REVIEW: ‘Motherland Fort Salem’ Episode 5 – “Bellweather Season”

The fifth episode of Motherland: Fort Salem‘s first season, “Bellweather Season,” premiered Wednesday night on Freeform. In the previous episode, Raelle (Taylor Hickson) wakes up in the hospital wing after attempting to save Porter’s (David Lennon) life. She joins the rest of her unit to celebrate the rest of the Beltane festivities. Tally (Jessica Sutton) and Gerit (Kai Bradbury) continue to grow closer, especially after taking part in The Reel. Abigail (Ashley Nicole Williams) uses the festivities to fuel her sense of competition. Scylla (Amalia Holm), worried that her involvement in Porter’s death will be discovered, avoids answering Raelle’s questions. Raelle finds comfort in Porter’s friend Byron (Bennett Taylor), who offers advice on how to deal with everything that’s going on. Meanwhile, General Alder (Lyne Renee) orders to have all the dorm rooms searched for traces of the Spree as Porter’s body is undergoing an autopsy to rule whether his death was intentional or not.

In “Bellweather Season,” the unit travels off base to attend the wedding of Abigail’s cousin, Charvel (Bernadette Beck). Even though she wasn’t invited to the wedding, Scylla crashes the wedding to see Raelle. Raelle plans for the two of them to spend the day together but Scylla has her own mission from the Spree to accomplish. Abigail is worried about setting a perfect first impression with the head of War College but quickly becomes disillusioned with the idea after learning of the privilege she has. Meanwhile, Tally is confronted with two life-altering revelations that will change the stability of her unit.

I’ve said this many times, but I’m constantly surprised by the world-building aspects of the show and how much detail was put into them. In “Bellweather Season,” we’re introduced to how marriages between witches are held and what they mean. Without giving too much away, it’s safe to say that witch marriages are very different from what we would imagine them to be. Witch weddings are held with such importance but don’t go overboard in terms of being a grand spectacle. Above all else, the wedding took time to honor witches of the past, which was great to see. I’m looking forward to any future weddings that happen in the show.

I really liked Scylla and Raelle’s scenes throughout “Bellweather Season.” It was great to see them spend time together away from Fort Salem and all the regulations that they have to follow. Even though Scylla had ulterior motives for being at the wedding, I was glad that she didn’t let those plans get in the way of her time with Raelle. It proves to me that she isn’t entirely evil to be fully devoted to the Spree. This episode helped her character break away from the “love interest being secretly evil” trope. I’m hoping that future episodes go more into why she joined the Spree in the first place, but I do have some theories in mind.

With the plot of “Bellweather Seasons” mainly revolving around a wedding, I was surprised that there were quite a few action scenes. Although they don’t appear until the final moments of the episode, they completely blew me away. The fight choreography was superb and no magic was used throughout the scenes. But what made this truly special was that it involved Abigail and her mother. Seeing two badass women, who happen to be mother and daughter in the show, is something that normally isn’t shown on TV. I’m glad that we’re finally getting scenes like this because they reinforce the bond between a mother and daughter.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching Motherland: Fort Salem‘s fifth episode, “Bellweather Season.” I mentioned a while back that “A Biddy’s Life” was my favorite episode, but I think that “Bellweather Season” took that spot. The continuous world-building in every episode has been fantastic. Seeing the way marriage ceremonies play out in this world for witches was very exciting. Even though Abigail’s cousin was getting married, this truly was Scylla and Raelle’s episode. The action scenes blew me away and I’m eager to see what more is in store.

Motherland: Fort Salem airs every Wednesday at 9 pm EST / 6 pm PST on Freeform.

Rating: 10/10

Nicolas Soto

Nicolas is a pop culture critic, focusing primarily on film, tv. anime, and manga. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from San Francisco State University, which shapes the way he analyzes his work.

Twitter and Instagram: @brainstormer609