Cornelia and Eli continue their ride. Cornelia marvels at the Milky Way above them, wondering if Eli’s family is trying to send him a message.
Eli warns Cornelia that she may have to put her shooting skills to use. One of the men is Trooper Charlie White, an Indian man who once fought with Eli. He’s with two white men, one of whom is Captain Clegg. ..
When the men ask for Cornelia’s bags, their hands hover over their guns. But Cornelia is shooting from her rifle before anyone else can do anything. She hits Charlie’s horse, as Eli instructed, while Eli kills the other two. Eli lets Charlie run away on foot. But Cornelia shoots him with an arrow-straight to the heart. ..
The Mennonite couple had been slaughtered by three men. Eli cut a baby out of the dead pregnant woman, Cornelia discovered another young child hiding in the storage.
Cornelia insists that she cannot be their mother when Eli insinuates that the baby could be a replacement for her child. She already is a mother to her own son. And anyway, Eli lost his family too, so why shouldn’t he take on the children? Cornelia’s insistence that she cannot be their mother is an attempt to distance herself from her son and from the idea of adoption.
He tells the story of how he joined up and how it has affected his life. He talks about the enemies he’s made and how he’s learned to live with them. He also talks about the land he wants and how it has helped him in his life.
Cornelia, a woman in her early twenties, tells me that her father was a soldier and was given some land after the war. She and her son lived in a separate part of the grounds, away from the other residents. ..
Eli admits he can’t read, so Cornelia promises to tell his story–if they both survive. ..
Eli warns Cornelia to keep quiet about her money in front of the Kickapoo man and Cherokee woman, but she doesn’t listen. Her mention of payment gives the couple pause. ..
John tells Eli that he has to turn his back on his past if he wants to survive. But this doesn’t stop Eli from wanting to claim his piece of land.
John and Katie tell their friends about a family they had to leave behind. They say that the other Mennonites they talked to said that they were worried about them and wanted to help. Cornelia wants to bring the children back to their people, but they went south so she would have to backtrack three days.
Eli says he understands why Cornelia has to return the children to their people, but he can’t go with her. He came through this area once after the government forced him out from Nebraska. He and his wife were heading where the Mennonites are going now, but his wife died with a child on the way. The baby girl died two years later of a fever. He can’t go back.
Cornelia will travel to Oklahoma alone. She leaves her money behind, and swaps carriages with the Clarkes. Eli then gifts her with a compass he received from the Clarkes. He will stay with them to pay it off. They then part ways, as Eli cries a Pawnee chant. ..
The second episode of “The English” builds on the chemistry between its two leads, Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer. They play their parts brilliantly, creating a spectacular scene together. ..
Cornelia has a complicated relationship with her English father, who she blames for her mother’s death. She also has a complicated relationship with her Native American tribe, which she blames for the death of her mother. Cornelia is also conflicted between her feelings for Englishman, who she loves, and for her Native American tribe, which she hates.
The English are in the middle of a power struggle that is dangerous and unpredictable. It will be interesting to see how they try to understand the politics of the strife in this land when there is nothing clear cut.
