Salem Episode 6 Recap: Fairy Tales Gone Horribly Wrong

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Got A Frog In Your Throat?

This week's episode of "Salem" entitled "The Red Rose And The Briar" had a little of everything-- crazy witch action, a fairy tale and even zombies. Yeah Puritan zombies!! We also see Mary's back story. Be very glad you didnt live back then. Women had very little control over their lives. What would you have done in Mary's situation? I'd probably go with the toad option as well.

When we last saw Rose, she had attempted to steal the Hellraiser box (the Malum) from John and was impaled on some deer antlers. Now she is a very angry witch. Cotton knocks her out with a syringe full of dog pee and some other herbs. I dont know the specifics. They take her to the craigs (where all the dead bodies are dumped). She has to be directly under Saturn before she'll be compelled the truth. The plan is to get as much info as possible and then kill her.

Meanwhile Tituba and Mary plot to murder Mercy. Mary tells her a fairytale about a beautiful "ash maiden" and how she became queen (of course Mary is talking about herself). Mary goes to a home where the wealthy Salem families are gathered. We see Magistrate Hale secretly slip poison into George's wife's drink. She dies. Mary is now George's wife. She recounts their wedding night saying "The night was filled with pleasure. None of it was mine." Mary and Tituba then pretend to have a threesome with George. Sure he's up for it. Who wouldn't be? After he is bound, they shove a toad down his throat. Now Mary is in charge. I especially enjoyed the shot where Mary looks in the mirror (only to see a horrible creature staring back at her).

Mercy wakes up in the woods. Mary chases her around with a knife for a while. We think she's going to slit Mercy's throat. Instead Mary removes Mercy's clothes and offers her to the devil (who takes the form of a hairy legged goat).

Cotton and John interrogate Rose. She does the backward spider walk up a tree. That was cool. Then she slits her wrists. The blood rains down and wakes the dead (and there are LOTS of dead to awaken). Cotton and John may be goners.

Mary encounters Rose in the woods. She's taking a rest break from her tree climbing, blood spurting, zombie raising ways. Rose says Mary must have a broken heart for the Grand Rite to be successful. She knows that Mary still loves John and he loves her (despite what they say to each other). So Rose sent the zombies to kill him. You're welcome! And, if that weren't bad enough, for good measure she throws in that she gave George Sibley the idea to send John away in the first place. So basically every bad thing in Mary's life has been instigated by Rose. Uh oh, time for a witch fight.

Upon hearing this news, Mary tries to appear calm.. but it's hard. She says "have you met our newest sister?" Mercy approaches from behind and lops off Rose's head. And since Rose is dead (I think), the zombies all collapse. Cotton and John are saved.

Everyone in town appeared to be in the woods in this episode. The wierdo seer guy is there too eating caterpillar cocoons and chatting with bugs. He sees some of the action but stays out of it. Wise choice. He says "there are two types of creatures you meet in the woods-- the hunter and the hunted. Let's be glad we're on the right side... for now."

Back in town, Tituba tells Mercy she'd better stay away from Mary. "The mistress of the house is mine". Tituba may end up killing that girl yet. Mary seems to have developed a soft spot for Mercy. She said she couldnt kill her because when she looked in Mercy's eyes she saw herself. She schools Mercy on the differences between men and women. Men are like rocks (unbending and brittle). Women are like sponges. They're mostly water and go with the flow. Did Pilgrims know that humans were mostly water? I dont think they did.. but whatever. I'm going with the flow like Mary.

And in the final scene, Mrs Hale tells Anne they need to talk to her about her father. The conversation will go something like this: "Yes dear, your father is a warlock. But he's close to retirement. Dont mention it to the neighbors, they wouldnt understand."

Favorite Quotes:

When Mary finds a blood covered Cotton and John in town, Cotton says "we were just tracking the retrograde movement of Saturn". OK then.

Grade: 5 Monsters (out of 5). I thought this episode was perfect. Bonus points for more scenes with Todd the Toad. I love you Todd!