Dead Birds

Dead Birds
Season 2, Episode 8 (21)
Episode Information
Air Date	May 24, 2015
Writer	Joe Menosky & Adam Simon
Director	Alex Kalymnios
Episode Guide
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“	Well, just because you cannot see the world that lies beyond the horizon does not mean it's invisible. Eventually, we will see it.	”
	— Dr. Wainwright to Cotton

"Dead Birds" is the eighth episode of the second season of Salem, and the twenty-first episode of the series overall. It premiered on May 24, 2015 on WGN America.

Synopsis

When a plan of Mary’s threatens to backfire on her, she strikes a tenuous deal in order to achieve her greater goal. While she learns a bit of the history which surrounds her newest and most dangerous foe, the key to defeating the Countess still remains hidden. Both Anne and Cotton receive unexpected late-night visitors, each of which results in very different conclusions. As Mary tries to bond with her son, she and Tituba discover that the seemingly scared and vulnerable little boy is harboring unsettling thoughts and predilections... and perhaps even darker secrets. Meanwhile, with the help of her familiar, Anne Hale begins to discover some of her father’s hidden – and unsettling – secrets; Tituba tries to strike a deal with the captured John Alden; Dr. Wainwright discovers that, perhaps, science alone does not hold all the answers he seeks; and Mary makes a much-needed - and unexpected - ally.

Episode Overview

Cast

Starring Janet Montgomery as Mary Sibley Shane West as John Alden Ashley Madekwe as Tituba Seth Gabel as Cotton Mather Tamzin Merchant as Anne Hale Elise Eberle as Mercy Lewis Iddo Goldberg as Isaac Walton Joe Doyle as Sebastian Von Marburg Oliver Bell as "Boy"

Guest Starring Stuart Townsend as Dr Samuel Wainwright Stephen Lang as Increase Mather Co-Starring Kinsey Kunkel as Young Girl

Locations

• Salem, Massachusetts
  • House of the Seven Gables
  • Cotton's study
  • Hale's Cottage
  • Salem's Wood's
    • The Crags

Quotes

Trailer

Increase Mather: "I can tell you how to destroy her.....For a price."
Mary Sibley: "Name it.""
Increase Mather: "I must speak with my son Cotton."

Cotton Mather: "This is what they have planned for us."
Dr. Wainwright:"Who?"
Cotton Mather: "The witches"

Tituba (to John Alden): "There is so much we can do for each other..."

Samuel Wainwright: "There is great evil at work here."

Little John (to Mary Sibley): "They just come to me."

Gallery

• Promotional

Video

Salem 208 "Dead Birds" Writer's Wrap

Salem 208- "Dead Birds"

Salem 208 "Dead Birds" Anne

Behind the Scenes

Trivia

• Although Lucy Lawless does not appear, several actresses play past incarnations of Countess Von Marburg during Increase's account of her existence.
• The episode is the first to introduce the concept of the Relic.
• The episode lays down the whole story behind Increase's burned hands first mentioned in "Ashes, Ashes", making the Countess the Pagan Siren in childlike guise he strangled to hinder the Grand Rite in Marburg. However, in the first season episode, Increase refers to the witch with masculine pronouns possibly confusing the chief witch with the Devil himself.

Cultural References

• When waking Anne from the erotic dream he likely induced, Baron Sebastian quotes the lines “To sleep, perchance to dream” from Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet.
• Adam Simon confirmed the episode title is a reference to dead birds as bad omens.

International Titles

• French: Les Oiseaux morts ("The Dead Birds")
• German: Tote Vögel ("Dead birds")
• Italian: Caduti dal Cielo ("Fallen from the Sky")