(TV SERIES) Motherland: Fort Salem - Entertaining Series About Young Witches in an Alternate World

During last weekend, there was finally a new series that I have not watched and looked interesting released on Disney+. It was not one of their originals but was from Freeform (where its ultimate parent company was Walt Disney). Well whatever the relationship is, I am just glad I got the chance to watch this show. 

Brief Story Line

Story was set in alternate world where witches exist and became part of the US army for more than 300 years after the Salem's witch trial. Three young witches who came from completely different background Raelle Collar (Taylor Hickson - Ghostland etc), Abigail Bellweather (Ashley Nicole Williams - Shepard etc) and Tally Craven (Jessica Sutton - The Kissing Booth etc) answered the call when they were drafted in the army. 

Together with other new recruits. the three of them went to Fort Salem where they were placed in 1 unit and must work closely together while being trained various witchery combat techniques to fight against outside terrors, specifically from a group of renegade witches called Spree. The drill sergeant at Fort Salem was a very tough, no compromise Anacostia Quartermaine (Demetria McKinney - Tyler Perry's House of Payne TV series etc) who was experienced in training new recruits for years under the leadership of General Adler (Lyne Renée). Meanwhile Raelle who was kind of a rebel, also met and fall for a second year cadet named Scylla (Amalia Holm - Alena etc). 

With the Spree terrorizing the whole country, it became crucial that these young cadets be ready for battle at any time. So what would happen to these 3 young witches? You could find them all in this story of witches with a very unique premise.

End of Brief Story Line

I saw this series promoted few months back in one of Cable TV channel and was not sure why but at that time I thought this was one of those reality TV show where people were put in one place to fight for survival and winning major prize in the end. So when I saw it put under new release section of my Disney+ apps and read the synopsis, I only understood that my earlier impression was wrong. I was intrigued by the really unique premise where witches were part of US army and fight against other witches.

Anyway, ever since I watched the first episode, I was already hooked by this series. It introduced us with the 3 lead characters who were genuinely interesting due to their different background. Their dynamic was definitely worthwhile to watch and raised my curiosity of how they would work together. And the subsequent episodes also showed many interesting developments not only of those 3 but also of other characters as well. 

Aside from the Raelle, Abigail and Tally, there were other people who were really important too. I felt that Lyne Renée gave quite a strong performance as the leader of US witches army. And the romance between Raelle and Scylla was nice to see as well. Btw, there were few guest stars in here but of all the cast in the series, I was only familiar with the Witchfather (Nick E. Tarabay - Spartacus TV series etc) and president Wade (Sheryl Lee Ralph). Despite my unfamiliarity with the main stars, I still enjoyed the series a lot because most of them performed their roles convincingly.

What interest me in the series was it did not only focused on the training but also the outside world and especially the scarily dangerous terrorist organization Spree. There were only 10 episodes in the first season and my favorites were 8th episode and definitely the season finale. That was absolutely amazing with some surprises & twists plus a really wonderful ending which would make a totally exciting second season. Oh yes, this series has indeed been renewed and hopefully it will be released this year so we would not wait too long to find out what happened to all of them.

As a series set in the alternate world, it was definitely fun to watch how it would be if these witches were indeed given the authority to fight against enemies who happened to be witches too. Although I think it would have been even greater if there were more conflicts shown with the normal people and not only witches. The interaction with males in 4th episode was fun to watch, especially when involving Tally for reasons you could understand when you see it. The series was classified for 21+ in Disney+ which was a bit surprising considering there were only few love making scenes, which in other platforms likely only categorized for 18+. 

Overall I enjoyed watching this series due to its unique premise, intriguing characters, wonderful dynamic among the 3 lead cast and some suspenseful and intense witch wars. If you like watching series with those attributes, or if you just want to see witches take central stage in the US army, then this would certainly be an interesting option. But if watching young witches training for war is not your preferred choice, then might as well stay away from this series.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars