‘Motherland: Fort Salem’ Recap – ‘Hail Beltane’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

​What is truly fascinating about stories that involve notions of good versus evil, is that sometimes good appears to be quite dumb. For they stay the course while evil gains momentum, and when it strikes the good guys and gals are caught unprepared and are forced to rally from behind in order to earn the win. Which is a bit of a cliché that is annoying for certain, simply because every fan out there expects better from its protagonists. But thankfully, not all stories that feature this grandiose concept take the easy way out storytelling wise. Some push the characters grounded in good to be proactive, in order to head off disaster before it strikes, and for proof, look no further than last night’s episode of Motherland: Fort Salem.
 
For ‘Hail Beltane’ finally saw the Witch Army try and stick it to the Spree for a change after being on the defensive since this series began, but it sure didn’t seem like that was going to be the case early on. For Fort Salem was still reeling over the death of Porter, and there was a prevailing belief that the Spree were involved in this mess and that prompted an important question, in that, should the facility even bother to host the Beltane celebration? Which is a notion that Adler quickly shot down. For she believed that business as usual, and the power that comes with this celebration, were outright necessity at this point, despite the possible danger. But while the festivities would go on as planned, that didn’t necessarily mean that action could not be taken.
 
Which meant, that a grand, room by room investigation could happen while the witches enjoyed the celebration. One that should reveal the identity of a possible spy within their midst and as an added bonus, the General ordered the reanimation of Porter’s body, in order to gather information as to what happened to him on that fateful day. And the latter of those elements, immediately put the heat on Scylla at last, and left her in quite the uncomfortable place since there was a fair chance now her true identity would be revealed and to top it all off, Raelle was having visions that also left her concerned in regard to Scylla. For these visions helped her to see that Porter visited Scylla before he died and being confronted with questions regarding this only added to the tension of the story, and the terror growing in Scylla’s heart.
 
But even the best laid plans sometimes manage to fail, and as the grand celebration got underway, the search for a spy came up empty. For the room by room investigation yielded no results, meaning the Spree have already figured out how to cover up their tracks, and… Porter’s brief return from the dead was also a hollow pursuit. For his reanimated corpse informed the Necro Squad, that the last person he saw was the Witchfather, clearing Scylla from any wrongdoing. But while it was nice to see our favorite unit partake in fun and joy and see this conflict enter a new phase; how Scylla managed to escape capture here was quite the mystery. After all, she never had the chance to tamper with her mirror or Porter’s corpse. But thankfully, the closing minutes of this tale revealed how exactly she managed to cheat exposure.
 
As it turns out, the Spree are everywhere, and they’re quick to use their disguises to get into places unnoticed. And someone from that group infiltrated the base and made all those necessary alterations in order to keep the Spree’s spy, safe from trouble. Mainly because, they want Raelle for reasons unknown, and Scylla is the only person that can bring her in and well… this really was quite the magnificent episode when all is said and done. Because we finally saw the Witch Army be proactive, which was refreshing for a fighting force as strong as theirs, and the mystery surrounding the Spree deepened and it should be interesting to see what everyone’s next move is going to be and to learn why the Spree are so interested in Raelle, and whether or not she can be turned, since she and her unit are finally coming together. Until next time.  

---