Freeform’s Motherland: Fort Salem spiced things up tonight with their Beltane celebration! The episode was filled with flirting, lust, romance, and speaking to a dead guy, so just ordinary witch things. This episode also gives us the COOLEST dance scene I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing on my tv. The episode was written by Christopher Oscar Pena and directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, and here’s what went down!
Visions | Raelle (Taylor Hickson) wakes up in the infirmary to flashes of Porter dying and his thoughts. Anacostia (Demetria McKinney) is there and starts off by scolding Raelle for what she did before she tells Raelle how proud they all are of her and her bravery. Raelle brings up the weird Porter visions to Anacostia and tells her she could feel his feelings and knows he did not want to die.
General Petra Bellweather (Catherine Lough Haggquist) is on base and wants to cancel Beltane, thinking Porter’s death was likely a Spree attack. She also tells General Alder (Lyne Renee) that she has found residue on mirrors and thinks that’s how the Spree are communicating. They decide they need to check all mirrors during the Beltane festivities, and Alder wants Izadora (Emilie Leclerc) to wake Porter so they can find out if it was really a suicide. Beltane is the only time when necros can perform such a task.
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Later, the men and women are gathered to honor Porter, and it is there that they announce all units must participate in Beltane. Abigail (Ashley Nicole Williams) overhears some girls trash talking Raelle and she defends her. Tally (Jessica Sutton) is so proud, she’s trying so hard to get Raelle and Abigail to be friends!
Raelle leaves the infirmary and finds Scylla (Amalia Holm), who seems genuinely worries about her girlfriend. Raelle is very shaken up and asks more questions about Porter, but Scylla just shakes them off and says he was depressed, but her actions seem pretty sketchy.
As Tally gets ready for Beltane a bird arrives at the window with a scroll and flower ring from Gerit (Kai Bradbury). The scroll contains a drawing of his junk, apparently this is how witches send dick pics. Raelle arrives back at the room and Abigail ends up telling her that they’re proud of her for what she did.
The Reel | In Necro, Izadora brings out Porter’s body and tells them they will wait until Beltane is at its strongest to use the energy to open a death current allowing them to communicate with Porter briefly. Until that time, the body will be kept there in the cold preserving it. Scylla is definitely panicking, if they speak to him he could expose her.
Inside, the girls run into General Bellweather, and Raelle makes her displeasure known. After Tally and Raelle leave Abigail’s mother tells her to invite her unit to a cousins wedding, the Dean of War College will be there and she needs to make a god impression.
In the training building, the men are giving the ladies the scourge’s they made for battle. Tally gets Gerit’s, of course. Raelle ends up having more Porter flashes and leaves, she needs answers so she heads to Scylla’s room. Outside her girlfriends room Raelle sees more of Porter’s final moments, and follows his memory up to the roof where he jumped.
It’s Beltane time, and everyone looks AMAZING! Tally turns to Berryessa (Jill Morrison) for boy advice, Abigail is still entertaining both men from before, and Raelle bonds with the only gay guy around. Raelle finds out Porter wasn’t depressed and confronts Scylla about it again, and Scylla basically tells her to stop asking about it.
Time for The Reel, which is basically the coolest dance I have ever seen! Its a very seductive dance where everyone dances with everyone, regardless of gender. And at the end, they all walk off with partners for the night.
While the dance is going on, Scylla is trying to sneak into the necro lab to heat up Porter’s body. But she’s too late, it’s time for the ceremony.
Tally Earns Her Shiny | After the dance everyone is partnered up and getting it on! There’s a sex montage flashing between Tally and Gerit, Abigail and her men, Alder and the Witch Father, and ends with Raelle and her new friend making fun of everyone. Raelle also finds out that Gerit learned all his slick dating moves from a book all the guys have read.
While everyone is out of the barracks Anacostia and General Bellweather check the mirrors, but of course they don’t find anything.
It’s time for the Necros to perform the ceremony. They open the death current and a bird flies into Porter’s mouth and climbs into his body. He awakens and answers their questions about his death. He says the Witch Father was the last person he saw and he did it because he was “filled with an unbearable sadness.” The window closes and the bird flies out. Scylla got away with it.
The next morning, after Tally shows off her shiny witch’s mark, Abigail invites the girls to the wedding. The girls are really starting to bond as a unit! Scylla pulls Raelle aside to discuss Porter now that she knows she got away with it. Scylla tells Raelle that Porter did go see her before he dies, but it’s because he wanted to get back together. Scylla begins to tell Raelle about her real feelings for her when Raelle shuts her up with a kiss. I really do love these two together!
As the men leave, Tally and Gerit share passionate goodbyes and the Witch Father presents Raelle with Porter’s scourge to honor his memory.
In her room, Scylla gets a visit from someone in the Spree disguised as Raelle. She threatens Scylla and tells her she’s supposed to be luring Raelle to the Spree, not to her. She also reveals to Scylla that they’re the ones who cleaned up the Porter mess to make sure she didn’t get caught. The Spree want Scylla to go to the wedding.
Catch Motherland: Fort Salem Wednesday nights at 9pm on Freeform!