The Blackwater – As the first episode of The Essex Serpent begins, we see two girls down by the water. One asks for forgiveness for sinning with Samuel Dowsett. Gracie (Rebecca Ineson) tells Naomi Banks (Lily-Rose Aslandogdu) that it is their secret and a serpent made her do it. A frightened Naomi watches as something in the water rushes toward the woman. She begins screaming while Naomi runs away. After the intro, Dr. Garrett arrives at the Seaborne house. Martha (Hayley Squires) tells him to just do whatever the patient says. He enters the room with Cora Seaborne (Claire Danes) before saying he came as soon as he could. After being urged by her husband, Cora reads to him. The doctor checks on her husband.
Garrett says it is progressing, but it’ll be a simple procedure if he operates immediately. Cora’s husband grabs his arm and says he intends to leave the world as he entered it. In private, the doctor tells Cora that her husband will die if he doesn’t operate because his throat is constricted. He offers to give him a strong sedative and operate without his permission, but Cora isn’t sure about that. Then, he tells her he is sorry. Later, Cora asks Martha if she can stay with her. Martha says yes and urges her to get more rest. In the morning, Martha checks on the husband only to discover that he has passed. Cora tells their son Frankie about his father’s passing. He questions whether she is sad since she isn’t crying. When Cora tries to touch him, Frank moves further away from her.
She tells him that she is sorry. After getting dressed, Cora looks at a strange bruise on her neck likely caused by her husband. She also remembers being choked. Cora goes to her husband’s funeral. Outside the church, Charles offers to do whatever he can. Cora thanks Dr. Garrett for coming. He offers to get them a cab while Martha agrees to take Frankie on the underground. Cora changes her mind and decides to go for a very long walk with Dr. Garrett. As they continue, she tells him that they’re following the course of the river and the eels used to swim upstream all the way from Sargasso Sea. They came here to breed. Natural history is her passion. Cora shows him how you can still hear the river if you listen.
Garrett watches as she takes off her earrings and tosses them into the storm drain before she says her husband was always buying her jewelry. Garrett wishes she would’ve let him operate. Cora asks what it feels like to cut into a human body since she is curious. Garrett says it is exciting, terrifying, and every operation is a leap of faith. He goes on to call it a high-wire act. Cora would like to learn more about it since it sounds fascinating. When Cora gets home, she tells Martha she feels odd before telling her about the walk with Dr. Garrett. Cora wonders if it was wrong that they talked and talked. Martha says no because she is free now and can make new friends. She encourages Cora to make friends and explore since they’ve been shut away for too long.
Martha gives her a paper she thought she might be interested in before walking away to check on Frankie. Cora reads the paper about a sea dragon being spotted in Essex. Naomi yells for Gracie as she looks around for her. Cora gets a letter from Luke Garrett (Frank Dillane) inviting her to watch him operate at the medical school. Cora and Martha go to the theater where they’re warned there will be a lot of blood. The patient has been trampled by a horse. Luke will be assisted by Dr. George Spencer (Jamael Westman). Martha is repulsed by what she sees while Cora is fascinated and can’t stop looking. Once they finish, Luke takes the men back to his room. Dr. Spencer admits he often assists and operates although Garrett is at the cutting-edge.
When Cora asks what edge he’d like to cut into next, Luke says the heart. The main challenge is keeping the patient alive once he opens the chest cavity. He just needs the right patient. After Martha calls him an animal, Luke confesses that the hospital board would agree with her although he isn’t sure why. They learn that Martha is a socialist. Luke calls his heart surgery a vocation. Cora says they might have vocations if they were welcomed into the professions. Luke points at Spencer and suggests they weren’t all welcomed either.
Cora thinks they should all follow their passions. Luke agrees. Back at home, Cora continues reading about the mysterious serpent in Essex. While collecting their eels, Henry Banks (Gerard Kearns) asks Naomi about Gracie who supposedly traveled to Maldon. He wants to know if she has been with that boy, but Naomi says she hasn’t. He believes she’ll be home soon then. Luke visits Cora at home to bring her a slice of a human heart that he got from a research cadaver. Cora says she’ll take it to Essex since they’re leaving tomorrow. They’re going to Colchester where the sea creature was spotted. She has done research and suspects it could be some sort of plesiosaur. When Luke asks her not to go, Cora says she thought she should follow her passions.
Luke agrees, but says she is grieving from a medical point of view. She says she can do what she wants now that her husband is dead. Once they arrive, Cora tells Martha and Frankie that it isn’t so bad. Martha claims it is witch-burning country. They approach a man who claims he has seen the serpent which has wings and a huge, ridged back. When asked about photos, he says livestock has been eaten and there was a recent sighting near Aldwinter. After that, Martha and Frankie check into The Blue Boar Hotel while Cora continues walking. Cora finds Will Ransome (Tom Hiddleston) struggling to get his sheep out of the water so she offers to help. They use her belt to pull it safely out of the water.
He thanks her before learning she is heading to Aldwinter. Will realizes she has heard the stories about the serpent but doesn’t think she’ll find anything. Naomi tries to give the serpent a sacrifice to bring her sister home. Will visits Henry to see if there is any news on Gracie. Henry believes she went to Maldon to sell Lace although she has never been gone this long before. Naomi has been listening to the rumors about the serpent. Will says it is a myth. Henry suggests Gracie stayed in Maldon with a friend. Will reminds him that he is always there for him if he needs him. Henry gives him the rabbit he found in the trap. Will says she’ll be back soon and he’ll see them all in church. Charles greets Cora when she comes back to the motel.
