S01.E10: Witchbomb

[Cranberry]

Quote

Raelle, Abigail, and Tally graduate from Basic Training making Abigail more desperate than ever to prove her unit belongs in War College. Alder eyes the unit for a rescue mission while Anacostia and Scylla find common ground.

Original air date: 5/20/20

Promo:

Extended promo:

Two sneak peeks so far:

 

 

[Cranberry]

Did Abigail make that crazy storm explosion at the end -- was that her finally showing off her innate power? Was it some kind of Blaster/Fixer hybrid magic due to her and Raelle clasping hands? Whatever it was, it was very cool.

(Ah, just watched the After the Storm, and Eliot and Taylor confirmed that the explosion is partly due to the Mycelium, which gave Raelle some of its DNA when she touched it, and partly due to Raelle and Abigail both being powerful, and even more so together -- they have "borderline frightening" power together, Taylor says.)

I'm sure we all knew Abigail wouldn't abandon her unit and go alone to War College, but it was still affecting to see her show up at the last minute. I like that she affectionately calls Raelle "shitbird" now, too.

I didn't like Tally sacrificing her youth for Alder. It seemed too abrupt after she was so angry shortly before. That said, she always has been the idealist of the group and likely still wants to believe in the military, so it's not totally out of left field. I hope they can get her youth back, though.

I thought Anacostia was being naive letting Scylla go, but she redeemed herself by following Scylla at the end there. It's a good idea to gather more intel before making a big move on the Spree. And now that she was kind to Scylla, I can see Scylla sparing or helping her if it ever comes down to a confrontation.

Lots of people called Raelle's mom being Spree, so that wasn't a shock, but it should open up some interesting story possibilities. 

This season's final After the Storm has more info on the Camarilla, who were apparently "funded and created by Henry VIII and Philip II" and "have always had the aim of eliminating the stain of witchhood from the world." They're using the severed witch vocal cords in their voiceboxes to do bastardized magic. Creepy shit.

 

[AnimeMania]

That was a depressing finale. Here is a picture of the American flag in the opening credits, I don't know why they are using regular American flags in the episodes.

Edited May 25, 2020 by AnimeMania
added don't

[UNOSEZ]

Well going into the finale I figured we'd see Abigail flaunt her extra special powerup.. and that We'd find out for sure Raelle's mom was spree... So one for two... While I'm glad the mycelium teased a bit more.. I'm upset that the ending with the blast is a co-op thing we've been beat over the head by characters far and wide telling Raelle she's so much more powerful than she knows... And Tally got to flex all episode.. And the one instance that might been for Abigail she had to share and with the mycelium being involved its more of a Raelle thing... Seeing the camarilla with the voice of things and knowing they cut out the chords of bellweathers and the Tarim.. Gross and hardcore... Tally's energy is still all over the place to me... And why didn't the show let Abigail or someone call out her unit-mates for just assuming she was ditching them.. Like where is the trust.. Scylla still didn't actually get challenged on her half-baked ideology and thus its hard to believe she was actually turned.. I mean.. Anacostia being nice doesn't cut it.. My assumption is.. Thanks to her twuuu wuvvv of Raelle.. And getting an up close look at how brutal her mom will most likely be.. Scylla will want to protect Raelle and thus really be a double or triple agent... Dunno how they are gonna fix tally.. But I'm sure that's gonna happen... Also hope that All the camarilla aren't men... 

[TiffanyNichelle]

This episode was a ride!

I felt bad about the unit not making it into War College but really that would have been boring and predictable to have them just go straight there and not face any repercussions for going to Petra. Alder puppeted the president, she wasn't going to let them get off scot free.

So much happened! Tally just did not give a fuck in this episode huh. I can't believe she's a Biddie now. There has to be a way to reverse it. Raelle and Abigail being left for dead was something. I'm guessing whatever was on Raelle's finger from that weird wall is what saved them. We still have that mystery to work out.

So the Spree are now getting redeemed along with Scylla? RME. So all the innocents they were killing were just the Caramilla? Porter too? Sure. I thought for sure they had fucked Anacostia over by having her bond with Scylla over their dead parents. It felt too easy. Yay for it all being a ruse by Anacostia to follow her back to the Spree headquarters.

