BACKSTREET’S BACK, ALRIGHT!

Yooooooooooooooooo! It’s been a while old readers and new. I decided to dust ye olde DeclareShenanigans dot com off to talk a little bit about the first season of a show that I really dig.

I haven’t written a review in forever and a day. I’ve missed the opportunity to use a shit ton of Schitt’s Creek GIFs. But I’m here to make up for it by chatting a bit about the first season of a little show called Motherland: Fort Salem. Warning: fuckton of spoilers. Warning: fuckton of cursing.

While trying to write a book (!!!) in my downtime and maintain a full-time career, I haven’t been watching a ton of TV. But I’m a sucker for prestige dramas, all the trash on BRAVO, and genre shows. And yes, I’ve fallen in love with another “teen” show despite telling myself that I wouldn’t. What can I say fam, I’m weak. WEAK.

Motherland: Fort Salem (Freeform) just wrapped up its first season. The basic premise: what if, instead of killing ALL the witches back in the day of itchy underwear and the Salem witch trials, you got the shit scared out of you by a witch so powerful you let her create her own army serving the Colonies? General Alder is that witch, and she’s still alive in the present day, kept alive through her “biddies,” who essentially loan her their youth and serve as her inner circle until they die. Sounds fun, right?

I’m not going to recap plot…I’d going to give my general impressions of this first season and drill down into some details where I want. Yes, I’m going to be critical of some aspects of the show, but if I didn’t like M:FS overall, I wouldn’t be wasting my time writing this, so take this review with that in mind. Also, if you’re averse to GIFs, turn back now. This is how I express myself, y’all. With that, I hope you enjoy my little write-up.

*Julie Chen voice* BUT FIRST…

Motherland: Fort Salem has been renewed for a season 2! Doesn’t it feel rewarding to know a show you’re digging is coming back for another season?

God, who doesn’t love a drunk and DGAF Winnona?

Honestly, after that finale, if the show didn’t get a renewal, I would have put on my face mask, wrapped myself in toilet paper, and driven to the FF offices to angrily practice social distancing and ask if were ready for a stern talking to.

Onto the review!

The World and the Worldbuilding is Truly Unique and Interesting

Holy shit, there are some exciting and fresh concepts in this show. A witch army, vocal magic, lost/secret magical songs, a re-drawn USA with distinct regions, long matrilines of powerful witches, marriages with an expiration date, witch hunters, terrorists, necromancy, magical ‘shrooms, and an history of magic and witches throughout the world.

In a time where not a lot of TV concepts feel fresh or interesting, M:FS has some great concepts and ideas that I just sit back and appreciate for their imagination and gumption. Do they all work? Not for me, but I can get hung up on little things. Overall, the world-building is hella interesting, and I love the imagination the showrunner, Eliot Laurence, and his writers put on display.

I do have a couple criticisms, so let me get that out of the way first before going into how much I love the show and its characters.

Plot Holes and Missing Pieces (queue: I DON’T CARE, I LOVE IT)

M:FS is trying to jam SO MUCH PLOT into ten scant episodes that some of the episodes are breakneck, jumping from story thread to story thread, and stuff is falling through the cracks, IMHO.

This show needs to be edited down a wee bit. Just a wee bit. Someone could Coco Chanel it and make it a tighter presentation altogether. There are things I simply don’t understand (yet) because the show doesn’t explain things all the time or gives half-explanations and I find myself wondering stuff like:

• The witch dudes that pop in and out of the Fort…what purpose do they serve really?
• Can everyone do all forms of magic, or are some just shitty at, like fixing, and how do people become experts in one form?
• What types of magic can Anacostia do? Because she seems to be able to do A LOT.
• How much time has passed? How long does basic take?
• What was the deal with that pitchfork thing in episode one?
• What is the difference between sung magic (like Alder’s) and spoken magic (like Raelle’s)?
• Do dudes other than Adil do magic?
• Do bears bear, do bees be?

Now, I’m going to say something that will shock you. I don’t give a flying poop if your story has plot holes or is inconsistent…

…if…IF…your characters kick ass.

