As the fourth episode of The North Water begins, Patrick Sumner (Jack O’Connell) walks near the tent with a rifle in his hands. When he returns to the tent, he hears Cavendish (Sam Spruell) tells everyone what Otto (Roland Moller) told him about god. Patrick explains they’ll need to hunt so they can survive through winter. He intends to go hunting with Otto and McKendrick (Philip Hill-Pearson) while the others exercise to maintain their vigor. Henry Drax (Colin Farrell) offers to help but Patrick refuses to let him. Then, Patrick encourages the men to continue moving or else their blood will thicken and clot in their veins and their organs will fail. He warns them they’ll die an excruciating death. Later, Patrick writes that the men have done as he instructed but they do not make an effort. He admits he is getting stronger since he isn’t using drugs.

While out hunting alone, he screams that he deserves better than this, but insists he won’t fall apart. Next, he hears moaning in the distance and finds two canoes in the water nearby. He wakes the others and Cavendish rushes to their guests believing their seal will be his food. They try to trade with the men but aren’t eager to give up their food. After a little back and forth, they end up getting a small amount of food to share among themselves. Next, Patrick tells Cavendish they’ll have enough food and blubber for warmth if they keep giving them seals. Cavendish says they need to strike a good bargain, or they’ll be gone just as quickly as they’ve come. Patrick suggests offering them a rifle for five dead seals or three rifles for 15 seals. Cavendish says he’ll offer them 10 per rifle but he doesn’t think the savages can count that high.

Cavendish calls them up and lets one of the men fire his rifle before making his offer. The man quickly reduces the number of seals. They go back and forth until Cavendish eventually accepts 4 seals for a rifle. Henry Drax watches everything from a distance. When the men bring a seal onto shore, Henry approaches and offers to help butcher them. He tells them why he is in handcuffs before trying to get the man’s knife. Then, Henry watches the man butcher one of the seals. Henry eats with the men before spending the rest of the night with them. The next day, Patrick finds out that the traders want to leave before the sea freezes. Cavendish doesn’t want them to go, but Patrick insists they have plenty of seals. Patrick admits they’ll survive if the men come back before agreeing to talk to them without threats. Cavendish threatens the men and that convinces them to leave.

Patrick tries to fix the problem by offering them a ring to keep one of the men there. Once Patrick convinces them to stay, Cavendish tells him his criminal endeavors have paid off. Later that night, Henry goes to Cavendish and reminds him about their conversation regarding his escape. Henry explains that the old Eskimo is going to take him with him, but he needs a file to remove his cuffs. Henry promises he’ll never see him again and claims there is no sense in keeping him only to let him hang. He even offers to let Cavendish keep his share for giving him a helping hand. Cavendish calls him evil. Henry says he might be telling the truth and suggests Cavendish should use that as an excuse to cut him free. Cavendish gives him the file and contemplates going with him, but Henry doesn’t seem to want that.

Cavendish says he isn’t staying, and the file is his key out of there. Next, Henry tells Cavendish to get ready. Henry sneaks into the Eskimo man’s tent and kills both of them. He finds Patrick’s ring. A bit later, Cavendish finds him loading the boat and trying to leave without him. He tells Cavendish that things have changed before convincing him to look inside the tent. When Cavendish is looking in the tent, Henry sneaks up behind him and slices his throat. As Cavendish bleeds out, Henry tells him it was his idea alone. Patrick and the others find out what has happened well after Henry is gone. They wonder what Drax wanted and why he killed the Eskimo. Otto helps bury Cavendish, but the others spit on his grave. The men believe Drax is Satan. Otto suggests they only have Satan in themselves.

Otto tries to convince them Henry isn’t the devil before he admits they don’t know where he has gone. One man suggests finding the Yak’s camp. Patrick quickly rules out that idea since they have no idea how to get there. One man tells Otto he is decent, but he’ll knock him down if he gets in the way. Moments later, McKendrick tells Patrick there aren’t many men who would stick up for a guy like him. Patrick wishes him good luck before McKendrick and the others leave. Patrick tells Otto he isn’t sure an English word has been coined for someone like Henry Drax. He admits they’re running out of food and their chance of being rescued is incredibly low. Otto says great good might be around since terrible evil is, but that doesn’t calm Patrick. He doesn’t want signs and wonders. When Patrick walks away, Otto says he won’t offer him anything anymore. Patrick stands by himself and sobs.

Next, a storm blows through and Patrick tells Otto they have to hunt. Otto agrees but insists they must wait until the storm is over. Their struggle continues until Otto tells Patrick he is freezing. They switch so Patrick can take aim. He falls asleep and hears Drax whisper, “homo homini lupus”. He hears it again and sees someone walking toward him. He finally wakes up and hears a bear nearby. He shoots it causing Otto to wake up and run out of the tent. On another day, Patrick finds another bear and begins following it away from the tent. He mutters to himself while following the bear further. The bear eventually stops, and Patrick tries to shoot it. However, it turns into a pack of birds, so he desperately screams. He stumbles around in the snow while asking whatever it is to come out and face him. A bear approaches him. Patrick quickly gets up from the ground shoots toward the figure in front of him.

Patrick walks up to the bear’s body and places his head against it. Then, he grabs his knife and begins butchering the animal. He covers his hands and face in the animal’s blood before climbing inside of its body. Seconds later, someone carries Sumner into a house nearby. The priest (Peter Mullan) tells him he can rest whoever he may be.

 

The North Water Review

I’ve enjoyed each episode of The North Water, but some have been better than others. Although this one was necessary for the story, it was just confusing and uneventful. Out of the blue, we were introduced to several crew members and it felt like we were supposed to know them. I understand making McKendrick a big part of the episode, but Webster and Cook were awkward. Other than that, the episode was good until Cavendish was killed and Henry sailed away.

Once that happened, everything got hard to follow. McKendrick and his party went in a different direction, but I am still not sure what happened to Patrick and Otto. The show’s attempt to emphasize Patrick’s suffering wasn’t very successful and mostly fell flat. I just hope the next episode explains what happened because I am confused about a few things right now.

The episode wasn’t bad, but it could’ve been more concise. Regardless, The North Water has been one of the better shows I’ve watched in recent months, and I am still blown away by the ambitious scenery and storytelling. I guess the next episode will be the last so I hope it pulls everything together. The 4th episode of The North Water wasn’t the best, but three-quarters were entertaining. The episode scores a 7.5 out of 10. Previous recaps of The North Water can be found on Reel Mockery here.