S02.E08: Dead Birds

[PinkRibbons]

Countess Marburg's Achilles' heel is revealed.

 

[Meredith Quill]

Episode Synopsis:

 

When a plan of Mary’s threatens to backfire on her, she strikes a tenuous deal in order to achieve her greater goal. While she learns a bit of the history which surrounds her newest and most dangerous foe, the key to defeating the Countess still remains hidden. Both Anne and Cotton receive unexpected late-night visitors, each of which results in very different conclusions. As Mary tries to bond with her son, she and Tituba discover that the seemingly scared and vulnerable little boy is harboring unsettling thoughts and predilections... and perhaps even darker secrets. Meanwhile, with the help of her familiar, Anne Hale begins to discover some of her father’s hidden – and unsettling – secrets; Tituba tries to strike a deal with the captured John Alden; Dr. Wainwright discovers that, perhaps, science alone does not hold all the answers he seeks; and Mary makes a much-needed - and unexpected - ally.

[thuganomics85]

Totally knew that Mercy was the kid's "friend."  She's now not only poisoned him against Mary, but broke him out of the house and got him on The Countess' boat.  I bet Mary ain't going to be happy about that, but really: what can she do at this point?

 

Holy crap!  Wainwright figures out that it was Mary that started the pox, but instead of being all "Witch!  Burn her!", he's more "I want to know more about magic!  I'm sure there is just a science I'm unaware of it!  Let me know more!" about it, and totally joins Team Mary. Why not, I guess?  Especially when joining Team Mary means you not only get some sex, you get magical sex, where you feel like you are doing it in space.  Not seeing that downside to that!

 

Increase gets to say good-bye to Cotton and finally tells him he loves him and is a better man then he has. True, he also has to freak Cotton out by telling him he currently is going to Hell too, but I guess that's a good step.  He also informs Mary that the boat itself, is how the Countess keeps surviving.  So, I guess his brief resurrection was a good thing for Mary!

 

Anne opens up her dad's book and.... does not like what she sees.

 

Tituba tries to form an alliance with Alden to take out Mary, but he isn't down with it.  Not even sexy times with her convinced him. So, I'm pretty sure that at this point, Alden has had romantic/sex scenes with Mary, Tituba, and Anne.  They just need to find a way to make Alden/Mercy a thing, and then Shane West will have made out with all the main actresses on this show.

 

A "sacrifice" next week.  Could someone important be biting it, soon?

[PinkRibbons]

I was glad to see Tituba finally get fed up. She has taken way more shit from Mary than she should ever have, and I've wanted Anne to ally with her from day one. Like seriously, Anne has very little help -- either the Countess or Mary, who both have Agendas. Tituba's no grandstanding world-conqueror, and she herself taught Mary witchcraft. I'd like to see her take Anne under her wing.

 

Although man, Anne is getting a lot less squeamish about the blood. I loved the key to her fathers's book -- I was rolling my eyes so hard when she didn;t think to use her own blood, but then she did! And it...didn't work. Scraping Dad's blood off the wall was brilliant. Although I've got to know, who took her parents' bodies out of that place? I kind of expected them to still be there.

 

LOVE that Anne basically beat up Shatzi. He needed a humbling weeks ago. With Wainwright banging Mary, I'm kind of shipping him with Mercy now. She's pure crazy, and I like their little rivalry dynamic.

 

Good episode, but an unforgivable lack of Countess Marburg.

[Bort]

The hair and wardrobe person gets a much more interesting job on this show than they would on a normal one. "Hang on, I've got to reglue Janet's hair to her boobs…"

And I've been loving the Closer Look things WGN has been doing once a week on the commercial breaks. This week's had Tamzin Merchant reading a setting description from the script where "Anne's head is spinning" and having to clarify that it's metaphorical because you never know with a witch show.

I was glad to see Tituba finally get fed up. She has taken way more shit from Mary than she should ever have

She kept the existence of Mary's son from her for nine years, so I really don't feel like Tituba has much of a leg to stand on. That's the reason Mary gives her a ration of shit.

[PinkRibbons]

She kept the existence of Mary's son from her for nine years, so I really don't feel like Tituba has much of a leg to stand on. That's the reason Mary gives her a ration of shit.

 

Fair enough, but I would like to know a little more about Evil!John Jr.'s previous life before judging Tituba's behavior. There's a good chance that the scary Hive leaders were forcing her, and telling secrets tends to bite these witches in the asses. (That isn't to say that I think Tituba had a problem with hiding him, she clearly has an attachment to the idea that Mary belongs to her and her alone.)

