Conscription day. A balloon drifts down into a busy mall into the waiting hand of a young woman. She whispers something, the balloon bursts, silence… let the bodies hit the floor. 1,600 people jump to their deaths as the young woman walks away, saying, “We are the Spree.” As if that wasn’t creepy enough, the woman proceeds to set her face on fire to reveal… a different face.
Cut to titles!
One by one, we meet the three women who will form the central unit of the show. There’s Raelle Collar, who is using healing magic to take on an injury from another person. There’s Abigail Bellweather, who is saying goodbye to her boyfriend before she takes her oath. And there’s Tally, who is also preparing to take her oath, much to the chagrin of her worried mother.
Before the clock strikes twelve, Raelle’s father Edwin passes on his late wife’s Bowerbird combat charm to his daughter. All three of our heroines take their oath as a medal burns into existence before them.
General Sarah Alder, who’s a lot older than she looks, welcomes the new recruits to basic training with a quick and effective lore dump. We also meet no-nonsense Anacostia Quartermain, the drill sergeant, who tells the recruits that they will rise and fall as units. The unit meet each other for the first time, and it’s… an interesting combination of personalities.
The next day, Raelle sneaks out of training, where she meets Scylla. But before the flirting can really begin, they’re caught and given de-merits by more senior recruits. Anacostia advises her to start taking things seriously, even if it’s just letting Abigail’s name carry her through to War College so she’ll live longer. Abigail confronts Raelle about skipping out on training, but Raelle later tells Tally that her plan is early deployment and a fast death.
As Anacostia puts the girls through their paces, the audience gets a quick lesson on the Spree, who are fighting to end conscription by killing civilians. Raelle at least waits until after training this time to meet up with Scylla, and the two of them indulge in government-issue Salva, giving themselves the ability to fly. At least for a moment. Once again, they get busted, this time by Anacostia, who orders Scylla to stay away from Raelle.
A furious Abigail requests a transfer from Alder, but gets shot down in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, while reading her mother’s letters, Raelle discovers that Petra Bellweather, Abigail’s mother, was the CO of her mom’s final tour, leading to a physical fight between the two of them while Tally can only watch on in worry as a storm brews inside the room. Tally tells Abigail that she and Raelle are both weak in different ways.
On the other side of the base, Scylla tells Raelle that she knows a way out that’s better than dying fast in a blaze of glory. They kiss, which quickly leads to Scylla telling Raelle to let the army make her strong while they have sex against the wall. Just your average conversation. The unit – Raelle in particular – excel in harmonics training the next day, finally starting to work together as a team. Raelle and Abigail call a tentative truce.
Raelle begins to open up to Tally about her mother, wanting to know if she was wearing her combat charm while she died, and if she was, why it didn’t protect her.
But wait! The woman from the mall is at Fort Salem, making eyes at a balloon in her mirror. Startled by someone’s approach, she lights her face on fire. We cut back and forth between the woman and Raelle, who is making her way to Scylla’s room. Raelle knocks, Scylla opens the door, and then we see the embers still glowing in her hair. Holy shit, y’all, Scylla is Spree!
Tropes Used:
- Action Prologue: The mall attack sequence.
- Antiquated Linguistics: We hear the beginnings of some High Atlantic slang from Abigail when she refers to Raelle as a “shitbird”.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Abigail uses Work to make her boyfriend forget about her the day she’s due to enlist.
- Cast from Hit Points: How Raelle’s powerful healing style, taught to her by her late mother, works.
- Death Seeker: Raelle’s plan, one which Scylla describes as “hot garbage”.
- Door-Closes Ending: The final shot of the episode is Scylla’s door closing behind her and Raelle.
- Double Agent: The end of the episode reveals Scylla to be one for the Spree.
- Double Entendre: The following exchange happens when Raelle and Scylla are having sex (bear in mind Raelle's hand is down the front of Scylla's pants):Scylla: The way over is under. The way out…Raelle: Is in.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: At first glance Anacostia appears to be this (she definitely pushes this angle with Scylla), but she softens somewhat when giving Raelle advice, indicating her compassionate side.
- Establishing Character Moment: Raelle using off-canon work to heal someone, Abigail calmly saying goodbye to her boyfriend because she’s ready to grind the country’s enemies to dust, Tally determined to take her oath and do good despite her mother’s insistence she doesn’t need to go, Alder’s speech, Anacostia’s stern introduction, Scylla skipping out on training and flirting with Raelle (Although technically the first time we meet Scylla is when she carries out the Spree’s attack at the mall).
- Everyone Meets Everyone: The unit meet each other, as well as Alder and Anacostia. Scylla meets Raelle and later Anacostia.
- Extra-Long Episode: Clocks in at 48 minutes
- First-Episode Twist: Scylla is working for the Spree.
- First Kiss: It doesn’t take Raelle and Scylla long.
- Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: From the army’s point of view, their conflict with the Spree is this.
- Headbutting Heroes: Abigail and Raelle’s go-to dynamic from the start.
- Honey Trap: The final scene indicates Scylla is this for Raelle.
- Leitmotif: Two distinctive bits of the score are introduced that continuously pop up – the Spree and Raelle & Scylla
- Lottery of Doom: Tally’s mother regards the military as such.
- Necromancer: Scylla is Necro, and as such kept away from the other recruits.
- Pilot:
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tally delivers a short but effective one to Abigail about both her and Raelle.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Abigail and Raelle indulge in some of this.
- Starts with a Suicide: 1,600 of them, to be exact.
- Training Montage: It even comes with an expositional voiceover about the enemy!
- Unexpected Virgin: Abigail is surprised to learn that Tally is a virgin. Tally isn’t embarrassed by this at all.
- Virginity Flag: A Witch’s mark turns shiny once they’ve had sex. For Tally, whose mark is behind her ear, this is a literal case.
- Wake-Up Call: Anacostia attempts to give Raelle this.
- Wall Bang Her: Raelle and Scylla’s first time is against a wall in Scylla’s dorm room.
- Wham Shot: Scylla’s still-burning hair, unseen by Raelle as she kisses her.
