This article contains spoilers for season two of Motherland: Fort Salem. Season 2, Episode 6 "My 3 Dads" aired July 27, 2021.
This week, we're getting back to Raelle's roots. Tally accompanies Collar to her home in the Chippewa Session for fall break. We're reunited with Edwin Collar (Hrothgar Mathews) as he welcomes the two young witches home. Raelle's powers need to stay a secret. So does her deployment. And definitely Scylla. It's a lot of things to not talk about, but most of them are considered confidential military secrets.
They don't have much of a place in the Cession, anyway. Residents here don't hide their less-than-pleasant opinions of Alder. Tally sees some vandalized propaganda and recounts her conversation with Valda Esterbrook; the truth regarding Alder's war crimes in Liberia.
And Tally's worried about Raelle's involvement with the general. If she could command Nicte Batan to do something so vile, then what could she do with the witchbomb? Raelle assures her that she'll always have a choice. (Which feels like not-so-subtle foreshadowing. I fear one of the last dilemmas of this season may involve Collar losing autonomy to defeat the Camarilla.)
Abigail and Adil spend their break at the impressive Bellweather estate. Petra Bellweather and Abigai's three fathers have made it their mission to find suitors for her daughter to handfast with. Abigail has no interest; her and and Adil are there to collect some of her cousin's remains. Bellweathers have trees instead of headstones.
There's some unexpected insight into witch sentiments as Tally, Raelle, and Papa Collar talk over lunch. Raelle was born on a military base, and though Edwin was cleared to visit the infirmary, a soldier told him off once she learned he was the father- that he made his daughter weak.
The eighteen-year-old story echoes some of the same sentiments of the Imperatrix a few episodes ago. Seems "outcrossing" isn't a judgement reserved only for the upper echelons of witch society.
As the two spend time at Raelle's home, they noticed they've been tailed from the diner. Turns out Alder assigned a security detail for the army's greatest asset. Raelle's less-than-thrilled.
Tally urges Raelle to speak with her dad as she struggles to understand why her mother didn't visit her during Samhain. The two girls exchange stories with one of Willa's best friends, Quinn, who seems confused when Raelle mentions that her mother didn't come. Supposedly, the dead can't refuse a request on the hallowed grounds of Fort Salem.
Neither Tally nor Raelle seem to put together the implications of her response. But Tally does notice when she recounts the operation that took Willa's life- they were dealing with seeds weaponized in bottles, and then worse in later battles. It's awfully reminiscent to the Spree workings seen in season one. Tally figures out as much. And if Tally's pieced this together, Alder must have too. And kept to herself.
Nicte Batan has been busy. Alder's old flame created and now runs the Spree. Between this and her beef in Liberia, the army's doing a lot of fighting on behalf of Alder's poor relationships. Tally wants to change that.
Abigail's handfasting festivities come to a head as she stands up to her mother; witches should be focused on taking down the Camarilla, not on producing the next generation of witches. The Bellweather matriarch- Abigial's grandma- tells her to follow her passion to the ends of the earth. Make a name for herself, not just the Bellweather title. Her own mark. Meanwhile, Scylla finds Tiffany's parents slain in their home. As she no-doubt falls into her own memories, she notices that Tiffany's mom has had her vocal cords removed. Now, she and Anacostia need to figure out what to tell this child- who's no more than six or seven years old. They disagree over where she belongs. Scylla thinks she should be placed with Dodgers until she's old enough to decide for herself. Anacostia argues that the military's fosterling program did right by her, but is silenced as Scylla points out she's working with a terrorist. And reveals she killed their Camarilla contact.
Scylla knocks Anacostia out before the two can come to a consensus. She takes Tiffany to stay with her and Willa for the night, and discover that the Camarilla have been kidnapping young witches and keeping them in pet cages at a veterinary clinic. In response to her naivety, Alder removes Anacostia from the Camarilla operation. Petra is to bring the young daughter's home. Quartermaine will remain at her side.
Taylor Hickson got to show off some vocals in a short but sweet Raelle-rendition of Peter Gabriel's "Book of Love."
I wasn't sure if the shake in her voice toward the end was intentional, but I like to believe that Scylla crossed her mind while she was singing. She shared the songs with her mother, too.
Tally excuses herself so Raelle can talk with her father, and the damn breaks. She had a massive argument with her mother before she left on her last deployment. Willa was sneaking out and, if she couldn't tell Raelle the truth, she didn't love her. And then she died.* In addition to twisting the knife of Scylla's betrayal, this moment provides some hints as to how Raelle will react once she finds out Willa is alive. She'll either be upset that the guilt of that moment weighed so heavily on her for no reason, or just be grateful to have her back. How they're introduced will be a determining factor.
As Alder, Anacostia, and Izadora observe a specimen of the Camarilla contagion. It can lie dormant until a witch is near, and when it latches itself onto witch blood it can self replicate limitlessly.
Nicte stages an impressive satellite attack on the general. A new inductee to her cell sacrifices himself for the procedure, which involves pouring molten metal down the throat. Fort Salem's administration watch helplessly as it ravages General Alder and her troop. If not for her connection to the Biddies, she would've died three times over. Willa and Scylla stage an impressive ruse to take control of the veterinary office they gleaned from Tiffany, but arrive too late. Someone tipped the cell off. No girls are left behind. It must've been a last-minute move, because the Camarilla left files and target names behind. Scylla flips through them, stopping when she finds Raelle Collar, Highest Priority written in red and underlined.
Raelle, Tally, and their army detail are ambushed by the witch hunters late at night. Craven watches as Raelle is loaded into a van before falling unconscious. The silver lining? Saving Raelle might be the smaller common goal the Spree and army need to realize they have to join forces against the Camarilla. With some #Raylla angst as the icing on the cake. Check out the trailer for episode 7 below:
* This particular scene struck a nerve in me. I'm not gonna spill my life story, but I had a few similar conversations about honesty with my mother shortly before she passed in late 2019. I still struggle with the same guilt. This performance was raw, and authentic to that experience in a way I've not seen in media until now. I wanted to make a special note of it for myself. Eliot or Taylor, if by some chance you read this: thank you.
Watch new episodes of Motherland: Fort Salem on Freeform Tuesdays at 10PM. Stills accessed from dgepress.com. All rights reserved to Motherland: Fort Salem and Freeform.
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