S01.E09: Coup

[Cranberry]

Quote

In the aftermath of Citydrop, the unit comes closer together, while their distrust of Alder grows; Abigail is faced with eulogizing a fallen soldier, while Tally learns something new about Gerit; Anacostia grants one last favor to Scylla.

Original air date: 5/13/20

Promo:

Sneak Peeks went up later than usual!

 

 

 

[Cranberry]

A new sneak peek on Facebook:

 

[UNOSEZ]

How Alder supposed to get away with this.. Does the president not know after its happened.. Wouldn't she suspect.. Wouldn't the ppl around her... And while I get why Tally was mad about the hostages( it was that right and not that cadets got called into the fray)  what realistically were the other options?.. I wish some character woulda played devils advocate with her on that... Alder is still outta control.. As you'd expect a centuries old witch who uses the youth of countless witches to keep power.. But the call made sense... And once that's done are you really gonna go on tv and tell the world you had to sacrifice the hostages... Don't care about scylla and Raelle.. Or her redemption.. But I do like Anacostia disobeying Alder... Still think before it's said and done.. Adil will give his songs to Abigail.. And that will be her powerup.. Cuz we still haven't seen anything else.. Unless its just being a Leader... Which is awesome and cool.. But still

[Chick2Chic]

Good episode. 

Alder really is an egomaniac in her belief that only she can the leader who wins the war. Her puppeting President Wade was creepy and crazed. I am glad Anacostia caught her doing that then went to warn Tally & Abigail after Raelle gave her that background info. Khalida really has Alder's number too. 

I knew that Tally was going to get her heart broken again but didn't expect it to happen quite like that. At least she knows now, and she can hopefully go in to her next relationship with her eyes more wide open. I did like her chemistry with Gerit, and i do think he has real feelings for her, but didn't expect it to last. Just didn't think it would end like that and he was wrong wrong wrong for it too.

Scylla and Raelle's scene... I didn't hate it but to me, the issue isn't whether or not they love each other cause I don't doubt that they do (I saw on twitter folks were really focused on that which puzzled me cause that wasn't really in question). My issue remains that the show is trying to giving Scylla a redemption without her having earned it nor seeming to care about being a mass murderer. Telling Raelle she chose her and that she loves her doesn't & shouldn't automatically erase mass murdering terrorism. I'm disappointed that the show thinks it does and doesn't want to put in the work to have Scylla put in effort to show remorse (Anacostia saying Scylla felt some remorse is not the same thing to me as seeing Scylla show it). So... sigh with that. 

I really liked Abigail's eulogy for Libba. It was true and packed more of a punch than fake,  flowery words. 

I still really like Adil & Abigail together. The scene with several of them in the Bellweather Unit room was really nice to see and I would have loved some more of that in the show. Bonding moments with levity. That last scene with Adil thinking Abigail lied to him was sad. I hope they can work it out since she was honest but no one could have expected Alder to puppet Wade.  

I hope there's a second season.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Chick2Chic
fixed something.

[Cranberry]

This is getting really good.

President Wade is a badass. Loved her hissing back at the biddies (and laughing when they recoiled in surprise).

Abigail's eulogy was heartfelt and fitting. Glad Libba's mom (and Abigail's mom) appreciated it. I liked seeing Abigail and Petra get along better this episode than they have in the past. 

Hilary walking in on Tally and Gerit and immediately wanting to join in made me laugh, but it was shitty of Gerit to not give Tally a heads up. I'm assuming he's out of the picture now, and I won't miss him. Tally deserves a good guy whose romantic tactics don't come from codices or his wife's orders.

The idea of this third party, The Camarilla, is interesting, although they're being introduced a little late in the game. It's never made sense that the Spree switched from killing civilians to witches, though (especially considering everything Scylla's been saying about humans being the real enemy), so it's not a surprise. I just hope we get a second season so there's time for this new thread to pay off.

That Raelle/Scylla scene was very well done, and I felt for them both, but until Scylla actually shows remorse for what she did to all those civilians, I can't see how Anacostia could take a chance on letting her out. Scylla's going to need her faith in The Spree shattered before she'll want to work as a double agent.

That puppeting scene was super creepy. Glad Anacostia twigged to what was happening. I'm liking the idea of our girls plus Anacostia (and perhaps Scylla in the future) as their own little rogue unit. 