I think we all called Raelle's mom being a part of the Spree, right? It wasn't just me?

So glad this wasn't the final episode and that it's coming back for another season.

[UNOSEZ]

26 minutes ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

think we all called Raelle's mom being a part of the Spree, right? It wasn't just me?

Pretty much.. Between scylla constantly saying how powerful she was and the insistence to get her away from the wedding.. It felt way too personal... Agree that I'm not really here for a spree/scylla redemption especially as they seem so remorseless at the moment... Seeing the After the Storm didn't help... Yes the camarilla are worse.. At least more brutal to witches... But the spree are bad and need to be eliminated.. Don't care how  right they are on some points

[TiffanyNichelle]

Oh I forgot! So the reason why the Caramilla went after the Bellweather line and why they were cutting out the vocal cords of witches so that they could put them into those boxes and fake powers.

[GaT]

What about the President? Is she permanently puppeted? 

[Grace19]

I didn't like this episode that much even though a lot happened in it. I was so mad that Anacostia was going to let Scylla go and thought it was unrealistic until the end when it was shown that she was playing her. It's a shame that Abigail's biggest moment of the show was shared with Raelle and that even though Abigail reached out and told Raelle she loved her, Raelle never responded. I guess  I just have to accept that the writers will always make Abigail less than the other girls and the one always running after them without the others reciprocating. It's what it is at this point. It could have been worse, at the very least she still gets screentime. If this was a cw show or Julia Plec/Carina show, she would disappear for episodes and wouldn't even have a love interest.

The new threat is intriguing, I look forward to seeing who is behind them. I hope the show doesn't stop treating the Spree as antagonists, they were killing innocent people. Glad the show was renewed. 

[Cranberry]

I thought it was pretty clear (in both the scene with Abigail at the end of the finale and the wordless apology in episode nine) that Raelle loves her unit now, too. She's the type to show it through actions, not words. Remember she didn't say "I love you" back to Scylla right away, either.

[william0102]

I have to say I was underwhelmed by this episode. I just don't get how we get lines where they say higher ups in the military don't like what Alder did at City Drop. And enough people knew what the president was going to say, that I can't imagine that more of the higher ups in the military don't know what happened. So Alder went to go get the Tarim- that's going to cause an international incident that the president wanted to avoid. That others at The Hague wanted to avoid. But Alder is going to get away with it because of the Camarilla revealing themselves. Well, good to know that they've changed with the times but Alder hasn't.

I can't even get how one speech turns Tally around after she boo-hooed about Libba and the innocents since City Drop. Until I watched the After the Storm vid, I just thought it was a hastily rushed plot point and that Tally was sacrificing herself since Alder had more experience and would be more likely to hurt the Camarilla. Except they were already at the chopper, and TALLY was the one calling out where those guys were so everyone could get on the choppers. And where the heck did Adil go during that show down? There wasn't some seed he could have sang, oh I don't know, to throw up a fricking mountain or something mentioned in earlier in the episode? Just, so many ways in which this episode, the end scene, was set up in the writers' minds, and so many obvious things avoided to get it to play out the way they wanted.

I'm mad about Abigail not getting a moment that was just hers. That's all I'm going to say about that or this will turn into a rant.

The good thing that I did enjoy was the Anacostia/Scylla stuff. I loved every scene on that front. I was not expecting to hear that Anacostia remembered her family, so yay for that. Plus, it makes sense with what we know of Anacostia and kinda explains why she hasn't done anything else about Alder yet. Emphasis on the kinda though, I'm still willing to give that angle of the storyline some time. And jesus the end of it, where Scylla learns about Raelle's mom, lmao, her face. Anacostia and Scylla's actors were easily the highlight of the episode for me.

[UNOSEZ]

14 minutes ago, william0102 said:

That's all I'm going to say about that or this will turn into a rant.

