S02.E08: Delusional

[Cranberry]

Quote

Tally leads the unit on a mind-bending mission to find Nicte Batan — but is the unit strong enough to withstand Nicte’s defenses?

Original air date: August 10, 2021

 

[Cranberry]

Sneak peeks are all Tally-centric this week! (Ignore their numbering; I put them in chronological order here.)

 

 

 

[Cranberry]

That was good!

I knew Tally was actually Nicte the second the girls found her standing victorious with the rock. I'm glad it wasn't dragged out past this episode (although that would have been the smarter move by Nicte, I think). Maybe the face swap has a time limit?

Is it bad that I missed seeing Abigail rip into people she dislikes? I find her dynamic with Scylla fun to watch. The three-way fight between Abigail, Scylla, and Raelle was fun too, especially Tally just rolling her eyes and leaving them to it.

Abigail did the three tornadoes without ruining her voice!

I still ship Raelle and Scylla, so sue me, so I was happy to see them reconnect pretty quickly. It's funny that Scylla's going from living with one of Raelle's parents to the other. Tiffany will be better off with Raelle's dad, too. Alder knows about her thanks to Anacostia's report, but there's so much going on right now that I can't imagine the army coming for her.

Scylla is definitely not redeemed in the traditional sense -- Raelle even still called her a terrorist, and not while under Nicte's influence -- but changing her priorities is good enough for now.

It's interesting to see General Bellweather grab for power much more openly.

I hope the last couple episodes have as much action and plot progression as this one!

 

[Zonk]

How very convenient, that this witch power dampaner prevents talking so that Nicte could switch places with Tally, when everytime before it just disrupted the powers and people could still talk. Also super convenient that everybody is a massive dumbass. I figured that one out instantly.

[AnimeMania]

How does Nicte stay young? Is she as old as Alder? 

[Zonk]

6 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

How does Nicte stay young? Is she as old as Alder? 

By not having a budget big enough to age her up consistently? That's how I interpreted the partially white hair but unchanged face.

[AnimeMania]

3 hours ago, Zonk said:

10 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

How does Nicte stay young? Is she as old as Alder? 

By not having a budget big enough to age her up consistently? That's how I interpreted the partially white hair but unchanged face.

They make a point of showing Alder always surrounded by the Biddies. I was wondering if Nicte used a different technique, maybe stealing a little lifeforce from every living thing around her, that is why she lives in the forest.

It seems pretty unbelievable that this would be the first time that Nicte would have a good shot at taking out Alder, what made her pick now to become so obsessed with trying to kill Alder.

[william0102]

Nicte was only 2 classes (2 years?) ahead of Petra Bellweather, they said it last episode. The flashback made it seem longer though, I agree. It was the way they had Alder react to Nicte's magic, and the fact that they had the cadets just learning how to defend against Spree/ "bad" offensive magic- the teacher made it seem like she had been teaching that class for years.

*Not last episode, sorry I watched the first seven eps back to back- it was the one where Tally questioned Petra, so maybe it was the ghost bonfire episode?

Edited August 11, 2021 by william0102

[Cranberry]

The Spree's first confirmed attack was in 1997, so all of this Nicte stuff is more recent than it looks, yeah.

[ybrik]

The twist with Nicte wasn’t that big of a twist since we didn’t really see Tally defeat her. Have to hand it to the actress playing Nicte she had a completely different energy when she was Tally to when she is playing Nicte. 

Speaking of Nicte, I think circumstances have kind of pushed her to go after Alder now. I think with the Camarilla, her own spree followers either getting killed or leaving, she needed to act now. I also think Tally has now presented her another way of getting to Alder. 

I was going to post this last week but man Willa really is going to cause her daughter to have issues. yes she died to save her but dying right when Raelle learned you were alive again. Raelle has to deal with all these conflicting feelings. 

Speaking conflicting feelings, the Tally vision with Alder. Not only for Tally but for me. When shows hint at things like this with older male and younger girl, I usually have major issues with it. I have the same issues here but I still kind of want it. 

[Cranberry]

Haha, you weren't the only one whose mind went there:

 

[DanaK]

I did not see that switchout coming, but I noticed Nicte seemed to be acting strangely so I figured something was up. But is it bad writing that no one figured a Spree would try that face switch trick or are the writers telling us people were being very complacent?