This week's After the Storm:

 

[Kurenai24]

37 minutes ago, UNOSEZ said:

Still think before it's said and done.. Adil will give his songs to Abigail.. And that will be her powerup.. Cuz we still haven't seen anything else.. Unless its just being a Leader... Which is awesome and cool.. But still

Both Eliot and Ashley Nicole Williams have stated that Abigail is a blaster (the witches who do weather magic), Ashley even said that Abigail is like Storm from the X-Men.

In the pilot episode where we see the older cadets making tornadoes I figured that was something blasters would learn once they left basic but I still expected to see something from Abigail at least once this season. Maybe that fight with Raelle with the storm brewing outside is all we're gonna get but Raelle fans think Raelle was the one behind that b/c we keep being told how powerful she despite the fact the only power from Raelle we keep seeing is her healing and knocking people out.

It's just gonna suck and feel like Abigail got shafted if she's the only one out of the 3 who wasn't given an opportunity to show her abilities this first season especially if we don't get a second season, like hand to hand combat is all good but it's not the same ...at all and it won't feel fair.

[Cranberry]

We still have the finale left, and the synopsis makes it sound like the unit is going into a dangerous situation, so that would be a great time to see Abigail do some blasting. I'm hoping/assuming that if Ashley said Abigail is like Storm, that's because she filmed something cool we get to see.

[ursula]

2 hours ago, Chick2Chic said:

That last scene with Adil thinking Abigail lied to him was sad.

Am I the only one that was confused by his reaction? Adil wanted to work with Alder, it was Abigail who was saying that she didn’t trust Alder anymore and that hopefully, she (Alder) won’t be in charge for much longer. So how did she trick him? If she had literally said nothing... nothing would have changed for him. All Abigail did was given him the possibility of an alternative that didn’t work out. He was already planning to work with Alder.

I want to believe that he was just sad/disappointed because otherwise, it just looks like the show going out of its way to punish Abigail with her LI. Which is sadly the modus operandi for black female characters on US TV.

 

The most interesting thing about this episode was the box of horror larynxes and the name of what seems to be some Christian witch hunting cult that Alder remembers from the good old burning days. So the theory that the Spree are not behind the Bellwether attack is seeming more and more plausible.

 

2 hours ago, Cranberry said:

Tally deserves a good guy whose romantic tactics don't come from codices or his wife's orders.

Tally was down with sleeping with a married man so it’s really hard for me to feel any pity for her right now. When Gerit said he didn’t expect her to mind a threesome and she acted all outraged, I burst out laughing. Lady, you’re sleeping with a married man. You’re kind of past being offended here.

 

On a related note, am I the only one who feels Glory would have made more sense as the dead cadet than Libba? They’ve made Libba’s death and the hostage’s deaths such a big deal for Tally. It would make more sense imo if it was Tally who had lost someone. Also, does Tally feel guilty that she didn’t help in the wind strike? That her staying silent was probably what weakened their vanguard and caused Libba’s death? 

 

1 hour ago, Kurenai24 said:

Both Eliot and Ashley Nicole Williams have stated that Abigail is a blaster (the witches who do weather magic), Ashley even said that Abigail is like Storm from the X-Men.

Yes, I need this confirmed in-story and not just behind the scenes stuff.

Otherwise it’s sketchy as hell that we have 2 magic white girls from obscure lineages and the black girl who is supposed to come from the most powerful bloodline is the mediocre one. 

[Kurenai24]

Here are my thoughts on this episode.

I liked it.

I enjoyed the euology Abigail gave about Libba, I liked that Libba was the short form of Elizabeth, idk that was just a nice little surprise.

I like the mother and daughter scenes with Petra and Abigail, I'm always here for more Bellweathers.

I do understand Tally being upset about Alder not being upfront about what happened, and Alder not even attempting to try and rescue those hostages, it also doesn't help that Tally could feel what those civilians felt which just adds to her guilt about being involved in their killing. And going off of Petra and President Wade's comment it seems like it is a big no-no to involve cadets who haven't passed basic being put into real military missions, but I don't know why that would cause distrust with the unit; being upset with Alder, yes, distrusting her, no, as both Abigail and Petra pointed out it's a casualty of war and the results of not doing anything could have been worse; obviously Alder puppeteering the President and the fact she's potentially looking into who was ratting her out is another story.

Which, if the unit is in danger, isn't Petra? I kind of figure Petra would die eventually but now I feel like her life is in jeopardy, if there is a season 2 that would be the season I feel she's gonna die in. 