I say rant... We got 10 episodes of obvious favoritism.. I kept holding out as well figuring her time was coming.. And the after the storms kept adding info that made me hopeful.. But its yet to really materialize on screen... Even this last ATS... They speak about her being reborn a new leader. But we saw none of that save her sacrificing herself.. Maybe a scene with just her and Alder  speaking on the hard truths of leadership.. But nope.. That went to tally so she could flip back to not hating Alder... And it wasn't the creator who said what happened was because of both of them it was the actress for Raelle.. All Eliot said was that Rae and the Living Mushroom swapped some DNA for life.. Thus adding another layer of specialness to Raelle who already has everybody under the sun tell her she's special and powerful... A tragic love affair and a secret villain parent... Someone upthread mentioned Julie plec.. And in previous weeks someone else mentioned Elena Gilbert.. And that's what's starting to come thru... And I really do not wanna sit thru another bonnie/Elena relationship where one person seems to be helping and fixing the other constantly.. With rare reciprocation... Calling Abigail the leader but consistently nerfing her so things can revolve around Raelle.. Is just lip service... And again Rae and Tally honestly believed that Abigail was ditching them... Just like that after everything that she's done this season and it never comes up.. And I bet it never does..Smh lemme stop here before I get too hot.. Tween this and the snowpiercer board I may lose it today 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

At first I thought that Raelle died and that her death released all the diseases she had cured, including the gnarly looking one that Khalida and the Tarim who was in the cave. I guess the show is going for a whole "stronger together" vibe with the Raelle/Abigail thing at the end but yeah, it's getting old that Raelle and Tally have had so many opportunities to showcase their powers and all Abigail got was holding hands with Raelle. 

I loved that Tally had no fucks left to give with Alder and wasn't holding anything back. I guess when your idealism has been crushed by the weight of reality and you know you might die in the next day or so, why not? So it's not a secret to the other witches that Alder uses the biddies to sustain her life? I assumed that was more of a need to know piece of information.

I'm still not a fan of Scylla but at least Anacostia found out where the Spree headquarters are!

[UNOSEZ]

17 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I'm still not a fan of Scylla but at least Anacostia found out where the Spree headquarters are!

That is good.. Unfortunately we still had to deal with smug scylla all episode.. Tho are we believing that Scylla thinks she got to Anacostia or has she turned... That wasn't clear

[william0102]

I think it's sh*tty that all season the viewers have been waiting to see how powerful Abigail is. Do I think she's awesome? Yup, and she can kick butt. But she hasn't gotten the same showing of power that the other two girls have, that's clearly just her, and that's rage inspiring in me. I'm not going to rant about Abigail though, that's not my place. What I will go on about is how they keep having to give us information that doesn't translate on screen. How they consistently short change character motivations for plot- and Abigail gets the worst of it- it's just Tally's that are the glaring ones to most people.

I like this show, I love the actors. I realize they were at a disadvantage with 10 episodes and having to introduce the world to viewers. They are getting a chance with season 2 to fix the things people have been talking about, so I sincerely hope that whenever they get back to work that they do fix them. I want to support this show, and will watch next season and hope they pull off a better second season than most shows.

[luckyroll3]

16 hours ago, Cranberry said:

(Ah, just watched the After the Storm, and Eliot and Taylor confirmed that the explosion is partly due to the Mycelium, which gave Raelle some of its DNA when she touched it, and partly due to Raelle and Abigail both being powerful, and even more so together -- they have "borderline frightening" power together, Taylor says.)

 

16 hours ago, Cranberry said:

This season's final After the Storm has more info on the Camarilla, who were apparently "funded and created by Henry VIII and Philip II" and "have always had the aim of eliminating the stain of witchhood from the world." They're using the severed witch vocal cords in their voiceboxes to do bastardized magic. Creepy shit.

If they have to give all of this as exposition in the after show, then they failed miserably in their storytelling.  I kept wondering what the hell Camarilla was since this was the first time I heard the term mentioned (granted, I multi-task when this show is on and fully admit that I may have missed it in earlier episodes) and I knew it was important cause they said it in every single scene.   I didn't even realize the ripped out vocal cords where being used in the voicebox things around their necks.  They really haven't done a good job in grounding us in the history of the witches.  Shit, I learned more last week when I paused the show during the opening credits so that I could go through it frame by frame.