I’m such a character-driven person that if there are issues with the narrative, I’m much more forgiving if you create good, consistent characters. Ladies and gentlemen and everyone in between, I’m a whore for great characters.

I LOVE great characters. If you have shitty or uninteresting characters, I won’t watch. I need development, chemistry, and (organic) conflict. So I’m willing to overlook some of what I think are M:FS’s plot wonkiness at times.

Sometimes the pacing and the tone gets a little inconsistent. I have one main sticking point that bothered me, and this is just personal opinion: episode 6 was SOOOOO GOOD, Y’ALL. It did some deep dives into grief and friendship and trauma. The scene at the end with the lighthouse and Human Disaster Squad coming together to support Raelle as she’s out of her mind with grief?

Then came episode 7. Ah, episode 7. It had some REALLY GOOD, pivotal scenes (Raelle making everyone go night-night all at once, the Raylla prison scene, ANYTHING WITH ANACOSTIA IN IT), but the rest felt like a weirdly rushed mess of scenes and ideas and coming off of the intense emotional exploration of episode 6, episode 7 felt atonal at times.

But, you know what, episode 7, in the rearview, affects me so much less because it felt like an anomaly because the episodes that came after got the show back on track for me. I’m content to let the weaker episodes and plot holes slide. I’m getting soft in my old age.

I think this season needed some pruning sheers. There’s SO MUCH INTERESTING STUFF that even axing some of it, re-writing it, or moving it to later seasons (and yes, I hope there are many more seasons), you would still have a wealth of interesting things look at and think about. But I don’t believe showrunner Eliot Laurence lacks for ideas.

The Warp Speed Ships – I Don’t Hate It

Let’s talk a little about shotgun ships. This show is full of them. I’m talking about the relationships that go from zero to 90 bazillion MPH in the blink of an eye. Usually, I have problems with these. First of all, I’m a very bad shipper — in that, I ship very little. I actually used to resent shipping as something childish women did until I realized that being the “cool girl” wasn’t cool and that a lot of internalized misogyny made me a fucking idiot. I looked deep into the eyes of “what the fuck is you thinking?”, got right with myself, and realized that I shipped just like everyone else, and it’s NOT something to dismiss because women do it. Internalized misogyny is a bitch, y’all.

But now, when I ship, I ship HARD.

Marcy and David in Travelers (Netflix)? I cried so intensely I gave myself a massive 24-hour-long headache.

Fitzsimmons on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC)? I would shiv someone in the kidney to protect them.

Clexa on that show about numbers? I can’t even talk about it without getting angry…let’s move on.

Catra and Adora on She-Ra (Netflix)? I was yelling at Catra on my TV, thinking she wasn’t going to come back from destroying reality because SHE DESTROYED REALITY. But they slow burned the SHIT out of it.

Human 3-Ring Binder Leslie Knope and Human Disaster Ben Wyatt? I will plunder your internal organs if you say anything bad about these two. Suck out your spleen through a straw, I will.

Most of my beloved ships progressed organically over time. The writers gave the relationships time to develop so when people finally got together, it felt right, it felt earned. And with most of these ships, they SUSTAINED the relationships, not adding fake drama because relationships CAN flourish. HOT TAKE ALERT: lazy, unimaginative writers will inject conflict into ships when they can’t make the couple interesting in any other way.

If anyone needs a masters-level class in ships, I give you one Tami Taylor and Eric Taylor from Friday Night Lights. Those two are GOALS, man. And that’s not to say Coach Taylor and Tami didn’t have arguments and shit to work out, but it was never gratuitous drama due to lack of writer’s imagination.

That said, M:FS doesn’t give a lot of time for relationships to develop. People get together quickly, and while I’m usually on the “nah” end of the spectrum on shotgun ships, this show makes me throw my slow-burn predilections out the window.