I too thought Alder was going to kiss Tally in that hallucination and wondered if that’s what they were going for. Yep, at least that was what the actress was going for

When the biddies hiss at someone, are they trying to cast a spell or just expressing disapproval?

Edited August 12, 2021 by DanaK

[Scarlett45]

On 8/10/2021 at 11:15 PM, Cranberry said:

I still ship Raelle and Scylla, so sue me, so I was happy to see them reconnect pretty quickly. It's funny that Scylla's going from living with one of Raelle's parents to the other. Tiffany will be better off with Raelle's dad, too. Alder knows about her thanks to Anacostia's report, but there's so much going on right now that I can't imagine the army coming for her.

 

Yes, and there are lots of "dodgers" living in the Cession, so Tiffany will have access to a magical community but not be under the influence of the army like Anacostia was (as an orphan raised in Fort Salem). Poor Tiffany- they murdered her parents and tried to torture her, she needs to be looked after. Raelle's dad is a good man, I believe he will keep the girl safe, along with Raelle's Mom's best friend (I forget the woman's name).

 

On 8/10/2021 at 11:15 PM, Cranberry said:

I knew Tally was actually Nicte the second the girls found her standing victorious with the rock. I'm glad it wasn't dragged out past this episode (although that would have been the smarter move by Nicte, I think). Maybe the face swap has a time limit?

I didnt figure it out quite as quickly as you did, but when they were in the helicopter and Tally wasn't saying anything, I knew she wasnt Tally.

 

On 8/11/2021 at 7:32 PM, ybrik said:

Have to hand it to the actress playing Nicte she had a completely different energy when she was Tally to when she is playing Nicte. 

Yes there was a panic her her eyes when she was "face swapped as Tally".

 

On 8/11/2021 at 8:52 PM, DanaK said:

I too thought Alder was going to kiss Tally in that hallucination and wondered if that’s what they were going for. Yep, at least that was what the actress was going for

Why is it whenever women's hair is down, there is a sexy seduction vibe going on? I knew they were going for that when they had Alder with her hair loose.

[Jack Shaftoe]

On 8/11/2021 at 7:15 AM, Cranberry said:

Scylla is definitely not redeemed in the traditional sense -- Raelle even still called her a terrorist, and not while under Nicte's influence -- but changing her priorities is good enough for now.

Scylla's story has pretty much every hallmark of the typical (i.e. terrible) Hollywood "redemption" story, in fact I can't think of worse examples off the top my head and I have watched and complained loudly about a lot of such plots. Raelle literally tried to apologise for calling Scylla a murderer, laughed with her less than ten minutes into the episode, kissed her in the end and saddled her dad with harboring an escaped terrorist (not that anyone seems to be bothering chasing her because the show is really stupid this season). All this right after they were reuinited. Porter, the one victim of Scylla's whose death Raelle witnessed first-hand (let's not forget that she was quite traumatised by that) was, of course, not mentioned and I suspect will never be mentioned.

Oh, yeah, we will take the terrorist on a super important mission, no one will object or even notice, never mind that she is not even wearing a uniform because, you know, everyone loves Scylla, right? What did Tally tell the others "My friend wanted to see some commando action and I couldn't say no"? At this point, I keep wondering if Raelle or Scylla is the bigger writer's pet because the show's universe keep bending around for them in a way that's so bad that by now has become almost funny. The way things are going it wouldn't surprise me at all if Raelle's dad learns that she is a terrorist but insists that she should marry his daughter.

Okay, venting on that particular topic over. The show still has its moments, so watching it doesn't feel like a chore (mostly because Tally is all kinds of adorkable) but the Scylla mess isn't the only reason I am finding it increasingly hard to take it seriously. Everyone is constantly disobeying orders and the only thing Alder is doing is threatening that next time she might actually punish them (spoiler alert - she won't). The whole organisation feels more like a high school with very loose rules than an army, far more so than in season 1 when already the rules were super flexible compared to real life military. The Camarilla is so hilariously over the top mustache-twirlingly evil that it's more funny than scary.

Last but not least, witches as persecuted minority doesn't work in a show where we have seen the head witch mind-control the US President with impunity twice and where every named witch terrorist gets a sob story and sympathetic portrayal.