16 hours ago, Cranberry said:

I didn't like Tally sacrificing her youth for Alder.

That didn't sit well with me the first time and once they revealed the reason why she had all those old biddies as bodyguards.  Why does Adler get to continuously extend her life and shorten the life of others, particularly relatively young women who haven't even had a chance to live because they're conscripted into the army before they become adults.  The entire thing is unsettling.  

And what's the deal with the Khalida?  Is she also an old witch in a young body,  a la Claudia from Interview with the Vampire?

[tennisgurl]

Totally called it about Raelles mom being with The Spree. No body huh? Yeah its not my first day, no body no death! Poor Raelle, first her girlfriend and now her mom. At least she has her squad, and her dad seems like a nice guy, she is going to need a few hugs in the near future. 

I was really annoyed that Anacostia was letting Scylla go on her merry terrorist way, so I was thrilled that it was actually a gambit to find out where more Spree are hiding. Maybe she actually did feel some sympathy for her, and maybe she did hope that she would really see this as a second chance, but more importantly, she could get some real Intel. Its bad enough that the show seems to be trying to whitewash Scyllas crimes, but they better not try and make everything with the Spree totally cool because now they have another threat on the horizon and they're all witches. No one seems to want to ask Scylla what she thinks about Porter or all those dead civilians, I guess because they want to go for a redemption thing with her, and they dont want us to think about that now, but I hope that if they really want her to become a good guy, they have her show some real remorse for things other than upsetting her girlfriend. 

These new villains are certainly scary, although with both them and the Spree, I worry that we might get rather stuffed up with characters and bad guys. I mean, we still dont even know how this world works yet, we dont even know how big the US is, we cant have even more stuff! Them stealing the windpipes of witches and burning the other witches alive is sure one hell of a creepy way to make a first impression. So now we have the anti muggle faction, the anti witch faction, tons of other countries jockying for power, and the sketchy military. Good Lord, we got crap coming at us from every which way...pun intended. 

It sucks that Abigail never really got to show her stuff with her magic, the way that Tally and Raelle did. She got good character stuff and to show her leadership skills a few times, and she by far got the best romantic story (even if I was disappointed that she and Adil seem to be in kind of a weird place now) but I was annoyed that even when she got a big moment, she had to share it. 

Tally sure forgave Alder pretty quickly, considering how disillusioned she was, but Tally has always been the idealistic one, so she was probably thrilled just to get a reason to have her faith restored. I dont know for sure what to think of Alder, if she will end up evil, or morally ambiguous but basically on the right side, or what, but after this episode, I do believe that Alder certainly believes that she is doing the right thing and making hard choices for the Greater Good. So what did happen with the president? She presumably isn't permanently a puppet, so why did she not tell everyone what Alder did? Or did she just decide that playing power games with Alder just wasn't worth it and just decided to let her keep on leading the military?

No Tally, dont join the creepy Biddy Squad! Really, thats one of the nastier aspects of Alder, even beyond political mechanisms or letting people die to defeat a bigger threat. Is her long life so important that countless young women have to give their lives up for her? No one else could possibly lead this military? I assume that they can reverse that, as it seemed like she hasn't totally aged, plus someone has to go back and save Abigail and Raelle! Nobody left this season having a good day, but it sure does open a lot of possibilities for next season. 

This season certainly has its issues, but I found the acting very strong, the world building and premise interesting, and for the most part the story was tight and very engaging. I kind of hope we have a few more episodes next season to fit in more world building stuff, but at least we got a lot of good stuff this season already. They did a lot right this season, even if there is stuff to improve on, and I am really glad I decided to give it a shot. 

[meatball77]

I wasn't bugged by Abigail not showing that she's super powerful because she's the leader and has been from the start even when she fought it because she wanted her needs above the others.  She's kept the group together and showed her leadership and teamwork that when she decided to come on the mission.

I wonder when we will get the next season (or next half of the season).  Next January maybe?  Freeform never seems to have Fall shows (and it's not like anything is being filmed right now).

