By: Sue
Anne lies in bed, John stokes her stomach as Cotton condemns Salem. Anne hears Mary’s words about love and war, Cotton goes on, the two close in on her and John shushes her. Anne awakes in the bright daylight. She washes her face, but her reflection shows demonic eyes. May’s doll is making the poor girl crazy.
Tituba tells Mary that she should pay Isaac more to take away those bodies, but Mary thinks the spectacle is good, it’ll rip the people into a frenzy. Mary wants Cotton out there doing more, like she brought him in for, but he does not see what more he can do. While some are relieved with Bridget’s death, many think it unfounded. Mary thinks that the panic level needs to be raised higher and doesn’t trust Hale’s judgment since he has yet to find who broke up their Sabbath.
John hears Anne’s cries. Men have come to loot the orphanage, and only John’s threat of violence stop them from succeeding. The panic that has been caused with the midwife’s and Cory’s deaths is causing the city to fall apart. Anne asks John to walk her home. She wants to know where they will lay Bridget to rest, and John tells her that it is not a good place.
Hale pays the seer another visit, and he points his finger to Isaac as the one who broke up the Sabbath. Petrus tells Hale that there was another with him, but he could not see who it was. Hale leaves in a huff, but looks like he should have been more careful, John followed him. John scopes out the Seer’s home, and finds little more than his grotesque taxidermy animals inside. One of the animals attacks John, and he runs into Hale. John asks what the hell was that place, and Hale tells him that it is Petrus’ home, an expert into rabid creatures. John thinks he could be involved in the witchcraft, but Hale scoffs at the idea, and caution’s John’s accusations.
George gags himself, trying to relieve himself of his frog. Mary stops him, and coos to her servant. She’s so disappointed in him, and tells him to stew in his own vomit as a punishment. Isaac pays Mary a visit. He feels for the burden that is her husband, and she feels sorrow for both of their situations. He had no clue what his one night with Abby would have cost them, but he still wonders what it would be like if he could see her again. Mary doesn’t paint him a lovely picture of hope though. Isaac leaves her home, and is bagged and dragged away. He is brought to the place he dumps the bodies, A handful of tar is shoved down his throat, and rubbed on his chest. The pig headed man and the bodies ask what he saw in the woods, and who was with him.
Hale wants all of the tar removed, wants all traces of them removed. More so he wants Isaac to be found guilty, to be named a witch. He has the man plant items on him, and they plan to send him to be caught.
Cotton makes love to Gloriana. She’s crying. If a woman like Bridget can be killed, she’s is sure that a woman like herself could be accused and executed for the same crime, she asks him if she was named a witch if he would have stpeed in to save her. He is sure that Bridget was guilty, and he was just doing his job. Isaac enters the whorehouse, and causes amock. He’s completely out of control. Cotton gets cressed. Gloriana tries to reason with Isaac, but there is something wrong with him. He’s singing and spinning women around. John tries to quiet him, and Isaac tells him that they saw them in the woods. Hale calls for him to be arrested, and Mary is quite upset that Hale did this without her consent. Mary wants Rose, and wants her now.
John and Cotton debate whether Isaac was bespelled or if he is a witch himself. John reasons that there is no way that Isaac would risk himself and take them into the woods if he was a witch. The physican thinks that Isaac is good and touched. The magistrate is forced to wait until morning since Isaac is knocked out.
Mary meets with Rose. Rose warns her that the elders are split in their allegiance. Mary is tired of the constant battle, and she does not believe her sacrifice was in vain, her baby cannot have died for nothing. Rose knows that it could not have been easy to see John again, and she tells her that its up to Mary to decide what is in vain and what is not. She also warns that the Magister’s roots are old, he has seen much and suffered greatly, and to not underestimate him. She will back Mary, but only to a point. John catches up to Mary as she walks home, he does not want to see Isaac hung. He goes to Mary about it, but when she doesn’t rise to his defense, John knows that she is no longer the girl he knew. He tells her that Isaac said nothing, and that Hale was foiled, hearing Hale’s name, Mary throws her allegiance behind him.
Cotton does not want to kill Isaac, fearing that he saw something in Isaac that was no there. He thought Isaac was a good man, the kind that could help in the fight to save Salem. Isaac sees a vision of Abby, she asks who was with him in the woods. It’s Mary making him see the vision of Abby. She pleads with him that if he loves her he will tell her, but Isaac cannot tell her. Cotton asks what he cannot do as Isaac gives up John’s name. Mary falls atop her bed.
Mary pays Hale an early morning visit. She gets right down to business. She tells him that Isaac was alone in the woods, and that ends the persecution. Hale is willing to close the case, and have it end in the hanging of the boy. Mary is unwilling to sacrifice Isaac. Hale tells her that she is powerless to stop it, and Mary loses her temper a bit. She greets Anne, and the Magister has weaknesses of his own, he should be careful.
Cotton questions Isaac about what was found in his pocket. Isaac maintains that the pigman put them on him, because he saw them in the woods. Cotton questions him deeper about the men, and Mary warns John that the Magister is coming for Isaac and he must be stopped.
Hale finishes his breakfast, and Anne knows what he’s doing. She tells him that she hates him for what he’s doing. Anne and Mary agree on nothing, except that Isaac should not be executed. Hale explains to her that everything he does is for the good of this town. Hale stomps off, and even her mother agrees with her on this matter. She goes on to tell her that as much as she hates Mary she should consider a way to emulate Mary, to give her voice a proper place.
John asks Cotton if he thinks that Isaac is guilty. He is unsure. John stands against Hale, who has come for Isaac. Hale orders him to be taken, but John isn’t going without a fight.
Mary prepares another dark spell, and Tituba warns that Isaac is not worth this effort. Isaac isn’t, she agrees, and Tituba knows it has something to do with John. Mary reasons that its about putting the Magister in his place, to make him remember who is the snake, and who is the mouse. Anne brushes her hair, and her creepy dolls are a mess. One sits alone on the bed. Anne begins to experience some stomach pains, and she falls to her floor, bleeding from her mouth.
John gets manhandled by Hale’s men. Cotton opens his door, whispering to Isaac to help him. Isaac flies out, and the men try to get Isaac back into his cell. Hale is told of his daughter’s illness, and he runs to her. She is beyond the physician’s help. Hale sees the doll upon her bed, and runs to Mary for help. Mary has effectively taken the fight out of the dog for now, and he’s willing to let Isaac go, or anything else to save her. Anne is fine in her bed, her malady gone. Hale understands now that a parent will do anything to save their child, and his wife wonders what he did to save theirs.
The fight didn’t make John a better person, but it may have helped Cotton to see the light. Hale tells the pair that they have concluded that Isaac was merely drunk, and that they are no longer pursuing him as a witch. Cotton allows John to deliver the good news. Isaac is a drunk, and he’s happy with the verdict. He’s never had anyone fight for him, and he doesn’t know how to thank him really.
Cotton goes to his whore and tells her the good news. With Isaac getting off, it just goes to prove his theory that the innocent have nothing to fear. Gloriana isn’t so sure. She dreams of leaving Salem, of having a different life with Cotton, but her words fill Cotton with doubt.
Isaac brings flowers to the brothel as an apology, no words are needed, but the gift is accepted. John tells Mary that Isaac has been freed. She’s grateful for Isaac she says, and warns him that they were fortunate today, but they may not be so lucky in the future, that she may not be able to protect him. She returns home to her knitting, and finds one of her needles missing. George has it upstairs, and he stabs himself with it. Someone his trying to rid himself of a toad problem.
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