Falling – As the third episode of The Essex Serpent begins, Henry (Gerard Kearns) fishes on a boat with two others. When the net gets pulled underwater, Joshua falls overboard. They manage to pull Joshua back into the boat. Martha (Hayley Squires) brings breakfast to Cora Seaborne (Claire Danes) who admits she didn’t sleep much last night. Martha suggests the children don’t have anything to entertain them. Cora doesn’t think she should’ve gone to the school. While Martha says they were upset after losing a classmate, Cora describes them as being terrified. She blames herself. Stella Ransome (Clemence Poesy) checks on Jo (Dixie Egerickx) to see if she is feeling any better. John (Ryan Reffell) pleads with his sister to say something.

Stella believes she’ll talk when she is ready. When Will (Tom Hiddleston) enters, John tells him that the serpent took Jo’s voice. Stella wonders if they should be speaking to Cora who could tell them what happened. While Cora and the others wait for Luke, Martha sends Frankie to get some milk from Cracknell. As Frankie leaves, he says hello to Luke Garrett (Frank Dillane) who is heading toward the cottage. Cora rushes out to greet him and ask if they can head straight to the school. Cora confesses she has barely slept since it happened. She tells him more as they walk to the school. Cracknell tells Frankie he’ll have to do it himself if he is there for milk. Frankie sits down as Cracknell tells him not to be nervous because he’ll make the goat nervous too.

Cora says it was like a contagion as if they were all possessed by the devil. When he reminds her that she doesn’t believe in the supernatural, she says something happened and it wasn’t just children playing. Luke suggests there could be a rational explanation. They now believe the girls in the Salem witch trials ate poison that altered the chemistry of their brains. It was Claviceps Purpurea which is a type of mold that grows on rye and other cereals. Although it isn’t common in England, it can lead to hallucinations and convulsions. Before they go inside, Claire says there is nothing common about what happened here. As they look around the school, Matthew Evansford (Michael Jibson) enters and explains he needs to clear up before the children arrive.

Cora says she needs to get her things. Luke introduces himself before explaining he is interested in finding out what happened to the children. He asks Matthew whether the children had swollen faces or anything else. Matthew says his students were fine until Cora came here with her heretical ideas. Will tries to get Jo to open up about what happened on Friday. He promises he won’t be angry. Will drops his daughter off at school moments later. Matthew talks to him about what happened. He tells Will that children need certainty and not new ideas. Even the parents are scared because they think their children can sense a presence. Will hopes he set them straight since it doesn’t help to legitimize wild stories made up in a public house.

Matthew tells him about the fishermen being attacked in their boats and their nets being shredded. When he sees Naomi Banks (Lily-Rose Aslandogdu), he rushes over and tells her to go home. He tells Will that he won’t have her in because she is trouble. After she walks away, Will argues that she needs to be here since she just lost her sister. Cora tells Luke she has been stupid and she thought it would calm them down. She was hoping to show them that their serpent might have a rational explanation. Luke asks whether she really believes a creature is out there. Cora thinks she does. Once Luke learns that she sees it in her dreams, he suggests it is part of the grieving. Cora argues that these are the theories of pioneers such as Darwin and Lyell.

Plus, the creature has been seen by local people for over 200 years. Luke is thrilled to see Cora’s passion once again. It doesn’t matter what he thinks although he doesn’t believe she’ll find the truth without a struggle. Luke encourages her to have faith in herself and get back to work. Later, Will visits Cora at the cottage. Once he comes inside, he learns that their friend Luke is visiting. Will explains he just wanted to make sure she was okay since he heard about what happened at the school. He believes he is disturbing them so he decides to leave. She rushes out to follow him.

Martha tells Luke that was Will Ransome. Cora believes it was her mistake and blames herself for scaring the kids. Although Cora says she was up all night believing she started this, Will says the middle of the night lies to us sometimes. Stella thought Cora might have an idea to help Jo. Will admits it is so odd. Once Cora learns that Jo can’t speak, she suggests letting Luke talk to her. Will thanks her and says that could really help. Since she came without a coat, he gives her his scarf. After she gets back, Luke offers her a drink. He knows the bottle is being saved for her birthday on Saturday. She doesn’t think people like birthdays, but Luke says everyone likes birthdays and parties. Cora reveals she never had a party. Michael had parties with people drinking, people showing off, and Michael showing her off.

Luke says it is about time she had one so he is going to throw her a birthday party on Saturday. She tells him about Joe and hopes he won’t mind seeing her. Luke says he doesn’t mind before suggesting hypnosis. He explains he has been following the work of an Austrian doctor who takes a medical approach to it. He allows the patient to access their unconscious and reveal their innermost fears, secret passions, and such. Luke offers to show her. He tells her to lay back and just follow what he says. In the morning, Luke and Cora visit the spot where Will found the fossil. She says there are things here that haven’t seen the light of day for thousands or millions of years. She used to have fossils sent to her in the post. As for Luke, he tends to lose interest if it doesn’t have blood pumping through it.

He tells her that she looks different from the woman he met in that grand house. Cora finds something that looks like the vertebra Anning found in Dorset. When they return, Naomi stares at them before they learn that something shredded the nets. The locals suggest Cora can tell them about it since she seems to know all about it. One man complains that his little girl has been having nightmares ever since Cora came into her classroom, but Luke says she was just trying to help. Cora apologizes if she scared them. A local woman tells her to please stop if she is doing something. Later that night, Naomi hears something while at home. She goes to the pub to look for her father only to learn he just left. She decides to stick around and have a beer.