The first time I see Abigail and Adil or Tally and Garret together, I’m like…

But the second time I see Tally and Garret or Abigail and Adil together? I’m like…

I’m in. I buy it. I don’t care to over to over-analyze. I want my disaster squad to be happy. I think acting talent and chemistry makes up for a lot, pushing feelings and intimacy much quicker than is sometimes believable. Am I shipping these couples HARD hard? Not yet, maybe I never will…but I don’t question it or roll my eyes. They pulled me in. I’m rooting for these kids. There’s something to be said about just giving into something because it’s fun.

But what about Raelle and Scylla? I didn’t even mention them! Oh, don’t worry, I have a whole section devoted to Raylla. Yes, I do.

Speaking of ships, tangentially, I love how sexually progressive this show is. Abigail fucking two men? Awesome, get that D, girl. Tally getting a surprise threesome? Not great because Tally wasn’t down (Garret, you done fucked up), but dude, the IDEA that it was presented as just something that happens, that’s fucking great. There are no hang-ups on this show. Women as autonomous beings who are not shamed for their desires or actions is…fucking refreshing. Thank you, Eliot.

The Raelle And Scylla Of It All

On paper, this SHOULDN’T work. And what I mean by that is: this relationship went from zero to completing the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs from the jump, AND it’s a relationship initially built on lies. It is a complex whirlwind of competing motivations and desires and feelings at this point. It’s a hot mess. Inject that shit into my veins.

Raelle wasted no time GETTING. IT. She pushed Scylla up against a wall and dove into dem pants. Who likes this? NO ONE LIKES THIS.

HOLY SHIT.

I don’t know what it is about a sexy wall-push…it’s my goddamn catnip. I need a sexy wall-push support group. Is there a sexy wall-push in the book I’m writing?

You’re goddamned right there is. (note to self: add another sexy wall-push or two)

Raelle and Scylla immediately start a relationship, and it moves quickly and gets deeply emotional. It shouldn’t be as affecting as it is given the pace and having to juggle these two with everything else going on in the show. I’m more of a conventional slow-burn kinda gal, but for some reason, Raelle and Scylla WORK for me. I could talk myself out of this ship working for me, but I don’t wanna.

I’m going to give a lot of credit to Taylor Hickson (Raelle) and Amalia Holm (Scylla). These actors are pulling off a massive caper here, putting as much emotional work, chemistry, and development into these characters as they can while they have screentime. I don’t think this relationship floats without their chemistry.

And since things are moving so fast and the plot is just full to the brim, we’re expected, as the audience, to take some emotional leaps with these two. Relationships take time and nurturing to feel authentic. I’m not saying these two have me 100% invested from the first couple of episodes, but they change each other in a short amount of time, doing a lot of heavy-lifting to successfully grow this relationship into something the audience cares about.

Look, straight up, Scylla is an antagonist, part of a terrorist organization that wants to free witches from military conscription. She has some very compelling reasons for joining the Spree–a lot of anger and pain–but let’s be real, she is NOT the good guy.

The Spree wants Raelle. Raelle is basically Scylla’s mark; she’s there to get Raelle to trust her, maybe plant some seeds of doubt, and when the time is right, deliver Raelle to the Spree.

Scylla, for a great deal of her screen time, is scheming and engaging in shady bidness, including–and this certainly isn’t a small thing by any fucking means–using magic to convince her ex-boyfriend, Porter, to kill himself because he’s a threat to her. I mean…BRUH.

There is no world in which we are rooting for her at this point. She’s a terrorist and a murderer. And yet three episodes later, when Scylla and an in-the-dark-about-the-truth Raelle declare their love, I just shrug and roll with it because somehow, despite the hot-shotting of this relationship, my chips are in the middle of the table and I’m pot-committed.

You’ve got these two characters, both of whom, for the own reasons, push people away. Yet these two characters start to open up and become vulnerable with one another, completely changing their dynamic and who they are. That’s powerful stuff when someone makes us feel less alien in the world. In the microcosm of just this relationship and these two people, they work. They work until outside stressors, and reality comes crashing down on them.

Scylla is a problem, straight up. She has a LOOOOOONG way to go to be redeemed, especially since she’s killed hundreds by the looks of it. Like, we all still hate terrorists, right? But we love a good redemption story–when done right.

