The English Amazon Prime Show
Season 1
Episode Number 2 Preview And Review
In episode 2 of The English, Englishman Thomas Trafford receives some bad news in Powder River, Wyoming. All his pregnant cattle have been slaughtered and he blames the new landlords in the country as he speaks to Sheriff Robert Marshall in Hoxham.
Meanwhile, Cornelia and Eli continue on their way. As he descends into the camp, Eli declares that all his people have taken the “Way of the Dead.” Cornelia marvels at the Milky Way above them and wonders if Eli’s family sent her a message.
Then they meet three men. Eli warns Cornelia that she might have to put her marksmanship skills to work. One of the men is Charlie White, an Indian soldier who once fought with Eli. He is with two white men, one of whom is Captain Clegg.
Hands hover over guns as the men ask for Cornelia’s bags. But Cornelia fires her rifle before anyone can do anything. He shoots Charlie’s horse as Eli instructs, and Eli kills the other two. Eli lets Charlie escape on foot. But Cornelia shoots an arrow to his heart.
They then come across a Mennonite couple who have been butchered by three men. As Eli cuts a baby from a dead pregnant woman, Cornelia discovers another young child hiding in a barn.
When Eli insinuates that the baby can replace his child, Cornelia insists that she cannot be their mother. She is already a mother to her own son. And anyway, Eli lost his family too, so why wouldn’t he take in the kids?
He then asks about his service in the army. He says he joins his choice. “They have enemies,” he says by way of explanation. Most of them are in other Native American tribes. Part of the enmity was caused by English immigrants.
Cornelia says that something similar happened to her father. He was a soldier and was given some land. He and his son lived in a separate part of the area.
Later, Eli admitted that he couldn’t read. So Cornelia vows to tell her story—if they both survive
Then they go back to help the children there. There they meet John and Katie Clarke, a Kickapoo man and a Cherokee woman. But he doesn’t listen to her, and her mention of payment gives the couple pause.
John tells Eli that if he wants to survive, he must turn his back on his past – all Indians do. But this does not stop Eli from wanting to own his land.
John and Katie talk about other Mennonites telling them to cross over and focus on the family they’re leaving behind. Cornelia wants to bring the children to her people. But they went south, so they had to retreat for three days.
Eli says he understands why Cornelia needs to take the children back to her people, but he can’t go with her. He passed through the area once after the government forced him out of Nebraska. He and his wife were going where the Mennonites now go, but his wife and child died on the way. The baby girl died of fever two years later. Can’t go back.
So Cornelia will go to Oklahoma alone. He leaves his money behind and switches carriages with the Clarkes. Eli then presents him with the compass he bought from Clarkes. He will stay with them to pay. They then part ways as Eli sings the Pawnee song.
Episode Review
Episode 2 of the British film patiently builds chemistry between its two wonderfully believable leads, Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer.
It also creates a complex landscape for exploring racial, class and gender conflicts. Nothing is plain or simple, this episode’s teasing conflict between Native American tribes, the English, and each other—points to such divisions in another country: Cornelia suffers from having an illegitimate child in England.
The politics of sedition in this country is messy, dangerous and unpredictable. It will be interesting to see how the British unfold this kind of dynamic when nothing is black and white.