Recap / Motherland Fort Salem S 3 E 10 Revolution Part 2

And we start exactly where we left off: the bonfire, with a sick-looking Raelle claiming to be OK. Petra and Anacostia come to the group. To put it simply, the Camarilla picked a great time to take over Fort Salem since half the Army's forces remain in the Cession. They are blocking exits and entrances, and their technology interferes with both regular communication and Farspeech. They are focusing on the Necro facility and the Mycelial Chamber. But the Bellweather unit is ready to fight.

Izadora is alive despite getting her throat slit last episode! But she is tied to a chair and drugged, and Penelope is inside the chamber where she was reconstituted to human form. Alban Hearst is walking around the lab in full Large Ham mode. In his best Faux Affably Evil manner, he asks Penelope how's Basic and other small talk. She screams and turns into her nonhuman form, a black condensed mist. He asks that "it" be transported off site. Next he turns to Izadora, asking whether the Mother will shrivel or pop. Izadora laughs maniacally, "She's gonna kill you all," and laughs some more.

Elmina, Ghana. Alder finds herself at the Elmina public market. She sees a storm forming. There is an explosion and a buzzing sound that puts most of the other people to sleep. A bunch of witch soldiers show up. Their leader recognizes Alder and knows she is back from the dead. In a confrontational manner, he orders her to state her business, considering her presence a military incursion. She uses her Mycelium power to disappear.

Fort Salem. The gang, consisting of the Bellweather unit, Adil, Gregorio, Sterling, Petra and Anacostia are assembled. Petra instructs the unit to get to the Necro chamber by fighting their way through. Anacostia gives the unit a Rousing Speech, telling the unit how awesome they are. There is a group hug before they run off to the training room to suit up in combat gear and grab scourges. They split up, with Gregorio going off to join Petra, Sterling and Anacostia. The rest fight their way to the Necro facility. Raelle can barely walk with Scylla's support

Outside, mines are being planted. A large number of troops assemble. Anacostia, Petra, Gregorio and Sterling create a subsonic Work called Rings of Saturn that creates a tornado. It works to scatter away the troops, until one of them presses a button in his armor that breaks down the tornado and emits a shrill tone similar to nails on a chalkboard. A truck is thrown in their direction, and Anacostia shoves away Petra and Sterling, sacrificing herself. Petra has to pull the heartbroken Sterling away from Anacostia's body and orders Gregorio to get back to the lab.

The unit keeps fighting their way to the lab. Gregorio comes up and tells them about the new and updated Magitek. It kills ALL sound, not just Work. Fortunately it is rather glitchy and it needs constant adjusting. The unit runs off to the lab, with troops after them.

Kingston, Jamaica. Alder is at the National a public Library. A voiceover reads notes from a ledger about receiving cargo from Ghana including "an uncanny one called Orageuse", a 19-year old female. As she checks an old and yellowed registry of slaves, Alder learns that Orageuse was sold to a planter in Roanoke Virginia. According to the registrar, it was a relief as she allegedly was witch. Alder disappears just as a clerk brings her another book.

Fort Salem. Sterling has used Work to disguise himself as an officer escorting an apprehended Petra. They knock out two mooks and retrieve the canister containing Penelope in mist form. She sends him off to the lab and reassures him she knows he loved Anacostia.

At the Necro lab, the gang continues to fight the faceless mooks, when the sound-killing tech is activated. It even muffles speaking voices. Alban Hearst is there, extremely proud of himself. "You don’t look too good. Fungal infection?," he asks Raelle with mock concern. He presses a remote and the mines planted outside go off, delivering fungicide directly to the Mycelium. Raelle collapses, with glowing Tainted Veins over her face. In Virginia, Alder is also affected, screaming in pain. And unexpectedly, so are Adil and Scylla. As Alban celebrates the happy accident, Tally and Abigail use their scourges some more. The Magitek glitches, and they knockout the remaining mooks with a Windstrike. Tally worries that Alder might be affected too. If she does not find the last piece of the First Song, the world ends. Everybody dies. Gregorio shows up but so do more mooks. The sound-killing tech is back on. More fighting. Up in the sky, a cauldron of bats flies over Fort Salem and inside the facility, where they swarm the mooks but leave our heroes alone. Nicte Batan has shown up, announcing that Wade sent her.

The Mycelial Chamber. With Adil and Scylla out for the count, Raelle manages to stand up and sing to the Mycelium. A portal opens and she calls the others so they go in. Gregorio and Nicte stay behind to fight, with Nicte calling more bats.

Inside the Mycelium, Tally announces that the dry barren landscape around them is what she saw in her vision when Raelle ended the world. Scylla and Adil collapse again. Raelle tries her Christo-pagan work to Fix them but it doesn’t work. She asks Tally for help but she is freaking out. In tears, Tally begs Alder for help if she can hear them as the other two tend to their ailing spouses.