 

It does seem like Mary ping-pongs from loving Tituba to taking her rage out on her. One second it's "guard me well, sister" and the next is "you untrustworthy bastard". (Well, not exactly, but you get the idea.) It doesn't help that Mary does in fact treat Tituba as a slave no matter what she says. Tituba has to obey her in all things, she doesn't listen to Tituba's well-reasoned advice, and in general Tituba is treated as an inferior to her. Her dark powers are likely on par with Mary's, it's just that Mary's plans are more grand and cunning. I'll bet Tituba could have led the Grand Rite herself if given the chance, but it was all Mary's glory. She wasn't even considered; when Mary wanted to bow out she suggested Hale as her replacement. Tituba, meanwhile, was stated at the time to be the only member of the hive to be a necromancer, and she was the one who wanted the Grand Rite most of all. I just think in general Tituba needs more respect.

[Bort]

Fair enough, but I would like to know a little more about Evil!John Jr.'s previous life before judging Tituba's behavior. There's a good chance that the scary Hive leaders were forcing her, and telling secrets tends to bite these witches in the asses. (That isn't to say that I think Tituba had a problem with hiding him, she clearly has an attachment to the idea that Mary belongs to her and her alone.)

It does seem like Mary ping-pongs from loving Tituba to taking her rage out on her. One second it's "guard me well, sister" and the next is "you untrustworthy bastard". (Well, not exactly, but you get the idea.) It doesn't help that Mary does in fact treat Tituba as a slave no matter what she says. Tituba has to obey her in all things, she doesn't listen to Tituba's well-reasoned advice, and in general Tituba is treated as an inferior to her. Her dark powers are likely on par with Mary's, it's just that Mary's plans are more grand and cunning. I'll bet Tituba could have led the Grand Rite herself if given the chance, but it was all Mary's glory. She wasn't even considered; when Mary wanted to bow out she suggested Hale as her replacement. Tituba, meanwhile, was stated at the time to be the only member of the hive to be a necromancer, and she was the one who wanted the Grand Rite most of all. I just think in general Tituba needs more respect.

We don't know any more than Mary does about Tituba's motivation or where Little John has been all these years so I have no problem with Mary's attitude about it.

I dont think Tituba could've done the Grand Rite by herself, she was a witch long before Mary came along and never managed to accomplish it. Did she even try? Mary succeeded because it was her idea to use the Puritan executions as a way to not get caught (which is why all past attempts had failed). At any rate, I don't think we'll ever see Mary and Tituba patch things up and work on equal footing because in the end, this Mary's story.

Edited May 25, 2015 by kariyaki

[cheatincheetos]

  He also informs Mary that the boat itself, is how the Countess keeps surviving.  So, I guess his brief resurrection was a good thing for Mary!

For a moment I thought he was going to tell Mary that Sebastian was actually the soul vessel for Countess Marburg ...maybe the wording about how she keeps "it" close at all times.

I imagine that she must have the ship fireproofed and otherwise protected with a ton of spells. Not gonna be easy destroying that.

What was the implication of the tree creature illustration with Ann Hale's face? Is she not fully human?

[placate]

I'm actually surprised that there aren't more natural plagues occuring in this area.  The bloodborne illnesses must be great.  Need to open up a secret door?  Just bleed on it.  Need to cast potions and open spell books?  Freaking let your familiar bleed all over it.  Wanna learn about being a witch?  Let your familiar eat the blood from your belly button.

 

It really seems to be an issue of who needs to bleed where and when to cast spells.  Guys remember last season when John was a main character?  What happened to the F on Issac's forehead?  That might've been an important point if Mary wasn't having witch sex and the atheist looked at Issac more and realized that witch pox doesn't equal being branded....

[lion10]

We don't know any more than Mary does about Tituba's motivation or where Little John has been all these years so I have no problem with Mary's attitude about it.

I dont think Tituba could've done the Grand Rite by herself, she was a witch long before Mary came along and never managed to accomplish it. Did she even try? Mary succeeded because it was her idea to use the Puritan executions as a way to not get caught (which is why all past attempts had failed). At any rate, I don't think we'll ever see Mary and Tituba patch things up and work on equal footing because in the end, this Mary's story.

 

Mary has a lot more leeway to influence matters as a white woman in Salem than Tituba does as a Arawak slave in Puritan society.  Though Mary is limited by her sex, Tituba is limited by both her sex AND race, greatly constraining what she can do.  And IIRC, Tituba has been right about everything when it comes to what Mary should do.  Mary's too arrogant when it comes to her dealings with Tituba.  IF Salem has Mary experience a downfall, it will be because of that.

 

I also find it interesting that the witches are almost exclusively pulled from the bottom rungs of society because they're the only ones desperate enough to sell their souls to the Devil in exchange for power.  That's clear social commentary there: if you push people far enough they will fight back to survive.  What's interesting though is that when the witches are then given power, what do they do?  They use it to terrorize the general populace making no distinction between men or women and even going so far as to prey on those who previously occupy the same space in the social ladder as they do as in the case of Mercy or Mary.  I wonder if that too is a social commentary.  People are people in the end and people are motivated by self interest.

[natyxg]

So I'm catching up on this on Netflix and I gotta say... John Alden continues to be as useless and boring as always. Wow. Lamest witch hunter ever, now.

Mercy got hot after her make over.