S01.E06: The Red Rose And The Briar

[Meredith Quill]

Alden and Cotton come face-to-face with a real witch; Mary devises a solution to the conflict within the coven.

 

[leighdear]

I will say, I like the tagline they use on the show ads. "The original American Horror Story". 

 

I'm glad we're getting the backstory of Mary, after Alden left and how she got hooked up with
Sibley, the disgusting old letch.

 

Im enjoying the reluctant bromance between Alden & Cotton.  They're playing off of each other
really well. 

 

Rose's tree climb & blood rain were creepy, but cool.  Too bad we probably won't be getting any
more information out of her. 

 

I don't get the golden finger tip she gave Mercy.  Was it just an ordinary sewing thimble?

 

Seth Gabel is really maturing nicely.  He used to have a very geeky, teenage look to me, but it
looks like he's bulked up a bit recently.  And the beard adds some years.

 

Wiki says they ordered 13 episodes of it, but they only list 7.  It also said it was renewed for a

2nd season. 

[christinama]

I am also loving the Alden-Cotton bromance.  I hope that Seth Gabel and Shane West are friends IRL and start doing interviews together.  I picture their off-set interactions as funny as the show interactions.

 

Show is still creepy and pretty weird, and I am loving it.  I thought Mercy was a dead woman.  BTW, that shot of her split fingertip, just for a split second, was pretty gruesome, and it fit right in.

[Meredith Quill]

Enjoying the show, I can't see where the plot is going longterm though. Mary's maid irritates me. So does Mrs Hale know her husband is a witch I wonder...?

[millennium]

Finally this show starts to catch fire!   Took long enough.   I could have done without the zombie interlude.   Really enjoyed the taunting by witch Rose.  

 

Cotton Mather must be rolling in his grave at this portrayal.    I tend to cringe at the practice of taking artistic license with historical figures, particularly when unflattering proclivities are attributed to them without a molecule of historical foundation -- i.e., Mather's consorting with whores, drunkenness, etc.   I'd have less of a problem if people had a firmer grasp of the historical Mather -- for example, everybody knows Abraham Lincoln wasn't really a vampire hunter -- but most folks today don't give a shit about actual history.   They won't know and won't care to check whether the historical Mather was anything like his "Salem" counterpart.   They'll just accept it as truth. 

Edited May 30, 2014 by millennium

[Meredith Quill]

I didn't even realise there had been a real Cotton Mather but maybe that's because I'm from the UK?

[Shades of Scarlet]

millennium, I get that about Mather's character.  But actually, I'm enjoying his portrayal, not only because Seth Gabel is very likable and talented and doing a great job, but because Mather is often unfairly blamed for the letting the Salem witch panic get out of hand.  The historical record actually shows that he was a much more benign and nuanced figure than his typical description in most general texts.  So I'm enjoying seeing him as a good guy - after the first two eps I figured he'd be played as the stock villain. Instead, the relationship between him and Alden (and the acting to establish it by Gabel and West) is a real delight. 

 

I assumed from the end that Mrs. Hale was dropping her bumbling moron act and revealing to Anne that she knew all about the magistrate's witchery.  Perhaps she's even a witch herself.  Interesting stuff.  

 

I thought the zombie scene was scary and better than most zombie movies/shows.  Anyone else hear the Thriller theme while the attack was going on?  The actress playing Rose was chilling as she growled and snarled at Mather and Alden - it reminded me a little of The Exorcist.    

Edited May 30, 2014 by Shades of Scarlet

[Amberosia]

Man, I really have no idea what to say about this show.  Every episode ends and I go "Welp, that was pretty messed up. Gonna be pretty hard to top that next week..."

 

I mean really, how do you move past one of your lead characters biting off her own damn fingertip so early on in the run of a show. And yet, every week they manage to pull a holy shit moment for me. 

 

This week  I had a few of those, though what springs most readily to mind is first  Rose wigging out and biting holes into her wrist and just gushing blood like the worlds freakiest fountain statue, and a newly converted Mercy running in to chop Rose's head off.  I mean... wow... Rose didn't even seem particularly unsteady or even put out once she made her escape from Cotton and John. She just kinda sat there on that log and conversed with  Mary like she was having a midday stroll and decided to pause to take in the scenery. 

 

I don't know what to make of Cotton. I've been side-eyeing him since episode one for that little prostitute habit he seems to have, then started to soften towards him when it became clear its a particular prostitute that he has eyes for, and sympathized when he had his little pissyfit about said whore doing her job... then he raped her in the church and dropped coins on her. I don't know if I'm supposed to root for them as a pairing or not but I just don't see it going well. He's a pastor or preacher or whatever very concerned with his rep, and she's a whore. I just don't see wedding bells in their future. 

 

Oh, and I'm not the least bit surprised that Tituba seems more than a little territorial towards Mary. What I didn't expect was for her to tell Mercy straight out that Mary was hers and she'd better remember it.

[millennium]

millennium, I get that about Mather's character.  But actually, I'm enjoying his portrayal, not only because Seth Gabel is very likable and talented and doing a great job, but because Mather is often unfairly blamed for the letting the Salem witch panic get out of hand.  The historical record actually shows that he was a much more benign and nuanced figure than his typical description in most general texts. 

The real culprit in the Salem trials was the admission of spectral evidence, which gave the "afflicted" girls all the ammunition they needed to send 19 people to their deaths.   Spectral evidence ruled admissible by William Stoughton.   But Cotton Mather advocated for it.  Mather cautioned that spectral evidence alone wasn't sufficient to convict, but let's face it, that's pretty much what happened.  I'd be hard-pressed (apologies to Giles Corey) to use the word benign when referring to Cotton Mather.

 

The actor who plays Mather does a good job with the role (wasn't he on Fringe?) and like you, I am enjoying his friendship-of-circumstance with John Alden.   Flawed characters are always more interesting.   The two of them are not without sin, but those they fight are far worse. 

[Amberosia]

 I'd be hard-pressed (apologies to Giles Corey) to use the word benign when referring to Cotton Mather.

 

 

 

I see what you did there, millennium. What can I say, I'm a sucker for wordplay.