American Primeval – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3

[Trigger warning: rape]

Episode 3 of American Privel begins with Abish trying to escape again. This time, as punishment, Red Feather takes her necklace.

Jacob is at his wit’s end when Virgil shows up and asks the posse about Sara. He lets it slip that another woman is with Sara and Jacob believes it is his wife. Wolsey pays Virgil 200 dollars to let Cook and Jacob join him in retrieving Abish. Alone, Wolsey tells Cook to kill Sara and Devin as well.

In the woods, Two Moons and Devin are freezing and Sara insists on a fire. Isaac makes Devin bring stones and heat them up so they can sit on them. As the children play, Isaac wonders if Sara is doing the right thing by bringing Devin to a man who has abandoned them. Sara claims her husband left when Devin was young. He has gotten rich and will surely welcome Devin back. Isaac scoffs at that and pops a pill.

A Native woman is trying to teach Shoshone to Abish but she isn’t interested as all she cares for is her locket. She tries to get it back and screams while the Native woman tries to calm her down.

Back in the woods, a young French girl shows up. Sara tries to help despite Isaac’s warnings. He is right as the girl is bait and some French outlaws attack. Two Moons escapes while Isaac, Sara and Devin are knocked out. When Sara comes to, the leader riles her up before raping her.

Meanwhile, Brigham Young shows up at Bridger and wants the fort. Jim prattles about himself but in the end, refuses to sell. Young is cordial and leaves but Jim warns his men to stay alert.

Elsewhere, Dellinger confronts Wolsey who laughs off the allegations of the Fancher attack. Wolsey insists that Red Feather is responsible and Dellinger decides to do his due diligence and check with the tribe. Unfortunately, all the scouts are killed and Red Feather’s group packs up camp and leaves to avoid Dellinger.

That night, another French outlaw is about to rape Sara when Two Moons attacks. Sara grabs a gun in the chaos and kills everyone. Out of anger, she also tries to kill the girl’s grandmother but she is out of bullets. Isaac tries to comfort her but she coldly accepts that it is her fault. But she ends up crying and Two Moons holds her.

The next day, Red Feather goes back to his mom who doesn’t approve of his method of killing all the White people. He refuses to change and only wants a place to hide for a while. The Native women welcome Abish and she is surprised by their gentleness.

However, one scout has made it out alive and he alerts Dellinger of Red Feather rejoining the rest of the Shoshones. Dellinger is writing in his journal and he believes he is losing himself as the land lacks compassion and love.

At the end of American Primeval Episode 3, Tilly, one of the bounty hunters who has been mocking Jacob crosses a line. Lucas, the kind man in Virgil’s group defends Jacob. As Virgil breaks them up, Cook checks the time. Jacob notices that it is his friend’s watch and realises Cook was at the Fancher attack.

The Episode Review

American Primeval Episode 3 amps up the goriness which we weren’t sure was possible. But the plot has definitely picked up pace from Young setting his eyes on Fort Bridger. Then there is Jacob who finally makes headway but in the wrong direction. While he is nowhere close to finding his wife, at least he knows who the real culprits are, or we hope he has been able to put two and two together.

However, Sara’s storyline is starting to get a little boring. She causes problems by following her emotions while the streetsmart misfits of her group have to come up with some unconventional solution to save them. 

You’d think that someone who escaped an abusive marriage and made it so far solely with stolen money and a young boy would be smarter than what they are making Sara out to be. Having her endure such horrific moments for the sake of character growth feels unnecessary since it is clear that she is not the naive, weak woman the show is trying to portray her as.