'Jamestown' Recap: Season 3, Episode 4

Previously on Jamestown: Pedro and Maria attempt to run away from the colony, but their efforts are thwarted thanks to (who else?) Yeardley, despite the fact that the rest of the town conspires to help them get out. Silas tries to do us all a favor by killing the Governor with a Pamunkey bear trap but his goal is thwarted by Pedro, of all people. He saves Yeardley’s life even though he despises him, because we aren’t allowed to have nice things, I guess. If you want more details, our full recap of Episode 3 is right this way.

If last week’s episode of Jamestown was the series’ dullest hour to date, this one is perhaps the most bizarre, spending most of its time on a truly weird hunt for a palomino horse that appears out of nowwhere in the woods. (No, I am not making this up.) The mysterious (and admittedly, very pretty,) horse manages to fascinate most of the town with its flowing mane and golden sheen. Yeardley, of course, wants the animal so that he might ride around like Caesar on a magnificent stead. Jocelyn wants it merely to keep it away from Yeardley. Meredith just wants to know whether it is real, or merely a drunken hallucination. And James Reed seeks the creature so that he can feel like a man again or something, in the wake of his affair with Joss. (This makes little sense, obviously, but let’s go with it, I guess.)

The idea that the entire settlement would somehow become obsessed with this horse is not the compelling story that Jamestown appears to think it is, and the adventure eats up most of the episode with scenes that feel truly ridiculous and drag endlessly. These include James Reed teaching Pedro how to literally horse whisper, Silas immediately being able to ride said horse once he finds it despite the fact that there’s little evidence it’s been broken, and Henry orchestrating an elaborate plot to trade the animal to Redwick in exchange for Silas’ safe return to the colony.

Silas, as it turns out, has been banished from the Pamunkey tribe due to the fact that he didn’t tell Chief Opecancanough about his plan to murder Yeardley via bear trap last week, an action which brought shame to everyone, though whether that’s because it wasn’t successful or because it was just a dumb idea isn’t exactly clear. He and Chacrow have kind of a bad bro-breakup about it, and things get even more complicated when Chacrow is sent to Jamestown to infiltrate Yeardley’s confidence along with several other natives.

(Since Maria’s now seeing premonitions involving blood running down the walls and people screaming in agony, one has to assume this is not exactly going to end well for somebody.)

But, for the moment, Silas is back, and the cost of his return is the magical, religious experience golden horse, along with a public baptism and rejection of the Pamunkey faith. Without Alice, it’s hard to know why we should exactly care about Silas, as his friendship with Chacrow has always felt more convenient than genuine and his relationship with his brother Henry has always been…rocky, at best. (He did leave him for dead and steal his wife, after all.) It’s also a bit strange that Yeardley, a monster, would suddenly find himself so enthralled by a magic horse and the news his wife is pregnant that he magnanimously forgives the man he hates the most. But sure, I guess, let’s just see where this goes.

Speaking of random things that kind of don’t make any sense, Jocelyn’s burning desire to take down Yeardley has her once again seeking the company of Crabtree, despite the fact that she basically ran screaming from his deformity last week. But now she’s desperate to know what his secrets that she’s not only begging him to enlist her as an accomplice to whatever his schemes are, she’s encouraging Verity to use her elite thieving skills (remember that subplot?) to help her figure out what he’s up to. None of this really goes anywhere though and we end the episode knowing as little about Crabtree, his goals and motivation as we did when it started. (Save for the fact that he apparently has a thing for redheads, given his weird out of the blue attempt to get Verity to have an affair with him.)

Where on earth is this season going? I have no idea, and I’m not sure whether that’s a good or a bad thing.

What did you think of this episode of Jamestown? Let’s discuss in the comments.