible. In her hands, Madeline is like an orchid made of steel, beautiful and unbreakable. With a gunmetal wardrobe and a mane of dove-gray hair, McDonnell composes herself with Sphinx-like faces and a soft voice that coats her iron words in velvet. McDonnell’s face maintains placid expressions as she spits venom and delivers ultimatums as if the acidic taste of her words hasn’t phased her. There is power in delivering brutality with not a smile or a frown, but a total calm. Madeline is like the surface of a frozen lake: outwardly quiet and still but containing a deathly chill. All of which is fitting for a character referred to as “Cleopatra” by Verna, the mysterious and supernatural figure at the center of Usher. McDonnell’s gentle lilt and copacetic aura are effective tools for communicating how much of the corporate skullduggery and morally strained behavior is just another Tuesday for her. As someone who entirely lacks a poker face, the level of control it takes to speak terrible things into being without disrupting the still-water facade is impressive.

Many RWRDs are splashy and loud, but McDonnell gives us a steelier vision than that. Madeline is a character defined by a freight train will that cannot be assailed. McDonnell inflects her purring, hypnotic voice with a fierce and untroubled confidence that could make the words, “I would like a turkey club” intimidating and portentous. Madeline could have been simply evil, but McDonnell instead fashioned what feels like a take on Miranda Priestly where the voice stands barely above a murmur and the quietest cruelties land like bombs. While the rest of the Usher family spiraled lavishly and loudly, my eyes kept returning to McDonnell’s Madeline, radiating with silent superiority. She seems annoyed and exasperated by everyone else’s emotions as if she cannot see why they can’t act as she does. Through much of the series, it plays as if Madeline might hate the Usher kids a bit and that would jibe with Madeline’s aloof presentation. However, Madeline knows the deadly terms of Verna’s deal and McDonnell shows you how this knowledge leads her to look past the Usher scions. They’re not long for this world, so why would Madeline invest herself in them?

Like Perkins, McDonnell has been working relatively steadily in recent years, but it feels like ages since they were noticed and celebrated. Her most recent film role was voicing Lady Zerbst in the 2021 Netflix animated feature The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. Give her a meaty role in something bigger, Hollywood! At the very least, let’s all cross fingers Mary McDonnell joins the Mike Flanagan Troupe and appears in another Flanaganverse entry. We all need more McDonnell in our lives.

This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.