Salem: "The Red Rose and the Briar" and "Our Own Private America"
Thanks to running out of Broadband in the last few days of May, I had to delay reviewing the last episode. So here’s a two-for-one.
As it turns out, a lot can happen in two episodes. Or rather, one episode. Whereas The Red Rose was a game-changer, Our Own Private America felt more like filler. Yet in both of them, a lot of little blanks were filled in.
For now, we finally have a better understanding of what happened to Mary after the mystical abortion and before John Alden strutted back into town. I like that they framed it as a fairy tale that Mary was telling to Mercy, with herself as the ash maiden who became the Queen of Night, with Alden/Sibley as a prince and king respectively, and Rose/Tituba as fairies who grant her wishes - though not without a price.
It’s still unclear to me just what “becoming a witch” involves, and how much of the personalities of the women are still intact after making the proverbial deal with the devil. In the case of both Mary and Mercy, they were asked the question: “do you want this?” after which they presumably get endowed with powers from that black faun we saw in the woods (have we seen this before? Is it meant to be the devil or just a demon?)
Yet both questions are asked whilst the girls are under a considerable amount of duress, and both can show the occasional spark of compassion or doubt, even as they afterwards seem to have no qualms in killing and maiming innocent people. So ... how much of the original Mary and Mercy are still in these characters and how invested am I supposed to be in their possible redemption? Case in point: after her wedding night with George, Mary looks into the mirror and sees herself as the old hag, believing that it’s the true reflection of her soul. It seems a bit harsh at that early stage.
Basically, I just want to know how much autonomy these women really have when it comes to all this black magic. They can make choices as to how they do minor things, but it would seem that the rules that govern this universe state that once they decide to say “yes”, then they’re more or less bound to evil for the rest of their lives. It was Rose who was screaming about how Alden and Mather were merely “puppets”, and yet it seems that if all witches are brought into the coven in the same way Mary and Mercy were, then it’s they who are the puppets.
Without knowing, it’s impossible to get a fix on these women and robs nearly all the powerful female characters of their agency.
In the first few episodes watching Mercy getting tortured was difficult to bear; now she seems to have done a complete 180 and is Mary’s favourite pet? I can understand her wanting to escape the stifling community and seeing Mary as the perfect (and only) way to achieve that end, but the fact they’re so chummy after prolonged torture and a dash of blackmail is a bit much to swallow. I mean, a few weeks ago Mercy was completely terrified of Mary - she was jumping on her in the guise of a hideous hag after all - and now she’s happily going to sleep in her lap.
Meanwhile, Alden and Mather are trying to get some answers out of a captured Rose, taking her out into the woods for some old-fashioned torture under the light of Saturn. Apparently witches have to tell the truth when Saturn is in a particular position in the sky, which is also why Odysseus tarried on Circe’s isle for so long (in order to get information from her concerning his homeland). Can anyone verify this? It seems specific enough to have some real basis in folklore, and I love it when shows throw in these little tidbits. Kind of like how that early Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode (you know, the one when those teenagers got possessed by hyena spirits) informed us that Noah didn’t want hyenas on the arc, considering them an unholy mix of cat and dog.
But since we’re only in the sixth episode of a show that’s already been green-lit for at least one more season, Mather doesn’t ask Rose anything that comes anywhere CLOSE to being useful. Why ask her to identify other witches living in the township when he can go on about the Grand Rite? What’s there to know except that it’s really bad?
Still, I loved the hopeless cheesiness of Rose climbing up the tree backwards (clearly by someone with a Rose mask on the back of their head) and raining blood down on the men while screaming about how they’re all puppets. Kind of reminds me of that Team America gag when the exact same thing happened.
And then the game-changer comes: Mary has Mercy kill Rose. I’m not entirely sure about the set-up there, as we didn’t see her actually give Mercy these instructions, but the power struggles within the coven have definitely shifted in favour of Mary - though as we see in the next episode, the Elders aren’t her lapdogs just yet.
Still, it’s a pity that Rose has been offed so quickly. She was an interesting character who seemed to be the one calling the shots in regards to everything the coven did, and was revealed to be the puppet-master not only in recruiting Mary and setting up her marriage, but getting rid of Alden in the first place. Mary killing her and taking power felt like something that would have worked well in a season finale.
And then we reach Our Own Private America in which significantly less happens, and most of which did happen seemed to be constructed around getting in as many sex scenes in as possible. In order to learn where Alden has hidden the Mallus, Mary goes into Alden’s head to entice him into revealing its whereabouts - only to enjoy what she gets up to whilst in there. It was all mainly an excuse for everyone to have erotic dreams, but a few interesting bits slipped through, namely that Alden apparently went all Dances With Wolves while he was away in the wars.
A subplot involved Mather’s father Increase Mather travelling to Salem, only for the ship he’s on to be left becalmed in the middle of the ocean. According to him a witch is the reason for it, verified by the fact that we see Hale communicating via scratches on a girl’s back that he/she is doing everything in their power to prevent this dangerous witch hunter from reaching Salem’s shores. In a twist I didn’t see coming, the witch turns out to be the captain, and after a killing scene to demonstrate what a threat Increase is, he takes over the ship.
By the end of the episode the Mallus is in Tituba’s hands and another three innocent people are dead thanks to Increase - who apparently arrived on Mary’s behest. Still, despite the fact that this is all part of her plan, I get the feeling that she’s bitten off more than she can chew with this guy. Increase makes Mather Jr look like the voice of reason and restraint, which can only mean trouble for both innocents and witches in Salem.
Miscellaneous
Against my will, I’m really enjoying the blossoming bromance between Mather and Alden - though it seems to be against their will as well.
Can we not have any more sex scenes involving George Sibley?
It took me ages to figure out that the golden thimble Mary gave Mercy was actually something to cover her bitten-off finger.
I was a little disappointed in what Mrs Hale really knew about her husband. It would have been a cool twist if she had been part of the coven too, especially given the hints that she’s a lot smarter than she’s been letting on, but apparently she just thinks her husband is a spy. Obviously Anne is not going to accept that explanation. Be careful girl!
Given past talk of the witches wanting a country of their own, it seems strange that “our own private America” was actually referring to the realm of dreams. Still, every now and then this show drops in a fairly clever line of dialogue, and I liked Mather musing: “You don’t need a house to be haunted.”