Motherland: Fort Salem 3×01 Review: “Homo Cantus”

Motherland: Fort Salem’s final season opens with the Bellweather unit hiding in plain sight in the Cession as the Camarilla threat intensifies in “Homo Cantus.”

After being framed for Penelope’s (Mellany Barros) murder in season two finale “Revolution, Part 1,” Raelle (Taylor Hickson), Abigail (Ashley Nicole Williams), and Tally (Jessica Sutton) begin the final season as fugitives. The premiere, “Homo Cantus,” finds the three, along with Scylla (Amalia Holm), Adil (Tony Giroux), Nicte (both Arlen Aguayo-Stewart and Kandyse McClure), and Khalida (Kylee Brown), hiding with a group of dodgers in a Midwestern paper factory.

The group has blended in as workers, though only Nicte is willing to disguise her face. Abigail is the most resistant to the idea, despite push-back throughout the episode from multiple people. Her resistance to learning Spree work is understandable, but logically she needs to accept that they will need to hide themselves better if they are to survive. Hopefully, accepting Scylla’s help to use Spree work to contact her mother, Petra (Catherine Lough Haggquist), by the episode’s end will help her come around to the idea soon.

The episode contains some great romantic moments for Raelle and Scylla fans, a welcome sight after their epic reunion in the season finale. Abigail and Adil also have a couple of nice moments as well, though Adil asking about having children out of nowhere during their flirty role-playing banter was bizarre. Petra tells Abigail about Camarilla leader Alban’s (Bob Frazer) warning about the union of earth and sky at the episode’s end, though hopefully this story line will play out more effectively than how it is being set up.

In her spare time, Tally has taken to training with Nicte on the rooftop of the factory, providing most of the episode’s action. The training sequences are exciting with the use of Tally’s work, and the banter between Nicte and Tally remains fun.

Scylla’s reunion with Tiffany (Ava Marchfelder) is great to see, and her answers to Tiffany’s questions about her involvement with the Spree show how far Scylla has come from the series’ beginning. Scylla’s reunion with her ex-girlfriend Vira (Melanie Rose Wilson) is not as enjoyable, as she immediately irritates both Raelle and Abigail. While we likely haven’t seen the last of Vira, it remains to see if she will ultimately be an ally or enemy of the group.

Outside the factory, Alban, Vice President Silver (Victor Webster), and the mysterious Kara (Emilie Ullerup) are ramping up their efforts to destroy witches. With the help of Anacostia (Demetria McKinney) and M (Ess Hodlmoser), Petra is able to identify the Camarilla leaders and finds out their plan to attack the Mycellium. Silver also goes on television to confront his daughter’s “killers,” despite knowing that he is the one responsible, while making a chilling promise to the public that they will find every witch hiding in the country.

Ultimately, Tally and Nicte’s rooftop sparring exposes the group, and the police arrive to investigate the factory. The main detective uses Camarilla technology to expose the concealed bedrooms in the factory, and the dodgers tell the group to leave as everyone flees the factory. While Tally and Nicte’s decision to train so publicly was an ill-advised idea, it was inevitable that the group would have to be forced to keep moving throughout the cession. Thankfully, nobody is harmed in the escape, and it will be interesting to see where the group ends up next.

Elsewhere in the episode, Fort Salem is doused with eerie black rain as the witches are inoculated against the witch plague and Alder (Lyne Renee) makes her triumphant return to the world of the living as she sprouts as a tree in a field. Though it’s a mystery what the meaning of the rain is and what role Alder will play in the final season, “Homo Cantus” nicely sets up a final season that will hopefully provide a satisfying conclusion to the series.

Author: Jessica Wolff

Jessica Wolff is a graduate of Drexel University with a BS in Film/Video. She has a passion for entertainment and representation in entertainment. She currently resides outside of Washington, DC.

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