Petra's office. Silver is out of his prison jumpsuit and back into a suit, preparing to deliver a speech. When he asks about Kara Brandt, Alban says she sends her regrets. He and his assistants prepare to have Silver's transmitted to the nation. He tells the viewers that as the rightful president, it is his duty to set the country right. While a surly Izadora stands in a corner, a disguised Sterling comes in, revealing himself to her, and tells her to that Penelope is in the basement and to make them pay. Silver continues to talk about the Wade that appeared at the hearing being a Witch impostor and other witchphobic^note The actual term for fear of witches and witchcraft is Wiccaphobia. sentiments.

The Mycelium. Abigail is Linking to Adil, who is doing worse. He asks her to let him go when it is time. She tells him that she is taking him to the ocean and they are going to have a good life. Lying on a platform, a barely conscious Raelle laments to Scylla that they didn't stay in the lighthouse and asks why is all this happening to her. "You're the only one strong enough to bear all this." Tally comes in, saying she got it. It's about the three of them; not the First Song or preventing the Witchbomb. All of it is gonna happen. The Mother wouldn’t bring them this far just to fail.

Alder wanders around an abandoned mansion and finds a dusty old book. Voiceovers tell us about the enslaved Orageuse. For starters, her real name was Jem and it was said of her that she had "mighty work in her". Her manumission was processed. On the walls of what appear to be slave quarters, there are illustrations of her calling up storms and the six witches singing the First Song. Another voiceover: "Earth and Sky arrange themselves to her songs". There is a song Jem was afraid to sing that she learned from her grandmother. The song can make or break the world. This Jem was the Jem Bellweather, Abigail's ancestor.

Back in the office, with Izadora serving coffee, Alban instructs Silver to talk some more about how the "thing" they trotted out was not Wade and about "the Ghana situation" so they can blame Alder for starting World War III. The annoyed Silver finally tells Alban "to go eat a big pile of shit" since things are NOT going according to plan. Why are the mines planted at Fort Salem taking so long? Alban tells Silver to not let himself be seduced by doubt. He downs a cup of coffee and complains to Izadora that it is a little bitter. Going back in the air, Silver talks some more about Wade being a real patriot. He is interrupted by Alban gagging and spewing black threads that envelop his body completely and consume him from the inside. And where Alban stood once, there is Penelope Silver. Silver's jaw drops. Penelope finally confronts her father. "Was it worth it?" He tries telling her that he was told they would not harm her and claims that they were very powerful and made him watch as they injected her. "How about how powerful I am?", she retorts. He hugs her, saying he is sorry and that he loves her. She says a plain, "You too," and again turns into black threads that envelop him and dissolve him into a pile of black goo.

The Mycelium. Alder shows up with the other stewards including Khalida, and tells Tally to trust her. Tally tells her she understands everything, but where is the last steward? Alder goes to Abigail and tells her about Jem Bellweather. Apparently, Jem's status as one of the most powerful witches in the Army's history, while known, was only the beginning. The song is in Abigail, even if the history of the stewardship was stolen from her family. She asks Alder how she will know how to sing it. Alder tells her that she will know.

"When we sing send the sound everywhere. The whole world," Tally tells her a weakening Raelle. Raelle tells Tally to stand back and gets all glowy.

All stewards (the Shepherd, Khalida, Noodin, Alder, Tally and Abigail), embodying the original Six Witches, sing. Raelle sings her Witchbomb.

BOOM.

The poison is purged out of the Mycellium. A glowing layer wraps the earth. Raelle recovers! Scylla and Adil get better too. Big hugs all over the place.

They leave the Mycelium and reunite with the rest. Petra hugs her daughter and has the sad task of announcing the loss of the beloved Anacostia. Alder grieves, calling her "my daughter". For being storm and fury to those who crossed her yet seeing the good in everyone, Anacostia Quartermaine gets a boot stomp in her honor.

Alder and Nicte walk away, as they really need to have a talk. As for the rest, they are going to get back to Wade. Tally doesn't really know what they did, but they did it.

At Alder's request (and she provides a lighter), Nicte changes her face back to its original version, pre-disfigurement. Alder apologizes for what she did to Nicte and how it harmed her. In turn Nicte apologizes to Alder:

Nicte: I'm sorry I wasted so much time hating you instead of enjoying life. I'm actually an incredibly fun person.
Alder: Have you met yourself?

Nicte is going to be working for Wade for a while, making amends.

An ecstatic Tally yells that her Sight is back and better. She can see that the glowing clouds are everywhere.

The trio is in the helicopter with Alder. She addresses them on behalf of the Mycelium, speaking as one.:

Alder/The Mycelium: Long ago I merged with six women. I changed their voices and the way they hear. As my gifts traveled down the lines, descendants of the six came to be known as witches and they came to be feared for their gifts. And now my gift is freely given. Thanks to you three. They are weak, all of them, singing one song.

