Salem Episode 6 Review "The Red Rose and the Briar"

     We're on the sixth episode of the show, and I'm still on board as if I just discovered the show for the first time. That's one of the great things about this show is that there's always something new to be offered whether it's strong character development or great horror moments. I fell in love with the beginning of this episode as it felt like a great buddy cop show (with the addition of witches of course). Some of my favorite shows revolve around an entertaining team of people doing the impossible and that's what I got a lot of in this episode. In this case with John and Cotton. I love the chemistry between these two characters now that we see them more as a duo working together. It's a perfectly balanced dynamic of the experienced guiding the inexperienced and curious. But John is in no way "just a sidekick" to Cotton as they are both needed of each other's services (the religious knowledge and the physical strength). More of this chemistry shown in the series, and entertaining character moments can pretty much write themselves at this point.

     In this episode we get a lot of great moments where Mary takes Mercy under her wing as Mercy expresses her hopes to become just like her one day. As twisted as it is to see from an outside view (an evil witch guiding a young innocent and confused girl who she has tortured mercilessly in the past), there is a sense of understanding of the situation. Mary lost her child in the regrettable act of selling her soul to become a witch. This is an emotional scar that never seemed to heal even in her peak of power over the town of Salem. As Mercy revealed her intentions of becoming just like her (even after being tortured by the dark arts), Mary feels that an opportunity had opened up to get what she has lost in the past. A child of her own in some shape or form. As the series play out, there has always been a sense of innocence trapped deeply within Mary as seen especially in scenes with John speaking with her. There's always a moment where she looks emotionally hurt deep down but has fought to hold it in as it may show a sign of weakness to her fellow witches.
   
     This is but one of the many reasons that I continuously praise the show for its character development and acting. Moments like these add layers to the character which can result to the audience questioning whether they should side with the villain to a degree or not. Not every story can pull this off, so much praise to the writing is well deserved indeed. A big highlight in this moment comes when Mary finally reveals the story on how she became a powerful witch and the major sacrifice she made to get to where she is. She brilliantly does this by shrouding it in a fairy tale for Mercy (as a parent would read a book to their child). The layers on this character is brilliantly shown throughout the series as I've stated. This is one of the scenes that spotlights the "good" and "bad" aspects of her. Some of the greatest villains throughout the history of movies and TV series has this dilemma. As she finishes her story, the scene then takes a turn for the worst. Mary transports them in the middle of the forest stating that Mercy will never tell anyone that she's a witch. This of course frightens Mercy as she runs though out the forest trying to escape what she imagines is Mary's plan on killing her in the middle of nowhere with the razor that she held in her hand. I rather liked this scene as it showed a slasher film-like view of the situation having a victim running with panic and a killer calmly walking. As I've said in past reviews of the show, any moment showcasing Mary's power is always a great scene to watch.

     Eventually she catches up with Mercy and instead of killing her with the razor, she uses it to strip her naked and vulnerable. This leads to a quite horrific imagery where Mary (quickly flashed in the form of a black goat standing on it's two back feet) inaugurates Mercy by telling her to tell their evil god that she "wants it". This of course is the exact same thing that Mary herself went through to get rid of John's baby. The fact that she held the razor close to her neck makes me think that she wanted to kill Mercy to rid her of the possibility of going through what she once did in the past. As this event occurs, John and Cotton are on a special mission that revolves around using the witch they captured (Rose) for interrogation. How they plan on interrogating her is one of the series' best use of mythology and lore. By utilizing Saturn's alignment on that specific night, they are given the ability to question the witch in which she must tell only the truth at a certain time. This is a very compelling scene as we finally see a sign of weakness as she is fully taken over by the invisible but present power of Saturn (her eyes are pitch black and her body is fully paralyzed and vulnerable). It was almost like a witch hunter's truth serum. I always give praise to the mythology of witches used in this show, but this is possibly my favorite thus far. Throughout this moment, the man who has been seen to possess the ability to control and use animals as camera-like tools (his name is briefly mentioned in a past episode) is seen hiding within the bushes.

     We get a short scene where he is visited by Tituba who threatens him by killing one of his animals in order to get answers about Rose's whereabouts. He states that he has not seen Rose, but has seen Mary (in which he boldly states the idea of Mary becoming stronger than Tituba as student becoming the teacher). This makes Tituba angry and threatens him that he should remember which side he's on. It's amazing that even though we get little scenes with these characters, so much can be taken in about them with just the dialogue alone. There's a sense of Tituba beginning to look at Mary from a different perspective (more negatively) and a sense of this man having his own path and not necessarily being on the side of the witches per say. Back to John and Cotton's interrogation, we get one of the more traditionally seen use of witchcraft as Rose snaps out of her trance-like state after answering some of Cotton's questions. She uses her powers to raise a group of zombies around and beneath their feet to attack and kill them. Another quite entertaining scene as the show takes a turn to the zombie genre for a quick moment. We see John and Cotton struggle to survive the herd of hell spawns as Rose escapes in the forest.

