S02.E01: Of the Blood

[Cranberry]

Quote

Despite the threat of the Camarilla, the discovery of new witches gives Alder hope. Tally struggles with her role as a Biddy, and Raelle and Abigail return to Fort Salem with their mysterious new abilities.

Originally aired: June 22, 2021

[UnoAgain]

Five hours before the show and I'm already here... Decided to watch a few episodes.. To get me ready as its been a while.. Can't wait... Really hope they finally let Abigail shine.. And its not the. Raelle show again

[Cranberry]

 

[UnoAgain]

Enjoyed the premiere... The sisterhood was strong... So Alder's friend.. In the memory that hurt tally... That was basically a spree tactic... Is it possible that the beginning of the spree ties back to Alder.. Still not here for a scylla or spree redemption tour... I know on some level it's happening... Bit even this epi.. When scylla and mama bear are listening to who I assume is a camarilla recruiter... They seemed to have no remorse for the actual murder of innocents that brought all those folks together and more concerned with the Camarilla. . back to the flashback... That was mainly men doing work against Alder and her crew so I do hope we see some more proactive male witches/ wizards/warlocks this year.. And not only adversarial ones

[UnoAgain]

Yeah.. I'm just scared we're gonna be asked to paper over the atrocities committed by the spree and see them and their cause as just another form of witchdom... And while In-universe I get that the witch military industrial complex has some real issues.. The spree aren't hitting army outposts or using guerrilla attacks on soldiers.. They were killing civilians in an attempt to start a race war... But I envision tense showdown where somehow each sides grievances will  be given equal leeway... 

[TiffanyNichelle]

I'm glad this show is back, the world building is always intriguing to me. I'm very very glad they reversed Tally's Biddy status in this episode. I knew they weren't going to stick her like that for the whole season but I felt bad for that actress being stuck in old age makeup for most of the season. And I'm really interested in how this new connection to Alder will go.

I am not here for framing the Spree as sympathetic. Aw, at that memorial for the innocent victims that were killed in a Spree attack, a magic hate group is forming? Really, you're shocked?

I'm suspicious of the Vice President and his daughter. Something doesn't seem right there.

Edited June 23, 2021 by TiffanyNichelle

[tennisgurl]

Glad to see the show back, although I am not sure that I like where things are going with the Spree. It looks like they are going to end up trying to redeem them or retroactively justify their multiple acts of terror and murder, and I am really not loving that prospect. Especially if they use it as an excuse to get Raelle and Scylla back together, which I really do not want to see. They should give Raelle a love interest who didn't get with her to use her in her long lost mothers terrorist scheme, murdered innocent people, and traumatized Raelle when Scylla murdered her ex boyfriend and Raelle tried and failed to save him. Their issues with the military are legit, but that doesn't make them murdering innocent people and making these hostilities between witches and non witches even worse alright. Did it not occur to them that murdering people under the banner of being pro witch would make things worse for witches? Are they asking us to feel bad for the Spree leadership as they were literally clinking glasses over the corpses of the people they murdered? Looks like a sucky way to go and the people that killed them are also bad guys, but I don't feel all that bad for people like that getting to experience the pain their victims did. I really hope that their crimes aren't all white washed just because some new batch of witch hunting villains have arrived who have become the bigger threat. 

I figured that Tally would be back to normal soon, although it looks like she and Alder are still somehow connected, and obviously Raelle and Abigail would be fine, but I am glad they didn't drag out the girls all reuniting. Their relationship as a team is a real highlight of the show, and their happiness at seeing each other again was really sweet. Also happy to be back together are Abigail and Adil, who have worked out their issues from the end of last season and finally got together. Abigail not only got a power up, but also has caught the feels, which is going to be interesting going forward. I like them together, and its nice that at least one of the girls is lucky in love. 

The world building continues to be one of the best things about the show, every tidbit we get is really interesting. I think this is the first time we have seen a Christian church before, although we know that some form of Christianity still exists as Raelle uses bible versus in her prayers, and while it looked like a pretty normal Catholic church and were singing a pretty common hymn, they had a female priest so I guess some things are pretty different. There is definitely something up with the vice president and his daughter, they are really building her up to be important. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I was rolling my eyes when Abigail demanded to know more about the Camarilla and Alder told her that Abigail and Raelle needed to work on becoming their new weapon and that AFTER they mastered that, they could talk about the Camarilla. Uh, WTF, lady? You're asking these women to perfect a weapon that's the equivalent of a bomb and you can't take, I don't know, five minutes to discuss the history of the Camarilla with them? Honestly, they should be teaching the history of the Camarilla to all of the cadets/soldiers but it seems the very least Alder could do is spare half an hour or so to explain why Abigail and Raelle need to focus all their effort on becoming a weapon that can repel them.

