Archive

“Salem” recap (2.7): The Beckoning Fair One

Who knew that to bring back Increase Mather from the dead, you’d have to plant a smooch on his crusty, decapitated head! Mary Sibley knew, and she also knew she’d have to lay a line of sand around her to protect her from him. Increase Mather may be back from Hell, but as Mary puts it, there’s still Hell on Earth to tend to. Mary tells him that the witch he wanted off the streets is still out there. She needs his help (and manipulations) to win the day. But, I don’t want to be so quick as to say: “Mary needs another man.” She doesn’t need another man-she needs an evil, evil, evil man.

One man who’s been lurking in Mary’s shadows without her knowing, is now locked up and shackled by her mistress Tituba. Captain John Alden isn’t exactly in control anymore. Sure, the medicine man he hoped he could somehow “become” would’ve helped him kill all the witches in Salem-he probably dreamed up some gross victory speech in the town’s square, where he may be awarded gold and the attention of some fair maiden for his victories, ridding Salem of witches for good. But Tituba has other plans. She scans his body with her fingers, laughing to herself about all this torn-up power JA is stuck with. She wonders if he had any idea-that eventually it would literally tear him apart. “Never had much use for men, but I’m starting to think I might have some use for you,” she whispers in his ear. We already figured that much, Tituba.

A dinner is set. Mary Sibley will have the Countess and her son Sebastian plus other “elites” at her home, to show that she and the Countess are running a fake ship of friendship and support, even though we all know they are on a hard-to-hide warpath. The Countess visits her old friend Anne Hale, to settle a matter Anne’s perhaps forgotten about. Anne did give up the identity of the Countess to Mary Sibley, so she should be punished. Instead, The Countess asks her to fetch her father’s (John Hale) Book of Shadows at Mary’s house when she’s invited over for this lavish dinner.

Anne learns what her familiar, Brown Jenkins, really wants-to feed off her. (Like Mary’s toad, once home inside George’s belly.) Meanwhile, Mary piques Sebastian’s interests by asking him to dispose of George Sibley by tonight, and she’ll repay him with ample gratitude (also known as sex, duh.) Somewhere in an upstairs window, Increase Mather is surely hemming and hawing over “Satan’s favorite whore” outdoing her bidding.

Mercy Lewis never died and went to hell like Increase, but she looks like a ghost back from the dead. Her hair is long and she’s wearing one of the Countess’ fine dresses. A plan is set. Mercy will lure the children. Say what? We now see a group of young girls spinning cotton and other materials through a wheel while a rotten woman scolds them and keeps them on their toes. Mercy is a ray of light through the window, enticing one girl outside with an orange in her hand and a big smile on her face. The girl goes along while one other watches on.

The idea of a formal dinner is enough to make Anne Hale go crazy. She may live in an empty nest now that she’s killed her parents, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have anyone to talk to. There’s Brown Jenkins. As she dashes through the room holding up differing black gowns to wear, she requests Cotton Mather arrive at her door with a bouquet of flowers and “poetry on his lips.” Just then, there’s a knock at the door! Magic. Cotton was just at the pub earlier, having a chat with Dr. Samuel Wainwright about this love sickness he seems to have. Dr. Samuel assures that there’s no cure for it, but that he would like to murder a dying man tonight and would just love it if Cotton, “Doctor of the Soul” Mather will accompany him. Cotton downs a tin pint of ale and nods. Sure, sure, whatever you say Dr. Samuel.

Now, he’s got a party to go to. Little does he know his own father is “back” from the grave, though luckily they won’t be rubbing elbows and white ruffles at Mary Sibley’s dinner table. No, Increase Mather is aboard the Countess’ ship as we speak. He needs to know if she is the witch he fought in battle with so long ago. If so, she’ll carry his mark as he carries hers.