     As she sits down somewhere in the forest (assuming that she was tired from using her powers), she is greeted by Mary who calls her out on bringing the Malam to Salem without her consent. This then causes Rose to state to Mary that she has the ability to see the future by calling her out on still having feelings for John and bringing Mercy to the forest. She reveals that she was intentionally captured by John and Cotton to find out what John felt deep down inside (in terms of emotions). Rose tells Mary that Johns still has feelings for her no matter what and that she's been planning for any situation to come along. She states that there is no path to the "Grand Rite" that involves her having feelings for John so as a result she will kill him causing her to have only a broken heart. As she implies that John will die, Mercy surprises Rose from behind and slashes her head off with the same razor shown before. Just typing that brings me a little chill down my spine. It was the definition of tension rising to a outcome. As a result of her death, all of her zombie spawns returned in the ground having John and Cotton barely escaping the attack. Remember what I said earlier about John and Cotton slowly becoming this sort of buddy witch hunting team-up?

     There's a great moment after Rose's zombies return to the ground, where they're walking back in the woods speaking to each other. The dialogue is entertaining as Cotton compliments John for his cold blooded persona (in french), in which John replies "I admire your….don't hurry me, I'll think on something". It was as if the show knew exactly when it needed a little comedy injected and went for it. It was perfect timing and really sold the idea of them possibly becoming this witch hunting duo. John then tells Cotton about the fact that Cotton is slowly becoming a "hungry hunter" meaning that even though they may have not killed the witch that they interrogated, they did find some kind of information in the end and Cotton will become dangerous for needing more. This of course is John's way of complimenting him Again, the chemistry between these two characters are becoming the spotlight for me as I hope to see lots more of it. A spin-off series within this series by the name of "John and Cotton's Witch Hunting Service" would be entertaining to watch. Has a nice ring to it. As they return to the town, they are briefly greeted by Mary who lies about her wandering around to merely feel the night's air. Cotton separates from the two as John decides to walk her back home.

     We get another great scene with Tituba as she cleans the blood off of Mercy in a tub. What makes this another great character development moment is the emphasis of comparing Mercy to a tool in a tool shed that Tituba tells her to her face. This shows that even if you're a part of the witch's group, you're not guaranteed to be accepted as a member with respect. Tituba also tells her that Mary's love belong to her and not Mercy's by saying "The mistress of the house is mines only". What this does is further add the deep relationship that she has with Mary and how she would never give it up for anyone despite her disagreements. It also shows her feelings on having Mercy as part of her group. Mary then enters the room telling Tituba that she'll take care of Mercy (having suspicions that Tituba might kill her at any moment). As she leaves the two alone, we get this great speech by Mary as she officially makes Mercy a part of the witch cult. She compares men to a rock and women to water claiming that women will always be more powerful. This is the kind of speech that she heard during her inauguration moment. She then gives Mercy a sort of metal seal around her finger (I couldn't really tell what it was at the moment so I assume that it was a seal).

     Now, for the ending that all Salem fans must've had their "What the?!!" moment of the day with. As Anne lays in her room reading with her candle lit next to her, a shadow figure catches her attention. As she follows it, she eventually sees it standing on the corner of the room (a tall cloaked figure). She slowly walks towards it saying "Dad?" and eventually touches it's shoulder. The cloaked figure simply drops to the floor as if nothing was wearing the cloak to begin with. To her surprise (as if that wasn't surprising enough), there's a mask with the features of her father's face laying on top of the cloak. And if that wasn't enough, her mother walks in the room and says "It's time I told you the truth about your father. Now let me me start by agreeing with my earlier comment, "What the?!!". I could not help but yell out when the cloak dropped flat on the floor. One of the most surprise endings so far and I loved every second of it. What does this mean about her mom? Well, we can only wait but speculation is always a fun game to play with TV series. My theory is that the mother was once a part of the witch cult (possibly still is) and is hiding her husband's secret to Anne. That and/or the father is some sort of puppet of some sort. There's so much speculation one can offer to that scene, but I won't make this review any longer. Either way I enjoyed every bit of this episode as it confirms my feelings about the series as an escalation of great story telling. I simply cannot wait to see the next episode and where this show goes in the future.