Motherland: Fort Salem Season 2 Episode 4 Review: Not Our Daughters

Alder’s army isn’t getting any closer to locating the Kamarilla, are they?

Her witch-recruitment effort got off to a horrible start on Motherland: Fort Salem Season 2 Episode 4.

And the Bellweather Unit had the misfortune of being assigned right in the middle of that FUBAR operation.

Whatever made Alder believe that citizens would willingly offer up their daughters to be tested to see if they are witches?

As always, Alder is thinking big picture. She needs more forces to battle the Kamarilla, in part because they are an invisible enemy.

But, over the centuries, people have become less willing to contribute their own children to the national defense. Let someone else’s daughter, who also is a witch, serve, but not their daughter.

That doesn’t even account for the mistrust that the common man or woman has for witches, even though witches have kept them safe for hundreds of years.

That’s something that’s always been a fact of life around the globe: Fear of others, especially powerful others whose abilities can’t be easily explained.

Fort Salem must have a talented marketing person. That PSA at the beginning was proof enough of that.

But having a 300-plus-year-old face of the army who still looks like a European model has to wear on average humans, several generations of which have died during her extended lifetime. So yeah, resentment probably enters into the equation as well.

That’s likely why Penelope was front and center of this witch-testing-center campaign. She’s young, and her life as a celebrity was disrupted, but she’s embraced the Fort Salem way. She’s much more relatable.

Penelope has been a good addition to the cast.

She has that deer-in-the-headlights look that any newcomer to Fort Salem should have. But unlike Abigail, Raelle, and Tally, she was blindsided by being a witch.

Fortunately, Penelope got big-heartened Tally, who can see both sides of any argument, as her mentor, to ease her transition into the hell of basic training.

Also, her father, Blanton, is the stereotype of the parent who doesn’t want to risk his daughter in the military. In the real world, he could have bought her way out, as so many wealthy people have done.

But not in this alternate America. Witches are too valuable a resource to the national defense to let any get away.

In the real world, Abigail wouldn’t have had to serve, even coming out of an honored military family.

She probably wishes that was the case right about now.

To prove herself worthy of the family name, she summoned a storm that’s still hanging over Fort Salem. However, she couldn’t get rid of it because she savaged her throat doing so.

Both the Imperatrix and her mother were on her ass about finding a suitable mate and popping out a daughter to continue the Bellweather line, the last thing a warrior such as herself wants to be told to do.

She took out her mood on Adil, pretty much blaming him for the Tarim deaths. This left him ready to take a break, going to India to help the Tarim survivors settle there.

Then she got reminded of her failure to save her cousin Charvel on Motherland: Fort Salem Season 1 Episode 5. She recklessly allowed her guilt to get her led into a Kamarilla trap, one she only survived because of M’s intervention.

So can Abigail bounce back from this latest trauma? And why are the Kamarilla targeting Bellweathers?

Raelle seemed to be handling her new status as Alder’s secret weapon fairly well. Her approach appeared to be a shrug and a “What are you gonna do?”

No one batted an eye when she was placed on Alder’s personal security team for the opening of the witch-testing center.

It was surprising that she didn’t witch-bomb the crowd back to the perimeter when they started pinching in on her despite her inspirational speech. She understands the “secret” in “secret weapon.” Don’t waste it on ignorant civilians.

The key development was her locking eyes with Scylla. And how long before she realizes that Scylla couldn’t have had that photo of Raelle from before she was drafted?

Tally kept attempting to secretly work on finding out the truth of her visions, with little success. Despite her own concerns, she was still there as the voice of reason for Penelope and Abigail.

But when Alder’s lies resulted in injury to her girl Abigail, her faith in Alder disappeared, and she attacked, barging right into her office to get answers, prompting hisses from the Biddies.

How was it possible that Petra used Anacostia undercover without Alder’s knowing about it? And, man, didn’t Anacostia tell Alder what was on her mind?

At least Alder was smart enough to keep Anacostia in place because she was gaining intel on the Kamarilla that they weren’t getting any other way.

All that confrontation at the protest yielded was the fact that the army and the Spree are woefully unprepared to handle the guerilla tactics of the Kamarilla.

Also, how will Alder blaming the Spree for the chaos at the protest affect any alliance with them?

To follow the Bellweathers’ exploits, watch Motherland: Fort Salem online.

Is Alder unrealistic in expecting people to have their daughters tested?

Has Abigail learned anything from her hard last few days?

How long before Raelle and Scylla meet up?

Comment below.

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Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.

You can view the original article HERE.