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- WGN America
- Mar 25, 2014
- WGN America
- Mar 25, 2014
Summary In 1692 Massachusetts, John Alden (Shane West) returns from war to find his friend Cotton Mather (Seth Gabel) leading the Salem witch trials and his former lover Mary Sibley (Janet Montgomery), married to the elderly and wealthy George Sibley.
Created By: Brannon Braga, Adam Simon
- WGN America
- Mar 25, 2014
- WGN America
- Mar 25, 2014
Summary In 1692 Massachusetts, John Alden (Shane West) returns from war to find his friend Cotton Mather (Seth Gabel) leading the Salem witch trials and his former lover Mary Sibley (Janet Montgomery), married to the elderly and wealthy George Sibley.
Created By: Brannon Braga, Adam Simon
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Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
49
38% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
31% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
31% Negative
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
49
38% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
31% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
31% Negative
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
When Salem isn’t being deliberately outrageous, it’s cultivating a dynamic that could be fruitful as things move along.
WGN America's first scripted drama is American Horror Story Lite, a conventional dark fantasy with an unconventional angle on history. [18/25 Apr 2014, p.101]
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 116 User Ratings
7.4
75% Positive
87 Ratings
87 Ratings
11% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
14% Negative
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 116 User Ratings
7.4
75% Positive
87 Ratings
87 Ratings
11% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
14% Negative
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
i have never been so taken with a series! i had to re watch once it was all over because in the beginning i was a little turned off by the gore that i came back to see it i could look past it months later. The only regret i have is that they aren't going to making another season. Mary Sibley is a powerful woman :)
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SEASON 1
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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SEASON 1
It’s a poor man’s “American Horror Story: Coven” but with more shrieking and less fun. On the upside, Janet Montgomery makes for an intriguing sorceress.
Salem is replete with scenes that make little sense. It’s mostly a jumble of decent enough special effects, less-than-decent acting, a script that also should be lashed with “10 hard ones” and lots of blood-curdling screaming.
The Salem pilot is rather plodding except when occasionally punctuated by these more gonzo scenes.
Welcome to Early American Horror Story, which could give you whiplash from all the clashing acting styles, from Seth Gabel's foaming-at-the-mouth over-emoting as zealot Cotton Mather to Shane West's monotonously mumbling and too-modern hero John Alden.
It’s like watching the cast of “One Tree Hill” put on a production of “The Crucible.”
SALEM is a reverencing, edge of your seat, formidable, heart-stopping show that leaves you wanting MORE! The storyline is incredible, the writer shocks you and the actors leave you wanting MORE! It is my FAVORITE SHOW by FAR and I am waiting patiently for SEASON 3. IF you haven't watched this show, YOU ARE MISSING OUT!
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SEASON 1
Two of my ancestors were burned at the stake in Salem, so after literally stumbling upon this show randomly on Netflix, I decided to give it a go. Of course, the show is supernatural horror - you should know going in that you aren't going to get historical accuracy. But I actually think the balance of historical accuracy and complete outlandishness works well. We immediately like John Alden because even though some of this show's witches are actually witches, he is skeptical not just that all of the condemned citizens are in fact witches- rather he doubts that witches exist period. The way, incidentally, that they frame witches as agents of the false witch hunt, works well--even if that plot point is never really matched by the subplot. Some of the historical inaccuracies can be annoying of course. The Indians don't look like they would have at that time--at least in New England, the Puritans would not be wearing some of the extravagant clothes worn here by the elites, and Salem would not be consist of German American architecture or have a social scene resembling the Manchester, England of Charles ****. But these are small points. A larger trouble is that the show portrays a small portion of victims of the witch hunt as actual witches. Their characters are fictional but the people on whom they are based were very real. This seems insensitive, and I almost wish they changed the names. These may be your ancestors after all. The plot lines also grow a bit tired toward the end, although the addition of a few new characters (especially Increase Mather) helps this a bit. Problems aside, I think I'll give next season a go.
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SEASON 1
Salem is a highly original TV show and the acting is good. Unfortunately the script is very weak and the characters simply aren't sympathetic. I think if better writers had been put on the project this could have been really great entertainment, but over and over again gratuitous gore is substituted for plot, and the final product reaches very little of its potential.
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SEASON 1
Manages to be compelling despite despite several obvious flaws. Acting is only mediocre; history is spotty at best (hypodermic needles in 17th century Massachusetts? No); and the diction used tends to switch between awkward attempts at Elizabethan English and modern usages.
Probably the biggest issue with "Salem," though, is the metaphor.
In reality, the Salem Witch Trials were a means utilized by men to rob women of property; they were also a superstitious overreaction to fear of the unknown (and the strange and different). The so-called "witch hunters" were brutal, awful people who murdered others - primarily women - for enjoyment and personal gain.
In the show "Salem," we see that evil witches "really did" live in 17th Century Salem; and while the show does show us the witch-hunting priest Cotton Mather "trying" and killing innocents - part of the evil witches' plan - he is overall cast as a sympathetic character, a young man in over his head who is ultimately correct about the evil in the town he wishes to save.
"Salem" seems to be trying hard for a level of moral ambiguity it just can't seem to achieve, and therein lies its problem; despite the audience having sympathies on both sides, as Mather and Alden become more rational and get closer to the truth, the witches themselves continue to plot to murder innocent people in pursuit of their "Grand Rite," which makes the witch-hunters out as the good guys and the witches as the bad guys (again, even though several of the witches are definitely cast as sympathetic characters).
The metaphorical issues with retelling the story of Salem with the justification that evil witches really did exist, and then also portraying the witch-hunters of the time in a positive light, are numerous and unfortunate. For comparative purposes, consider the implications of a television show in which Jews really were plotting world domination in the 1930s and a misguided but sympathetic concentration camp commandant attempted to stamp out the plot. Not an exact replica of the crimes against history "Salem" is committing, but still pretty close.
If you can get by the relatively awful metaphorical implications of the show, and also manage to overlook issues in the acting and writing, you may have an enjoyable experience. I've only seen Janet Montgomery once before this but she remains compelling. Shane West's constantly simmering anger and taciturn personality aren't what awards are made of, but he is enjoyably watchable. Seth Gabel, whose portrayal of Cotton Mather is lampooned above, is probably the most watchable actor on the show; he brings more depth and conflict to Mather's personality than perhaps it deserves. Then again, Tamzin Merchant and Xander Berkeley are nearly unwatchable, especially together; Merchant's character has almost no depth whatsoever, whereas Berkeley's character is reduced to insignificant scheming, walking around looking for stuff ineffectually, bowing down to Janet Montgomery's character when he clearly doesn't want to, and bossing around his family. His tone during all of these actions is one of fear and resignation and none of it seems to be building toward anything.
"Salem" isn't a good show. It's watchable and dramatic, and you might find yourself drawn into the love stories of Mary and John; you might be surprised by the offbeat romance between Mather and Gloriana, a prostitute (although, warning, he sexually assaults her and never so much as apologizes and once she's done slapping him for it she just seems to love him more - we certainly needed more of that in modern storytelling, right?). Unfortunately, the show's numerous and egregious problems - from concept to execution - prevent it from becoming anything of of real interest.
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SEASON 1
Howlingly bad, but — and here's the kicker — not in a funny way. It's painfully unentertaining.
Historically it's remarkably wrong. Now, I usually don't care if a piece of historical fiction get things wrong, but this barely gets anything right.
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SEASON 1
