'Motherland: Fort Salem' Episode 1 Review: Racy and compelling, the fantasy thriller shows plenty of promise
Spoilers for 'Motherland: Fort Salem' Episode 1 'Say the Words'
What does 'Motherland: Fort Salem' offer that other supernatural shows don't? Simple answer: How often have you seen witches fight on the frontlines for the country when it is being threatened by external evil forces?
The attention grabber isn't the fact that a witch casts a spell that sees 1,600 people in a mall drop to their deaths, rather, it is the reconstructed version of the portrait of Washington Crossing Delaware during the intro sequence that makes a bold change by putting Sarah Alder in George Washington's place.
The pilot episode, 'Say the Name' takes its time to set things up by introducing the three main protagonists — Raelle Collar (Taylor Hickson), Tally Craven (Jessica Sutton) and Abigail Bellweather (Ashley Nicole Williams) who sign up as privates to train at Fort Salem.
Each of them comes in with a lot of history and what follows is a predictable storyline. Raelle comes from a more working-class unit, while Abigail is someone who has to deal with the pressure of keeping up the family name after her mother served as a renowned military leader.
Tally, on her part, has no real backstory except that she's there because she wants to do her part in saving the world by keeping evil at bay. Or better yet, destroy it.
However, the tone and the setting make up for this factor, Eliot Laurence creates a fantasy thriller that encompasses elements of horror, action, some alternate history and definitely wild fantasy that makes the first episode promising.
And by the end of the pilot, it is evident that 'Fort Salem' is insanely ambitious as it looks at establishing witches as one of the modern-day superheroes. And, it's part-feminist.
The foe is the Spree — A group of conjurers whose trademark weapon is a balloon that has its effects on the people. One of them was putting them in a trance where they jump to their deaths in a local mall.
The first episode focuses on the rocky relationships the trio share, especially Raelle and Abigail, who lock horns at every possible opportunity. It's easy to dub Raelle as a bit of a rebel.
She's out there to prove that she could be more than her ancestors who served at Fort Salem, and she has her ways of doing it. While the young cadets still look for a way to get a feel of their new and uncomfortable surroundings, they're not aware the Spree has already infiltrated Fort Salem.
One of the recruits, Scylla (Amalia Holm) appears to be a Spree and unfortunately, is Raelle's love interest. It's not hard to see where it goes, but it surely is interesting considering the setting.
'Fort Salem' is set in a world where humans and witches co-exist and the latter is treated with the utmost respect when they are shown to have signed up for military service. In one word, they're just sacrifices. Sacrifices that make the country a lot safer.
'Fort Salem' pilot starts off on a compelling note. The challenge is in staying consistent. 'Motherland: Fort Salem' airs at 9 pm ET on Freeform.