Salem Recap S1E7 Our Own Private America

Aboard a ship at sea, the rats scurry among the people. A man proclaims that none of the sick passengers will survive, and they will likely not survive either. Papa Mather thinks that they do not need to find the winds, but the witch aboard.

Mary brings Rose’s head as a warning to Hale. She wants to know who’s idea it was to turn the puritans’ against themselves. It was Mary. They underestimated her. He asks if she understands what she did. But she points out that the real question is whether he understands what he must do. He does. He drops upon his knee, and vows to obey her power. The hunter’s moon is soon upon them, they need eight more dead. It’s a reachable goal, one that will result in the sacrifice of three. She warns further that if he betrays her again his wife and daughter will pay the price.

Anne is told that her father is a spy and presses her mother for more details. Her mother immediately regrets saying anything. She tells her that her father is an agent who makes periodical reports. She believes that her father is a traitor. Her mother smacks her, warning her to keep out of her father’s business. Anne refuses. She doesn’t believe a word her mother has told her, especially after seeing her father vanish. Her mother tells her that the problem with knowing things is that you can never unknow them.

Hale heads into the brothel. A woman asks him if it has arrived. The message suddenly appears on the back of a whore, the ship will arrive soon. The woman asks if he has told Mary that the elder Cotton is coming soon, though a witch is trying to prevent it. He’s keeping that little tidbit to himself, so as not to give Mary any more power than she already has.

Tituba wonders if Mary did the right thing bringing Mercy over. Mary is sure that she did, asking if Tituba regrets bringing her over. Tituba does not. Mary plans on getting the Malleum back, which means finding out where John hid it, and to do that she will invade his dreams. Tituba worries of the danger the dream walking could be, it could leave them both shattered unable to tell dream from reality. She orders Tituba to send her anyways, and she does. Mary falls into John’s dream, of the two of them having sex in the graveyard. She scratches him, and he awakens. Tituba asks if she’s enjoying herself. She didn’t find what she is looking for yet, but she knows she can. John finds scratches on his chest.

On the ship the captain isn’t sure that there is a witch. Increase Mather knows that there is a witch aboard, it’s the captain. He skewers his hand to the table. He asks him where the knot that binds the wind is. The captain tries to play coy, but Mather isn’t playing around. He finally gives up the knot, its around his neck. Mather cuts it away, and then slits the Captain’s throat. The winds are suddenly back, and he is now the master of the ship.

Mercy plays a game with her new little friends. She puts something in their tea before they crack their Venus eggs, and find out who they’re going to marry. Dollie cracks her egg first, and Mercy makes her see a skull. The girl makes excuses why she needs to leave, and the other girls scurry away. Mercy is so excited over Mary’s teaching, gushing to her about the results. Mary moves onto her next lesson.

Cotton talks to a stone baby trying to talk to God. John catches him, and they have a little pow wow. John thinks that they aren’t so different, and Cotton would worry about that if he didn’t have other worries. John admits that books do have their uses, but Cotton admits that his knowledge failed him, but luckily his steel did not. Cotton thinks that God brought them together for a reason. John wonders if it was to drive him insane. But Cotton thinks that there is a shadow over Salem, and together they could dispel it. John asks Cotton what he knows about dreams, Cotton feels that dreams are real, their own private America. Cotton knows what it feels like to hold desires only in dreams, ones that can be forgotten or lived.

Dollie gets tucked into bed with Billy, she’s stictched in as some odd purity custom. He asks about Mercy’s home, and if she fears Mercy, She does not. He asks if she fears him, and then his face changes, its covered in boils. She screams and breaks free of her confinds. Billy’s mother threatens to tell her mother and she runs from the house.

Mary goes to John again in his dreams. She asks about the Malleum, and in the dream they tumble eachother naked again. As she teases his body she asks again where the Malleum is, and he’s left confused, but looks to Cory’s grave. The Malleum is buried there. Mary tells Tituba her findings, and Tituba issues her the same warning that dream walking is dangerous, and to stay out of John’s head. Mary lies back against the pillows.

