Villainess Review: Autumn Delaney (Good Witch)

With the seventh season of Good Witch closing in, I decided to finally resume binge-watching the series after trailing off while watching Season Five. Very recently, I finished watching Season Five and moved to the most recent of the Good Witch specials that usually air between seasons, the aptly titled, "Curse from a Rose."

The central plotline was the arrival of Autumn Delaney, Cassie Nightingale's college roommate, to Middleton, but as the film's opening showed, Autumn had sinister plans for Cassie, as she was shown reciting a curse while looking at a magazine cover featuring Cassie. After covertly walking behind Cassie, Autumn finally appeared to her college chum and greeted her, leading to Autumn being invited by Cassie to stay over at her bed-and-breakfast, Grey House.

As the film's early scenes progressed, small mishaps occurred at Grey House, and later on, Autumn was offered to help Cassie and the town's mayor, Martha Tinsdale, with the annual Halloween festival, with Cassie mentioning that Autumn had attended a fellowship at Kellington Gardens. However, Autumn stated that she didn't attend the fellowship and had been managing a nursery, but in spite of her reluctance, Autumn accepted Cassie and Martha's offer. As we would see, though, Autumn continued spreading her evil nature by casting a spell that killed all of the roses in Abigail Pershing's shop, as the roses were needed for a bonfire.

The film continued to show Autumn expressed restrained satisfaction over any and all mishaps that affected the festival, such as a sudden rain fall and a shipment of clothes for the festival being delayed. She would also show hints of shock and restrained despondence when those problems were solved, with a big example occurring when Abigail informed Cassie that the replacement roses arrived in time. After masking her bitterness throughout the film, Autumn let it all out in a climactic scene with Cassie, as she blamed Cassie for not getting the fellowship that she had been wanting back in college.

Shown in flashbacks, Autumn was having trouble sleeping on the night before she was set to go to her big interview for the fellowship, and to help her friend, Cassie concocted one of her remedies to help her sleep. Autumn ended up oversleeping and missing the interview, and she had held a grudge over Cassie ever since, claiming that her life changed due to "falling under the spell of (Cassie's) oils." Cassie stated that the potion helped Autumn sleep, but only Autumn was to blame for missing the interview, leading Autumn to walk off and quit her position with the festival. Her attempt to take what she thought was Cassie's grimoire was kiboshed when she saw it was a cookbook, and after opening her own grimoire, she saw an old photo of herself and Cassie, and suddenly remembered what great friends they were.

With that, Autumn returned to help out in the festival, and during the event, Autumn responded to Cassie's apology by stating that it wasn't necessary; adding that Cassie was right about Autumn being in her own way all those years ago. The two women later hugged and reconciled before enjoying the festival; an amazing Good Witch redemption story.

"Curse from a Rose" aired on October 19, 2019, between the fifth and sixth seasons of the series, and it featured Canadian actress Lolita Davidovich as Autumn Delaney. Where do I start? I loved how Autumn Delaney was basically the heel counterpart to Cassie Nightingale, but with the added boost that Autumn actually used sorcery in her villainous quest. Good Witch has been shown to be very light when it comes to female baddies, but the few that have appeared have all been good ones, though Autumn was truly the best one I've seen on the series. Autumn was definitely portrayed as a vengeful woman who was resentful and envious of Cassie, and those feelings--along with her revealed hidden insecurities--motivated Autumn's actions.

Davidovich is an amazing actress and was the absolute perfect choice to play Autumn. For one, Davidovich is what we wrestling fans would call a "natural heel"; meaning that she has the look and the perfect acting style to play villainous characters. Secondly, Davidovich played all of Autumn's emotions very well, especially her inner conflict, because it becomes clear that Autumn was struggling between befriending Cassie and ruining her, which made Autumn's eventual redemption that much sweeter when she realized that Cassie was right about her insecurities and that she and Cassie truly had a treasured friendship. But I can't help but just love Autumn's opening scene where she reads that curse, as it truly showed Autumn's venom and established her heel persona right from jump street. Overall, Davidovich shined in this role, and I can't applaud her enough.

Some of Lolita Davidovich's other villainous roles include one-shot appearances on Monk (as Natasha Lovara) and the original CSI (as Diane Hoyt. Davidovich also originated the role of Linda Wozniak on Shades of Blue, and also appeared on (among other shows), Friday the 13th: The Series (where she was credited as Lolita David), Blood & Oil, and How to Get Away with Murder (playing Laurel Castillo's mother, Sandrine).

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Click here for Autumn Delaney's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!