‘Motherland: Fort Salem’ Recap – ‘Revolution, Part 1’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the season two finale of ‘Motherland: Fort Salem’.

If there is one word that best describes the Freeform series, Motherland: Fort Salem, it would have to be: unconventional. Because time and time again, this series keeps finding new ways to tell its fascinating tale of a world where magic is real, and witches rule the day and that’s led to some powerful storytelling for certain. The kind that has outright dropped our jaws and left us in awe with its twists and turns and epic moments and well, that particular word is top of mind today, simply because once again… this series found a way to defy convention and surprise us during its season two finale. A feat that this show managed to accomplish, by going a conventional route in the opening segment of this tale.

For ‘Revolution, Part 1’ started off in quite the predictable manner. With wholesale panic sweeping through Fort Salem, courtesy of the Camarilla and their Witch Plague. For they genuinely caught the army by complete and utter surprise, to the point where witches were struck down in their own beds in the bunks and the ugliness of the evening didn’t end there. Since the plague was everywhere and the Camarilla were resourceful, so much in fact, that they even managed to bring down the legendary General Alder during the fight… which felt oddly fitting in nature, as did how the evening ended. Since Penelope Silver, the daughter of the Vice President of the United States, turned out to be the carrier of the virus and had to die at the hands of our trio of heroes in order to end the chaos. 

But that’s precisely where this particular episode took quite the turn. For shortly after the group bid farewell to the General and attempted to pick the pieces after this awful attack, quite the unexpected surprise dropped into their laps. In that, the VP was livid and broken over what happened to his daughter, to the point where he was ready to extradite the three of them to D.C. to be arraigned on charges of murder. Despite the fact that this was a military matter and an act of war against the United States and the odd nature of this decision, brought General Bellweather to the White House to come to understand exactly why the government was suddenly so interested in bringing witches to justice when they staved off a major attack on American soil and well, the answers Petra received from President Wade were so strange and out of line, that she made quite the gutsy call.

In that, she enlisted Scylla’s help to orchestrate a jailbreak for Abigail and Tally and Raelle so that they could go into hiding. All so the Army could engage in a dual role. One where they were both the protector of the American people and their own, and it would also buy the army time to figure out what was going on behind the scenes in the United States Government and well, once the army figures that out… more ugly moments will come to fruition. For the audience was able to learn that this strange behavior on the president’s behalf, stems from the influence of the Camarilla. For one of their top lieutenants is in her own administration by way of Vice President Silver, and he was willing to sacrifice his own daughter to teach the world that witches are evil and should be out of American affairs and that genuinely sets the stage for an epic season three, one where the forces of good and evil will clash on a grand scale.

But thankfully, it looks like an old friend might help the witches in that fight, since General Alder is one with the mycelial network and looking youthful again and well, that revelation and everything that preceded it, is definitely one heck of an unconventional way to end a season. Because normally heroic acts are celebrated and welcomed in stories involving soldiers, so to see the heroes be cast aside in this manner is simply stunning, as is coming to understand that the villains are in control and in essence, victorious for the moment. Since America is quite uncertain as to whether or not to trust witches and well, it is a wonderful thing that season three is officially on its way. Because this is one epic cliffhanger, one that absolutely leaves the audience starving for more and it will be quite interesting to see how this epic showdown between two ancient enemies plays out when season three gets underway. Until next year.

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