John awakens with a terrible headache. He hears two women arguing. It’s Dollie’s mother, and Billy’s mother. They’re turning against eachother. Dollie’s mother is upset that her daughter ruined the match, and Mercy doesn’t like the way her mother slaps her. John floats around in a dream like state. Ann approaches him, and chats him up mentioning his body. He grabs her in a crushing kiss, before he realizeds what he’s doen. He heds straight to the brothel, and takes up a trio of whores to satisfy his needs. Although they all turn their attention onto him, no body is home.

Mary is pleased with Mercy, because of her, the town is in upheaval. Mary sets her to her next task to make Mrs. Barker think Mrs. Trask attacked her. Mary sends Mercy out of her body, and she’s off. Mercy jumps into Mrs. Trask’s body, and slits her own throat with her shears.

In the evening John sits in a chair and Mary comes to him. He isn’t sure itf it is a dream or not. Ann sketches him, and Mary isn’t happy to see her there. Ann joins in, slithering up between his legs. Mary finds herself in the woods, and cannot find John. She runs at sounds, and John is scalping people all over the place. Mary falls into seizures, as Tituba tries to bring her out of it. She finally manages to bring Mary out, and scolds her for her foolishness. She shouldn’t have left Mercy alone on her first walking, and she should not have gone back into John’s dreams. Tituba takes Mercy and gives Mary some time to collect herself.

John awakens from his dream all hot and bothered. He heads straight to the object of his torment and breaks down Mary’s door. Mary doesn’t try to stop him, or even make a sound as he falls upon her, ravaging her body. He brutally kisses her upon the floor, as he strips away her clothes.

Mercy digs up the Malleum and hands it over to Tituba, but her joy is cut short when there’s shouts of Mrs. Trask’s death. Tituba cannot believe what Mercy has done, she was told to frighten Trask, but she says that they will not be beaten any longer. The people are nearly riotous trying to kill the Barkers. Cotton tries to calm the people’s fears. He asks the people to jail the Barkers so that they can try them in the morning when they have level heads. The people want blood, but they allow Hale and his selectmen to take the Barkers. Gloriana finds Cotton’s bravery sexy. He would gladly accept her offering, but he no longer wishes to be her customer. He plans to sort things out, and make everything different for her.

The elder Mather has arrived in Salem.

Mary tells John to wait, but he’s waited long enough. John knows that Mary has dreamt about this as much as he has. He tells her that he’s done living in his dreams, but Mary fears that living dreams turns them into nightmares. John wants them to live for themselves, she’s bore George no children, knows that she cannot care much for him, and has never cared what others think. Mary wishes to send John away, she tells him that she’s gotten what she wanted from him. He leaves in a huff, sarcastically telling her that he’s glad he could be of service.

Isaac tells Cotton that the Barkers have all been burned alive as witches, and cotton asks by whose authority. His father reveals that it was him. He mocks his son for his worries, for his trials, dor his doubts. Mather will leave the trials to the higher power. All of the witches have to be killed immediately, and Cotton must consider his mishandling of Salem. Mather goes to leave, and Cotton ponders who is left to burn at this hour. His father warns him that he’s not too old to burn.

Mary watches the bondfire from her window. John sees the fire. Isaac thought John was going to save them, but he wonders if they aren’t worth saving. Mather takes in the artwork in Mary’s bedroom. It’s a pagan piece, one only her nearest and dearest are privy too. She catches up with Mather, and he tells her about the witches that tried to keep him from Salem. Mary praises the lord that he made it at all. Mather finds George to be the luckiest man to have such a beautiful wife, as he looks into Mary’s pretty face. He asks to see George, but Mary makes excuses why he cannot, but promises he can see him in the morning. She asks how long he plans to visit, he’s staying as long as there are witches in Salem. Perhaps this time Mary bit off more than she can chew.