[Grace19]

12 hours ago, Cranberry said:

I thought it was pretty clear (in both the scene with Abigail at the end of the finale and the wordless apology in episode nine) that Raelle loves her unit now, too. She's the type to show it through actions, not words. Remember she didn't say "I love you" back to Scylla right away, either.

Yes, she now cares about the team since Scylla broke her heart, but the writers haven't given us anything specifically to show she likes Abigail. We've seen that with Tally, but never with Raelle.

[UNOSEZ]

https://hollywoodlife.com/2020/05/20/motherland-fort-salem-season-2-spoilers-raelle-abigail-scylla-finale-interview/amp/

Interesting tidbit about the witchbomb... Can't say I hadn't wondered myself earlier in the season.. Tho in my head I thought about it as just a bit of subverting what we think were gonna see

[ElectricBoogaloo]

11 hours ago, luckyroll3 said:

I kept wondering what the hell Camarilla was since this was the first time I heard the term mentioned (granted, I multi-task when this show is on and fully admit that I may have missed it in earlier episodes) and I knew it was important cause they said it in every single scene.

The Camarilla were definitely mentioned last week. I think they were first mentioned the week before that but I already deleted S1.E8 so I can’t go back and double check. 

[Cranberry]

They were mentioned last week when Alder dismissed the idea that they could be responsible for the current attacks on witches. I don't recall them being mentioned out loud before that, although the Camarilla Scythe was shown in episode three when Raelle and Scylla were looking through the artifacts. 

[william0102]

I think they were mentioned in the episode with the re-enactment. And the tour guide was talking about the Camarilla as they left the room with that scythe in the picture. They've been name-dropped, which is the problem. We all thought they were normal humans who chose to become hunters. We didn't know that some kings from England had funded them, creating an order. Not enough back story/ world building on that front.

[ursula]

I don't think knowing the details of the Camarilla mattered. What's important is the revelation that the Bellweather attacks and massacres weren't being carried out by the Spree but by a human faction with an agenda.  And there were enough clues to that - We knew witches were persecuted by humans in the past - that's the whole point of the Salem Accords. As Scylla mentions when looking at the artefacts - "that kind of hatred never goes away". We were repeatedly told that the Spree never attacked witches (except in self-defence during confrontations) but their main targets were always civilians. The Bellweather murders never made sense as a Spree attack - it was an attack on "unknown" witches, probably descendants of draft dodgers and basically witches who were already doing what the Spree was trying to get every witch to do and not join the Army. And even the attack on the wedding had certain clues - the fact that the attackers never used magic, that a group of balloons were sent as a distraction to the murder of Chavelle and attempted murder of Abigail, etc.

So even though the details of the Camarilla mostly came out last episode when Petra showed Alder the larynx collection (which ewww!), there were enough clues from early in the season that there could be a civilian hate group attacking witches.

 

[AnimeMania]

55 minutes ago, ursula said:

I don't think knowing the details of the Camarilla mattered. What's important is the revelation that the Bellweather attacks and massacres weren't being carried out by the Spree but by a human faction with an agenda.

I don't know why the witches had such a hard time with the balloons if they were not being controlled by witches.

[ursula]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

I don't know why the witches had such a hard time with the balloons if they were not being controlled by witches.

Did they have a hard time though? People were panicking at the sight of the balloons but the generals like Petra Bellweather went into formation and blew them away. The real danger were the assassins already in the building. 

[Speakeasy]

Well that was fun, I'm going to stick around for the next season mainly to find out about the world the show has created, which I think is a really neat idea and with so many different avenues to explore. The characters and plots are alright but what I really want to see is more of how this world works.

Like as a worldbuilding question... None of the witchunters have guns... That's weird, they had guns in the 1700s, you can see the revolutionaries in a portrait in the opening credits, but by the 2000s this international anti witch conspiracy relies on running up to witches-who can vaporise them by making scary noises- and cutting them up with knives. That's kind of odd. And the witches themselves carry these weird whips as sidearms, rather than pistols. What's up with that? I can see artillery being effectively dead once everyone started putting together their own units of STORM WITCHES but apparently small arms have gone the same way. That seems like it might be something deliberate on Alder's part.

