I'm a big fan of Scylla and have been since the beginning of Season 1—she livens up the show a LOT imo, and she and Raelle's relationship is a real anchor. In a show that's so morally gray, I appreciate Scylla for what she is. There are so many shows out there that are standard good guys vs. bad guys and I think it's so interesting that Motherland resists that route. The complexity—around Scylla, around Alder, around the Spree, around the Army—is what is so compelling. I don't think the show is trying to make you forgive Scylla for her murders, in fact to me, they go out of their way to make it clear that is not the kind of redemption they're going for. Scylla is not going to wake up and renounce her cause any more than Anacostia is. However, I felt this episode highlighted more than ever that both of them are going through a reprioritization, without compromising their core beliefs.
Pairing Scylla and Anacostia up this season was so smart and finally we got to really see the fruits of that labor. The gala stuff was so good, absolutely love what they did with it. Scylla risking her life for the young girl isn't her straying from anything—she's always been about protecting witches, even when that's through terroristic methods. The scene where she toys with the Camarilla audience and harnesses their rage to buy Anacostia and Tiffany time, not knowing if it would work, was glorious. As was the twist at the end of the episode with Shane and her talk with Bonnie. Just great stuff, and allows you to subtly see where Scylla's head is at.
The Samhain stuff was alright—the lore was cool but I felt like a bit too much time was spent on it. It took a long time to get to the real point of it and to move the plot along, and for Episode 5 of a 10-episode season, that part of the episode felt too slow. I really am enjoying the Alder/Tally/Nicte storyline, but at some point they need to get to the point there. Though as someone who finds the unit-bond stuff to be one of the weakest parts of the show and finds trio's individual storylines much more interesting, I did appreciate how they all got their separate moments in this episode (also poor Raelle, and I'm excited that this looks like a turning point for Abigail).