Naomi sits next to Samuel (Tommy French) and asks whether he heard about the nets. He says yes as he begins encouraging her to drink up since he can get them another. Once they leave, he tells her it is okay because he is here. Then, they begin kissing. Naomi has to stop him after he begins hurting, but he continues after a brief delay. She eventually breaks free, says it is sinful, and runs away. Samuel thought she was loose like her sister. At home, she scrubs herself and asks God to forgive her. In the morning, Matthew joins the locals who are trying to work on the net. They believe the serpent is doing the devil’s work. He suggests they’re going to have to do more than pray. Meanwhile, Cora and Martha take Luke to see Jo. Stella says Will is visiting a parishioner and will be sorry to have missed them.

Luke tells them that everyone should come to Cora’s on Saturday since it is her birthday and he is throwing her a party. As Jo begins making tea, Stella tells Cora that she is silent and it is unnerving. Martha believes the poor girl has scared herself. Stella asks Luke his opinion. He begins talking about the unconscious which he describes as our inner thoughts and fears. While they can’t control them, they can influence people and their behavior. Luke explains he’d like to put Jo into a state of relaxation to allow her to retrieve her inner thoughts and tell us what is troubling her. Cora calls it hypnosis. Jo learns that they’re going to try hypnosis and quickly nods.

Martha wonders if they should wait for Will, but Cora doesn’t like the idea of waiting for a man’s permission. Stella coughs while picking up stuff from the floor. Martha decides to leave to check on Frankie. Stella apologizes because she can’t seem to shake off the flu. Will travels to the church where he finds a distraught Matthew praying for protection. Will asks him to sit with him before saying a man’s conversations with God are no one’s business but his own. He believes they should be able to confide in one another. Matthew tells him he is so good at talking and making people feel like what they say is important. He thinks Will sees him as someone who was taken in by tall tales.

Matthew says he doesn’t understand since he isn’t out on the water risking his life and his children aren’t crying in bed because they can feel something coming. Will nearly loses his cool but stops himself and says Gracie’s death was a tragedy. Matthew tells him to go ahead and explain away the scratches on Gracie’s body, the attack on the boats, and his daughter being struck dumb. He can see it in Will’s face that he can feel it too. Matthew reminds him that he is supposed to show people how to stay in God’s protection. He tells Will he is supposed to keep people safe before leaving. Will goes down by the water where he starts taking off some of his clothes. He jumps into the water and begins swimming out further. Meanwhile, Luke puts Jo under hypnosis.

She sees something moving through the water and says the serpent. Stella and Cora hold hands as Luke tells Jo that she is safe. Jo confesses they did the spell and brought it here although it was supposed to be a secret. She continues talking about the spell and how she and Naomi let it in. Jo claims it is in them. When Will enters, he gets upset and pushes Luke against the wall. Luke explains he is helping Jo after receiving consent from Stella. Cora asks him to let go too. Luke promises it is a well-researched bit of medical practice. Core reminds him that he asked whether she could help. Jo tells her father she is fine. Cora and Luke decide to leave. Will apologizes to his family. Cora checks on Luke who says it worked now that she is talking again.

Frankie walks past Matthew who is busy praying for protection. Cora returns to the cottage where she tells Martha she needs wine after Will came home and wasn’t pleased. Martha has seen people be mesmerized and it looks odd so she understands where Will is coming from. Cora invites her to stay up with them, but Martha wants to finish her letter to Spencer since they’re trying to help Nev and his neighbors. Frankie returns home and tells his mother that he likes it here much more than London and would like to stay forever. Although Cora says it looks like they’re stuck here a little longer, Luke tells her no good ever came from leaving London. In the middle of the night, Cora gets up and goes into Martha’s room. Luke watches.

Cora asks whether she is cross with her too. She finds it so frustrating because she is not trying to upset people. Martha encourages her to apologize to Will, but Cora doesn’t think she should apologize every time she does something without express permission from a man. Martha says you only have to apologize when you do something wrong, but Cora isn’t sure about that. Martha asks why she is so bothered if she is sure she hasn’t done anything wrong. In the morning, Cora gets up and still finds Luke sleeping. She goes to the Ransome house and leaves a note for Will so he gets it privately. He opens the window to speak to her. Martha told her she needed to apologize, but she didn’t because she didn’t think she did anything wrong.

Will huffs before saying he can’t wait to read it since it is keeping with what he would expect from her. She gets upset and storms off. Will goes after her. Once he comes outside, Cora claims he is furious because she didn’t ask for his permission. She doesn’t think he has a right to be this angry with her. Will admits that is probably true. She asks why he is then. Stella looks out of her window as Will pulls Cora closer to him.

 

The Essex Serpent Review

The Essex Serpent is turning into a romantic, tedious slow burner that may prove to be worth the effort in the long run. The characters are finally starting to take on a life of their own as we build relationships with Will, Cora, Stella, Luke, and others. Cora has found herself in the middle of a love triangle whether she realizes it or not considering she has mostly ignored Luke’s intentions.

The chemistry between the characters is good while we’ll have to wait to see how the serpent story in the background plays out. The Essex Serpent is very slow and that will be a problem for many viewers, but this is starting to heat up through three episodes. I am finally feeling the emotions of the characters and their respective frustrations. It should get better from here on out.

Whether it’ll be a powerful drama may depend on the finale and Cora’s fate. Regardless, this was one of the better episodes so it scores a 7 out of 10. Recaps of The Essex Serpent can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.