The Clearing Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Maitreya
In Buddhist teaching, Maitreya is the future Buddha who will be born to teach enlightenment. Adrienne Beaufort is anything but on The Clearing Season 1 Episode 5, “Maitreya.”
After playing on the sidelines most of the series, it’s Adrienne’s time to shine on this flashback episode that explores her rise from a dissatisfied housewife to a powerful cult leader. Miranda Otto’s chilling performance as Adrienne bolstered the season so far, so it’s surprising a featured episode doesn’t deliver a season-high.
Otto’s performance is still strong, and it’s fascinating to see how she transforms the character from someone downtrodden and tired to someone willing to do whatever it takes to gain control. The shift in Adrienne, then known as Aida, after she starts to believe she manifested her husband’s death is remarkable.
Although Aida lacks any warmth and is mired in depression, nothing about her screams “evil!” To see that switch flip when she realizes her power is certainly an interesting narrative choice considering female empowerment is usually seen as a positive thing.
At first, it seems like Adrienne is just living the life she wants, free from the shackles of her marriage and the pressure to have children. She even gets her movie-esque makeover with a bouffant blonde hairdo.
Her Cinderella story quickly turns into one of a wicked stepmother though. She becomes drunk on her power and ability to manipulate people as she brings more and more unsuspecting folks under her wing.
The glint in Otto’s eye feels uncanny, communicating the danger of Adrienne without any words.
It’s not just Adrienne’s origin, but the origin of the cult itself including Dr. Lathan and Tamsin’s participation in propping Adrienne up to a Christ-like figure in their circle of influential people and Adrienne’s increasing reliance on drugs as a form of control. The more suspicious Hannah also falls under her spell, leading to her and Henrik’s eventual doom.
Seeing how the cult is built provides some context, especially given the 70s setting during the height of the New Age movement, but it still doesn’t answer the big question of why Adrienne does what she does. It doesn’t appear at the beginning she’s a narcissist or sociopath, so what causes a somewhat normal if disgruntled person to go to become “Maitreya.”
Her “faith” in Buddhist teachings is ambiguous in its sincerity, seeming secondary to her strong sense of self. But not all charismatic people become cult leaders, so why Adrienne?
Her focus on children is also bizarre given she never wanted any and treats the ones she collects as props.
Ironically, Adrienne becomes the type of person her mother warns her about. She ends up getting a man’s wife institutionalized, just like her mother was, when the woman dares to speak out against the Kindred and Adrienne being a fraud.
Ultimately as a character study, this episode doesn’t go deep enough into Adrienne’s motivations to really explain what leads her to create such an abusive group. She could have money and power without going to the extremes she does.
No one is asking for a big five-minute villain monologue to explain her master plan, but a little more examination into her interior life would be appreciated. Even a mystery can afford to give its viewers some answers now and then.
What did you think of this episode of The Clearing? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Clearing airs Wednesdays on Hulu.
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Breeze Riley
Breeze Riley is a pop culture fanatic who decided to turn her love of watching too much TV into a hobby writing and podcasting about it. Although she's a convention-going sci-fi and fantasy nerd, she's just as likely to be watching an off-beat comedy or period drama.