As for Scylla, Raelle, and Raylla, I don't care about the Scylla character at all, I don't care about their relationship either, I just started caring about Raelle halfway through last episode after she escaped the Elena Gilbert curse and started actually caring about her unit. So when I watch their scenes I feel nothing, at all.

Continuing ship talk, I like Cravenwood, but I have no idea where they're going with this, I thought that these marriages were nothing more than contracts that could involve love in some scenarios, and with the convo Charvel and Abigail had, it made it seem like being faithful wasn't that big of a deal, and yet Gerit's wife seems to mind that Gerit and Tally have something going on despite the fact that the purpose for these arranged marriages are for babies and that there is no love there at least not on Gerit's side. And on top of that Gerit seems to not get that Tally doesn't want a third party involved in their relationship. I'm kind of over them at the moment.

As for Adigail, it's like one step forward one step back with them, they have sweet chemistry and yet I'm hesitating on getting invested b/c they're not going anywhere, and it's laughable b/c people had the nerve to act like this relationship was rushed, when all the relationships are rushed and in this particular one, nothing has been established. 

I'm always thinking ahead, so I'm wondering once the Tarim's songs are released in some way will Adil and Khalida be killed as their purpose is no longer necessary or will they get to stay alive and be on the eventual side of the resistance, I know they have their beliefs but they could idk defend and protect instead of attack and wage war, I just don't know how far those beliefs can go in a world that's eventually gonna be about witches fighting for their freedom.

 

 

[TiffanyNichelle]

Well Adler just went full on villain. I never saw her as the bad guy, just complicated but with her actions tonight? Oh boy. I felt so bad for Anacostia when figured out what Adler was up to.

The president shouldn't have told Adler what she was going to do. Never warn someone that powerful that you're going to take them out. Especially with how gleeful she was about removing Adler. And now Abigail's mom and the until are in danger.

First the army disillusioned Tally and then Gerit. Jeez, not a great episode for her. 

So now have another group besides the Spree out there? I guess it makes sense because why would the Spree go after the Bellweather line or the Tarim. But witch hunters? Yes. 

The little girl disturbs me. 

I know I'm supposed to be moved by Raelle and Scylla but I'm not. I wanted Raelle to ask about Porter. To know that Scylla killed him just to cover her tracks. 

Edited May 14, 2020 by TiffanyNichelle

[Kurenai24]

29 minutes ago, ursula said:

Am I the only one that was confused by his reaction? Adil wanted to work with Alder, it was Abigail who was saying that she didn’t trust Alder anymore and that hopefully, she (Alder) won’t be in charge for much longer. So how did she trick him? If she had literally said nothing... nothing would have changed for him. All Abigail did was given him the possibility of an alternative that didn’t work out. He was already planning to work with Alder.

I want to believe that he was just sad/disappointed because otherwise, it just looks like the show going out of its way to punish Abigail with her LI. Which is sadly the modus operandi for black female characters on US TV.

Yes, I need this confirmed in-story and not just behind the scenes stuff.

Otherwise it’s sketchy as hell that we have 2 magic white girls from obscure lineages and the black girl who is supposed to come from the most powerful bloodline is the mediocre one. 

Tbh, I have no idea what Adil was upset/disappointed about.

And yeah Ashley/Abigail is really getting the short end of the stick here, the only lead that hasn't shown her specialized ability, the only lead who can't establish a relationship with her LI and the only lead who didn't get a chemistry read with the actor playing their love interest.

[william0102]

53 minutes ago, Kurenai24 said:

Tbh, I have no idea what Adil was upset/disappointed about.

And yeah Ashley/Abigail is really getting the short end of the stick here, the only lead that hasn't shown her specialized ability, the only lead who can't establish a relationship with her LI and the only lead who didn't get a chemistry read with the actor playing their love interest.

I was also confused by how upset Adil looked- and it is kinda obvious that Abigail and Adil haven't gotten as passionate exchanges on screen. They got cuddles on a bed, while the "gay" relationship actually got some groping on a bed. I don't know if that's the writers building them up as OTP, to show Abigail cares for Adil more than her hook ups, but I'd rather they were treated more equally, and not some special episode where she talks about how nervous she is because he's different.

And as Kurenai24 stated a few posts ago, does Tally realize that the truck incident might have gone a little differently if she had even tried instead of standing there? Every time she starts going on about Alder, I just want to tell her to shut up. I guess I should be forgiving, she just realized she gave up a free pass for nothing by joining the army, but it's really hard when I saw her just stand there at the back of the group of cadets.