It’s a weird balancing act we do, escaping into fictional worlds while still trying to uphold our real-world personal values. I’m not saying any of this is easy or comfortable, and there may be some of you that don’t like this relationship for a myriad of reasons. But there’s something meaty here to explore because we have two very damaged people who aren’t damaged with each other…or they weren’t. Who’s to say what their dynamic is moving forward because evil things have been done. Feelings have been felt. Hurtful words have been said.

Raelle sparks something inside of Scylla that is absent the anger, resentment, and bile that drives her actions with The Spree. She changes in Raelle’s presence. She’s soft and vulnerable. In her scenes with Anacostia, she’s barbed wire and deflection, but with Raelle, she’s, in the very least, honest about her feelings. Does this make her contrite for her previous actions? No. I think people can justify all sorts of actions based on their past pains, even if we see them as evil. I think part of Syclla believes she can compartmentalize who she is with Raelle and who she is with the Spree. This is untenable, and hopefully, the show will explore how Scylla resolves this inner conflict.

On the other side of this ship, Raelle is someone who doesn’t open up very much. I mean, she may tell you shit about her past, but you don’t get to see her pain. She’ll give you information, but not the shit that’s underneath it, the ugly shit, the hurt shit that drives her, you’ll see it in flashes of defiance, anger, and self-destructive actions.

Scylla gives Raelle permission to be herself and not feel bad about who that is because she’s not one of the High-Atlantic witches or uses Christo-pagan spells. Scylla is the one who tells Raelle she’s more powerful than she knows…and yes, this is likely a line to pull Raelle in a bit more, but at what point does Scylla stop reading from a script and start to mean the things she says? This is the delicate balance between manipulation and real intimacy that I think Raelle is going to struggle with that line in regards to Scylla. And we, as viewers, need to decide if we believe Scylla’s sincerity.

All I know is, I ship them more than I probably should at this point, but I don’t care. I’m invested. The show and the actors are also heavily leaning into this ship. HEAVILY. Like…they give us this key art. BRUH.

Like, they know what they’re doing. Even the power dynamic in this picture is telling (I, for one, would LOVE to know if this was intentional or just looked good, so they shot it). I’ve watched other shows lean into stuff like this and fuck it up. Don’t fuck this up, Eliot. I’ve trusted a white male showrunner before and have been burned. Please don’t fuck this up.

But do…

Fuck Them Up, Raelle

I’m a simple woman. I love characters who are more powerful than they realize. Raelle using “Christo-pagan” words/ritual to power her magic and laying e’eryone THE FUCK OUT was a “fuck yeah!” moment for me in ep7. Um…the “she’s more powerful than anyone thought” trope is my shit.

Side note on tropes: I used to eye roll tropes, thinking they were lazy writing. Note: I used to be a fucking moron. I LOVE well-done well-worn tropes. Tropes are fun, they’re beloved, they’re the fucking melty marshmallow in our narrative s’mores. If they’re doing a “chosen one” trope with Raelle, buy me a ticket for that bus and shove me on it because I’m ALL OVER IT. I’m also intrigued how her magic and her link with the ‘shroom mixes with Abigail’s magic. This shit is EXCITING.

It’s obvious there’s a bit of a power imbalance when it comes to Adler versus everyone else. If Adler continues to be on her bullshit about all her…bullshittery…then if someone is going to stand up to the most powerful witch in history (just assuming here), I hope it’s our scrappy fixer from the Cession.

The Abigail of it All

Sigh. Abigail. What the fuck are we to do with you half the time?

Abigail (portrayed by Ashley Nicole Williams) has a thankless job of shouldering the expectations that come with her family name and trying to hold this little disaster squad of a unit together. All while being HIGH STRUNG TYPE A OMG CALM YOUR TITS GIRL. Yup, she’s gotta be that “stick up ass” archetype for a good amount of time so when she grows, she fucking GROWS.

And Abigail, for all her initial bravado, does NOT have her shit entirely together. Need someone to pull the D? Abigail has you covered. She’s got the D on lockdown.

