I Break Things – As the 5th episode of The Essex Serpent begins, locals search for Naomi. Matthew Evansford (Michael Jibson) believes she’ll wash up in the mud like her sister taking for her sins. Will Ransome (Tom Hiddleston) visits Henry Banks (Gerard Kearns) to tell him they haven’t found anything. Then, he goes to the cottage where Cora was staying only to find it empty. He picks up what looks like one of the fossils on the ground. At home, Stella Ransome (Clemence Poesy) packs a bag while she begins coughing and leaves blood streaming down her lip. When Will returns home, he tells Stella and Jo (Dixie Egerickx) that they haven’t found Naomi. Stella tells him that they have to go to London so Dr. Garrett can see her.

Will finally learns that she is sick and it is more than just the flu. She reveals she is weak and getting weaker although she has been trying to hide it. Stella explains she trusts Dr. Garrett and wants to see him in London. They can take the children and make an adventure out of it. She also says they can see Cora. Will says they’ll stay with Charles and leave in the morning. A maid tries to bring food to Cora Seaborne (Claire Danes), but she refuses to take it. Frankie (Caspar Griffiths) wonders when she is going to come out of her room. Martha (Hayley Squires) hopes it happens very soon. She checks on Cora moments later and gives her a letter. Cora reads the letter that explains they want to see the plesiosaur that she found.

Martha won’t see her broken by a village consumed by superstition. Cora learns that Martha wrote to the society in her name and that Frankie has been asking for her every mealtime. Cora will take him on the underground. Martha tells her that there were no more posts and none from Aldwinter. As they ride on the underground, Frankie points out the poster displaying the new whale at the British Museum of Natural History. Cora says they can’t go see it today since she has an appointment. Once they arrive, Cora says there might be a serpent here if she ever finds the remains of one. She says hello to Professor Marchand (Raul Fernandes) who sits down with them. Cora shows him the fossil that she believes is some type of plesiosaur although she doesn’t want to categorize it herself.

She says she found it while digging on the Essex coast. The professor is impressed with the find, but he can’t do anything with just one piece. He recommends going back and looking for more since Cora knows what she is doing. Before they go, Frankie tells him that they want to find the serpent. As they leave, Cora claims they cannot go back to Aldwinter. Once they return home, Frankie says he is freezing so he runs upstairs to change. Martha has brought Sali (Deepica Stephen) to see Cora to ask if she is coming to her home with Ambrose next week. They believe Charles listens to Cora. She tells them she is so tired. Before she leaves, she encourages them to borrow an umbrella. Moments later in Cora’s room, she tells Martha that the find is worthless unless she goes back for more.

Martha believes she needs to forget about Essex. Although Martha was trying to help, Cora doesn’t think she should’ve sent her to meet the professor. Martha wants her to come back and isn’t sure how hard Cora is trying. She claims Cora is brokenhearted over a married man while they need to make a proper home for Frankie. She goes on to say they need to open up the house and start thinking about Frankie’s education. Cora complains that she is talking about them like they’re a couple. When Martha suggests she is only her servant, Cora argues that she is her friend too. Martha reminds her that she can’t pay for friendship. She mockingly asks if it’d be okay to take a half-day before storming out of the room. Cora snaps at Frankie for asking too many questions about Martha and Essex but quickly apologizes.

Cora offers to take him to see the whale tomorrow. Martha tells Dr. George Spencer (Jamael Westman) that she’ll have to pretend she didn’t mean it because she doesn’t have a choice. He says there is always a choice. She doesn’t think he’d understand how it feels to have no power of your own. He suggests Martha has power and Cora respects her since she agreed to come with them. George admits it sounds like Martha is in love with her. Martha believes everyone else is. Will and the family prepare to head to London. John (Ryan Reffell) complains that there is blood on the boat. Will immediately blames Evansford because he thinks it’ll protect them. Will insists they’re not in danger. The kids watch as Will watches the blood from the boats before promising that Naomi will come home.

On the train, John shows his father the whale he has been drawing. They tell the kids they can’t go straight to the museum or see Cora. Luke (Frank Dillane) listens to Stella’s breathing until she begins coughing. Then, he asks her to cough again and spit into the dish he hands her. Luke explains he’ll stain the bacillus so he can see it under the microscope. Once he finishes looking, he agrees to tell Stella have a look. She describes it as being like grains of rice, so blue, and so beautiful only for Luke to break the news that she has tuberculosis. Will says the doctor in Aldwinter suggested otherwise, but Luke says that doctor was a fool. He goes on to say there is a treatment called a therapeutic pneumothorax that would collapse the infected lung to give it the best chance of healing. George warns them that it has never been done successfully before.

Once Will says no, Luke asks him not to sacrifice Stella to his fears. George explains there are other options with him recommending injections of tuberculin. Luke says the success rate for that is low. Stella tells them to stop because this is her disease and she doesn’t want to be treated. Luke informs Stella that she’ll have some good days and some bad days. She’ll also experience weakness and delirium. Stella asks to talk to her husband alone. When they’re alone, Stella insists she doesn’t want to spend her precious time in the hospital. She asks Will to take the children on their day out. She’ll go see Charles and rest there for the day. Will catches up with Jo at the museum and asks her to go find her brother. Once he sees them together, he notices Cora with Frankie nearby. He tells Cora that the children wanted to see the whale.

