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

The Camarilla make their next move against the military at the first testing center site, and Alder’s decisions set the tone for the rest of the season on Motherland: Fort Salem Season 2 Episode 4, “Not Our Daughters.”

“Not Our Daughters” does a remarkable job of setting the scene for how the rest of the season will play out as opposing viewpoints collide. Anacostia and Alder don’t see eye to eye on the plan, set up by Anacostia and Petra, to infiltrate the Camarilla because Alder isn’t the one making the calls. 

Alder: I didn’t give you permission to speak freely

Anacostia: I didn’t ask

Anacostia calling Alder out to her face is one of the best moments of the episode, if not the season. Alder runs the military and whatever else she can get her hands on however she sees fit, so it boils her blood to think that Anacostia is betraying her and serving Petra. Alder needs to see she’s making bad decisions and people are getting hurt; it’s time for her to take a step back.

 

Alder has been the general of Fort Salem for over 300 years and hasn’t attempted to change how things are running at all. Time is constantly changing what actions are acceptable and who should be making the decisions. The military shouldn’t be exempt from that.

At one point in time, it was a smart move to have Alder run things and make the commands, but that is no longer the case, and instead of Alder seeing it as a good thing, she takes it as she’s failing. Anacostia and Izadora have proven themselves worthy contenders for leadership, so why not allow one of them to step up?

People’s viewpoints towards Alder are changing, and instead of attempting to figure things out with them, Alder continues to do her own bidding, not thinking about anyone else. However, Alder is hurt by what she perceives as betrayal, Anacostia working with Petra. She only has herself to blame.

Anacostia went against Alder’s orders to send Scylla away, but in return, learned valuable information about the Camarilla’s tactics. That alone should be proof for Alder that Anacostia knows what she’s doing if Alder truly cared about seeing somebody else with power.

The amount of children that Scylla and Anacostia have potentially saved by discovering the truth is unimaginable. The fact that Alder can’t see that and feel a little bit of happiness, knowing they have potentially figured out a key tactic in the Camarilla plan, is a problem.

The only thing that comes forth from Alder’s lips is lie after lie after lie. Willa is a monster in her own sense of the word, but at least when given a chance to do the right thing by all witches, she does. If she can use a spree attack to warn all witches of the Camarilla, there’s no reason as to why Alder can’t confirm the Camarilla’s presence.

She says that she doesn’t want to disrupt or scare the witch community, so instead of warning them that killers are hunting them down, she blames the spree, leaving all witches vulnerable. The only thing that comes to mind that would solidify Alder’s decision is the fact that the Camarilla could have an increase in membership after being exposed publicly.

Right now, the Camarilla are smart, forcing themselves into the groups of regular people who hate/protest witches so they can blend in and stay undetected. If the news of their resurrection were to come about, there’s a possibility that many ordinary people could become radicalized, and if that happens, there’s no telling what destruction could occur.

Motherland: Fort Salem does an impeccable job of making the “protest” on screen as authentic as possible, which is more than likely why it hits a few buttons for me. After viewing the extraordinary amount of hate speech, racism, homophobia, etc., that happens in real life at protests, it doesn’t bring joy to see it on screen. However, this is an impeccable episode because of how realistically it all plays out.

Abigail’s storyline this season is hard to watch because seeing her in pain all of the time absolutely breaks my heart. Her depression and anxiety are eating her alive, forcing her to make decisions she wouldn’t usually make and say things she wouldn’t normally say.

All the love for Abigail on this end, but I agree that her blaming Adil for the eradication of the Tarim is beyond ridiculous and detrimental to Adil’s mental health as well. He’s made it abundantly clear what he wants and doesn’t want, but Abigail has yet to grasp it fully. It’s unlikely that this will be the last time we see Adil and her interact, but in the off chance they don’t get much more time together, I’m going to need them to make up and apologize.

As a whole, “Not Our Daughters” is one of the best episodes of the season so far; because Abigail’s storyline is explored more, Tally confronts Alder about Nicte Batan at the end, and Raelle saw Scylla again.

Other Thoughts:

• This episode is the first time  I’ve given more than two thoughts about M. Her saving Abigail, though, makes me love her a bit more. Her backstory needs to be given in the next few episodes if the show wants anyone to care for her character.
• Scylla and Raelle seeing each other for a total of .2 seconds are too much for me to handle. They’re so adorable together, and all I want is for them to reunite.
• Penelope’s father is trash, and she deserves better than him. It’s nice that she has Tally there for her during this time in her life.
• The man using Charvel’s vocal cords is most definitely not the man we saw her fight at the wedding in Season 1. So, it’s confusing when he says that he’s finishing what they started at the wedding. 

What did you think of this episode of Motherland: Fort Salem? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Motherland: Fort Salem airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on Freeform.

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