Salem Season 2 Epi 8 Review: Countess Marburgs Achilles Heel Is...

It's hard to believe that we're already eight episodes into season 2 of "Salem". Time flies when you're trying to bring about the end of the world. In the aptly titled "Dead Birds" we see a whole lotta dead foul. In other news: Increase tells Mary about the Countess' Achilles heel, several characters get lucky and John Jr sneaks out of the house.

Increase will reveal how to destroy Marburg but only if he can talk to his son Cotton in return. Increase also gives us the scoop on the Countess' back story. Legend says she was already alive when Lucifer fell. There is nothing she would not do and no one she would not kill to bring the Devil back. She has inhabited many bodies through the ages (as we see during the voice over). The Iron Maiden Mask and sledgehammer were an especially gruesome way to go. We also see how she got the scars on her shoulder. When she was in a child's body, Increase touched her arm. That left her shoulder and his hands permanently scared. I'm not sure how that works.

The Countess' sarcophagus/coffin is her Achilles heel. Marburg must return to it after being killed in order to be reborn. Uh oh. Killing the Countess is going to be harder than expected since she's older than dirt.

Sebastian goes to Anne's house to collect her father's Book of Shadows. He threatens her and she goes all red eyes on him. Anne is finally getting a backbone. She opens the hidden room. When Anne checks her father's book though, all the pages are blank. She cuts herself and puts the blood on the pages. Nope, that doesnt work. Next she scrapes her father's blood off the wall and onto the book. That worked. Good thing she hadnt tidied up the place after she murdered her parents. While flipping through the book she sees a page that frightens her. It's a picture of her as some sort of tree/hydra with lots of arms each holding a weapon. I have no idea what that means.

John Jr is lonely because he can never go outside and rarely sees Mary. She finds a bunch of dead crows in his bed. That kid has a thing for dead poultry. Mary gives John some paper and a pencil to draw with. Probably not the best idea since he draws all sorts of gruesome stuff. Tituba upsets him but throwing the papers on the fire. She looks out the window and another birds slams into it frightening her. Tituba quickly changes her tune calling him "little Master". You have to hand it Tituba. She's a survivor. As soon as Tituba leaves John Jr says "you can come out now". Uhhh who is he talking to?

Let's Reenact "Fifty Shades of Grey". My safe word is "Mary".

Tituba heads across town to harass John Sr again. She apparently wants them to work together to take down all the Puritans and the witches alike. They have sweaty sexy times. But John stops mid-coitus when Tituba turns into Mary. I'm not sure if her magic or his magic or both caused that. It doesnt look like John is a willing participant in Tituba's scheme.

I Hope This Is Not An Endangered Speciies

Wainwright visits Cotton. They take a day trip out to the craigs... for research ya know. There are hundreds of dead black birds on the ground. Has John Jr been there? Next they see some bubbling, ozzy stuff. Cotton states that the door to Hell is being opened. Wainwright of course doesnt believe in such things. Later when Wainwright is alone, the Malum opens. Uh oh. There's something black inside that he puts in a specimen bottle. Remember the last time the apple opened, the witch pox was released upon Issac (who incidentally is MIA this week).

Hell Seems To Have Made Increase A Better Person (But Has Not Helped His Complexion)

Increase reveals himself to Cotton. Cotton is at first frightened and then skeptical. Increase says he sees Cotton burning in Hell even now and there's nothing he can do to help him. Increase tells Cotton he loves him. That was a touching moment. Hell has turned Increase into a big softy.

Knock, Knock. Who's There? No One. No One Who? I Hate This Stupid Game.

Mary catches John Jr talking to "No One" (that's his imaginary friend's name). His IF (imaginary friend) is female. She tells JJ that Mary is "a filthy whore". He keeps repeating "whore" over and over and over again until Mary slaps him. She apologizes but its too late. Dont worry Mary. I would have slapped him too. You're allowed to slap little kids if they're possessed by the Devil. It turns out "No One" is really Mercy. She of course is stirring up as much trouble as possible.

Next Wainwright shows up at Mary's house. He knows she is responsible for the witch pox. She doesnt deny it. Wainwright wont turn Mary over to the Puritans. In exchange for his silence, Wainwright wants "in". They have sex. Mary does some witchy stuff and the universe spins around them. That was a cool visual. Remember all magic begins with arousal. I've said it before but Wainwright doesnt know it but he's seriously out of his element. I'm sure Mary would sacrifice him in a split second if the need arose.

Mercy encourages John Jr to escape the house. She takes him to the Countess' ship. Increase tells Mary that Marburg's sarcophagus is actually her ship. He doesnt give any more specifics though before time is up and he's promptly returned to Hell. So what do you think? Is Mary going to have to burn down the ship? They tried that once already.

Favorite Quotes:

"We have both loved the same woman and have been betrayed by her time and time again."- Tituba to John about Mary.
"I will tell you now what I did not tell you in life. You are a better man than I.. I love you."- Increase to Cotton. Ahh, that makes Cotton cry (and me too).
"My religion is science"- Wainwright to Mary.
"All magic begins with arousal"- Mary to Wainwright. I keep thinking they're going to say "all magic comes with a price" but that's "Once Upon A Time".

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). A good solid episode. I enjoyed hearing about the Countess' past. The heart to heart between Increase and Cotton was very moving. And the sexy times between both Tituba and John and Mary and Wainwright were sexy indeed.