He tells Eli that he has a job for him before he can go on his way. There’s a woman named Black-Eyed Mog looking to take over Captain Clegg’s line and kill any Native American she comes across.
Eli wants to kill Black-Eyed Mog so that he can return the bird skull.
Cornelia is sitting across from Black-Eyed Mog, a woman who has a history of violent methods. Black-Eyed Mog tells Cornelia why she hates Indians and how she scalped 50 Native Americans as revenge.
Cornelia thinks she’s done enough to “even the score.” She then tells the woman she’s had a chat with John Clarke. He said that Black-Eyed Mog’s enemy, Kills on Water, is planning to send Eli to kill her.
Cornelia has made a mistake in warning her, but Cornelia disagrees. She wasn’t warning her, but getting a jump on her before Eli could get hurt.
Cornelia shoots Black-Eyed Mog, burning her own leg in the process. She then kills one of the sons. But the last son is taken care of by the boy Mog was keeping in the barn to later kill.
Cornelia retrieves Eli, having completed his mission for him. He takes her hand, noticing she’s warm–but she insists her injury isn’t infected. ..
Eli decides to take Cornelia on a road trip to Wyoming. He wants to visit Billy Myers after all. ..
Sheriff Marshall finds it curious that Martha is more concerned with her cattle than her dead husband. She then implies to him that Billy may have abused her. ..
Martha is still upset about her stolen cattle and decides to take her gun, break into Trafford’s corral, and shoot one of his cows. She tells Thin she will take what’s hers, and he says he’ll let her off with a warning. This leads the sheriff to pay Martha a visit. They need to have a talk.
Eli and Cornelia look at the constellations at the Colorado/Wyoming border. Cornelia asks Eli why she wears gloves, and Eli deflects. He says a lady is never supposed to take them off until she gets home.
He tells her his home is “with you,” and they kiss. But Cornelia abruptly pulls away, apologizing. She tears off her clothes as she runs away, then rubs dirt all over her arms and face and lies down.
She wakes up to find that she’s in a hospital bed. She’s been shot. When she wakes up, Eli tells her that he saw three riders with the boy and they have to go get him.
They find him with Major Mackay at the Western Magnetic Cable Company. He is believed to be doing a service to Native Americans by taking them in and putting them through school to make them more “American.” He tells Cornelia he is only taking inspiration from her people, the nobility in England. ..
Two Native American women are sitting beside Mackay, who is training them to serve him. ..
Touching Ground tells Eli that her son is close by and she runs out of the room in fear.
Cornelia is burning up with fever and they need to leave quickly. Touching Ground asks that they take her son, White Moon, with them.
After the group rides off, Mackay shoots White Moon’s horse, causing the boy to fall. Touching Ground then kills Mackay with one of his own rifles. The three of them take care of the rest of his men. But others soon approach and will kill Touching Ground. ..
Eli returns to an unconscious White Moon and Cornelia, who apologizes before passing out from her fever.
Emily Blunt is stunning in an episode exploring Cornelia’s complex motivations and the deep hurt she’s carrying. She’s hiding something, and Blunt beautifully portrays the hurt and desperation boiling just under Cornelia’s surface–just before she pushes it back to be able to get things done. And she certainly is a go-getter.
Cornelia’s outsmarting Black-Eyed Mog makes for the most satisfying kill of the series yet. The entire interaction was largely satisfying because it was selfless–as has been everything Cornelia has done. ..
Mog pursues senseless, impersonal killings for something done to her years ago. Cornelia’s mission is on behalf of her son. It’s personally motivated and targeted on the specific, responsible person. Her disgust with Mog isn’t hypocritical, then, but rather betrays her nobler motivations.
Cornelia is motivated by the end of the episode, but she’s not in a good position to carry out her revenge. Will Eli be able to save both her and White Moon?