But need her to be emotionally available and sympathetic to hot messes like Raelle or enthusiastic cheerleaders like Tally? Not if they’re going to fuck up her chances of getting into War College, which is all Abigail cares about. At first.

Abigail seems to be the strongest one out of the three (and if I’m being REAL real, the “strongest” of this disaster trio shifts all the time…in the finale, they were all fucking strong as fuck, but in their own ways). Abby sometimes places value in the wrong things, the academics of what she thinks leadership should look like, but her real strength lies in the shit she hates to tap into, the emotions she needs to bring forth to ensure the Bellweather Unit doesn’t die under her watch. She shifts her staunch loyalty from the army to HER people, and she can move goddamn mountains.

She’s the Chris Traeger of this series, making shit happen or not happen through sheer force of will, and you need that person.

Abigail needs to have more than just the army in her life, and we see it’s starting to happen with her unit and Adil. Yes, she’s a Bellweather and all the expectational bullshit that entails, but she’s far more interesting when she’s looking after her little squad or grinning like a dork when Adil flexes his magical power.

I will be very interested to see if the show puts her at a decision point with Raelle that mirrors whatever happened with Raelle’s mother and how Abigail navigates that situation. I can only hope for it being a hot mess that creates angst and doubt and maybe a schism in Bellweather Unit that has to be healed by all three of the women. Because that dramatic shit is DELICIOUS and just because Raelle and Abby now seem to be the Voltron of witches, there’s going to be conflict at some point.

Let’s put all that shit on hold for a second and talk about Abigail in the finale. Abigail dunked on that finale like Michael Jordan taking off from the free throw line. She fucking rocked the fucking shit out of that finale. She stuck with her squad instead of taking the privileged easy route, she went back for Raelle, she linked with her to heal her…and then…they became something. Raelle’s magic and the link with the magic mushroom in the Necro basement mixed with Bellweather magic has created something weird and wonderful that seems to create life. I may have yelped at the end of the finale at the “what the fuck just happened!?” of it all.

Our Lady of the Cinnamon Roll, Tally

I’mma be straight with y’all: I don’t start out liking cinnamon roll characters. I find them cloying. Annoying. Stereotypical. They’re usually the nerds, the socially awkward, the intensely smart. Sometimes characters break the stereotype and don’t present at first as cinnamon rolls and then BAM you realize they’re cinnamon rolls. Sneaky, sneaky cinnamon rolls.

(an aside: AHEM. For my Ph.D. defense, I will explain why Paul in The Half of It is a sneaky deeky cinnamon roll and should be protected at all costs).

I’m finding the “helper” cinnamon rolls more common and a natural cinnamon roll role. They’re the little spirit squad that human disasters like Raelle, Abigail, and Ben Wyatt need in their lives. They’re here to give you all the inspirational talk you need to perform.

I didn’t like Tally at first. She was that stereotype of a cinnamon roll that I don’t cotton to at first, but as cinnamon rolls do, they win me over by wearing me down with their kindness, their selflessness, and their service to others. But Tally is the glue that holds this hot mess of a trio together through much of the first season. Abigail is often strict and mad at Raelle, Raelle is usually off doing her own thing, and Tally is trying to keep this goat rodeo from diving off a cliff.

And OF COURSE Tally does the unthinkable in the finale. I DID NOT see that coming, and I’m honestly shook she gave up her youth to become a Biddy and save Adler. Tally better get a fucking Edible Arrangement, GAW.

“I didn’t know what else to do” is so Tally and I just kept yelling “No!” at my TV. I can’t believe she stared Adler down and gave her a talking to. A mad Tally is probably scarier than Abigail and Raelle combined, because that’s a quiet “I’m going to smother you in your sleep then wear your kidneys as earrings” kind of anger that is very, very dangerous. But Tally is also GOOD, y’all, and can’t help herself from doing what she thinks is the right thing.

Oh, you goddamned cinnamon roll.

