A Salem series recap.
Summary SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT A proper Salem recap must cover not only the shocking twists and turns of the show's three seasons but also the hellfire and brimstone ending that left many completely bewitched.
Debuting in 2014, the WGN America series Salem is set in the eponymous town during the 17th century and follows a coven of powerful witches who secretly rule the colonial village. Unflinching in its approach, the series established a unique tone that blends horror, fantasy, and a touch of romance into one exciting package. Though it was rather short-lived, Salem packed a lot into its brief three-season run that all came to a head in the brilliant final episode. Met with high critical praise across its three seasons , the biggest problem with Salem was that it unfortunately had a hard time garnering an audience. WGN America stepped out of its comfort zone with the frightening and sometimes gory series, and it was totally unlike many other shows and movies inspired by the Salem Witch Trials. Regardless, Salem delivered on what it promised, and told a tale of magic and mystery that pushed boundaries for its network, and paved the way for other shows to follow in its footsteps.Salem Series Recap To get to the ending of the show, it is important to establish what happened before when providing a Salem series recap. Season 1 of the show introduced Mary Sibley , a witch living in Salem who concocts a scheme to rule the town by turning the witch-hunting townsfolk against one another and bringing about the Grand Rite. The arrival of her old flame John Alden home from war reignites their love affair and causes strife between Mary's witchy desires and her love for John. During season 2, Mary finds that her newfound power over Salem after the Grand Rite is slipping, as Mercy Lewis becomes a serious threat to her dominance. Meanwhile, other powerful forces such as the Countess Marburg move into town to further challenge Mary, and the up-and-coming witch Anne Hale begins to explore her own burgeoning powers. The Countess aims to resurrect the Dark Lord himself, but the Dark Lord only has eyes for Mary. Getting much darker by season 3, Salem saw something of a role reversal as Mary's son is selected as the conduit for the Devil though she is no longer on board with his return. As other forces begin to rise in power, Mary works to stop the return of the Dark Lord at whatever cost, and that brings her up against the newfound power of Anne Hale, who is determined to see the rite through to its inevitable and evil conclusion. The season's final episode, "Black Sunday" was also the series finale, and it left no doubt about the possibility of Salem season 4. Cotton Sacrifices Himself As Salem's foremost expert on witchcraft and evil, Cotton Mather was naturally in an antagonistic position against the witches for the entire run of the series. Naturally, in keeping with the dark ending of the show itself, Cotton got possibly the worst ending of any character in the series. Upon the resurrection of the Devil through Mary's young son, Cotton was given the opportunity to sacrifice his soul in order to save the people of Salem. Having preached sacrifice his whole life, Cotton accepted without hesitation and was damned to Hell to face eternal torment. The choice to sacrifice himself was totally in keeping with Cotton's character, but Salem refused to allow most characters to get a happy ending, and his sacrifice was essentially pointless and actually helped to complete the ritual. That reveal is in keeping with the themes of the show and essentially speaks to the idea that the dominance of evil is an inevitability that can't be fought by even the most pious. "Black Sunday" further twisted the knife by showing Cotton entering Hell and it was a beautiful but terrifying cornucopia of horror. Sebastian Has A Change Of Heart Sebastian Marburg came to Salem with his mother in Salem season 2, and he immediately became infatuated with Mary. Of course, that obsession put him at odds with John Alden and the pair often sparred both verbally and physically. In the finale of the excellent supernatural show, John and Sebastian squared off for the last time, with Sebastian's magical powers failing to overcome John's brute strength. With his dying words, Sebastian asked John to take care of Mary, and he lamented that she was the only woman he ever loved. While it was hollow comfort for John, it went a long way in explaining why Sebastian did what he did. Mary Can’t Go Through With The Ritual Symbolizing her full transformation from villain to hero, Mary changed her mind following Cotton's sacrifice. After the gory scene in which the Devil, as an adult version of her son John , grew from the back of the young version of her son, Mary refused to complete the ritual by bedding with the Dark Lord. Incest aside, Mary refused because she didn't want the plan to come to fruition since she had seen the error of her ways. Unfortunately for her, Anne Hale refused to let Mary back out and used Mary's blood to temporarily resurrect the soul of the Countess to possess Mary's body.Did Isaac Die? Ostracized and branded, Isaac Walton used his fight against the witches as a way to bring himself back in good standing with the people of Salem. After cornering Mercy at the brothel, a gaggle of Isaac supporters were frozen in time by Anne who spoke to them all using magic. They suddenly turned on Isaac and dragged him off to a presumably grim fate. Being the show's finale, the fate of Isaac isn't really important. However, whether he was merely dragged away or killed, he is removed from Anne's plate as she assumes power. If he was dead, the series most likely would have shown his death. Anne Spared Mary And John Proving herself to be one of the most powerful TV witches, Anne turned on the Dark Lord and sent him packing once again using John's special dagger. She promised she would bring him back later so that she could be his mortal wife through the baby that she was then carrying in her womb. On top of that shocking twist, she also spared John and Mary as a way to pay back the debt of gratitude she owed John for saving her life. It also showed just how powerful, or arrogant, Anne was since she didn't perceive Mary as a threat to her dominance as she assumed control of Salem. The Real Meaning Of Salem's Ending The brilliance of the ending of Salem was that it offered finality while also implying that the world of the show would carry on. Obviously, as a historical fiction series, it can be assumed that the course of history carried on as it appears in the real world, which offers an even more chilling conclusion. The themes of the show explored the inevitability of evil and implied that dark forces were behind the scenes in everything. The actual ending of the show cemented those ideas since Anne would presumably continue to rule over Salem with no one to stop her from achieving her magical ambition.
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