This article contains spoilers for season two of Motherland: Fort Salem.
The new season of Motherland: Fort Salem picks up just minutes after the events of last year's finale, "Witchbomb." Believed to be dead, privates Raelle Collar (Taylor Hickson) and Abigail Bellweather (Ashley Nicole Williams) are left behind after their team is attacked by witch hunters during a humanitarian mission.
As they fled, the rest of the team watched Collar and Bellweather become the epicenter of a writhing, spore-like cloud.
We find Abigail and Raelle walking away from their fungal ground zero alive and well. Neither knows what happened.
Ever the soldier, Abigail recognizes its immense military value as they come upon a mushroom-infested corpse. Raelle still distrusts General Alder (Lyne Renee) and believes divulging their secret would turn them into lab rats. While Raelle doesn't understand where the powers came from just yet, stills from trailers reveal she eventually makes the connection between her new capabilities and the mycelium wall she touched midway through last season.
The magic is strange, and likely to be a subject of intense scrutiny by Alder. Third unit member Tally Craven (Jessica Laura Sutton) mourns her friends and grapples with the sudden and selfless decision to link her life force with Alder's in the heat of battle. The righteous anger she harbored toward Alder hours before softens with this new, intimate connection. She gains her youth back later in the episode with the help of Fort Salem's head Necro, in a sequence reminiscent of brain surgery. However, their psychological link lingers; beyond feeling a sort of grief after losing it, Alder's memories start to haunt both of them. Sutton's performance stands out this episode, journeying from bereaved friend to a terrified bystander in one of Alder's recollections. If it's any indication of what's to come of their storyline this season, it's going to be a powerful one.
Meanwhile, recently-freed Scylla Ramshorn (Amalia Holm) returns to a safe house and sits down for a tense lunch with Spree leader Willa Collar, Raelle's "late"mother.
Whatever doubts Scylla has about the Spree are quelled as Willa reveals that the attack that lead to her imprisonment was committed by the Camarilla- a group set on eradicating all witches.
Staff Sergeant Anacostia Quatermaine (Demetria McKinney) continues to keep a close eye on Scylla. Recently released episode summaries suggest the two will team up later in the season.
After prying into Scylla's mind about the pilot's mall attack, Anacostia mentioned that she sensed some remorse in the younger girl. One loose thread from last season was the question of whether or not Scylla knew the extent of her participation before carrying the act out. The Spree provided her with a home and a community, but even they kept her in the dark. Perhaps it'll be enough for her to reevaluate where she stands. Here's to hoping she leans into that ambivalence. Creator Eliot Laurence teased an alliance between the Spree and witch army during Motherland's virtual San Diego Comic Con panel last year. Of course, you can't talk about these two groups without bringing up Raelle and Scylla's tragic love story. Their connection has been a driving force in the show since the pilot, where Scylla was revealed to be an agent for the Spree.
Their impassioned relationship cracked and then shattered as Scylla's lies came to light in the latter half of season one. The wound is freshened with a phone call between Raelle and her father in this episode. While currently settled on opposite sides of the war, Raelle and Scylla's individual storylines remain intricately intertwined. It's only a matter of time before they coalesce. After another attack takes out most of the Spree leadership, both Willa and Scylla reorient themselves toward the larger enemy. Willa even changes the style of a Spree attack in the wake of the assassination; favoring mass information over death.
However, it's too late. The Spree's terrorism traumatized people, and maybe even prompted the Camarilla's return. Several deadly attacks- and the army's inability to prevent them- have left the general population either wary or resentful of all witches. Motherland establishes the high tensions between civilians and witches in this episode's opening.
A church congregation watches with mixed horror as the daughter of Vice President Silver (Victor Webster) sings and melts the cathedral windows. Footage of the incident spreads quickly, and Penelope (Mellany Barros) is soon sent to Fort Salem. While Penelope is welcomed with open arms, the Vice President seems wary of her induction to the army. Whether it's because he's a widower, or concerned about his reputation's proximity to witches in the midst of public discordance is to be determined. Before their return fully materialized, the Camarilla were attacking women on the fringes of their matrilineal witch lines; of the blood, but with a weak connection.
If some no-name distant relatives caught the wrath of the Camarilla, Penelope's high status makes her a definite target. A powerful bargaining chip if the witch hunters need her father for anything.
Conflict between the witch army and the Spree was secretly stoked by the Camarilla throughout most of season one. They used the squabbling as cover as they grew in might and ranks- even going so far to use the Spree as a front in 1x05. Both groups will have to reconsider if their war is worth fighting when this new danger threatens them all. Check out the trailer for episode two below:
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.
Yorumlar