Motherland: Fort Salem 3×03 Review: “Oh Elayne…”

With the US Marshals hunting them, and the White House under attack, the unit searches for Khalida in “Oh Elayne…” (Motherland: Fort Salem Season 3 Episode 3).

After the unfortunate decision to let Camarilla leader Alban (Bob Frazer) escape in “The Price of Work,” the unit must evade the US Marshals hunting them in “Oh Elayne…” Most notably, Alder (Lyne Renee) makes her triumphant return, and the world is shaken up with political upheaval. Raelle (Taylor Hickson) and Petra (Catherine Lough Haggquist) are both absent from the episode, due to real-life events in Hickson’s case, and their presence is missed.

The US Marshals and their leader (Michael Horse) hunt down the unit with terrifying efficiency. Their ability to see through work makes hiding from them pretty much impossible. Thankfully, Abigail (Ashley Nicole Williams), Tally (Jessica Sutton) and Adil (Tony Giroux) are able to safely jump off a cliff with the help of Scylla’s (Amalia Holm) Salva and set off to search for Khalida (Kylee Brown). It’s great to see both the Salva and Adil’s tracking stone return after their previous uses.

When Adil’s stone is unable to locate Khalida, Abigail implores Tally to use her vision to help figure out where they will be when they find Khalida. Despite the taxing nature of the task, Tally leads them to a bar in a nearby town. The effort works and the three find Khalida unharmed inside. To their surprise, Alder is with her.

Alder, having been revived by the Mycelium, acts very differently from her days in charge of Fort Salem. She delays answering Tally’s questions, insisting on eating an entire plate of nachos instead. Alder’s new demeanor is amusing to watch, and her and Tally’s entertaining dynamic remains from last season.

The entire bar, including the unit, is entranced into dancing by performer Elayne (Beverly Elliot). As a Once Upon a Time fan who has previously seen Elliot perform live at a convention, the performance is a fun moment, and I appreciated the small reference to Elliot’s previous work as Granny later in the episode. Though the dancing was forced by work, seeing Abigail, Tally, and Adil forget their worries momentarily and have fun was a nice break from the rest of the episode.

After the performance, Alder and Tally investigate Elayne’s trailer, discovering that she collects the voices of witches for performing. It is then that Alder finally explains to Tally that they need to collect the voices of the original witches to save the world, and that they can’t let the Camarilla get their hands on them. Alder clearly seems to be dealing with the effects of her situation, though it’s not clear how bad it is or if there is a way to help her. Even though Tally locates one of the original voices in the trailer using her abilities, the victory is short-lived with the unit’s capture. While unfortunate, it did feel inevitable with the group being in a bar so publicly.

Meanwhile, Scylla and Nicte (Kandyse McClure) also try to avoid the marshals, and quickly find that their disguised faces are useless. Scylla, still dealing with the loss of Raelle, is desperate to contact her through the Mycelium. Nicte is unhappy with Scylla making so much noise and prevents her from being able to finish her attempt. The two begin to fight and soon find themselves in the marshals’ clutches. Though Nicte has a point about Scylla getting them caught, it’s hard not to feel for Scylla and her heartbreak.

The marshals bring the unit to a warded house where the group reunites. As the group argues, the episode’s emotional highlight has Abigail and Tally embrace Scylla after she breaks down. Another great moment involves Abigail and Adil reuniting with Khalida, and Khalida referring to Abigail as her sister. However, the bigger issue is how they will escape the confines of their current prison and it will be interesting to see how the unit works together to do so.

Elsewhere in the episode, Kara (Emilie Ullerup) threatens Alban for screwing up their operation. As menacing as Alban has been, the fact that Kara is able to be even more terrifying for a moment shows that the already tall task of stopping the Camarilla will be even more difficult than initially believed.

This is made even more evident back at the White House, as Anacostia (Demetria McKinney) and Izadora (Emilie Leclerc) tell President Wade (Sheryl Lee Ralph) about Vice President Silver’s (Victor Webster) Camarilla ties. Though President Wade has been a hard character to interpret over the course of the series, it’s great to see her want to support the witches. The moment is too good to last, as an explosion kills Wade and possibly M (Ess Hodlmoser) at the episode’s conclusion.

Despite the brief fun moments and emotional highlights in “Oh Elayne…,” things have never been bleaker for the unit and the witches as a whole. The presidential assassination is a devastating blow, and the unit needs to find an escape as soon as possible. Though the stakes have been raised, the unit will have no choice but to rise to the challenge.

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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