'Mama' -- SH 2x09

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'm not going to lie, with the name of this episode, my first thought was of that horror movie by Del Toro. That's probably not what the writers of this show were going for, but it colored the entire viewing of the episode for me. I kept expecting for the mom to kill Abbie and Jenny. But then again, with the flashback that Jenny had (where their mom tried to kill her by running the car in the garage), maybe that movie was in the back of the writers' minds (seeing as how that film ended with the ghost "mama" killing the younger of the two sisters).

I suppose, in a way, it was good to get a bit of backstory when it came to the early lives of Abbie and Jenny (and being able to see how Moloch was already messing about with their lives at that time ... perhaps he already understood that Abbie was going to be one of the Witnesses, and he figured that Jenny was going to be a pain in his ass, even if she wasn't the one in the family who was the Witness). But even getting to see how things were for them with their relationship with their mom, I can't say that I was really all that interested in what was going on with the episode. The only thing that I found relatively interesting was the fact that the writers seem to be going ahead with the "let's turn Abbie (or possibly Jenny) into a witch" thing that they started in the last episode. If their mom hadn't been so very tormented when she was still alive, I have the feeling that the Book of Shadows witchy book that she had inherited would have been pasted down to the two of them, and the two of them would have learned how to tap into their family power and kick all kinds of ass by using that power. Perhaps the writers think that this may be a way of writing off Katrina (who had so much promise when the show started, but who has fallen completely flat, since she hasn't lived up to any of the hype that has been lain at her door, she is in constant need of rescue, and she has turned into a bitchy teenage girl), or perhaps it may be a way of giving Jenny a more active role with the Witnesses that has less to do with her proficiency with a weapon, or her sometimes knowledge of secret stuffs (since we now have Han Solo Hawley to serve that function when Captain Skinnyjeans doesn't know what's going on).

I think that the writers may also be trying to insert a bit of humanity into Henry's character. First, they had Ichabod get a flash of memory from when he was a frightened child, and now, they have given us a flash of emotion when Katrina picked up baby!Moloch. Perhaps we are supposed to be feeling sympathy for him and the rough life that he's had ... the lack of choices that were given to him, and how he did the best that he could under the circumstances ... but I kind of still want to keep poking him in the eye. Hard. I'm more interested in how being a sin eater ties with him being a Horseman, or if it does at all. Either it is an ability he naturally has from being the son of a powerful witch (sense my roll of the eyes right here, since Katrina hasn't proven herself in my eyes), and it is something that is being twisted to serve a purpose by Moloch; or it is something that Moloch gave to him to help turn him, or make him more powerful as a Horseman. I'd be interested to get an answer on what may be going on there, rather than this theme of "let's forgive and feel sorry for the poor Horseman of War" that has been going on this season.

I don't trust Irving to be with the gang. He doesn't want to betray them, but I have a feeling that at a certain point, he won't be able to control himself ... that he'll be to warped by the evil that Henry has been working on him, he won't be able to stop himself from doing something harmful to one or more of them. This doesn't mean that I don't like Irving, cuz I really dig him, but the fact that Henry has possession of his soul is going to prove problematic when it comes to him being with those who are trying to stop the people who are ultimately in control of him. I do hope that now that the sisters have their family's Book of Shadows witchy book in their possession, they will be able to find something in there that will counteract the contract that Irving signed, and which will give him back control of his soul ... but I don't see that happening for a while yet, if it happens at all.