S02.E11: On Earth as in Hell

[PinkRibbons]

Mary has a public fall from grace, while Alden and Cotton work together to save the Boy's soul.

 

Preview:

[thuganomics85]

The exorcism was insane.  Between all the blood, bugs, and Creepy Mary popping up, it certainly didn't look like a fun time for Alden and Cotton.  It sounds like they did push back The Devil, but he's still in the kid, so I don't know what their next plan is.

 

Mary has now been stripped of all her possessions and humiliated.  I know she's a witch who did horrible things, but when it comes to her and Hathorne, I'm totally rooting for her to win this battle.  Or, really, anyone who kills Hathorne would be great in my book. Did enjoy Issac briefly stepping up to him and telling him and the town off, even if it led to him just going to the gallows alongside Mary.

 

Talk about a cliffhanger.  Sebastian just stabbed Alden, The Countess is slowly on her way to get the boy, with only Cotton possibly there to stop her.  But what is really interesting is that Anne now has the kid.  I wonder what she'll try to do, now that she has what both Mary and The Countess want.  Also, not only does Cotton now know about Mary, but Alden told him Anne is a witch too, so I wonder how powerful that love spell actually is. 

[Amberosia]

I'll say this about Anne's love spell: I had expected it to go all Craft-like with Cotton going off the rails and full on obsessing over her full-time. And it seemed to be going that way at first, but then Cotton was able to focus on things other than Anne. Maybe his real affections towards her play some part in that. And if that's the case maybe his new bride being a witch isn't a deal breaker.

Poor Isaac, that guy can't catch the hint of a break.

[Dream Boy]

I agree. Hawthorne can't die fast enough. I think I hate him even more than I hated Increase Mather lol 

 

At this point, I'm going to need Mary to get some kind of win. So far, The Countess has been pretty much owning her. I think Anne is going to end up being the Great Equalizer. People are underestimating her so far. But I really hope she goes hardcore on someone soon.

 

Where is poor Tituba? Hopefully freed by now lol 

[Amberosia]

I definitely hate Hawthorne more than Increase, and I never thought that possible. The difference for me is that Increase owned his shit, and you gotta kinda respect that. Hawthorne, on the other hand, is just the worst sort of ingratiating, social climbing kiss-ass, and a coward to boot. Bleah.

[Ravenya003]

For some reason I was under the impression that last week's episode was the season finale, and I was left thinking: "really? That's it?" This episode certainly stepped things up a little.

 

Between Cersei doing the walk of shame over on Game of Thrones and Mary Sibley getting the harlot treatment on this show, it was certainly a big week for slut-shaming (though at least neither show treated the humiliation in a positive light). I can't wait to see Hathorne get his hypocritical ass handed back to him.

 

Sebastian is shaping up to be this season's wild card. His relationship with his mother is clearly on the rocks, and I can see him veering more towards Mary's side, if not just to get in her pants. She won't be too happy about what he's done to John Alden though.

 

I was annoyed to see the Native Americans get killed off so quickly. They were an interesting third faction that were completely removed from all this Puritan/Satanist drama, but between them and the still-out-of-commission Tituba, this show is pretty crap with how it handles racial minorities.

 

That kid was pretty good when it came to channelling the devil. I was suitably freaked out, and his monologue served to plug a plot-hole: after Mary has spent two and a half seasons getting things set up for the devil's return, he ended up pretty damn mad that she's changed her mind at the eleventh hour. 

 

And now he's in Anne's hands (presuming it IS her, as I wasn't really sure whether it was really her or the Countess in disguise). If it IS Anne, this could be interesting, as both are unwilling "witches" who have been roped in against their will to be the devil's servants. In an episode that extolled the importance of free will, it doesn't seem like a coincidence that the two of them have now teamed up.

 

Cotton realizing that Mary was a witch and had tricked him into killing his own father should have been a real mind-blowing moment, but honestly it happened so long ago (and was so blatantly obvious to the audience) that it took a while for me to realize the impact it had on him. I'll have to watch that scene again, as this is also the scene that Cotton realizes he was playing into Mary's hands the whole time for kick-starting the witch hunt and executing innocent people.