CRUSOE Recap: Body and Soul

Two week’s in…are you watching CRUSOE?  Are you liking it?

This week’s episode begins with Friday dreaming about a woman who is leading him out to the beach and pointing toward the ocean. Friday wakes up Crusoe to tell him about the woman and Crusoe goes looking for her, but then learns Friday was just dreaming. The next morning, when the guys are going about their morning rituals, they discover their water supply is low. Crusoe realizes their water source is blocked and he sticks his hand in an opening in an attempt to open it up, and in the process, loses his wedding ring. When Friday and Crusoe attempt to blast the hole and make it wider so Crusoe can attempt to retrieve his ring, they get more than they bargained for. The blast reveals a cave and also a mysterious box.

After figuring out how to open the box, Friday and Crusoe discover a skull that Friday is convinced belongs to the mysterious woman on the beach. (Who, by the way, has a really creepy looking skeleton-like face. It sort of looks like those masks that 10 year olds wear on Halloween that still really freak me out for some reason, even though I know it’s just the kid down the street). As they explore the cave, Crusoe discovers the water in the cave has turned bitter, and Friday discovers paintings on the cave walls which lead him to believe the woman on the beach was a human sacrifice to a water god. Friday is convinced the woman on the beach has turned the water bitter, and was the one who took Crusoe’s ring.

Friday says that “Man is made of two parts, body and soul” and he realizes he has to reunite her skull with the rest of her skeleton so her spirit can rest. Although he is skeptical since he doesn’t really believe in sprits, Crusoe agrees to help Friday. Friday uses the paintings on the cave wall to help them find their way to the tomb through some ancient ruins where the rest of her bones are buried. Once they unlock the tomb and remove the bones, they are approached by a pack of wild dogs that are guarding the bones. Crusoe and Friday are able to escape all of the dogs but one that follows them out to the ocean. Once Friday is able to toss the entire skeleton into the ocean, the dog backs down and the woman’s body and soul are at peace.

The story ends with Friday and Crusoe in their tree house, where Crusoe is pumping fresh water for them to drink. He tastes the water and discovers it is no longer bitter. As he is pumps more water into the basin, his wedding ring falls down. I’m thinking Crusoe’s thoughts on whether or not spirits are real have probably been changed by the miraculous appearance of his prized ring.

We also learn a little more about Crusoe’s life before the island. There’s a scene where Susannah’s father tells Crusoe that his family sided with the wrong side during the civil war. Even though Crusoe tells him that his family made their decision well before he was born, her father says it doesn’t matter and that if King James takes the throne, Susannah will be married to an enemy of the throne. Her father is also quick to tell him that he will disown him if that happens. Guess what? It happens and we learn later on that King Charles was executed and King James has taken the throne. Crusoe tells us troubles started on that day.

I have to say I really missed the swashbuckling/fighting scenes this week. While I thought they might have been a little too long and drawn out during last week’s two hour show, this episode could have definitely used something other than wild dogs. Dogs just didn’t do it for me this week. Would anyone else love to see pirate Judy return again? It looks like we might see more action next week since the previews show another ship of pirates arriving on the island.

Is anybody else having trouble suspending their disbelief and letting the little inaccuracies of the show go? In one scene Crusoe opens his bible and pulls out locks of hair that Susannah had given him before he left for his ill-fated voyage. How did the bible and the locks of hair manage to escape the shipwreck unscathed, but yet everyone onboard but Crusoe was killed? I know this show is pure entertainment and we’re supposed to overlook those inaccuracies for the sake of entertainment, but is anybody else bothered by stuff like that or is it just me?

I was left with mixed feelings after this episode. Friday and Crusoe were entertaining enough, but something about the chemistry they had in last week’s episode was a little off. Maybe this duo is going to be at their best when they’re trying to outwit and outmaneuver visitors to their island. And even though I enjoyed the flashback scenes last week, this week they kind of left me a little empty and didn’t really move forward enough in terms of the back story.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours? Do you think the show peaked with the premier episode, or do you think it will pick back up again next week when we see Crusoe and Friday in their element defending their turf?

— posted by Meredith

Meredith lives in a small South Carolina town where there is nothing to do but watch TV! She loves The Office, Chuck, Scrubs and Arrested Development, and her guilty pleasure is anything Gordon Ramsay related.