I was cheering the president on during the exchange with Alder. I was a little surprised that there isn't already a tiny coup going on inside Fort Salem, that Petra took it to only the president- especially since she said she had friends at the Hague. Seems kinda short sighted of Petra. But apparently the coup is going to be the girls and Anacostia saving the military's reputation from the brimstone Alder dragged it into by puppeting the president.

Anacostia, poor Anacostia. I was looking forward to seeing her realize Alder might not be the right person to lead the witch army any longer, and they didn't disappoint on that front. I was fully expecting her to bust in on Alder once she realized what was going, but then she cried and I felt so bad for her. That whole scene was great. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but having her watch through a window on a door, crying, just made me think about the orphan thing again- not having anyone of her "own", having been brought up by Alder/the army, and still she was on the outside looking in even with all the loyalty she's given Alder. She's played by the rules and deferred to Alder, even when it's Anacostia training the cadets that Alder just sent into battle, she was the one that had to give them that order, and there's Alder just breaking a giant red flashing light rule.

[UNOSEZ]

Maybe Adil was just disappointed in the outcome... You know initial reaction.. And realizing that eventho he was the one who wanted to deal with Alder.. It was reluctantly and his sister was dead set against it... Having new leadership may have just been the last bit of hope of avoiding a collision course tween his sister and Alder.. And that just went away... That's my hope at least because if it's a bump for Abi/Adios... It doesn't make a ton of sense.. 

[Grace19]

Wow, Abigail told Raelle that she should go and see the woman that as far as she knows let in the people that killed her cousin. The writers just Bonnie bennetted her. It's not enough for Anacostia to defend Scylla, Abigail has to join in too, whose next? The president? petra? I was very disappointed, that was unrealistic. And yet Scylla has never show remorse about killing innocent people, but no she loves Raelle, that's all that matters. I hope they renew this show, but if they bring Scylla back next season, I'm going to be hate-watching this show. Thank God Raelle is more likeable since she broke up with Scylla and started caring about her unit.

Gerit is an asshole, Tally deserves better. 

Abigail and Adil are adorable and Abigail eulogy was perfect.

General Alder is arrogant, but I don't know what else she could have done about the hostages. It was a tough call. But this week she went too far, there will be hell to pay. I find the character to be very interesting.

 

[Cranberry]

3 hours ago, william0102 said:

it is kinda obvious that Abigail and Adil haven't gotten as passionate exchanges on screen.

I think that's very much on purpose. Abigail has always been, for lack of a better term, a maneater. She dismissed that guy in the pilot without a second thought; she cavalierly used the two guys at Beltane and the guy at the wedding for an energy boost; she mentioned that she didn't care that Libba once stole her date but was simply angry that Libba upstaged her day. She generally doesn't care about men emotionally. The slow burn with Adil is showing us (and her) that she actually cares about him and wants to be around him because of who he is, and not just because he's hot and dtf. Having them jump into bed right away would muddle that message.

Ashley once mentioned that Abigail has been raised with an attitude that's sort of like toxic masculinity (but obviously what a female version of that would look like in a matriarchal society). She's been raised to avoid showing weakness or getting too close to anyone emotionally. Adil is breaking down those walls, but that kind of thing takes time.

Also, considering that Tally was sleeping with a duplicitous married man and Raelle's ex is a literal terrorist chained up in a dungeon, Abigail's doing pretty well on the love interest front!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Whew, the shit is really hitting the fan now! I knew that Alder wasn't going to take getting fired well, but DAMN. I want to know how the President is going to react afterward since she will know that Alder was puppeting her.

I think Tally will be one of the first to jump ship to Anacostia whenever she decides to start her mutiny. They are both very idealistic about the military being the right, true, and altruistic force of good and Alder has just revealed how far she is willing to go to achieve her goals.

Thank goodness Raelle is finally done with Scylla. It's about freaking time!

[Kurenai24]

1 hour ago, Grace19 said:

Wow, Abigail told Raelle that she should go and see the woman that as far as she knows let in the people that killed her cousin. The writers just Bonnie bennetted her. It's not enough for Anacostia to defend Scylla, Abigail has to join in too, whose next? The president? petra? I was very disappointed, that was unrealistic. And yet Scylla has never show remorse about killing innocent people, but no she loves Raelle, that's all that matters. I hope they renew this show, but if they bring Scylla back next season, I'm going to be hate-watching this show. Thank God Raelle is more likeable since she broke up with Scylla and started caring about her unit.

it's funny you bring up Bonnie Bennett cause I've done the same when talking about fans only liking Abigail when she's doing something for Raelle or defending Raelle.

