This week are learn from flashbacks how Vanessa came to be who she is now with the help of someone called the Cut-Wife of Ballentree Moor, we learn that the past never leaves us no matter how hard we try and how it is who we are like Sembene once told Vanessa. And can I just say that Patti LuPone was just fantastic in this episode! So let’s begin because something wicked this way comes.
We begin with Ethan (Josh Hartnett) in Vanessa’s room as he looks at the scorpion symbol drawn in blood on the floor Vanessa (Eva Green) walks in…he wants to know what this is, but she tells him it is of no concern to him. Ethan tells Vanessa that he wants to help her and she tells him that it is something that she has never told anyone. He wants to know and she starts by telling him that it began several years ago far away from London in the moors of the Western country that she went in search for answers to what she was…she went to search for a woman called, “The Cut-Wife of Ballentree Moor”, who was the first witch she ever met.
Flashback time! Vanessa is arriving at this house and a woman sees her from the window and then looks away…Vanessa is trying to go inside the entrance but can’t because there is a sigil on this stone as a ward so no one can enter. The woman just laughs, but Vanessa is not leaving day and night pass and she is still standing on the same spot. Finally the Cut-Wife (Patti LuPone) walks outside to Vanessa and grabs her checking her out and speaks the demonic language and puts a cross with blood on Vanessa’s forehead. The Cut-Wife wants to know why Vanessa is here and asking her if she wants to get rid of a child she does not want or some other type of thing other people that come to her want. Vanessa tells her no that she is not like the others and Cut-Wife agrees that she sees Vanessa strong-willed and agile…like a scorpion. She invites Vanessa to come inside and that she leave everything she was outside the door and everything she is to bring with her. (You just know this is gonna be good)
Cut-Wife explains to Vanessa why she is called this way and it’s because the girls come to her to get the baby they have growing inside them out. Vanessa tells her that she is cursed and that she sees things that are not of this world and mentions that Mina came to her (so now we know around what time this was when Mina came to Vanessa back in season one to help her and she disappears). Vanessa wants to know who branded Cut-Wife in the back and tells her if it was a sister who did this to her and if she is right about then she will stay here. Cut-Wife tells her if she wants to learn everything and then she shows Vanessa the tarot cards to look at them and believe…she grabs a card and Vanessa asks her if she should turn it, but Cut-Wife tells her there is no need and Vanessa does turn it over and it’s the card of the Devil.
And so it begins the apprenticeship of Vanessa Ives…Cut-Wife shows her the different types of herbs, plants, and flowers that she must remember as they are walking along the forest Cut-Wife tells Vanessa that she learned all of this, but that Vanessa was born with it. She tells Vanessa that she is in danger and that she has brought this danger upon this place and that she must learn to protect herself from the legions and that soon they will be here that, “Something wicked this way comes” (I am truly enjoying these scenes between Patti and Eva…good stuff). They are having dinner when Cut-Wife hears something outside and tells Vanessa to stay inside and we see Evelyn (Helen McCrory) and her witches and find out that her and Cut-Wife are sisters and Cut-Wife wants to know why Evelyn is after Vanessa and she tells her that the Master seeks her above all. Evelyn and her witches can’t walk through the barrier that Cut-Wife so she starts an incantation and Cut-Wife is slowly walking towards her when Vanessa walks outside screaming and they leave. Vanessa and Cut-Wife go inside and tells her that the totems she has inside are for protection and that they must prepare for battle fully and to the end. We get a quick scene of Evelyn walking around killing cattle and smiling.
Vanessa wants to know who those women were and Cut-Wife tells her that they were Nightcomers aka Witches and that before her and her sister were Daywalkers, who were good witches. But that her sister followed a dark path and she didn’t that she did not want to burn as a traitor. Someone knocks on the door and it’s a woman wanting an abortion and Vanessa assists Cut-Wife. Back to Evelyn and this man who I am assuming is her husband his name is Sir Geoffrey she wants him to do something about Cut-Wife and getting her off the land. They are off riding and see all the dead cattle and seeing how this is affecting his land and profit.
On a walk through the forest Cut-Wife is teaching Vanessa the demonic language, but she warns Vanessa that she must not speak it all the time because it is like a seduction and then that is the only language that she will speak. A carriage approaches and this man just spits at Cut-Wife because they know what she does and then says “Monsters aren’t we all?” And Vanessa replies, “Some more than others”. We go back to Evelyn and Sir Geoffrey and some BDSM stuff going on with Evelyn being the dom and she is telling him that he will not speak and starts telling him that he is weak and that his estate will die while that old woman is laughing at him putting these thoughts into his head.
Cut-Wife falls down on the floor and Vanessa goes running to her and tells her that there is nothing that can be done she is dying and she wants Vanessa to stay here…that this place will be her’s. Sir Geoffrey is talking to a priest and telling him that they need to do something regarding Cut-Wife and he agrees. As Vanessa is walking alone Sir Geoffrey approaches her and tries to rape her when she bites his hand and she pulls out a knife on him and tells him to never bother them again. Back with Cut-Wife she is telling Vanessa that in 1644 a Mr. Cromwell gave her this land and calls Vanessa her little Scorpion and doesn’t still know if her heart good or bad but she needs to show her something and it’s this book with a glyph that has texts and spells and with the most curses that it is the Forbidden Poetry of Death…that whenever Vanessa opens it that she will never be the same with God. Sir Geoffrey is saying that a medium or necromancer shall be put to death and that rouses the people that are listening to him that they are going to fight and burn the witch and Evelyn in the background is smiling because this is exactly what she wanted.
Vanessa is telling Cut-Wife that she doesn’t know if she will stay once she is gone because she needs to help her friend. Cut-Wife tells her that they will hunt Vanessa down until the end of days and to always be true. Cut-Wife finally reveals her real name, Joan Clayton to Vanessa. They hear people approaching and Vanessa and Joan go outside with everyone waiting for them. Sir Geoffrey accuses Joan of being guilty of necromancy and they grab her and people are stoning her and hitting her and they chain Joan up and they burn her while Vanessa is watching. They have a branding cross and put it in the fire and brand Vanessa on her back with the cross while Sir Geoffrey tells her to scream for him. Vanessa is inside the house now and looks out the window and Evelyn and her coven are there watching her.
Vanessa grabs something from the box that Joan told her to get after she died and it’s the piece of paper where Joan owned the land that Mr. Cromwell gave to her, but now her name is crossed out and Joan had put Vanessa’s name as the new owner of this house and land. Vanessa decides to leave and takes the tarot cards with her and looks at the Poetry of Death book and leaves (we don’t know if she took it). As she is leaving she cuts her thumb and draws the scorpion symbol on the stone and wards it as she is the new owner of this place now and end of the episode folks.