This week ended with most of the characters embarking on journeys.
Rosalee and Noah are finally reunited, but Rosalee doesn't mention the baby (she knows Noah wouldn't let her go back into danger in her condition.) At the beginning of the season, people were wondering if John knew Rosalee was his niece. Well, Elizabeth proved that she fully embraces Rosalee as her only family. She gave Rosalee the lecture I've wanted to give her since discovering she was pregnant. Though I can sympathize with Rosalee's reasons.
Elizabeth continues her journey of self-discovery. The pacifist movement isn't sating the anger she's been struggling with since her husband died. When she and Lucas were attacked (he really should have listened to her), she didn't cower. She challenged them. I think, if she had not been tied to that tree, she would have fought them bare handed.
Georgia wasn't happy to see Elizabeth ride off with Lucas to hear Harriet Tubman speak, but I think Elizabeth's reaction to Tubman’s words is going to be extremely interesting.
Speaking of Georgia, Elizabeth learned that she’s passing. That never occurred to me. I had to listen to the dialog twice. The actress’ complexion is such that I can’t see how someone wouldn’t know that she’s not of pure European descent.
Ernestine hasn’t healed yet, but she is beginning to regain to her fighting self. It was an absolute joy to watch her tell all those men off as they tried to shame her. Awesome!
Ernestine knows her stuff, and soon Clara is on a date and invited back for another. Ernestine informs the young woman that she is going to use her feminine wiles to get Ernestine off the island.
Not too sure if Clara is up to the task, but I do know that I want to draw and quarter Hicks. He lashed out, emotionally, when Ernestine told him they were finished, and handed her a vile. Not surprisingly, Ernestine ended up using again.
Cato lost, what felt to me, like a good friend. At least someone who cared enough to let him know he disagreed with some of his decisions. Unfortunately this happened just as Cato's jilted fiancé arrived in America; just in time to become a hostage. Boo.
It is the first scene in the series that left me feeling like the writers were more interested in teaching than telling a story.
I know Cato said he wanted to shake things up, but since we haven't gotten a lot on his specific plans for Philadelphia, it's difficult to see how this scene forwarded the story.
I did like that they brought in Fredrick Douglas. Seeing Patty Cannon and August Pullman pop up at Cato’s fund raising party hit me as almost as hard as it did Cato. But I had a problem with the whole sequence that lead to Cato's capture. It just seemed much, much, much, too easy.
Is Cato paying morons to offer security? Did Cato pay so little that they were bought by Patty? The take down was too quick and too easy for an environment where Cato should have had the upper hand. In addition to that, it appears that Cato's plans have been derailed....plans we haven't even seen defined. At this point will we ever find out if Cato had a specific plan in mind?
Instead of going to Georgia, Rosalee's operational center, she's staying in Philadelphia. Is August staying with her? I worry that if August stays in Philadelphia then the character might be wasted.
Her men will have to, presumably, bring Ernestine to Philadelphia, then they have to either go to Georgia to find Rosalee or get Rosalee to come to Philadelphia. Wouldn't it be more efficient to do all of this in the South where we know Rosalee goes to rescue slaves?
The character work on the show remains stellar, so my issues with this one storyline didn’t tarnish my enjoyment of the episode at all. What did you think about the episode?
