Critic Reviews.

On the other end of the spectrum, Raelle Collar (Taylor Hickson) is the outcast from a poor part of the country (the “Chippewa Cession,” which implies some sort of Native American governance, although it hasn't been explained yet) who’s skeptical of the military and everything it stands for. Freeform’s ‘Motherland: Fort Salem’: TV Review

The closest we get to addressing this history in the show though is when the main characters attend a pageant depicting the outcome of the Salem Witch Trials in this universe. The new supernatural alt-America drama Motherland: Fort Salem, in which witches revealed their existence to the world 300 years ago and have since served as the nation's soldiers, offers the kind of sprawling world-building for which television is an ideal medium.

The witches’ spells mostly involve making weird noises, and the numbered system of “seeds” doesn’t have the same magical appeal as the books and spells in other witch stories. Arriving at Army Hogwarts are cynical Raelle (Taylor Hickson), a working-class recruit leery of the officer caste; posh Abigail (Ashley Nicole Williams), a member of a fabled military bloodline struggling with the pressure that comes with such heritage; and sunny Tally (Jessica Sutton), the only roommate of the three who seems primarily motivated by altruism and a desire to do good. | Cookie Settings, ," with centuries-old general Sarah Alder (Lyne Renée) in George Washington's tricorn hat and place at the front of the boat. 7.1/10 5,649. The closest we get to addressing this history in the show though is when the main characters attend a pageant depicting the outcome of the Salem Witch Trials in this universe.

In the ninth episode, our main characters learn that an attack they participated in led to the deaths of innocent citizens, and are horrified when General Alder blatantly lies on the news about the nature of the attack, claiming that the citizens were, instead, executed by terrorists. More than three hundred years old, Alder is kept perpetually youthful due to the “Biddies,” young women who take on Alder’s extra age, becoming old women so that Alder may continue to live and serve the government — a form of magic that according to the creators, was granted to her by “Indigenous Tribal Federations” in exchange for land being ceded back to them. Alder, as an individual, is at fault for giving questionable orders and covering up her corruption, and Alder is the “bad apple” that must be challenged and questioned, not the structure of Fort Salem itself, which we’re told is full of otherwise good women soldiers and generals who, unlike Alder, are willing to do the right thing. provides an escapist power fantasy, presenting a better, more “progressive” universe than our current reality, one where the 45th president of the United States is a Black woman, and where the iconic image of Washington crossing the Delaware is replaced by an all-female crew of witches battling with magic. Fort Salem itself isn’t exactly Hogwarts; it much more closely resembles a military academy, and while the cadets train in spell-casting and other mystical arts, they follow strict rules, train in units and are subject to the harsh oversight of a drill sergeant. The unending war the witches are to fight is the one against the Spree — decentralized cells of conjurers whose trademark is cerulean balloons. Cast: Taylor Hickson, Jessica Sutton, Ashley Nicole Williams, Lyne Renée

The witch Sarah Alder, condemned to death for practicing witchcraft as well as for consorting with “savages,” uses her powers to free herself and eventually makes a deal with the colonial governments, and later the fledgling United States, to become the revered general and head of Fort Salem. © 2020 The Hollywood Reporter In real life history, the American Revolutionary War itself was partially a result of colonist frustration at treaties that forbade westward settlement in designated Native American lands (see: the Proclamation of 1763) . In Motherland’s history, American witch identity is directly tied to politics and warfare, starting with the nation’s westward expansion efforts, and later on, imperial interests overseas as well. That the witches of the North and South battled over slavery? If only she could have been replaced by a less abrasive general with more reasonable strategies, then maybe things would have gone smoothly. But perhaps the most notable invention is the show's vision of female leadership and dynastic matrilineality. Motherland: Fort Salem (2020– ) TV Series | TV-14 | Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi. Women wear authority in an array of styles (even within a military setting), recruits openly gawp at female celebrity generals and young witches are taught their female ancestry. Sitemap | Still, it's hard not to be at least a little gung-ho about the series' reimagining of witchy weaponry: chants, force fields, necromancy. (It's to the show's credit that these airborne ambassadors of the sky quickly take on such a sinister aura.) Add to Watchlist. , a show named after a term that itself contains historical connotations of nationalism, can ever really be. Most of the makeup of the United States seems largely the same, with a few different customs added on (at one point Abigail refers to “my mother and all my fathers”) but never sufficiently fleshed out. Starring Taylor Hickson, Ashley Nicole Williams, Jessica Sutton, Amalia Holm, Demetria McKinney and Lyne Renee, Motherland: Fort Salem debuts Wednesday, March 18, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Freeform=. 2:58 PM PDT 3/17/2020 On one level, Motherland: Fort Salem provides an escapist power fantasy, presenting a better, more “progressive” universe than our current reality, one where the 45th president of the United States is a Black woman, and where the iconic image of Washington crossing the Delaware is replaced by an all-female crew of witches battling with magic. Those character introductions, combined with the U.S.' bloody history — and YA conventions about new recruits at strictly hierarchical and morally flexible training centers — make it natural to initially suspect Alder and the top brass of nefariousness. It’s especially disappointing given the literal tapestry of historical material in the show’s opening credits, which imply a much richer setting than the show is able to depict.

The Hollywood Reporter, LLC is a subsidiary of Prometheus Global Media, LLC. Because for all of its attempted critique, the visual use of the military and violence in Motherland still is very much portrayed as impressive spectacle. Culture doesn't fit in a box. Alder forms the link between the ambiguously-present-age of the show and its past history. However, while Alder is condemned within the story — “no witch has more blood on her hands,” as one of the main characters states in the very first episode — it’s an opportunity that sadly goes unexplored.

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