What You Want & What You Need
In Episode 1 of The English, Lady Cornelia Locke reminisces about the time she spent with a Pawnee man named Eli Whipp. Once upon a time, they had two different goals: she to kill a man for the murder of her child, and he to take back his stolen land. But what one wants is not always what one needs.
In 1890, 13 years earlier, Eli heads to his birthplace of Nebraska to stake a land claim following his service as a cavalry scout in the U.S. army. He’s stopped in Kansas, however, where he’s strung up by a man named Richard.
When Cornelia arrives in Kansas with her luggage and wads of cash, Richard is there to greet her. Well… to knock her unconscious, that is.
Planning to frame Eli for her murder, Richard sends him away in handcuffs and with a driver. But Eli is able to escape and heads back toward Cornelia to retrieve his personal items.
While he makes his way back, Richard and Cornelia are sitting across from each other at a long dinner table. Cornelia is aghast to learn that “he” (the man who murdered her son) knew she was coming to kill him. Now she’ll be raped and murdered by Richard for trying to carry out her revenge plan.
But Eli saves her from that fate when he throws a dagger into Richard, killing him. He then goes outside to take care of Richard’s men. He sets up a contraption for one of them, so he’ll drown in a bucket of water if his horse walks forward. To Eli’s surprise, Cornelia walks the horse forward herself, effectively killing the man.
After Eli retrieves his bag (which he claims contains medicine) he starts to head off with his horse. Cornelia stops him. She’s going to Powder River, Wyoming, to kill her son’s murderer, and she asks him to help her.
Eli is resistant, but gives in when she begs him on her knees. They’ve been brought together like magic; Cornelia is sure of it.
He tells her he’ll get her as far as Kearney–but she’ll need to be prepared for rough travels.
The Episode Review
It’s clear from the beginning that creator Hugo Blick’s The English is not your classic western. There’s its central focus, for one: Women and Native Americans aren’t typically the heroes in films’ portrayals of the “Old West.” But white settlers weren’t the heroes in reality; The English clarifies this from the start.
Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer) and Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt) are intensely compelling as protagonists for this fresh take on a classic genre. One perceived as a traitor to his people; the other reeling from personal loss; both seeking different forms of justice. It looks like the pair has an arrangement for now. But how long can that last when survival–more so than loyalty–is the law in this land?
With its grim and violent atmosphere and subversive revenge-premise, The English premiere teases an arresting story and stunning visuals.
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Episode Rating
(5)
To clarify some of the other comments here…
Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn’t finished the series. Don’t read my last thought as it references a later episode.
First off, the bucket was not full of water. It is a chamber pot. These were used as toilets before indoor plumbing was invented. The guy that is hung above it and drown is the one who referred to Eli as the “sh*t sniffer” earlier in the episode. It is mentioned again by Eli when you see him hanging over the bucket about how the tables have turned.
Secondly, when Cornelia is trying to convince Eli to help her, it is mentioned that everyone at the hotel besides them is dead. This infers that the accordion player was also killed. The final gunshot is Cornelia shooting the pig, showing Eli she knows how to handle a gun.
Spoiler alert…..
Lastly, the bullet that struck Cornelia passed through Melmont and hit her.
In terms of who murdered her child, don’t these two paragraphs contradict each other?
“While he makes his way back, Richard and Cornelia are sitting across from each other at a long dinner table. Cornelia is aghast to learn that “he” (the man who murdered her son) knew she was coming to kill him. Now she’ll be raped and murdered by Richard for trying to carry out her revenge plan.”
“After Eli retrieves his bag (which he claims contains medicine) he starts to head off with his horse. Cornelia stops him. She’s going to Powder River, Wyoming, to kill her son’s murderer, and she asks him to help her.”
Watch episode 6. The accordion player rather miraculously escaped. Hugo Blick, you left some unanswered continuity questions for those who’ve watched it all umpteen times and spot certain anomalies. You haven’t taken account of obsessives like me who absolutely love the series on so many levels: music, grandeur, cinematography, script, wit, acting (especially non-verbal, Chaske Spencer, stunning).
I am enjoying this series very much even though I have only watched the first two episodes. Reading a couple of the comments here, and with the conversation Cornelia and Richard had at the table, I realize I need to go back and rewatch the first episode. I immediately caught the fact that the horse was backed up which would have been the correct way to drown the man. I am unsure as to whether the pig or accordion player was shot but I do remember Eli saying something along the lines of the pig could be used for food though it would make since for the accordion player to die. That way there would be no witness as to what happened there. Also, what about the horses left still hitched up to the stagecoach and not being able to fend for themselves in such a dry desolate part of the country.
Emily Blunt is a favorite actress of mine, and it was good to see Chaske Spencer from the Twilight Saga again.
Thank you, Peter. We all have the capacity for bad and good, from King David to Mary Magdalen to Thomas Jefferson to Sitting Bill to Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama to Emily Blunt – to me. Evil, ignorance, brilliance, compassion. At different times, in different ways. Broad brushes and pigeon holes don’t benefit anyone. The whole ‘all white men are evil’ thing will run its course. I’m very much enjoying this series, with only an occasional eyeroll. You said much more with fewer words, and better. 😉
Who shot Cornelia in the stand off with Melmont at the end?
She walked the horse backward-not forward. That lowered the guy’s head into the bucket of water. Also, heroes and villains on all sides in our history.
She did not shoot the pig the one shot was the accordion player ?
What happened to the second henchman? The accordian player?