Unfortunately Eliot has referred to Scylla as being the forth lead a couple of times and seems to like the couple.

~~~~

Just some other thoughts.

I really appreciate the comment Tally made towards Abigail about 'how she would follow [Abigail] anywhere.' This fandom is mostly filled with Raelle/Scylla/Raylla fans, so I've seen them wanting Raelle as leader and I've read some reviews where they want Tally as leader and this just felt like a nice moment in the show, where it confirmed to me that maybe no matter how special snowflake-y Raelle gets or how disillusioned Tally becomes, the leadership role no matter where they are or how big the group becomes is permanently filled by Abigail.

I also appreciate that it didn't need to take Anacostia half a season or even the next season to become disillusioned with a person she trusted, at the same time, idk how long for this world this character is, I can see a few more storyline coming out of her like her continuing to train our unit even as they are hiding from the military or something. I think they should have made her a special guest star like they did for the actress who is playing Alder.

I'm left wondering if Alder's actions in regards to President Wade will effect the government's response towards witches in general or just Alder.

I feel like if there is a season 2 there is gonna be a sort of reset especially where relationships are concerned, with Raelle and Scylla, they'll be building them up again but possibly more slowly, but I don't know if Gerit or Adil are coming along for the ride which is unfortunate b/c I liked both Cravenwood and Adigail, and I appreciated Tally and Abigail both having asian male love interests which is rare ...unfortunately, the relationships don't seem to be building up to anything permanent.

[william0102]

27 minutes ago, Kurenai24 said:

I feel like if there is a season 2 there is gonna be a sort of reset especially where relationships are concerned, with Raelle and Scylla, they'll be building them up again but possibly more slowly, but I don't know if Gerit or Adil are coming along for the ride which is unfortunate b/c I liked both Cravenwood and Adigail, and I appreciated Tally and Abigail both having asian male love interests which is rare ...unfortunately, the relationships don't seem to be building up to anything permanent.

I was thrilled when Gerit and Adil showed up, because one Asian male love interest would have been nice, but two? Unheard of. Then Gerit did his whole we-can-sneak-around thing, and now Adil is actually considering accepting Alder's help. Of the two characters' potential story-wise, I think the writers would choose to keep Gerit, but I'd prefer Adil since he balances and reflects Abigail's personality.  I do think Tally had a point in the last episode when she said Gerit didn't know her. Of course I also think that's she's just been using him as an escape since she found out about his engagement.

I would also choose Adil over Gerit since they are down to 10 or less of Adil's people, they kinda need to keep him unless this whole special seed storyline was literally just about having Alder grab too much power. Which that would piss me off even more I think lol. I appreciate the representation on this show, and Adil and Gerit getting the "normal" boyfriend treatment from the writers, I just don't want them reinforcing the weak/passive Asian male love interest role- which they got a huge jump closer to with Gerit in this episode, imo. I'm more than willing to lean into this is a woman's world, love it, but literally just having Adil be a plot point for Alder's power grab and Abigail realizing it's okay to let people in, would make me rage, lol.

[ursula]

49 minutes ago, william0102 said:

Of the two characters' potential story-wise, I think the writers would choose to keep Gerit, but I'd prefer Adil since he balances and reflects Abigail's personality. 

After last episode, I don’t feel it makes sense to keep Gerit. It didn’t even make much sense for him to come back after Beltane, but I understood he was part of the world building to show us how contractual relationships in High Atlantic are. His engagement/marriage established them. Now if they had written Gerit as willing to defy his expectations to marry, or had his wife be someone Tally, or at least the audience, knew and could be conflicted about then yes, I’d see why we’re keeping him on. Having his wife propose a threesome and Tally be, once again, scandalized by how emotionless relationships are (supposed to be) is just rethreading old ground. 
 

On the other hand, Adil and his sister are part of a story tied to the core lore of the show, with the Tarim and Alder’s own history. They’re also in conflict with each other - his sister wants her people to die with their secrets and Adil doesn’t think they should. So besides his relationship with Abigail, he’s a pivotal character in his own right. 

In fact the only reason why I see Adil leaving the show is the predictability of US TV crapping on black women’s/people’s storylines. As @Grace19said, it’s Bonnie Bennett all over again when on paper, Abigail is central to the major plots but they somehow manage to make every other secondary plot more important and/or kick her out of her own storylines.