In other words? Everybody in the world is a witch now.

The world needs new stewards, needing their vision, their care, and their fury (looking at Tally the Seer, Raelle the Fixer, and Abigail the Stormmaker). And they will be called goddesses.

Alder goes back to talking for herself only. The Mother has let her known that her work is done. She starts turning into golden dust. One last thing, "Thank you for changing the world, my daughters. When they call you goddesses, make sure you live up to it." As she speaks, she is blown away.

Our girls hold hands, and recite in Menishe, "Hasse meeyah vah" (Let us begin). And the words are echoed around the world by all the other witches.

THE END…

Tropes present in this episode:

• And the Adventure Continues: The episode, and thus the series, ends with the unit inheriting the power of the First Song and the ability to use magic being spread to everyone in the entire world.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Penelope to her father: "Was it worth it?" He answers with some excuses about the Camarilla promising not to harm her and they being so powerful he had to do it.
• Bad Black Barf: Shortly after drinking coffee served by Izadora, Alban Hearst starts gagging and spewing black veins that take over his body. Once he is no more, Penelope materializes from the goo.
• Barrage of Bats: Nicte directs her cauldron of bats to attack the troops in the Necro facility, giving the unit an assist in the fight.
• Black Dude Dies First: A female example, when Anacostia is crushed by a truck.
• Book Ends: The first episode of this season began with six women singing and creating the First Song. Before they part ways, they speak in Menishe (Mothertongue), saying, "It is done." The last episode ends with first the unit and then the rest of the world saying in Menishe, "Let us begin."
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Adil and Abigail discuss honeymoon options, opting for the beach, while fighting through Camarilla troopers on their way to the Necro facility.
• Creator Cameo: Motherland director and producer Amanda Tapping (best known for playing Samantha Carter in Stargate SG-1 and Helen Magnus in Sanctuary) voices the Mother Mycelium when she speaks to the girls through Alder in the final scene, with her voice overlaid onto Lyne Renée's.
• Evil Is Petty: Hearst has Izadora reduced to serving him and Silver coffee. This comes back to bite him.
• Glomp: Tally does this to Nicte when the latter shows up with a cauldron of bats to fight against the Camarillo forces.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Alban Hearst refers to Penelope's nonhuman form as "it", calling for his assistant to get "it" off site.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Alban Hearst was responsible for creating the Witchplague (engineered to only kill witches) and Silver allowed the Camarilla to infect his daughter with it and use her as a weapon. Penelope uses her plague ability to kill them. And judging by Silver's screaming, it is a painful way to die.
• Laughing Mad: Drugged and tied to a chair, Izadora laughs maniacally and tells Alban Hearst that "She's going to kill you all!". Then she continues to laugh.
• Mass Super-Empowering Event: Everyone in the world becomes a witch. A rare case of this happening in the show's ending.
• Informed Attribute: Nicte claims to be an "incredibly fun person". Alder acts incredulous ("Have you met yourself?").
• Only Mostly Dead: At the end of the previous episode, Izadora's throat was slit and Hearst lamented that he wouldn't have a chance to discuss her work with her. Nevertheless, it turns out in this episode that he was able to have her patched up and revived for interrogation after all, whether through appropriated witches' healing work, surgical techniques or both. She still has a patch over her throat where it was cut.
• Please Wake Up: The heartbroken Sterling begs Anacostia to wake up after a Windstrike hurls a truck through the air and it crushes her. Petra tells him she's gone and that they need to keep going, almost pulling him off her body.
• Pre-Climax Climax: All three of the girls apparently find time to get one last round in with their significant others before the final battle.
  Scylla: Wives make time for such things.
• Rousing Speech:
  • Anacostia gives one to the Bellweather unit before they run off to arm themselves:
    Anacostia: I just wanna say how proud I am to know all three of you. The moment we met, I knew there was something else. This odd, beautiful, precisely perfect combination of your talents. Everybody saw it. Everybody knew. Never doubt that, all right? Never doubt what you've built. And look out for that one. (points to Scylla).
  • Alder/The Mycelium give one to the Bellweather Unit before Alder announces that her work is done.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: Izadora serves coffee to Alban Hearst, who complains about the bitter taste. It was laced with Penelope's mist form, which kills him when she rematerializes.
• Was It Really Worth It?: Penelope Silver asks this of her father: was becoming the President worth sacrificing his only daughter to the Camarilla?
• You Are What You Hate: As the Mother Mycelium tells the girls at the end, even the surviving Camarilla members (such as Kara Brandt, who didn't accompany her troops to Fort Salem) have now been turned into witches. No doubt this distresses them.