I don't know what the Camarilla's rationale is but... I think Alder is probably building one for them. If it comes out that she's just used magic to control the President and then seriously looks at an alliance with the Spree, the creepy racist terrorists who have killed X Thousand muggles and are killing more every day, to stop the witch killers... Well that's probably going to alienate a lot of muggles.

Plotwise I am glad Anacostia was using Scylla... Scylla is really grating and it wasnt really credible that she could even start to Hannibal Lecture a career soldier like Anacostia. I think Anacostia probably feels sorry for her, she's essentially a bereaved, angry child who fell in with the bad guys and they've turned her into a WMD to commit their war crimes. It's tragic. But Anacostia was warning the cadets that the Spree prey on people like that, the idea the Spree are 'actually human' wouldn't be news to her and wouldn't make her change her mind.

That dead parents story about how her veteran war-witch parents wouldn't save themselves from a car crash because it was against regs sounded stupid, too. I hope that was a lie.

I also agree Abigail has been short-changed a bit... I think that's to do with her being the leader, I think a lot of writers (especially for a show like this) have a hard time writing good leadership. It's a fair bit more nuanced than 'I am naive-disillusion me' or 'I don't want to accept my Special Destiny,' or even 'I am doing bad things for the Greater Good,' and with her coming into the role it's even harder sinc with the Generals you can show other people respecting and deferring to them.

Hopefully she gets a chance to shine next year.

[Jack Shaftoe]

I am digging the show for the most part. It tries to do something different than the usual urban fantasy monster of the week/town with a dark secret formula. The cinematography is decent, the main trio have good chemistry, the supporting characters are interesting enough. However, complaining is more fun, so here goes:

They failed to show why Alder needs to be the eternal leader at the cost of so many other people's lives. Even those who want her removed from her position don't seem to find the Biddies thing all that bad. I am sure some way will be found to make Tally young again but the twist was pretty stupid and everyone got over the puppeteering of the President way too easily.

I am pretty sure they will redeem Scylla because I have watched TV before and Raelle is, of course, in a typical TV romance fashion, dumb enough to still love her. But they really needed to do some groundwork in the first season. Instead of some of those long conversations with Anacostia, they could have shown some flashbacks in order to allow us to see Scylla in a light different than that of a smirking terrorist. Her sob story is either embellished or should have caused some indignation in Raelle and Anacostia - the military police summarily shoots "dodgers" after they surrender? The military in this show is not particularly nice but doesn't seem to be that ruthless for this to be the normal way of dealing with deserters. I mean, even terrorists like Scylla are sent to prison, not executed. With Raelle's mom (shockingly but not really) being a terrorist too, I bet some whitewashing of the Spree awaits us. Never mind that the Spree is doing a truly wonderful job of making the average "civilian" hate witches, if the "ancient enemy" hates them, they must be not so bad, right, show?

We haven't seen any oppression of witches by civilians in the present day, in fact, we have seen witches hijack the free will of the commander in chief instead. So the Spree as freedom fighters, albeit extremely ruthless ones, simply doesn't work.  The witches whom we see live more as military aristocracy than an oppressed minority and are themselves quite enthusiastic about serving in the army and forcing reluctant witches to do so too. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense in light of the enormous casualties but that's what we are shown.

Anacostia must have an amazing control of her emotions. Tally hugged her goodbye and she didn't hug her back! Come on, Anacostia, Tally needed a hug badly. But five minutes later Abigail joined the mission out of the blue and everything was all right with the world.

Raelle as the super special one who gets speeches from others on how powerful she is all the time is such a tired cliche. Tally's power seems to be exceptional too but hardly anyone waxes lyrical about it and Abigail gets to do a lot more talking about how wonderful the military is than anything else. I will keep watching because I like Tally a lot, while Raelle and Abigail aren't too bad when the plot doesn't require them to be overly dramatic (which was way too often in season 1, unfortunately). I hope they give Tally a storyline that is not playing peacemaker between Abigail and Raelle or hiding stuff from them because that got old fast. And that they get rid of Alder because her voice is like nails on chalkboard.