Which is why Tally’s breakdown irritates me because it’s another example of a black girl losing something (Abigail’s childhood frenemy) and the story makes it all about the white girl. I really like Glory but if they were going to have Tally be the centre of this arc, they should have killed Glory instead of Libby. Also Libby died because Tally held back during the wind strike and that isn’t acknowledged. If Tally was breaking down out of guilt, I’d be more sympathetic but again no, that would be having a white girl deal with consequences and we can’t have that.
 

Just like how Tally initiates sexual infidelity but the story frames it so that Gerit is a cad, and his wife is a pervert for not being... upset that her husband is cheating on her.

I also find it hard to understand Quartermaine’s disillusionment (pre-puppeteer it, I mean). As many people have pointed out, what Alder did with the cadets hostages was more about making a tough call than outright villainy. If she had let the Spree go, they’d have killed more people, including those hostages. The controversy would make sense if the story could show the audience any alternative that would have stopped the Spree’s escape and saved the hostages, but we don’t have that. It’s really just Tally’s own personal moral judgment. Even Petra Bellweather doesn’t see it as controversial as Tally etc do. 

She feels there’s “good” in Scylla even though we the audience haven’t seen it. So I’m left siding with Alder - Quartermaine is just soft, and has allowed Scylla to ‘get in her head’, so to speak. I also side with Alder - Quartermaine’s idea to recruit Scylla as a triple agent is a good idea in theory but Scylla is too strong willed and loyal to the Spree for this to work. So up until the President puppeteering, Quartermaine’s misgivings seems to exist just to validate Tally, and Scylla, and also Raelle by proxy, basically all the white leads. 
 

 

[Chick2Chic]

4 hours ago, Grace19 said:

Wow, Abigail told Raelle that she should go and see the woman that as far as she knows let in the people that killed her cousin. The writers just Bonnie bennetted her. It's not enough for Anacostia to defend Scylla, Abigail has to join in too, whose next? The president? petra? I was very disappointed, that was unrealistic. And yet Scylla has never show remorse about killing innocent people, but no she loves Raelle, that's all that matters.

This is such a huge, unfortunate problem with the writing and storyline execution. Going off the tweets last night from the cast during Coup's first run, also not one they seem to recognize as they were gushing over the Raelle & Scylla angst stuff. 

[luckyroll3]

51 minutes ago, ursula said:

As many people have pointed out, what Alder did with the cadets hostages was more about making a tough call than outright villainy. If she had let the Spree go, they’d have killed more people, including those hostages. The controversy would make sense if the story could show the audience any alternative that would have stopped the Spree’s escape and saved the hostages, but we don’t have that. It’s really just Tally’s own personal moral judgment. Even Petra Bellweather doesn’t see it as controversial as Tally etc do. 

I get that Tally is upset about what happened, but she joined the army during wartime.  Following orders, making hard calls, and unexpected casualties including civilians all come with that and should be part of the expectations.  It's fine if she wants to be idealistic and always do good, but if that's the case, then she's not in the right place.  

12 hours ago, Chick2Chic said:

I am glad Anacostia caught her doing that then went to warn Tally & Abigail after Raelle gave her that background info.

I'm not sure why Anacostia felt she needed to tell them about the coup.  Seemed inappropriate to me, especially given all the other high ranking officials who were around.  

Word to your entire post @ursula.

[Chick2Chic]

3 minutes ago, luckyroll3 said:

I'm not sure why Anacostia felt she needed to tell them about the coup. 

I was remarking more about Anacostia warning them they were in grave danger if Alder found out that they were behind informing on Alder to Petra / Wade.

 

2 hours ago, william0102 said:

Of the two characters' potential story-wise, I think the writers would choose to keep Gerit, but I'd prefer Adil since he balances and reflects Abigail's personality. 

I actually think the opposite in that they'd keep Adil cause his relationship with Abigail seems to be the more slow burn of the two plus the additional aspect of Khalida & the songs. I think the story with Gerit was a way for the show to have Tally get some character growth and some of the green off of her.

1 hour ago, ursula said:

Also Libby died because Tally held back during the wind strike and that isn’t acknowledged.

This is a good point. 

[william0102]

5 hours ago, ursula said:

 In fact the only reason why I see Adil leaving the show is the predictability of US TV crapping on black women’s/people’s storylines. As @Grace19said, it’s Bonnie Bennett all over again when on paper, Abigail is central to the major plots but they somehow manage to make every other secondary plot more important and/or kick her out of her own storylines.