The Show Is Diverse as Fuck, Die Mad About It

That we have to give kudos to entertainment for reflecting the diversity of the world around us is a bit maddening, but I’m going to celebrate it. I’m a white woman. I’m bored of me, y’all. This show has a shit ton of women of color, and I’m here for it because that’s what the world is, not some stupid little straight white enclave of fear.

ANACOSTIA IS THE BEST AND NO I WON’T STOP YELLING ABOUT HER I’M GOING TO NEED A FAINTING COUCH

I’m going to need a minute here to compose myself.

Oh. My. God. Wait, I need another minute. Just let me pull it together.

I FUCKING LOVE ANACOSTIA. Demetria McKinney is a FORCE. Hear me now and believe me later, but Anacostia is the fucking MVP of the back half of S1. She BLOSSOMED into a fascinating character once they gave her something to do other than harrumph at the Bellweather (Disaster) Unit. And her scenes with Scylla in prison?

Especially this scene? BRUH.

When Anacostia had that flash of anger, I screamed. GET IT, ANACOSTIA.

BRUH. Hold on. I need a moment.

Y’all. Anacostia is AMAZING. She likely has the purest moral center of anyone on the show other than perhaps Tally (who I believe may one day get into some dark shit because that’s what pure little cinnamon rolls like Tally do and I WANT IT, GIVE IT TO ME, ELIOT). Watching her question herself, to stand up for someone who has done some dark shit because she can see goodness in her…that’s some fucking Yoda shit or something.

I can’t express how much Anacostia just blew the fuck up for me this season.

Also, let’s acknowledge that all of Anacostia’s scenes with Scylla in prison are fire. Pure fire.

Scylla has this smooth, cocky energy with other characters that makes her a bit of a dick at times (which isn’t a bad thing), but man, it creates some great chemistry. Amalia has really nailed a character that’s hard to make both intensely likable while flipping the switch to “I really want Anacostia to smack the taste out of her mouth.”

And that moment where Anacostia shares what happened to her parents and cries? DEAD. I DIED. I’m writing this from the afterlife. Demetria is amazing. That scene and everything that followed was terrific.

Finale musings: Y’all, seems like Scylla played Anacostia a bit? I think the Spree planned on her getting found out and told her how to proceed, perhaps knowing that Scylla could leverage Anacostia’s parents to create a bit of an emotional bond, so whoa, that’s dirty pool.

BUT! Anacostia tailed Scylla, so this could be a double-double cross. Perhaps Anacostia was told to let Scylla go so she could follow Scylla back to the Spree. OR Anacostia is going a little rogue and off-book here. Which ALSO sets up the possibility of the army and the Spree working together against the Camarilla, which then means Scylla gets injected back into the main storyline, and shit just explodes all over the place. I CAN’T WAIT FOR SEASON 2.

Also, in case you missed it, Anacostia now has four daughters. She’s adopted the Bellweather Unit and a wayward Scylla. That’s the rule. No take backs.

And now, a haiku for Anacostia.

Anacostia.
That’s five syllables right there.
I love her so much.

I Side-Eye Everything Scylla Does

I don’t know how to express how much this character intrigues me. Amalia Holm is putting in WORK, y’all. Scylla is weirdly dickish and vulnerable and sly and dangerous and hurt and likable and arrogant…I’m just in awe of the portrayal by Holm. There are so many ways this character could go wrong because she spends a good portion of her time DOING wrong.

But for some reason, Holm makes Scylla work. Somehow keeps her likable by constantly showing us flashes of vulnerability and maybe, just maybe, a little contrition underneath all the defensive layers of anger and deflection.

Even when Scylla is playing cat and mouse games with Anacostia in prison, there’s a layer of vulnerability beneath it all that I both fully accept and fucking question at the same time. I’m DUBIOUS of everything she says even though I want to believe her. That’s talent, y’all. Scylla can be trying to appeal to Anacostia’s softer side, but you’ll see a little flash of a smile on her face and you’re like…

It’s gotten to the point where Scylla is playing cat and mouse games with the audience. You want to like her, empathize with her, believe she’s capable of good, but then you see a little glimpse of an impish smile and you’re like…y’all fucking see that?

