There was less setup on this week’s Salem as opposed to last week’s, but it primarily consisted of characters catching up on things that the audience already knew. While this means that “Book of Shadows” was uneventful in terms of major happenings, there was still plenty to enjoy. It’s nice to know that Mary is finally on to Countess Marburg and her insidious plan.
The main focus on the episode was on Mary and Anne. After making somewhat of an alliance, Mary gives Anne the episode’s namesake: her very own Book of Shadows. The reveal that Mary was actually using the book to discover what Anne knew was a clever one, but at this point in the series the audience knows that Mary cannot be trusted. But trust her Anne does, so she takes her book home and writes in it, allowing Mary to see all of her secrets, including the one about Countess Marburg. It’s a welcome relief that they’re pushing this plot along now, as it was getting a little tiresome only having Lucy Lawless in two minutes of every episode. She wasn’t even in this one, unless you count the hag in the well, which I guess was her in lots of makeup.
The big set piece of the episode had Mary forcing Anne down a well to secure her a water charm that would prevent Marburg from attacking her again. Anne has been pretty useless since the season began, so it’s nice to see her doing something worthwhile. It will be curious to see if her alliance with Mary works out, or if they will end up on opposing sides of the witch war. I must say that she was considerably less annoying than usual this week, so hopefully she keeps working with Mary.
Speaking of Mary, she was kept, ahem, busy with doctor Wainwright this week. After fingering her (and she liked his fingers after!), he ended up going down on her later in the episode. WGN certainly seems to be pushing the boundaries of how much sex they can show, and I can’t say it’s a bad thing. Salem has always been an overtly sexual show, but this episode took it one step further.
Mercy is becoming a bit of a nuisance, and not just for Mary. At first I was enjoying Mercy’s revenge spree, but now she’s just kind of annoying. We find out that she didn’t actually kill Isaac the Fornicator, she is just performing more witchcraft on him my literally rubbing salt in his wounds. The issue with Mercy is that I’m beginning to feel about her the same way I felt about Mary in the first half of last season: a lack of sympathy. I’m not saying I fully sympathize with Mary now, since she has done some pretty messed up things, but there is enough character development for her now to where she is somewhat relatable. Mercy initially garnered sympathy from this viewer, but she’s testing my patience now.
Alden continues to bide his time this week, though he does take the identity of the “Bring Out Your Dead” employee to avoid getting caught with Corwin’s body. There was a pretty neat scene where Mary and Tituba used a spell on Corwin’s finger to point them in his murderer’s direction. By using the Native American magic (voodoo? witchcraft?), he becomes invisible and they just barely miss him. It was a nice moment of suspense for the show, but of course they couldn’t let Mary discover Alden and Marburg in the same episode, so we’ll just have to wait for that one. It is nice to see Mary believe that there is just one person after her. She has no idea what she’s in for.
Cotton doesn’t do much in this episode other than meet a bunch of characters. First he meets Hathorne and questions his prison conditions, then he meets Wainwright and the two seem to hit it off really well. After learning of Alden’s “death” from Mary, he this runs into Alden himself and is knocked out by him. Hopefully this will make him more relevant to the goings-on this season, but might we have another Theon Greyjoy situation on our hands?
While this episode exists solely to get everyone back to Salem, it had enough entertaining moments to make it worth a viewing.
Random Notes
- “You are like a keg of gunpowder ready to explode.” -Janet Montgomery gives the best line deliveries on this show.
- Tituba finds Petras’ corpse, removes his eyeballs and eats them (gross). Then she lies to Mary about it. Will Tituba start having visions soon?
- Anne has the hots for Cotton, in case you were wondering.
- “He was branded by the benighted bigots of this little town.” -Wainwright throws in some alliteration for good measure. I admit I laughed out loud at this one.
- “I can’t begin to discern the sense from the nonsense you talk.”
- Mercy refers to Mary as a “goddess of bitches,” and it’s wonderful.
- Anne names her familiar (a mouse) Mr. Brown Jenkins, in case you were wondering.
- On that note, does Anne have a thigh nipple to feed her familiar? I’m going to be very disappointed if we don’t get a scene of her discovering her new body part.
- Mary spreads word of another pox outbreak, thus clearing the town for her to do her dirty work. It certainly provides a good excuse for when the audience asks “where is everyone?” I’m glad the writers thought that one out.
- Mary calling Anne a ginger witch made the episode for me.
- Mary and Countess Marburg meet face to face next week. I’M. SO. EXCITED.