‘Motherland: Fort Salem’ Recap – ‘Petra’s Favorite Pen’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 308 of ‘Motherland: Fort Salem’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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There are few things more terrifying than when it appears that everything in the world or in our lives… is spiraling out of control. For when we reach that moment, fear rules the day. Because we simply don’t know what is to come next or how we stop the chaos that appears to be growing by the minute. Which means that often times, all we can do when this happens… is sit back and wait in awful anticipation for a hero to emerge, or for an opportunity to defuse the situation at hand and thankfully, that happens more often than not. Since we either figure a way stop our personal madness or someone steps up and plays quite the hero and well, this scenario and how it ends is top of mind today, because it was the focus of last night’s episode of Motherland: Fort Salem on Freeform. For when we catch up with everyone in ‘Petra’s Favorite Pen’, the situation in the world was still quite grim.

After all, the First Song remained lost to the winds of time, and General Petra Bellweather was taking all kinds of heat from the President of the United States regarding the slow nature of the war and well… that just brought forth all kinds of tension and desperate acts. Such as what Alder and Tally took part in. Since they outright traveled to the place where Sarah believed they could garner some kind of knowledge of the First Song; an ice cavern with a preserved witch that was both hostile and scared in meeting both of them. To the point where Tally had to trade her sight for the power of the song and sadly, such a move came at quite the price. For the unit was in the dark regarding what could happen come tomorrow and it would seem, they lost Alder again since she didn’t make it out of the cavern. 

Not to mention, lines were crossed, and lives were lost in this tale as part of the spoils of war. Since the Bellweather Unit was forced to watch good witches die at the hands of the Camarilla since they were considered to be expendable in the moment. Plus, Petra was forced to put herself and her army in danger by putting down Colonel Jarrett for his desire to flex his muscles in a manner that was woefully inappropriate and of course, the Unit was also forced to put themselves in danger for all the right reasons when they invaded ‘The Slaughterhouse’ to rescue Scylla from a horrible fate. If anything, all of these plot threads spoke to a story mired in chaos. Where the situation was spiraling out of control despite everyone’s best efforts to try and keep the peace and well… that inspired the opportunity mentioned before.

In that, Abigail came to realize that what this war needed were heroes. The kind that could stand apart from the quagmire of this conflict and bring peace at a moment where it seemed all-out chaos waited on the horizon. Who could also speak truth and expose the horrors of this conflict and well, Abigail came to understand her unit could be those heroes. For they were what POTUS wanted, and they were only a sliver of the whole, and this kind of sacrifice could inspire others to rise up for what was right and stand with the Army over President Silver’s lackeys and that’s why she asked her friends… her family… to join her in surrendering. Simply because it would stop the fighting and keep the Cession safe before things spiraled into all-out war, and of course… it would show the world that witches weren’t evil, but brave and understanding of the bigger picture and well… that was a powerful way to end this tale.

Since it really did thrust this unit into a new light. For now, they are the heroes they wanted to be, and now they can do some real good at a time when evil rules the day and this was quite frankly, a brilliant twist to inject into this tale. Because it removes the specter of war from a weary and worried nation, and it changes the narrative for the end of this series. Because just like that, this show isn’t barreling toward gory conflict and ultra-violence. Instead, this move makes it clear that our heroes are going to do their best to find a better way to end this nightmare, one that will inspire generations to work toward peace over conflict and that its going to make for a powerful ending, one that will be supremely relevant in this moment. Until next time.  

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