Look, I like Scylla. I’m rooting for a WELL DONE, SLOW redemption arc for her, but I take everything she says with a grain of salt. I don’t trust her, I’m confused most of the time if she’s double or triple crossing Anacostia or the Spree, and I’m loving it. Holm brings this weird swagger to the role and it’s fun to watch that fall away in bits and pieces when Raelle changes her…I’m waiting for the moment when Scylla has to make a choice to do the right thing that isn’t driven by Raelle, but her own conscious. THAT’S when real growth occurs.

Bellweather Unit: The Human Disaster Squad

I keep calling Bellweather Unit the Human Disaster Squad because these loveable raggamuffins are fucked up in so many delightful ways as individuals and as a team, and are all sorts of dysfunctional. Do I love this shit? GAAAAAAW. DO I!

Here’s the dynamic: Raelle wanders off. Abigail stresses out, yells at Raelle when Raelle wanders back. Raelle gets mad at Abigail for getting mad and bucks under Abigail’s extra EXTRA type-A personality. Shouty voices happen, sometimes a physical altercation ensues. Sometimes just a lingering smoldering angry staring contest ensues. Tally tries to group hug everyone back together because she’s a goddamned cinnamon roll until Tally has to put her foot down and TALK SOME GODDAMN SENSE INTO BELLWEATHER UNIT. Rinse, repeat.

I love these little flawed human beings and the damn ties they’re forming with one another. OF COURSE weird little found families are my jam. It’s probably my favorite trope. But the thing is, they all complement each other in ways that make each other stronger.

Abigail needs someone who pushes and challenges her. That’s Raelle.
Raelle needs someone who will pull her back from the edge. That’s Abigail.
Abigail and Raelle need someone to keep this shit from falling apart. That’s Tally.
Tally needs people who need her love and acceptance. That’s Abigail and Raelle.

I’m telling y’all, these disaster humans need one another and fill up the cracks in each other. And you can see their roles shifting, picking up for one another when need be, accepting that they can be more than the broody one or the bossy one or the cinnamon roll. There are bonds of loyalty forming, and I can’t wait to see them fight for one another…and eventually likely fight with one another.

I love these dorks shitbirds.

HOLY SHIT THAT FINALE HOLY SHIT

I. Am. Shooketh. It was SO GOOD, and there were so many great moments, twists, cliffhangers, and it was just amazing to watch the season wrap up on such a high note. What in the ever-lovin’ FUCK was ALL OF THAT!? Tally’s sacrifice, Raelle getting impaled, Abigail going back for her, the Anacostia of it all, Scylla’s complicated decisions and actions, and oh Raelle’s freakin’ mom is alive (the theories were true!).

If I may completely destroy you before I go…

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FINAL VERDICT!

I found Motherland: Fort Salem to be highly entertaining and the back half of the season from episode 5, it just kept getting stronger and stronger with a finale that hit like a freight train.

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Parting Thoughts

• On the USA map in the opening credits, it looks like St. Louis doesn’t exist. SUCK IT, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS! Go Cubbies!
• Read this fantastic interview with Amalia Holm (Scylla) at The TV Junkies.
• Who the fuck is the Camarilla?
• That look on Scylla’s face at the end…she totes didn’t know that Raelle was the daughter of the Spree’s leader.
• Adil has grown on me and is becoming a sneaky deeky cinnamon roll. PROTECT HIM.
• That explosion of black mist at the end? That’s some Cloak and Dagger shit right there…I will die mad that Freeform (and Marvel) canceled that show. WAFFLES, ALWAYS.
• Why is the world so yellow at times then normal at others? I’m guessing its used to show conflict/danger but I haven’t paid enough attention to this color story switches to be sure.
• People are going to start shipping Raelle and Abigail and **whispers** I don’t hate it.
• Thanks to my friend Beep who is GIFing the shit out of this show
• TWEET/RETWEET: If you enjoyed this review, please share, retweet, or like it on twitter.

Disclosure: this is my own indie site, all opinions mine and mine alone. My time, my dime. My favorite hammer is Mjolnir.