Auld Acquaintances
In Massachusetts, Mary Hobbs (Sally Gracie), a powerful witch, enters a centuries-old dungeon that has since become part of a local history museum. She meets rivaling witch Elizabeth Eaton (Linda Thorson) in the same dungeon, where the pair first met in the 1600s, to negotiate a matter of ongoing importance. Specifically, they had made an arrangement to share a magical talisman that carries great power and grants good fortune between one another, having passed it between themselves year after year. Tonight is the anniversary where the talisman is to be passed again, but Mary, the less-practical and more wicked of the two, tries to take it earlier than the appointed time, breaking the rules of her and Elizabeth's pact and reigniting their centuries-old feud.
Tropes:
- Affably Evil: Elizabeth treats Mary as her closest friend in spite of using the magic talisman to bring good luck and riches upon herself, but she clearly recognizes how much strife Mary's had without it, understanding why she's so anxious to acquire it, even though she herself is revealed to have been the cause behind it.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: The second act opens with Elizabeth reviving from the washing bucket Mary drowned her in, having become a genuine witch.
- Artifact of Power: The magic talisman the witches fight over all episode, bringing great power and good luck as long as one of them has it in their clutches.
- Baleful Polymorph: Mary is said to have been spying on Elizabeth having sex with that farmer by turning herself into a toad, and similarly ends the episode turning into Elizabeth's new cat when she tries swiping the talisman too early.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Mary calls Elizabeth out on this when they meet, hiding her black heart (warped by the talisman the instant she touched it) under her innocent appearance.
- Blood Oath: In making the pact to share the talisman, Mary and Elizabeth slice their wrists and merge the open wounds.
- Bottle Episode: The entire episode is set in the old prison cell where Mary and Elizabeth met, which has since become part of a history museum in the present day.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Mary is unashamedly wicked and nefarious through her actions and tone of voice, whereas Elizabeth has a sunnier disposition and uses her witchcraft to benefit herself.
- Chromosome Casting: Mary and Elizabeth are the only featured characters.
- Create Your Own Villain: Elizabeth was only accused of being a witch when she was thrown in the dungeon, as Mary was the one who tormented Mercy with that disease. Mary then drowns Elizabeth in the washing bucket, causing her to return from Hell, having become a witch for real.
- The Dreaded: When she was fully human, Elizabeth knew of Mary and her wicked acts, pleading the guards to release her when she spied her fiddling with a voodoo doll in the cell.
- Establishing Character Moment: Elizabeth and Mary's meeting, where they discuss how the previous year went for them. Elizabeth, happily in possession of the talisman, got rich through stock and popular through charity work, whereas the miserable Mary had her well run dry and lightning struck her house, causing a highly damaging fire that she no longer had an insurance policy to cover for.
- Evil Feels Good: Elizabeth slowly became more and more nefarious the second she first touched the talisman, and returning from the dead while clutching it fully convinces her how wondrous it is to be wicked.
- Evil Versus Evil: Mary and Elizabeth, a pair of witches, fight with one another to gain the magical, all-powerful talisman that brings them good luck.
- Fatal Flaw: Mary’s narrow-mindedness, which keeps her old-fashioned in the face of destitution and has her demanding the talisman when Elizabeth says it's too early to pass it on. Her trying to steal it from her before the planets are aligned ends up turning her into a powerless cat. Even in the past, Elizabeth called her out on this, noting that the talisman can be used for greater powers instead of merely making villagers afraid of her.
- Forced Transformation: Mary ends the episode getting turned into a cat that is promptly owned by Elizabeth because she tries to steal the talisman from her too early, breaking the pact.
- Foreshadowing: Mary glimpses at a prisoners' washing bucket in the old prison cell at the start of the episode. We learn in the flashbacks that she drowned Elizabeth in the same bucket, turning her into a witch.
- Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: Elizabeth, who only acts as the good, and Mary, who's always been the bad, reignite the centuries' old feud they started over the magical talisman for the majority of the episode.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: Mary accidentally left the talisman behind when she was spying on Elizabeth having sex with local farmer Charles Corry in her barn, who took it and used it against her when she started getting violent.
- How We Got Here: The flashback to the Salem Witch Trials, which shows how Mary and Elizabeth met and started fighting over the talisman.
- Humiliation Conga: In her last year without the talisman, Mary had her well run dry, her beloved cat poisoned to death, and her house nearly burned down when it was struck by lightning, the repairs cleaning out her funds because her insurance policy had lapsed. Elizabeth is sympathetic to her plights and understands why she needs the talisman (though it's revealed at the end that she caused the accidents out of petty spite), but continuously warns her that she can't have it for two more weeks, when Mars and Venus finally align.
- Ignored Expert: Elizabeth repeatedly warns Mary that the talisman can only be transferred when Venus and Mars line up, which will take two more weeks. Mary ignores this and tries to take it early, leaving her stuck as Elizabeth's pet cat.
- It's All About Me: Elizabeth wants the powers of witchcraft and the talisman to bring herself good fortune, though her goals are less nefarious than using those powers to terrify for the sake of terrifying.
- Lesser of Two Evils: As she says, Elizabeth only wants to use the talisman's power to give herself a good life instead of ruining the lives of others, as Mary used it to do. That said, she does inflict a series of disasters on Mary's life as an act of personal spite.
- Macguffin: The magical talisman Mary and Elizabeth spend half the episode fighting over.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Discussed. Elizabeth has kept up with the times and become wealthy by investing in stocks to keep her witchcraft inconspicuous, whereas Mary remains antiquated in her old ways, making her witchy nature obvious and leaving herself dirt poor.
- Psychic Strangle: Mary uses one on Elizabeth to grab the talisman from her before the transfer time. In the past, she also psychically chains her to the dungeon wall to get it back the first time she takes it.
- Really 700 Years Old: The witches have been alive for 300 years, and don't really look like decrepit old women.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Mercy Warren, a diseased woman covered in sores, accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft by claiming she gave her the disease, when it was actually Mary.
- Start of Darkness: Elizabeth was thrown into the dungeon where she meets Mary by having sex with Charles Corry in her barn, and was already accused of inflicting a disease upon local woman Mercy Warren. and she becomes a witch herself by being drowned in the washing bucket by Mary.
- Villain Has a Point: Mary tells Elizabeth that the previous year was the worst of her long, long life, so it's understandable why she needs the talisman, needing good fortune and great power to repair her ruined life.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Elizabeth largely uses her own magic and the talisman to improve herself in matters of money and popularity, having been named Boston Magazine's Woman of the Year.
- Voodoo Doll: Mary fiddles with one at the start of the flashback scenes, where she meets Elizabeth for the first time.
- When the Planets Align: Elizabeth reminds Mary that the talisman can only be exchanged between them when Venus and Mars are in alignment. Unfortunately for Mary, they won't align for two more weeks, and her swiping the talisman beforehand results in her becoming a cat.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The bulk of the episode is set in the 17th century, where Mary and Elizabeth first meet and the latter becomes a witch.
- Wicked Witch: Mary, who craves the talisman and its power way before the appointed time of transfer. Elizabeth was one back in the 1600s, but she's mellowed out considerably.
- Wrongfully Accused: Mary inflicted an unspeakable disease on Mercy, then left Elizabeth to take the blame and get herself thrown in the dungeon.