Jo asks Cora why she left. She claims Frankie just got homesick. Jo believes she is asking strange. Cora asks about her mother before Will interrupts to ask where John went. Will says goodbye to Cora after arguing they should go home. Frankie catches up with his mother who he says is shaking. Once Cora gets home, she jumps in bed and tells Martha to leave her. As Will and the family get home, Jo runs off to see if Naomi has returned. She doesn’t get an answer when she bangs on the door to the Banks house. She burns a drawing of the serpent while asking Naomi to come back. On her way back, she passes by one of the goats they sacrificed to protect the village. Will keeps thinking this is his judgment. Stella agrees they’ve never had any secrets from one another. Will admits there is something he hasn’t told her, but Stella doesn’t want to hear it.

She tells him he is a good man. Cora asks Martha whether they should just forget about their row. Martha argues she needs to decide what she wants and stop dwelling on what she can’t have. Luke meets with Cora and learns that she returned from Essex a while back. Cora admits they all turned against her because they thought she was the devil. She tries to convince Luke to come with them to the slums to talk to Ambrose. Luke has to go to the annual BMA party since they’re giving him an award, but he might be able to squeeze them both in with a friend in tow. She says it would be an honor. Cora gives him the jewelry back because she isn’t one for jewelry. Luke says it is just as well since he couldn’t afford it anyway.

In the morning, Cora wakes Martha with breakfast because it is the least she could do. Martha invites her to come with her to get Luke to ensure he doesn’t wiggle out of it, but Cora thinks she should have breakfast with Frankie. When Martha arrives, George must wake Luke who is still in bed. Luke doesn’t want to go, but Martha isn’t going to let him get out of it. In private, Martha confirms she hasn’t told George anything. Luke is glad because anyone can see how keen he is on her. He has been meaning to ask if he was any good. Martha claims she has forgotten about it already. Luke says women really know how to destroy a man so Martha hopes he isn’t still pining for Cora. She advises him not to waste his love on Cora because she won’t know what to do with it. Moments later, Martha tells Charles (Nitin Ganatra) that this isn’t a good place to recover from a surgery.

Charles gets a glass of water that is brown because the well is not clean. Luke says it is sulfuretted hydrogen. He goes on to say it is a poisonous gas that has blackened the window frames. Luke learns that Sali disposes of their pots in the sewages outside or further down if that one is overflowed. When Charles tries to leave, Cora goes after him as Martha claims they need a social housing bill. He says the communist emerges as Martha claims people are dying because only disease can survive here. Luke asks if he has any idea what it is like to die from cholera. He walks him through what he describes as a frightening, lonely death. Martha believes clean water is a basic human right. If they don’t agree on that, she thinks Charles should be on his way.

Charles promises to talk to colleagues to see if he can raise a bill. Later that night, Cora learns Luke is downstairs although she says it doesn’t feel right going out. Martha encourages her to take action by joining the movement. Cora worries she is wasted here. Martha would like to do more and she knows Cora and Frankie won’t need her forever. She warns Cora to be careful with Luke. Cora joins Luke and asks whether they should go get very, very drunk. When Luke sees the chairman of the board, he says they should go get drunk in a bar somewhere. When they stop and talk to them, Cora pretends to be his wife. They drink as Luke practices his speech in front of Cora. Luke admits he is legless and jokingly blames Mrs. Garrett for that. He is tired of being so coy and polite. Luke asks Cora to marry him, but she can’t because her husband has only been dead for a matter of months.

Luke doesn’t think she loved her husband although he loves her. He confesses he loved her from the moment he saw her. She suggests he wanted to put his mark on her. Luke says she should just think about it because they laugh and argue like a married couple already. She asks if friendship can be enough, but Luke believes she is just offering crumbs. Luke thought she brought him to Essex and made him the man of her house. That is why he threw that bloody party. She thought he was just doing something for a drink. Luke asks whether Will is only her friend too. He says Will is married although not for much longer given the state of his wife’s lungs. He questions whether she is holding out for that. Luke didn’t think she was that cold. Cora knows nothing about the TB. Luke tells her not to worry because Stella will be dead in a few months and she can have him all to herself.

She tells Luke to get away from her as he begins apologizing. She storms out of the building. They call each other cowards before she leaves. Luke is told it is time to go on stage, but he leaves instead. At home, Cora tells Martha about Luke proposing. Martha calls her an idiot because Luke is in love with her. She asks Cora whether she has any idea how painful it is to love her. Cora says she didn’t realize. Martha argues she never does. She claims more people are going to get hurt as Cora continues not knowing what she wants. When Cora says she has been trapped for so long, Martha yells that she should blame Michael again.

Martha admits she is right about her being wasted here before she leaves. Cora begins destroying stuff around the house whole Luke runs into a thief who wants his money. Luke gets cut on the hand. Then, the thief stabs the knife through his palm. Meanwhile, Will says a prayer renouncing his sins and evil. He asks him to bring her back to him.

 

The Essex Serpent Review

Through five episodes, it is quickly becoming clear that The Essex Serpent is going to be one of those shows where everything is dreary and bleak. It is hard to imagine there will be any type of happy ending after this episode. Luke’s career could be over after that devastating hand injury and Stella is dying. Cora’s inability to see how Luke truly felt for her was a bit cliché considering how often this happens in other projects.

It was a relief to see the philosophical, preachy dialogue toned down a bit. The Essex Serpent is neither spectacular nor terrible, but it could likely be a bit better with more likable characters. The 5th episode scores a 6 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.