‘Motherland: Fort Salem’ Recap – ‘Coup’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

​Stories that revolve around military life, tend to eventually focus on a particularly important theme/journey for its main character, or characters. Specifically, what exactly does it mean to be a hero? Because coming to understand heroism as a whole, allows for the protagonist to grow into someone noble, the kind of person that people can trust and rely upon to do the right thing at all times, and they will of course accomplish wonders with this knowledge in their hearts. And it just so happens that the importance of this journey finally found its way into the fabric of Motherland: Fort Salem, since everyone in the Bellweather unit was quite curious as to what the definition of a hero really is.
 
Because ‘Coup’ saw this group licking their wounds and pondering upon their purpose in an Army that seems to stand for elements that they simply don’t understand and rightfully so. Because everything they were taught about Alder and the Army spoke of noble acts and fighting for a just cause. But the death of innocents instead reflected the opposite of that and well, that led them to their first lesson in heroism. In that, sometimes a hero needs to speak out about injustices in the world, in order to set things right and that’s why the entire unit went before Abigail’s mother. So that someone in the Army could be aware of the fact that Alder put them on an ugly and dishonorable path in their fight against the Spree and well, that had quite the unexpected impact on Petra.
 
In fact, it outright motivated her to inform the President of the United States of Alder’s actions, something that POTUS used to her advantage when she met with Alder regarding the delicate state of the Tarim. Because she knew that this was unacceptable behavior for the Army and made the tough call to ask Alder to stand down and enjoy retirement as penance, which would put Petra in line to lead the Army, and it was quite incredible to see this kind of change come forth from a simple act of honesty. And while Petra waited for the president to make her decision official, Abigail and Raelle learned a little more about heroism. Because Abigail came to understand that part of being a hero, involves inspiring others and offering them a sense of peace as evidenced by her beautiful eulogy to Libba and her promises to Adil. 
 
As for Raelle, well she learned that sometimes, heroism involves facing the darkest parts of your life and working to resolve them, as evidenced by her emotional and ugly reunion with Scylla and truly, it was wonderful see this trio exhibit newfound strength and wisdom and heroism as the story rolled along, including Tally, who finally realized that playing games emotionally with relationships was a poor idea. If anything, all of these moments of growth and an understanding of heroism were necessary for one particular reason, simply because these soldiers are about to face their biggest test to date. For the General could not handle the fact that she was being pushed out after spending lifetimes fighting battles, and rather than bid farewell to her position, she crossed every line imaginable in order to keep an iron grip upon it.
 
For she manipulated the president and spoke through her, making it known to the world that she would now be hunting down the Spree with a blank check and impunity. Which means there is a fair chance that our heroes will be fighting for a bigger cause in next week’s season finale, since they may need to stand tall in order to save the Witch Army from itself and its now maniacal leader and well, this really was quite the episode when all is said and done. Because it really did serve as a rite of passage for our trio, and it also informed us of a horror of war not talked about enough in fiction, specifically how it can infect minds in an unhealthy manner and truly, it is going to be interesting to see how our trio is going to handle the mess they’re now inadvertently involved in. Because it will take all of their bravery and their newfound understanding of heroism to stop or alter a course of action that may lead the world to ruin and the suspense surrounding this setup, will make the wait for the season one finale, a difficult one indeed. Until next time.

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