Charles was worried about Cora and asks if she could’ve found a hobby in town such as helping Martha with her campaigns. He promised Michael he would look after him, but Cora says Martha looks after her. Michael tells her that they lost Will to God. Will has a parish near the coast so he could keep an eye on Cora. He lives in Aldwinter too. Luke learns that Cora has been digging down by the estuary but hasn’t found any sign of a plesiosaur yet. He asks what it means when she says she still has his heart. George thinks it means she still has his present. Luke thinks she likes him. A nurse comes in to tell Luke they have a pericardial effusion that might be right for his heart operation. They rush out to begin working on the female patient immediately.
When the nurse doesn’t get a pulse, Luke asks for adrenaline. The operation is unsuccessful. Later, Luke’s boss complains about another body being in the theater since it is going to damage their reputation. Luke tells George about it while calling himself the most innovative surgeon of his generation. He is worried someone will finish a cardiac surgery before him. Luke suggests he needs a stronger heart. George wonders if they should take a few days off and travel somewhere. Luke says they’ll go to Essex. They arrive and visit Cora in her room. He complains about Cora not brushing her hair and her hands being filthy. Luke sends George to help Martha with their cases. Luke confesses to Cora that he lost a patient on the table, but that happens when trying a new procedure.
As for Cora, she is going to Aldwinter to learn more about the beast from some boring vicar. She will refuse to say grace and it’ll be painful. Luke tries to convince her to stay with him instead. He argues it wouldn’t be right to leave him alone, but she tells him he has Spencer. She promises to be back after dinner. Naomi asks Will if there is anything outside. He says no. He takes her into the kitchen with Stella (Clemence Poesy), John (Ryan Reffell), and Jo (Dixie Egerickx). John says he is drawing the serpent. Stella tells the kids that a friend of Charles who is a widow and her son. Will jokes that she’ll be old, wrinkled, and will bore them with the latest talk from society drawing rooms. Jo speculates that the young student from Oxford will fall in love with her and propose before she refuses and breaks his heart.
Naomi decides to go before it gets dark since she doesn’t want her father to worry about her. Will agrees to walk her home. During their walk, Naomi asks him why the serpent tempts Eve. Will claims it is an allegory since the serpent is really the devil. After she admits that is what she thought, Will insists there is no serpent in Essex. Henry thanks him for walking her home and tells him about the dead mice they are using to scare the beast away. Will encourages him to tell her that there is no beast. Stella tells Cora she is too young and beautiful to be a widow. When she apologizes for Frankie, Cora says he has always been different and his own person. Once Will returns, he wants to work on his sermon to calm everyone down, but Stella refuses to let him leave.
Cora and Will are surprised when they see one another again. John suspects she is the strange lady from the marshes. Will apologizes for being rude while Cora calls him a monster. During dinner, they learn that Cora is there to look for fossils because she is obsessed with the serpent. Will argues the only serpent here is on the pew at the church and it has been here for 200 years, but Jo thinks it has come back to life. Jo tells her that it has been seen on the marshes. Will stops her to remind her that the serpent isn’t real. Cora wonders if it is before asking him if he knows about the work of Charles Lyell who wrote about animals that escaped evolution. Will knows because he reads everything. He believes the serpent is a sign of the times since it is a time of great change.
Cora asks if he is against progress, but he worries she is determined to see him in a narrow light. Cora wonders if she’d be an outcast at his church now that Jesus is very establishment. Cora would rather believe in a creature people have seen than an invisible God. When she asks if that is blasphemy, Stella says she’ll never get Will to judge her. Will says his curate would happily condemn her to hellfire though. They offer to let Cora spend the night so she can see the serpent at the church. She knows she should get back to Luke but decides to stay anyway. Henry gets word from a friend who returned from Maldon that Gracie never turned up. They go looking for Gracie in the middle of the night. Cora has a nightmare about her husband.
In the morning, Naomi begins looking for her father. Cora goes to the church to see the Essex serpent carved into the pew. She asks him about the bloody sheep head she saw on the marsh this morning. He claims it is a carrion for an eel trap and one of the fishermen must’ve dropped it. Cora questions how he can be sure. Philip, Edward, and the other members of the congregation enter. Will’s curate Matthew Evansford (Michael Jibson) reminds him that Gracie is still missing. He asks Will what he is going to say now, but Will doesn’t respond. Matthew tries to convince Cora to sit anywhere except the pew with the serpent carved onto it. When he walks away, Will tells her to sit wherever she wants. Henry’s friend finds a cross necklace near the water so he is told to go and get help.
Henry begins yelling for Gracie and looking around. Will speaks at the church and tells everyone it is time to come together. He will listen to their fears and try to understand them. He asks them not to be scared and claims it is when they’re most lost that the source of light is closest. While the congregation sings, Cora remembers the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband and how he burned her neck. Henry’s friend, Jonah, runs into the church to say it is Gracie and Henry needs help. Everyone begins searching the marshes for Gracie. Cora finds herself alone as she hears someone yelling no. She rushes over and finds Naomi with Gracie’s body.
Cora begins yelling for everyone. Matthew worries that the devil has come. Will asks him not to do that now. Henry believes Matthew is right and that the serpent has come.
The Essex Serpent Review
The Essex Serpent is based on Sarah Perry’s 2016 book of the same name. Since it is based on a novel, there is a good chance that the story is going to be solid. Based on the first episode only, the scenery is effectively moody and the soundtrack does a good job of creating a creepy atmosphere. The acting has been decent so far and I wouldn’t expect that to change.
The episode wasn’t bad although I wasn’t really able to develop a connection with any of the characters just yet. It may take some time for the story to start moving, but the first episode was slow. It’ll take a few more episodes to find out where this is going to be worthwhile. The first episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Essex Serpent can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link.