Which is why Tally’s breakdown irritates me because it’s another example of a black girl losing something (Abigail’s childhood frenemy) and the story makes it all about the white girl. I really like Glory but if they were going to have Tally be the centre of this arc, they should have killed Glory instead of Libby. Also Libby died because Tally held back during the wind strike and that isn’t acknowledged. If Tally was breaking down out of guilt, I’d be more sympathetic but again no, that would be having a white girl deal with consequences and we can’t have that.
 

There's no reason to get rid of Adil now, imo, so cosign that first paragraph.

I really thought we were going to get Abigail being mad at her mother and basically calling on Tally and Raelle to do something- instead we got Tally doing it. For all the leadership Abigail got to show in City Drop, it vanished in this episode. Someone upthread said that people on twitter want Raelle to be the leader or even a couple saying Tally- and that is crazy. Tally is too idealistic, she would never be a good leader for the group. And as much as I love Raelle, she's too emotional. Raelle is the person you want backing you up, you know she's going to give it everything, even if she doesn't agree with the reasoning (I think). Abigail is the only one that's got the right characteristics to be a leader, imo.

Honestly, Tally is the weakest character storywise. I'm much more interested in Abigail and Anacostia's stories at this point, and Anacostia isn't even a lead. I like Raelle's story so far, and I'd like to learn more about where she's from/the type of magic her mom taught her, but that seems like something they'd drag out as they figure out the background.

[tennisgurl]

Last week I tentatively defended Alder for her choice to destroy the trucks even if it killed civilians, but this week her stunt with the president seriously crossed a line. I dont approve of her so easily accepting civilian casualties, but I could understand it from a coldly pragmatic view. They are at war with The Spree, the stakes are very high, and I dont know really what else they could have done besides letting them go and probably kill more people, so it was very morally grey, I could understand it. The lying less so, but maybe she could justify it to keep the nations moral up or something. This however, was just selfish and a clear power grab. Its possible that she sees this as another example of doing what must be done (only I can stop The Spree!) but if thats true, that is extremely arrogant, and obviously treasonous. So does this mean that the team and Anacostia are going to try and report her to larger witch counsel that seems to exist (which already sounds like they arent fans of Alders)? Cant the president just tell everyone that she was being controlled, people obviously noticed that something weird was going on, and even if she blacked out or something when she was being puppted, she would certainly find out right away what happened right? 

I keep waiting for someone to bring up the fact that Tally didn't use her powers when they had their attack against the Spree trucks, and that maybe if she had Libba would still be alive. I dont know if thats true, but it is certainly something to think about. I can get why Tally is so heartbroken and upset about what went down with the hostages and Alder, especially because she actually could feel those people and their fear of death, as she was the most idealistic of the trio who wanted to join the army to use her powers to protect people, but if she thinks that being in a war is going to be all white hats vs black hats and there will be no messiness, then she is in for a rude wake up call. 

The scene with Raelle and Scylla was very well acted and had a lot of intensity, but I am still not into Raelle/Scylla until they really work on Scylla's possible redemption. They seem to be mostly focusing on the fact that she really loved Raelle even if she was a mark, which is all well and good, but I think its a MUCH bigger deal that she is apparently unapologetic about being a terrorist and murdering innocent people. Its certainly tragic that witches were killed in the 1700s in Germany but...what the fuck does that have to do with the innocent people who were murdered in the US in the 21st century? How is any of that their fault? How does that excuse what they have done? I really want Raelle to bring Porter up, his death was something that clearly really hurt Raelle, and I hope thats not all swepted under the table so that they can do an easy redemption for Scylla and get her and Raelle back together. I am glad that Raelle told her to shove it, and I dont blame her for being terribly hurt and confused about being used and lied to. I just wont be able to really feel for Scylla until we see her show any real remorse for what she did to people other than Raelle. 

The speech Abigail gave at the funeral was really good, it was much more heartfelt and real than whatever was scripted, it seemed like Libbas mom and Petra appreciated it. I love that Tally told her that she was a natural leader, Abigail might still need to do some work on dealing with working with people, but she is clearly a great leader, and will be an even better one in the future. I also continue to really like her and Adil, they have such sweet chemistry, and we even got a little kiss this week! I hope he was just upset that things wont be changing in his peoples favor, not that he thinks Abigail lied to him or something, they have enough going on without needless conflicts. Interesting that he seems to be considering Alders offer, but with his people being ritually killed, its hard to blame him for at least considering her offer, but I think that when the dust settles from whatever is coming, he will side with Abigail. 

