ahenderson-45780 OK let me start off by saying that I love to look at different shows, movies, stories, etc. from different time periods in history. Now going into the review of the show. It is not historically accurate, and never claimed to be. It does however have SOME characters that were historically present at the time of the Salem Witch Trials. It is dark toned because let's face it if you lived out in those times the only lighting you had was fire in candles or fire pits. I have read a lot of other reviews and some I agree with and some I don't. It is a dark show with a lot of different mature elements: blood, gore, sex, dark magic, and horror elements. Now I will say that this show plays on the Puritan beliefs at the time of what witches were. It also played the "what if" game that "what if the Puritan beliefs were real?" And made a very interesting and complex TV series that isn't for the faint of heart but definitely ​makes for an interesting view. Everything from the cast, set up and outcome is very well thought out and planned. Now I don't particularly agree of perpetuating the stereotype of witches and making them all followers of Satan, but it was still an awesome show if you can get past that and the lack of historical accuracy. Worth the watch if you love horror and darker shows and movies.

lancer165 Have now finished this series. An interesting twist was thrown into the mix. I know the tale and have read much theorising about the incident. America was settled by many who had left the British Isles and of course elsewhere from mainly Protestant lands. The heaven and hell and Satan with his demons figured greatly in the preaching and as a warning about transgressions. While some good ideas are out there about how this became an epidemic it may never be fully known.Some nations did persecute mainly women. The herbalists of then were seen as maybe witches and many superstitious stories told did not help. Women were the main target for some reason. James 1 had a fear of witchcraft. I have no idea how many were MURDERED and this is what the twist in the story is about.This story tells us that witches do indeed exist and that if we think about the actual real world the Puritan may indeed have unwittingly been the agent of evil. Many so called faithful parents were cruel to children in the name of their God and his laws. The inquisition was forged from interpretations of the Bible by Jesuits.Within the tale here is a long drawn out love story and in this a pregnant deserted? Mary succumbed to solve a problem. It did indeed solve more than one until her real love thought dead returned.The outcome overall was satisfying to the audience that took the tale at face value. The pedant of course will not be.There are a few supernatural series out there with other superstitious night creatures as even the heroes. I can enjoy the twists that are thrown in but they are usually follow on from Movie plots. Underworld a fair example. They are mostly for a much younger audience. A few things of course in this did not gel but all in all the story was well told and quite acceptable.Glad it had an ending that was not too rushed.

SnoopyStyle It's the town of Salem in colonial Massachusetts. Puritan rule is in fear of the dark witchcraft. John Alden (Shane West) returns from war to find his love Mary Sibley (Janet Montgomery) married to a town leader. Few know that witches exist and Mary is one gathering dark powers with minion Tituba. Religious Cotton Mather (Seth Gabel) is battling the witches while living in the shadows of his formidable father Increase Mather. Anne Hale (Tamzin Merchant) is an innocent who discovers her dark origins.The show starts out well. It's murky and dark. It gets overly convoluted as the seasons go on. It becomes somewhat a muddle. The show only lasted 36 episodes and that's probably a little too long. The show's high point has to be Stephen Lang as Increase Mather. He is great and the character is such a powerful presence. This show has some bloody fun as second tier TV.

alphonse-68939 The main strength of Salem is its plot line, the Salem Witch Trial were real and witches were involved. This in itself could have been quite an interesting story. The plot is both interesting and captivating. Scenes of salaciousness and gore are abundant, almost Game of Thrones level.But it is all undermined by a weak and frankly moronic script. The show presents all witches present as evil, no chance for even a hint of any of them desiring to do good. This in itself is insulting to actual practitioners of witchcraft, Wiccans and other Pagans world over. The Christians in the show are presented as hypocrites but at least they are not genocidal hypocrites; at least that's how the first season began but by Season 1 end, you can hardly distinguish one from the other because they all do the exact same things. Salem is also quite horrifying and not in an entertaining way, on how it presents the female characters.Basically, all the women on the show who are shown as independent or strong are either all evil or end up dying, literally, every woman in the show who shows an interest in sex is either evil or ends up dead.The characters would have been interesting but the script undermines them and makes them uninteresting. Nonetheless, Janet Montgomery's character, Mary Sibley is quite entertaining.Without mentioning the numerous plot holes and unresolved side stories the show is quite terrible. World building as well is weak, the magic performed by the witches is hardly understandable. One moment someone chants a strange language and then another moment spells are cast in English. There is no consistency of any kind. Basically, the magic whatever the scriptwriters came up on the crapper while reading a mishmash of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and whatever teenage targetted novel they read.Salem is TV show written by mostly male writers with some very ridiculous notions and lack of worldly experience.It's basically "Interview with a Vampire" meets witches and TV cable. I strongly advise people against watching the show.