The devil is a weakness ‘Salem’ can no longer abide

Let’s be honest here: Throughout all the genre goodies that have presented themselves throughout Season 3 of “Salem,” the one annoying constant has been — insert Church Lady impersonation here — SATAN! 

It’s hard to take the impending threat of Hell on Earth seriously when you’re watching a 12-year-old boy profess inappropriate sexual desires for the woman who birthed him into this world — but that’s Mary Sibley’s (Janet Montgomery) storyline in these final episodes, and the concept could only hold water for so long.

In Wednesday’s (Jan. 4) “The Man Who Was Thursday,” the show finally deals with this one — slightly annoying — devilish detail.

Leave it to Mary to foil a plan with The Sentinel (Samuel Roukin) and Baron Marburg (Joe Doyle) to bring the Dark Lord (Oliver Bell) to the ladies of the Essex Tree. It would be hard to imagine a team-up of such stature in earlier episodes, but something really had to be done with the devil boy. The threat of Hell is very real in Salem, but those constant wordy monologues tended to soften the impact of those high stakes.

RELATED: Why WGN America is bringing ‘Salem’ to an end

When all was said and done, it didn’t take much to kill the devil. Still, watching the tree’s vines string the young boy up was a brutal visual to behold. He may be Satan, but it’s still a kid up there! That didn’t stop Mary and her witch friends — who didn’t think twice before committing collective suicide — from dispatching the threat. And, in full campy horror film fashion, Mary Sibley’s son got torn limb from limb. His head even popped off his body!

Heck, if “Salem’s” going out, it may as well pull out all the stops!

Where does this leave things? Black Sunday is still three days away and, with the Dark Lord no longer a problem, it seems the true threat has presented itself: The Sentinel. He’s been a more ominous figure than the devil ever was… And his goal to free his brothers and sisters from Hell makes this prospective new world sound even more frightening than before.

But while that seems like the focal point for Mary and Marburg’s plans from here on out, we can’t forget about John Alden (Shane West) and the mysterious blade he crafted in town. Could his heartbreak drive him to use that weapon on Mary? What will happen once Cotton (Seth Gabel) realizes the child in Anne’s (Tamzin Merchant) belly is a lie?  Is Tituba (Ashley Madekwe) going to do something gross with Little John’s body parts? And where the blazes is Marilyn Manson!?

The final three episodes of “Salem” air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on WGN America.

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