After an action-packed recap of the first season, we kick off season two with a girl singing at church. She’s very good; so good, in fact, that she’s melting the stained-glass window behind her! Yup, looks like we got another witch on our hands! And by the look of it, she had no idea. People flee, or pray, and the girl’s father does not look best pleased.
On the plane back, Adil breaks down in tears over Abigail’s apparent death while Biddy!Tally comforts him. He asks her what being a biddy is like, and Tally starts to answer before the rest of the biddies give her a stern look. It seems the first rule of biddy club is to never talk about biddy club.
Scylla is pissed that Willa didn’t tell her that Raelle was her daughter when she was ordered to be a Honey Trap, and that when she refused to hand Raelle over, Willa sent in the Spree to attack a wedding. Willa tells her that the wedding attack wasn’t the Spree at all, but the Camarilla posing as Spree. Willa shows Scylla her memories through Linking; six Spree leaders were recently taken out by a weaponized and quick acting version of the black webbing that Khalida had. Willa says that her mission has changed; it’s not about the army anymore, it’s about the Camarilla, and asks Scylla to help her.
An emotional and furious Petra confronts Alder and blames her for Abigail’s death. Anacostia sees what has become of Tally, the last member of the Bellweather unit – and now a biddy – and embraces her. Izadora has reports of a blast zone – actually Raelle and Abigail – which is on the move and the generals piece together that the Camarilla have been biding their time and harvesting witch voices to use, all while pinning their actions on the Spree. A news report reveals that the girl from the beginning of the episode is the Vice President’s daughter.
Raelle and Abigail are still walking, very much alive, and seeing the radius of the blast they conclude they caused. Abigail has big ideas for their shared power, but Raelle is less than enthused at the prospect of being experimented on. They’re met by members of the army, who don’t trust that it’s them, and are taken into custody. They seemingly manage to prove their identity, however, as Alder is informed of their survival. Tally finds this out through her biddy link with Alder; she accepts Alder’s offer to reinstate her youth and be un-biddied.
Alder explains to VP Silver that his daughter Penelope will need to be tested to see if she is, in fact, a witch. If she is, then she will be conscripted into the army. Silver asks whether Alder can guarantee her safety, to which Alder responds that they take care of their own.
Abigail is reunited with her mother, who tells her how proud she is of her, and that she may be the greatest Bellweather yet. Petra takes Abigail and Raelle to watch Tally be un-biddied; a new woman takes her place and a young again Tally is thrilled to see her sisters alive, but passes out from the ordeal before they can properly enjoy the moment. They get said moment a little later when Tally wakes up in the infirmary. The unit fill each other in on biddyship and witchbombs; Tally gets defensive of Alder when Raelle shows distrust in her. Raelle and Abigail later inform Alder what happened to them, with Raelle acquiescing to Abigail’s suggestion and telling her that the blast was the two of them. Izadora is put in charge of training the two of them. Alder orders Abigail to stand down from the Camarilla, to her chagrin.
Realizing that since Scylla has been locked up, she has no idea what’s been happening, Willa tells Scylla that the stunt at the soccer stadium – swapping out destruction for information – didn’t make the remaining Spree leadership very happy. Before they can talk more, Scylla notices they are being magically watched, and banishes the Fetch, which the audience sees is Anacostia keeping tabs on Scylla.
Khalida tells Adil they need to search for a new home for the Tarim, including themselves, but Adil is reluctant to leave Fort Salem, in part due to Abigail’s return. The couple are reunited, telling each other that they’ve never been so happy, and they share a kiss. Khalida returns Raelle’s combat charm and thanks her for saving the boy like she saved Khalida. Raelle calls her dad, unable to tell her anything about the mission, but happy to hear his voice again. The conversation takes a sad turn when Edwin asks what happened to the girl Raelle liked, and Raelle is reminded of all that transpired with Scylla as she tells her dad that they broke up.
That night, Abigail and Adil have sex for the first time out in the grounds of the base, causing a literal earthquake. Alder visits Tally to see how she’s feeling, and Tally tells her that she’s missed her a lot despite the fact that it’s only been a day. Alder says that part of the bond they shared will endure forever; Tally’s okay with that. The results are in – Penelope is a witch! She’s immediately conscripted and welcomed into the army, which her father doesn’t seem happy with.
Willa and Scylla disguise themselves and attend a gathering at a past Spree attack site. The speaker rallies the crowd against both the Spree and the army, suggesting that the army can’t be trusted to fight against fellow witches. Willa wants to find the root of whoever is stirring the anti-witch agenda; Scylla is in.
Abigail tells all about her night with Adil, joking about the earthquake, but turns serious when she says that her connection with Adil goes far beyond sex. It feels a little bit like destiny. Anacostia storms in, demanding the unit hand over their medals… which she changes to accept them into War College as she drops the act and warmly congratulates them. They share a drink and Anacostia celebrates that they’re Alder’s problem now.
Speaking of Alder, she’s reliving some memories. Memories which Tally sees in her dreams. She’s in a jungle with Alder, a woman she doesn’t know, and the biddies. Tally watches as hostile witches make huge bugs erupt from the ground and go up her pant leg, panicking at how real it seems, before the unknown woman throws a glass bottle to the ground and shatters it. The witches attacking them immediately turn on each other. Tally wakes with a scream and, despite her unit’s attempts to calm her and tell her it was just a dream, Tally lifts her shirt to reveal a very real blemish left behind by the dream worms.
Tropes Used:
- Call-Back: A subtle visual example. In the first episode of the first season, the unit held hands around a candle while the camera looked down from overhead. Here, we get a similar shot of the three of them, only they’re much closer, all hugging each other with their heads together, indicating the growth of their bond.
- Catapult Nightmare: Jessica Sutton fully commits to launching herself out of the bed when Tally wakes up from the Alder memory dream.
- Deep Cover Agent: Scylla had been with the army since before she met Raelle, having made it through basic before the Bellweather unit were conscripted, and she expresses anger that Willa burned her cover with the army for a personal mission.
- Did the Earth Move for You, Too?: When Abigail and Adil have sex for the first time, it causes an actual earthquake that Tally later mentions feeling.
- Gaydar: Raelle’s seemingly goes off when Tally mentions Alder, and clearly doesn’t buy it when Tally attempts to brush it off by saying that Alder just came to check on her.
- Glass-Shattering Sound: Less shattering and more melting, but Penelope’s singing does this to the church’s stained glass window.
- Immediate Sequel: Alder’s group on the way back from China, Raelle and Abigail walking the mushroom trail, and Scylla finding out her boss is her ex’s mother all get picked up on soon after they were left at the end of the first season.
- Incredibly Obvious Bug: While Scylla didn’t realize she’d been tailed at the end of last season, she manages to identify and get rid of Anacostia’s Fetch pretty quickly.
- Internal Reveal: Tally, Adil, and the rest of the army learn that Raelle and Abigail survived.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Abigail and Raelle pick up on Tally’s immediate defense of Alder as a little odd.
- Put on a Bus: We don’t see Glory, Byron, Gerit, or any of the other visiting male witches at all this season.
- Reunion Kiss: Abigail and Adil get one of these. They get a little more than a reunion kiss later that night…
- Ship Tease: Tally is not only incredibly defensive of Alder, she also tells Alder that she’s missed her a lot since becoming unbiddied. It doesn’t help that Alder walks in on Tally checking out her restored youthful body in the mirror.
- Telepathy: According to Tally, biddyship comes with being able to hear Alder’s surface level thoughts, as well as those of the other biddies.
