S02.E06: Ill Met By Moonlight

[Meredith Quill]

Episode Synopsis:

 

Countess Marburg arrives in Salem and threatens Mary's stronghold on the city.

[Ravenya003]

This episode was all over the place, but there were some nice bits.

 

The Countess arrives, and between her dress and Mary's, it felt like the entire show had packed itself up and moved to Germany.

 

I'll admit giving a little cheer when Tituba burst out of the shadows and started strangling John Alden. Nice little tie-in to the part where ate Petrus's eyeballs, and by so doing found out what happened to John. 

 

The whole Cotton/Anne declaration of love was surprisingly charming, topped off by that great moment when she turns to see her familiar staring back at her with red eyes, reminding her that the whole thing is black magic. It's these scenes that keep me watching, even though all the gross parts.

 

Oh Dolly. At least you died trying to do the right thing (though I've no idea why you kept making out with a pox victim). 

[Bort]

I cheered that Tituba got to John. He was so TERRIBLE at witch hunting that he'd inherited Mercy's mantle of "Most Tedious Scene to Watch," since Mercy was rescued from that by all her scenes being with Lucy Lawless this week.

And the Countess is rescuing me from having to look at Extra Crispy Mercy any longer. Hope she also gargled and took care of those raspy vocal chords as well. Oh, and see ya, Dolly. You were usually pretty stupid so I can't say your fate surprises me.

So George is definitely gone and Mary is screwed. More like the Countess's son is trying to screw her, which is an interesting development. I wonder what his angle is. He's gonna have his work cut out for him since Mary's already got it covered with having someone freaky in the sack.

I laughed out loud at Hathorne's line to Cotton: "If it weren't for the beard, you'd BE a woman."

[Dream Boy]

Man, I wanted to like The Countess but throwing in with Mercy now adds her to my shit list lol I don't care how rejuvenated Mercy gets. I need her ass dead like yesterday.

 

Poor Mary. She just can't catch a break lately lol I'm going to need her to regroup soon and start burning some witches. 

 

Tituba gets the MVP award this episode. That was a Boss Move, slipping up on John and choking him the fuck out. 

 

Call me crazy because I know it's gonna end in disaster but I like Anne/Cotton. I feel for the poor girl. Normally, I would be calling foul on love spells but her back was up against the wall. It was either that, Hawthorne, or burning. But she's gonna end up having to pay for this one way or another. 

[DJG1122]

 

 

Poor Mary. She just can't catch a break lately lol I'm going to need her to regroup soon and start burning some witches. 

 

. 

 

Every time I think Mary's up the creek without a paddle, she comes up with a new angle. Finding out how Increase bested the Countess in Germany ought to help.

 

I also like the nod to H.P. Lovecraft with Anne's mouse's name 'Brown Jenkin'

[Bort]

Man, I wanted to like The Countess but throwing in with Mercy now adds her to my shit list lol I don't care how rejuvenated Mercy gets. I need her ass dead like yesterday.

It makes sense, though. The Countess knows taking Mary down will not be easy and recruiting Mercy is just a good idea because:

• Mercy has a vendetta against Mary.
• Mary doesn't know Mercy is alive.
• Mercy is easily manipulated.

[Straycat80]

I'm on Team Mary. I think the Countess is stronger than her but hopefully Mary can get some help from dead head Increase Mathers.

I'm glad the Countess is going to help Mercy though. Looking at her crispy fried face and hearing the raspy voice was grossing me out too much.

I admit I felt relief for Mary's husband that he, and the toad, finally died and got put out of his misery. Poor guy went through a lot of crap.

Is it just me or is this season extra gross? Mercy eating Isaac, Dolly kissing poxy Isaac ( this poor guy!), lots of water works from people's mouths, etc... I'm usually not squeamish but some of this is making me say EW out loud and turning away from the TV.

[thuganomics85]

Man, I knew there was no way Dolly and Isaac were just going to get out and live a happy life.  Have a sense this is one of those shows where no one is going to get a happy ending.  Now, poor Dolly is being drained in order for Mercy to look normal again, and I can only imagine what they have planned for Isaac.  Poor guys!

 

Not surprised that The Countess is teaming up with Mercy.  Despite her confidence and posturing, I do think she really is concerned over what Mary can achieve and knows she won't be able to manipulate her, while with Mercy, she can probably easily be controlled, as long as she full-fills her basic needs of bloodlust and revenge. I would have been all for a Countess/Mary team, but that was probably never on the table.  Still, it sounds like they're at the point that Mary is willing to resurrect Increase, so that should be fun!

 

RIP, George.  Surprised they went through with killing him.  That's going to cause some problems I'm sure.

 

Alden bumbles around, until Tituba thankfully captures him. Good: that was getting boring.

 

So, the love spell has been making Cotton do things like get in bar fights with Hawthorne over Anne's honor, sex dreams (of course, there is sex dreams), and flat-out declaring his love for her.  But I love that even then, he wouldn't move past heavy kissing.  Hey, love spells might be strong, but dammit, Cotton has limits! (well, when the woman in question isn't a prostitute, I guess.)  This will probably end badly and I know the love spell really makes it wrong, but I still strangely root for them. Probably because I really do think Cotton has feelings for Anne normally, but was horrible at expressing them, and Anne felt like she didn't have the time to wait.