On Salem, secret weapons are prepared for the Witch War 

In this week’s episode “The Beckoning Fair One” Mary Sibley and the Countess Marburg each have a secret weapon at their disposal as does someone else. Bloody spoilers ahead.

As teased last week, Mary has indeed raised Increase Mather from the dead. Even spending time in his his own very personal version of Hell hasn’t softened or broken him. The only reason he is willing to help “Satan’s favorite whore” is to deal with the Countess, whom he faced before but didn’t completely defeat. To destroy the Countess, Increase needs to find It, the thing that is the source of her power.

Meanwhile the Countess has finished her extreme makeover of Mercy Lewis. I didn’t even recognize the cleaned up glam version of Mercy at first. One of her jobs for the Countess is procuring the young blood the Marburgs and Mercy need.

Tituba has captured her own witch hunter - John Alden. She hasn’t had “much use for men” before but she has plans for Alden. She’ll use him as her weapon when the time is right but for now he’s tied up in Tituba’s secret witch dungeon.

Anne Hale is still coming to terms with being a witch. Despite having some second thoughts about casting a love spell on Cotton she still accepts his proposal. The Countess tasks Anne with finding her father’s Book of Shadows which has secrets the Countess wants (along with a threat since she

The doctor is contemplating a vivisection of one of the pox victims and enlists Cotton’s help. Things get weird fast when the black bile inside the patient burns through the floor like a weak version of alien acid blood.

Mercy is working with the Countess for now. Tituba and the Countess are working with Mary in the short term until the Rite is really finished. But after that it will be every witch for herself. Mercy is an Essex witch, not a cradle one, so I’m sure the Countess has an unpleasant end in mind for her once she’s served her purpose. Anne may be forced to pick a side and I’m not sure which way she’ll go. Mary and Tituba have their own witch hunters but those weapons will want to turn on their wielders. The Witch War is going to get messy.

Young Marburg went full Hannibal Lecter in disposing of George Sibley’s body.

The Countess sees the Dark Lord in Mary’s son. How will that change her plans?

Cotton is totally freaked out to see the ghost of the father he murdered. That’s going to be one weird reunion.

Lucy Lawless is chewing just the right amount of scenery. Enough to make the character work (the Countess should be a bit over-the-top) but not so much as to be cartoonish. I can’t wait for some scenes between the Countess and Increase Mather.

Kinja is in read-only mode. We are working to restore service.