[ZeeEnnui]

I'm not here for the Scylla/Spree redemption tour.

No patience for the star-crossed Freeform lurve of Scylla and Raelle. Barf. Don't sell me on that true love conquers all b.s. I'm actually wondering if the Vice President's daughter could be a new love interest for Raelle? But it's early in the season so I could be reading too much into it. 

Yikes! Flashback bumps. No bueno for poor, Tally. 

[AnimeMania]

The tech situation suggests that in the show world they are 40 to 50 years behind where we are in terms of tech, like TVs and video cameras. The TV that they watched the Vice-President's daughter on looked like it was from the 60's, I was surprised that it was even in color, although the picture was subperb. There was also a small TV that looked like it was from the 80's on a shelf in Alder's office, as was the hand-held camcorders shown that used videotape.

It is weird there was no phone on Alder's desk.

The one weird tech device was the earbud in one of the restaurant's patron's ear (probably the same person that threw the plague bomb). It was small, seemed high-tech and very expensive/fancy. I am not sure if it was a hearing aid or a communication device, but they did seem to highlight it in the episode.

How did Alder's people know that there were exactly 6 top Spree leaders in the restaurant, if the Spree is such a secretive organization.

It seems weird the Spree meeting was in Brussel's when our knowledge of Witch/Spree relationships is strictly based on what is happening in the U.S., we have no knowledge of what is occurring in the rest of the world.

[ursula]

8 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

The one weird tech device was the earbud in one of the restaurant's patron's ear (probably the same person that threw the plague bomb). It was small, seemed high-tech and very expensive/fancy. I am not sure if it was a hearing aid or a communication device, but they did seem to highlight it in the episode.

I think it was Carmarilla tech, used to trigger or control the "bomb". 

[Scarlett45]

On 6/24/2021 at 1:44 AM, AnimeMania said:

The tech situation suggests that in the show world they are 40 to 50 years behind where we are in terms of tech, like TVs and video cameras. The TV that they watched the Vice-President's daughter on looked like it was from the 60's, I was surprised that it was even in color, although the picture was subperb. There was also a small TV that looked like it was from the 80's on a shelf in Alder's office, as was the hand-held camcorders shown that used videotape.

It is weird there was no phone on Alder's desk.

The one weird tech device was the earbud in one of the restaurant's patron's ear (probably the same person that threw the plague bomb). It was small, seemed high-tech and very expensive/fancy. I am not sure if it was a hearing aid or a communication device, but they did seem to highlight it in the episode.

How did Alder's people know that there were exactly 6 top Spree leaders in the restaurant, if the Spree is such a secretive organization.

It seems weird the Spree meeting was in Brussel's when our knowledge of Witch/Spree relationships is strictly based on what is happening in the U.S., we have no knowledge of what is occurring in the rest of the world.

I would imagine with witchcraft being open and acceptable (at least in the military sense) there’s less incentive to develop technology. So we do have phones, video cameras and TVs, but the development isn’t moving as quickly as it it is in our timeline. 
 

I think they had the meeting in Brussels to expand the world building and show us that this is not just something the USA is dealing with, but an international concern. We got that a little bit earlier with the young man Adil and his sister Khalida who were refugees from their country and refused to give Adler the songs. 
 

We are going to have some interesting story development with Tally still being connected to Adler mentally. 

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Scarlett45 said:

On 6/24/2021 at 2:44 AM, AnimeMania said:

The tech situation suggests that in the show world they are 40 to 50 years behind where we are in terms of tech, like TVs and video cameras. The TV that they watched the Vice-President's daughter on looked like it was from the 60's, I was surprised that it was even in color, although the picture was subperb. There was also a small TV that looked like it was from the 80's on a shelf in Alder's office, as was the hand-held camcorders shown that used videotape.

It is weird there was no phone on Alder's desk.

The one weird tech device was the earbud in one of the restaurant's patron's ear (probably the same person that threw the plague bomb). It was small, seemed high-tech and very expensive/fancy. I am not sure if it was a hearing aid or a communication device, but they did seem to highlight it in the episode.

