Crusoe: Hunting Party

When a mysterious islander cuts off a lock of Crusoe’s hair, he’s determined to track him down and find out why he’s on the island. Crusoe thinks the islander is a cannibal, but after looking at a medallion left behind by the stranger, Friday tells him that it’s not the case – the stranger is a member of a tribe that protected his village from other cannibals. To Friday, they are the equivalent of royalty.

After the tribe members locate Crusoe again and fight and chase him through the forest, they eventually capture him and bring him to the shore where the chief ties him up. The tribe is looking for Crusoe because they assume Friday is his slave. The tribe’s chief was once a slave, which he said ruined his spirit. As revenge, he wants Crusoe dead. When Friday and Crusoe both tell the chief that Friday is definitely not a slave, he tells them to fight to the death to prove it. Of course neither of them will do it, so as they fight they manage to capture the chief. After they drag him into the forest, they pretend to stab him and then they escape to the tree house while they leave the chief screaming and thinking he’s wounded. Of course, the guys don’t stay alone for long because the chief and the rest of the tribe members find them. It’s then a fight to the death as Crusoe and Friday fight the chief and the rest of the tribe members. They are eventually able to load the chief into the gondola that carries their garbage to the compost pile. They send the gondola down the zipline where it hits a tree and they dump him into the compost pile. Defeated, the rest of the tribe members leave.

I feel like this week’s island story isn’t worth mentioning when it’s compared to what’s happening back in England. We find out this week that Santana has met with Blackthorn and has given him a map to Crusoe’s island. Blackthorn is planning to go and Susannah wants to go with him. He doesn’t want her to go with him because her kids would be orphans if the ship sinks. She insists on going with him, so he makes her sign a paper that gives her children to him if she doesn’t make it through the journey. It’s a trick and Susannah ends up being taken away from her children before the voyage even begins.

I’m frustrated with the entire Blackthorn/Susannah situation. I’m frustrated with Susannah for being so gullible. I know she was eager and desperate to find Crusoe, but it’s upsetting that she’s not a better judge of character than she was. Is she really that trusting that she would believe that Blackthorn would have no ulterior motive? I know she’s indebted to him for putting a roof over her head, but you would think she would be a little more cautious when it comes to her children. Also, it’s been obvious from the beginning that Blackthorn definitely had ulterior motives when it came to his relationship with Crusoe and his children, but separating Susannah and the children like he did was just taking it too far. Before she signed the paper, didn’t it occur to her that if she didn’t make it through the trip that Blackthorn probably wouldn’t either?

There was also the return of Oliver/Olivia. We didn’t learn for sure this week what her real identity is, but my guess (or really I should call it wishful thinking since it would make a great twist) is that she could possibly be Blackthorn’s daughter based on the way she threatened the maid if she revealed to her father that she was home. I’m assuming she wants to meet with Susannah to let her know that Crusoe is okay and to also warn her about what could possibly happen, but if Blackthorn is her father, why would she want to betray him? Obviously something happened between the two of them, but what was it? And is the fact that he’s obsessed with gaining custody of Crusoe’s children his way of making amends? How and why did she even end up on the mutineer’s boat to begin with? Did her father send her there to find Crusoe or did she leave home on her own? Or, if she’s not Blackthorn’s daughter and coincidentally happens to be from a wealthy family, is she really trying to help Susannah find Crusoe or does she have some sort of ulterior motive and will mislead Susannah so she can have Crusoe for herself? There was definitely chemistry between the two of them and we know for a fact that she’s definitely savvy and is good at manipulating people, which would cause Susannah to believe just about anything she would say.

There are lots of questions and I hope they’re answered next week. What are your thoughts, conspiracy theories? Also, what are your thoughts on this week’s episode? The last few episodes really missed the mark for me, but I thought this one was considerably better.

– 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.