At the Sibley mansion, The Countess sits at the end of the table with Mary smiling nearby. Sebastian is less than thrilled to be here-dinners really bore him. He’d much rather be carving into a tree with his trusty knife. In so many ways, we’re learning that Sebastian fits the role of “son” to a tee. He’s very kid-like, even though he wants to bone down ASAP with Mary Sibley. Okay, so he’s adolescent-boy-like. Either way, everyone gathered now-including Mr. Hawthorn, is fresh outta jail. There’s also Mr. Wainwright, and Cotton, of course. As Sebastian offers to carve the turkey (not surprising, he has an affinity for knives) Cotton interrupt with what appears to start as a toast, but quickly goes into a marriage proposal, to Anne of course. Anne is flustered as per usual and can’t form words, so she scurries like a mouse from the table, as Mary beams on and the Countess bows her head. Part of me wonders-will Anne be smart and use this moment as opportunity to ransack Mary’s library for her father’s Book of Shadows?

While Anne’s away, the Countess has a frank telepathic witch convo with Mary as the man chatter about their egocentric accomplishments. She tells Mary they all must die, even Cotton Mather. He’s, “full of passion” says the Countess. Imagine that. Anne finds her father’s book shaking on the shelf but she can’t get it open. Tituba hears her in there and tells her to leave, but Anne’s thrown the book out the window for later.

Fearing things are getting super weird, Tituba tries to take Mary’s son out of the house like she wanted, but he runs into the dining room to Mary, telling her he’s scared. The Countess is shocked to see this “precious little lamb” and her mouth is nearly watering. Mary of course says he’s George’s nephew-but the seed is planted now and the Countess looks intrigued like never before. Mary asks Sebastian if he’s followed through with his word about disposing of George. He’s like, “Yeah, we just did…” And Mary looks down at the plate of “roast” and up at the Countess, happily cutting into a piece and savoring it in her mouth. They’re eating George!

Cotton finds Anne outside and tries to get down after she says yes to his marriage proposal. But suddenly Dr. Samuel is there, because the hour is upon them-he’s about to perform on the living dead and he needs Cotton’s spiritual guidance. Anne fetches her father’s Book of Shadows and leaves. Cotton and Dr. Samuel open up this man’s body to find liquefied black tar bile, as thick and bubbly and rotten looking as the Crag in the woods. Suddenly the acid-like substance eats through the floor and comes pouring out of the man’s eyes and mouth and ears. Yum.

But no one’s having a better meal than Mercy, our belladonna queen of the night. When the Countess and Sebastian return to their ship, we assume they’ll see that someone’s been there-(pssst, Increase!) But, what they see instead is the young girl Mercy lured out from the factory dead on the floor, and Mercy covered in her blood with a sheath of lambs fur covering her naked body. “Quite intoxicating, isn’t it?” The Countess says as her son looks on in horror. He’s grossed out and annoyed. “Oh, I was going to give her the girl anyway,” coos the Countess. She loves Mercy. They make a wicked team. Mercy needs to be fresh in the morning, anyway. The Countess tells her she needs her to go snatch up a “precious little lamb”-which we know to mean Mary’s son.

As the episode closes, we see Cotton reaching for the bottle, for his books, all of which comes crashing down on the floor. This is not the love spell; this is something else. Someone is there. He turns and sees his father, Increase, standing in the dark corner with a cloak over his head. Increase doesn’t say a word. Perhaps he’s only able to speak with Mary because her blood is on his lips. Cotton is horrified and begins to scream. What’s going to happen next? Is Cotton going to survive this encounter? Will Anne have her husband after all? Increase is supposed to be here to work with Mary to defeat the Countess, so what’s he doing at his son’s place? Has Mary’s entire plan gone to Hell?

Or has it just come back?

Tune in next week for an all new episode of Salem on WGN, and follow me on Twitter @the_hoff! Are you #TeamMary #TeamCountess #TeamAnne #TeamTituba or #TeamMercy? The witch war continues, heathens!

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button