Poor Anacostia, it really sucks to find out that the person you work for and deeply respect is probably the bad guy. Especially considering she was raised by the military, this is really the only family/life she knows. I know that she ran got warned the trio, but I hope that Petra is alright! She knows what went down as well, but she can probably much better handle herself. 

Loved the president chattering back at the Biddies and them all looking shocked at it! Yeah, you know that gets super annoying for anyone who Alder works with. 

[Scarlett45]

President Wade made a BIG BIG mistake letting General Alder in on her plans. Do you think this woman has been general of the army for over 300years by taking suggestions she should be removed lightly???? That was not a good move for a leader in a world with KNOWN witchcraft!

Tally had every right to end things with Gerit (well of course she does), and I do think Gerit should’ve brought up the idea of a threesome to her before Hilary showed up, however- why would Tally think that Gerit would put HER (Tally’s) preferences and comfort over that of his ummmmm WIFE. His wife liked this idea of the fantasy of walking in and starting up this impromptu threesome, so Gerit went with it. It was never suggested that anyone was trying to force Tally into something she was uncomfortable with(which would be bad and wrong), but for Gerit (and Hilary) their relationship and how to make things work is the most important thing, not Tally’s feelings. And why does this surprise Tally at all??

 

Im just not buying Raelle and Scylla’s love story. I just don’t! I can believe Raelle was very vulnerable after her mom died and wanted to connect with someone, but I don’t buy Scylla had deep feelings for Raelle. We never saw them to anything but sneak around and make out.  

[kris4n6]

On 5/14/2020 at 6:14 PM, tennisgurl said:

Cant the president just tell everyone that she was being controlled, people obviously noticed that something weird was going on, and even if she blacked out or something when she was being puppted, she would certainly find out right away what happened right? 

That's what I was wondering - how will this really help Alder, if the President is alive to refute what she said?  I could see that she might not want to come out and admit that a witch had taken her over (because the fallout from that would be huge), but just because she said this on a national broadcast doesn't mean she's going to actually stick with it.  She'll also know that it was Alder who did it, and while Alder is powerful I can't imagine that a well placed strike team wouldn't be able to hurt her (take out the biddies first and she'd probably crumble like Mother Gothel in Tangled).

I fully expected the President to have an "unfortunate" stroke or heart attack right after finishing the speech.

And as an aside, why is it that the flags have 50 stars when the map in the opening clearly shows there are not 50 states?  And why would there have only been 45 presidents, if the Revolution happened a good 50 years before it did in our world?

[Speakeasy]

I think the President must have got the brain scramblies after Alder puppeted her, otherwise it'd take about two minutes for her to look at everyone's confused faces a d figure out what happened.

I also have to wonder about the whole coup idea. It seems very naive for Petra or the President to think the immortal general who is probably the most powerful political figure on Earth is just going to step down. I'm actually reminded of 

Spoiler

Poor Ned Stark, thinking a piece of paper was going to protect him

But... I don't expect the head of the witch army intelligence service to be that naive. There are clearly people who think Alder has been doing this a bit too long, at the least there's Petra, Wade and Indian General Lady. Was the goal here actually to push her to do something desperate so that they could use that as a pretext to bring her down for good? 

I mean if there's a ... A witch FBI of some kind, I imagine they could take a look at that video of Wade's speech, compare it with her previous speeches and compare it with Alder's speeches and come to some interesting conclusions. Alder's got a very distinctive kind of delivery.

Then they could interview all the people who Wade must have told about her plans, like her speechwriter, and the camera crew when she was making the announcement.

I'd imagine removing Alder without kicking off a civil war would be really difficult given that there is a consistent stream of young soldiers willing to give their lives for her. I'd imagine her to be almost a figure of religious devotion given how long she's been around and how she's shaped history.

Ps. Oh, this episode had a very well acted scene in our Epic Love Story which made it a lot less believable that it'd have a happy ending. Poor Rae. 

It's very sweet that you didn't turn Rae over to your bosses, Sea Hag, but I think you've got to provide some proper context about why you killed poor Porter and all those thousands of other people before you get to 'water under the bridge, smoochy times to resume' Might also want to think about your 'Muggles Must Die' stance since your twu wuv's beloved father is one.

Edited August 13, 2020 by Speakeasy