Reverend Mather is deeply troubled after having possibly pressed an innocent man to death. He begins to doubt himself that he has truly encountered witches in his quest to create Heaven on earth. He prays for God to give him a sign.
Mary is displeased to learn that John has been arrested. She informs Magistrate Hale that if John is a problem, he is her problem. She reminds him that her husband controls all of Salem, and she controls him and nothing is to be done without her say. She has also tasked him with finding the seer who can help them discover who saw them in the woods. Meanwhile Isaac takes Reverend Mather into the woods to where he and John saw the witches. He describes seeing them bleed a single dove to death and remarked that it seemed sad somehow. Reverent Mather notices a tree trunk with a hole in it that reminds him of a witch’s cauldron. He reaches his hand inside and pulls out a severed hand with strange markings on it. Bugs begin to crawl out of it as he is staring at it.
Mary is reminded of her own baby and pregnancy when she halts the birthing of an unwed mother. She urges the girl to give up the name of the baby’s father and to not die trying to protect him. After revealing the name the girl delivers her baby. Leaving the building, Mary sees another woman heavily pregnant. Magistrate Hale finds the seer deep in the woods and asks the identity of the person who broke the circle. The seer tells him he can find out who it was, but it will take some time.
Tituba finds Mary weeping while she feeds her toad and warns her that she could sour the milk. Tituba reminds Mary that they need to find their next victim because the Grand Rite has begun. Mary angrily tells her that she knows her duty and that they need more than a victim. They need a sign of a monstrous birth. She informs Tituba that the woman she saw is carrying a dead and deformed baby inside of her which will provide what they need even without her having to do anything. Her husband tells her the one thing keeping him alive is the look on her face when John Alden finds out what she is right before she shoves the toad down his throat. She informs him that she needs to only kill 9 more innocents before Full Hunter’s Moon to complete her Grand Rite.
The girl Mary spoke about has a difficult birth and is informed that the baby is turned the wrong way. While attempting to turn the baby, the girl sees the women around her turn into hags and pushes their hands away. To everyone’s horror, she gives birth to an already dead and deformed baby.
Reverend Mather tells John that what he witnessed was a real witches’ Sabbat, something that no witch hunter has seen with his own eyes. While looking through Reverend Mather’s books, John points out a picture of what he saw. Reverend Mather reveals that it is far worse than he thought because what John saw was the Grand Rite which is the greatest secret of the witches. Isaac calms the tension between John and Reverend Mather and points out that if they fight one another there won’t be anyone to fight the witches. Reverend Mather shares that everything the witch does is powered by either lust or death. Lust they provide for themselves. They must look elsewhere for dead body parts. Since the people of Salem would notice if their burial grounds were disturbed, John and Reverend Mather figure out that the witches have been harvesting body parts from a ditch where the unwanted dead are dumped. Later John retrieves the body of his friend from the dump so he can properly bury him.
While consoling the mother of the dead baby, Mary shares that she also lost a child. She presses the girl to tell her what she saw while in labor. The girl reveals that the midwife and the hag were one and the same. Mary sends for Reverend Mather to tell him that there has been a sign as described in one of his books; a monstrous birth delivered by the midwife, Bridget Bishop. She points him toward a jar where the baby has been kept. When Mary questions what the sign means, Reverend Mather tells her that there is no doubt that war has been declared by the Devil himself. Reverend Mather assures Mary that he’ll do whatever is in his power to protect her and everyone in Salem.
Before being hung, Miss Bishop prays for the Lord to send them a sign of her innocence. John confronts Reverend Mather afterward about killing another innocent. Reverend Hale tells him that he must pay any price to stop the witches. Magistrate Hale questions the judgment in letting Mary start all of this after John nearly undid her work. He fears that they will all burn and points out that Mary is too young to understand the risk she is taking. Mary responds by saying that the Old World witches are too scarred and scared to claim the new world. She points out that results are all that matter and that innocent blood will continue to flow.
This was another good episode, and the surprises keep coming. I was expecting to be a little more sympathetic toward Mary, but I really wasn’t in this episode. She seems to have welcomed her role and has become hardened. I’m looking forward to her reaction when she learns that John is the one who broke the circle. Despite her claims, she still has some feelings for him. I really like John. He doesn’t back down from what he feels is right. This episode wasn’t as creepy as the pilot, but it still had its gruesome moments. I also really like Anne, and I want to see more of her growing relationship with John. It is an interesting twist that her father is a confident of Mary’s. I wonder what will happen when he realizes that Mary has targeted his daughter. Will there be a war between the elder witches and Mary since there already seems to be tension? Reverend Mather is clearly disturbed by the price he has to pay although he claims he is willing to do so.
What were your thoughts on this episode? How do you think Mary will react when she learns that John is the person who saw them? What are Mary’s plans for Anne?
