Did Raelle find out her mom is alive on Motherland: Fort Salem season 2?

A big question in Motherland: Fort Salem season 2 has been when Raelle will learn that her mother, Willa, is alive. It’s never been an if. Of course, she’d find out. But how?

“Brianna’s Favorite Pencil” made clear that Raelle would be learning sometime soon. When she called Willa’s ghost to her on Samhain she didn’t come. Raelle felt rejected after this happened which she explained to her father in “My 3 Dads,” but the audience knew the only reason Willa didn’t come was because she isn’t dead.

Raelle’s kidnapping at the end of the episode upped the timeline for a reunion between mother and daughter. Unfortunately, “Irrevocable,” introduces more tragedy into Raelle’s life. The kind that feels like a bit of a cop out, if we’re being honest.

Here’s what we know about Raelle and Willa’s journey in season 2.

Major spoilers ahead of Motherland: Fort Salem season 2

Does Raelle learn the truth about her mom on Motherland: Fort Salem season 2?

Technically, Raelle does learn that her mom is alive in “Irrevocable.” However, the circumstances are not ideal. After the Camarillian spends all episode torturing Raelle to test the limits of her powers, he decides to kill her with witch plague.

By the time Willa and Scylla make it to where Raelle’s being held in the facility, the plague has engulfed her entire body. Willa only has one choice, if she wants to save her daughter, she’ll have to sacrifice herself.

Admittedly, it’s a touching moment. Using the same scripture we’ve heard Raelle use, Willa pulls the plague into her own body. Her actions briefly drop her into Raelle’s newly activated Mycelium mind palace which might actually live in her vocal chords.

For a moment, Raelle gets to have her mom back, but she doesn’t understand what’s going on, and Willa’s apologies don’t make sense to her. Then Willa is pulled out of her mind palace. Raelle wakes to find Willa on the floor of the observation room covered in plague. She succumbs to the stress of the situation and the wear and tear on her body, passing out before she can fully process what’s happening.

When Raelle wakes it’s with Scylla by her bedside and, obviously, there’s a lot her ex-girlfriend is going to need to explain. Willa dying like this feels like a cop out because she won’t actually have to deal with the consequences of what she did and has been doing. Not only as a member of the Spree which Raelle wasn’t aware of but also as a mother who abandoned her daughter to further a cause she was fighting in her name that Raelle wouldn’t have approved of. Not to mention, she faked her death and allowed her daughter to mourn her.

Raelle is the one who has to deal with the emotional fall out and trauma that comes with her mother’s sacrifice and secret life. While she won’t be doing it alone, I do wish she and her mom had gotten to confront the choices Willa made in an impactful way. As it stands now, Willa got to be remorseful and heroic before dying which cheats Raelle and the audience out of a confrontation that deserved to happen onscreen between both characters.

In any case, the scenes Taylor Hickson and Amalia Holm are likely to have in the rest of season 2 as Raylla work through everything that’s happened will be good. The two actresses are excellent together onscreen.

Until next time, switches. Stay tuned to Hidden Remote, your go-to site for Motherland: Fort Salem news and coverage.

Motherland: Fort Salem season 2 episodes air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Freeform. Stream new episodes next-day on Hulu.