Abe must discover who murdered a Royal Officer before Anna is framed for the crime. Ben and Caleb brutally interrogate Simcoe.
In its second episode, Turn is still just setting up its version of spycraft. Not a ton of plot movement is happening. It takes until the very end of "Who By Fire" until Abe and Anna realize that Simcoe was not killed during the attack in Connecticut. This hour is very much continuing to build on the relationships of its characters. We are told that Abe and Anna are the two characters we are suppose to care about and root for. Thusly, it should devastate us that he says they need to stay away for a little bit. It doesn't quite work like that. Mostly because we still understand them as plot points instead of human characters.More importantly, Angus Macfadyen's character, Robert Rogers, strolls into town to solve the murder of the officer that occurred in the pilot. It's not why he comes to town in the first place but it's also the only real answer he accomplishes here. He pulls Abe into another reluctant situation. So in the first two episodes, Abe only does stuff because he is being forced into complying. He's not working on his own plan. And that's a part of the character's design too. He just wants to live in his house with his wife and son and just grow some cabbages. His rebel friends forced him to obtain information for them. His father forced him to plead loyalty in front of the town. Rogers forces him to keep an eye on his new spy who really was the one to kill the officer. How naive was he to go to that meeting in the field and just expect the guy to turn himself in? Naivety is the point. Abe doesn't know how to be a spy and is just trying to do what's necessary to keep him living on his farm. Outside forces are forcing him to act which is the choice the show decided to make. Could it have been more interesting watching the same character but as a more experienced spy? It probably would be more entertaining. But Abe is also the most interesting character at this point.
Elsewhere, Ben and Caleb try to talk with Simcoe - which is just really odd. During this time period, it apparently is frowned upon to torture an officer for information. And yet, we're not told that piece of information until the very end of the story. So instead, we get a scene of them sitting down for dinner trying to make them all seem civilized as they pour back wine. It's just so different from the tone that we're expecting to get from this subplot. It's an odd dichotomy that comes into better focus at the end - even though it frustratingly keeps Simcoe alive.
Some more thoughts:
- "Who By Fire" was written by Craig Silverstein and directed by Ed Bianchi.
- I still have no clue what JJ Feild's character is up to - other than having sex with an actress. But hey, he's heading to New Jersey now.
- If we are suppose to feel for Abe and his desire to not do any of this, then they better do more with his wife. She's such a non-character. Show us his life with her and then when it gets pulled away because of circumstances it will hurt that much more. Right now, if wife and baby died, I would feel nothing.
- At least Macfadyen is being entertainingly campy. The same cannot be said for Burn Gorman, Samuel Roukin and JJ Feild. I desperate want Simcoe to be killed as soon as possible. That seems more and more likely that it won't happen though.