How did Alder's people know that there were exactly 6 top Spree leaders in the restaurant, if the Spree is such a secretive organization.

It seems weird the Spree meeting was in Brussel's when our knowledge of Witch/Spree relationships is strictly based on what is happening in the U.S., we have no knowledge of what is occurring in the rest of the world.

Expand  

I would imagine with witchcraft being open and acceptable (at least in the military sense) there’s less incentive to develop technology. So we do have phones, video cameras and TVs, but the development isn’t moving as quickly as it it is in our timeline. 

I would have thought it would be the opposite, people without witchcraft would want to mimic everything that witches could do and therefore would push science to compensate.

[Scarlett45]

14 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

I would have thought it would be the opposite, people without witchcraft would want to mimic everything that witches could do and therefore would push science to compensate.

I get where you’re coming from- but if a witch can do it, why not just have them do it, than spend money developing something to replicate what witches are born being able to do. 
 

Witch labor is likely cheaper than technology. Kind of like how societies with slavery didn’t advance as quickly technology wise as quickly as neighboring communities that didn’t have slavery. When human labor is so cheap, why develop ways to get around human labor? 

[AnimeMania]

15 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

30 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

I would have thought it would be the opposite, people without witchcraft would want to mimic everything that witches could do and therefore would push science to compensate.

I get where you’re coming from- but if a witch can do it, why not just have them do it, than spend money developing something to replicate what witches are born being able to do. 
 

Witch labor is likely cheaper than technology. Kind of like how societies with slavery didn’t advance as quickly technology wise as quickly as neighboring communities that didn’t have slavery. When human labor is so cheap, why develop ways to get around human labor? 

I figure if people are afraid of or don't trust witches, you wouldn't want them to be able to do something that you can't do. So you would do everything in your power to level the playing field.

[paulvdb]

On 6/27/2021 at 9:12 PM, AnimeMania said:

I figure if people are afraid of or don't trust witches, you wouldn't want them to be able to do something that you can't do. So you would do everything in your power to level the playing field.

But in order to develop and mass produce technology you would need resources. And I guess people who don't trust witches would have access to less resources than the big tech companies in our world. In addition to that they would probably focus their resources on developing technology that they can use against witches like the Camarilla tech that uses the vocal cords of dead witches. Which is something that we don't have in our world because witches are not real in our world.

[AnimeMania]

20 minutes ago, paulvdb said:

And I guess people who don't trust witches would have access to less resources than the big tech companies in our world.

I didn't think any regular people in that world trusted witches, which is why they force everyone who is found out to be a witch into the army and their life from then on is relegated to a single purpose, fighting unregistered witches.

[paulvdb]

I expect that the level of distrust for witches varies per person. Although I suppose that doesn't necessarily explain the lack of some modern technologies. You might not invent technology to do something that a witch could do. But witches can't do the things that many modern technlogy does. So it doesn't explain the lack of HDTV or cell phones. Witches seem to be primarily used in the military, so modern weapons technology should not exist in this world, but other modern technology should probably still have been developed.

[Cranberry]

A lot of products we take for granted started with the military -- radar (used in microwave ovens), synthetic rubber, jet engines, digital photography, the Internet, satellite tracking... the military also pushed computer development by leaps and bounds. If we lived in a world where the military used magic and didn't need most of this stuff, thus didn't sink their considerable resources into developing it, things would look pretty different. Would there be mobile phones with fancy cameras and Internet? Probably not. I think all of this is an interesting aspect of the show's world building.

[Jack Shaftoe]

I expected the clumsy whitewashing of the Spree to begin in earnest but Raelle's mom and ex-GF being flabbergasted that some relatives of victims of Spree attacks might not be too fond of witches was truly something else. Visiting the site of your own organization's terrorist attack and once again not showing even a smidgen of remorse was incredibly irritating too. Are the writers really that tone deaf to expect the viewers to sympathize with the Spree just because the Camarilla wants to kill them along with all other witches? "Oh, no, the Camarilla murdered some terrorist leaders, how horrible!".  I wish I had the confidence to think that the writers don't intend us to sympathize with Scylla and company but all signs point in that direction. Even Raelle's dad is (subtly but not really) reminding the viewers of the show's great romance.

Good episode otherwise, I enjoyed the main trio's chemistry and bonding a lot. Raelle and Abigail managed to have a disagreement without yelling, about time. I hope Tally doesn't remain devoted to Alder too long, that woman is seventy-seven kinds of shady.