Crusoe Episode 1.11 The Traveler

Crusoe does maintenance on the treehouse as Friday goes to hunt for dinner. Friday is aiming his arrow at a bird when a ship's rocket makes him misfire and almost hit Crusoe. They go to Shipwreck Beach and see a ship with a British flag turning away. Two unconscious men lie washed ashore on the beach. They check them. Both have drowned. They find another man floating in the water and pull him to shore. His cough tells them he's alive. When they turn him over, Crusoe is shocked to see that the man is his benefactor Jeremiah Blackthorn.

They bury the dead men as Blackthorn recovers in a shaded cot. Blackthorn, who in a feverish haze kept repeating Susannah's name, wakes to see Crusoe. Crusoe asks about Susannah. Blackthorn lies that she's well, then wonders where his ship is. Crusoe says they turned away to avoid running ashore and probably figure Blackthorn drowned. Blackthorn says they found the island via Santana's leather map. Crusoe and Friday know that means Fenwick is dead. Friday says Crusoe knew the map's owner, which Blackthorn completely ignores, then expectantly holds out his empty juice cup toward him. Friday stands, waiting for Crusoe to correct him. Uncomfortable, Crusoe says nothing.

In England, Olivia visits those other lodgings, a lunatic asylum that Blackthorn had Susannah committed to after stealing her children. The superintendent leads her to Susannah's room, where she lies bound, disheveled and staring off blankly. Olivia tells him to take off her restraints. He refuses until she holds out a card bearing her father's seal and threatens to tell him the superintendent refused her. He acquiesces, and Olivia hurries Susannah out, saying she knows Crusoe. Susannah asks where he is. Olivia asks if she remained faithful to him. An odd question, but Susannah answers, "Yes." "Then you still have his heart. Wherever he is," Olivia says.

Crusoe rigs a sedan chair for Blackthorn, who asks what's the use if he only has one servant to carry it? Crusoe finally corrects him about Friday, saying he isn't a servant and they'll both carry Blackthorn. He adds there are no masters and servants here and tells Blackthorn, who considers Friday a savage, that he has a lot to learn about how things are on the island. Blackthorn, feeling strong enough, opts to walk and quips to Crusoe that he can educate him along the way. Crusoe looks at Friday, who has already taken a dislike to Blackthorn, as well as Crusoe's behavior around Blackthorn.

On the walk to the treehouse, Blackthorn only talks to Crusoe as Friday grows more angry at the offhanded treatment, especially when Blackthorn suggests that Crusoe hasn't had civilized company until now. Blackthorn assures Crusoe again that Susannah and his children are safe, "As secure as I could make it." The treehouse comes into view, and Blackthorn calls it magnificent. He marvels that Crusoe built this all by himself. Crusoe, wanting to impress Blackthorn, doesn't correct him that Friday had a hand in building that treehouse. Friday simmers at his friend's betrayal.

Crusoe sends Blackthorn up the elevator. Both now in the treehouse, Blackthorn continues to marvel at Crusoe's ingenuity. Meanwhile, Friday hunts for pigeons. When he gets back, he tells Crusoe that Blackthorn isn't the man he described. Crusoe wonders what he means. Friday says Blackthorn shows one face to Crusoe and to him, another. Defensive, Crusoe says Blackthorn risked everything to find him. Friday tells Crusoe to ask himself why, as Blackthorn isn't his father. Crusoe urges Friday to try to get to know him. Unbeknownst to both, Blackthorn has overheard their conversation.

The next morning, Crusoe shows Blackthorn the warning in the London Gazette. "Robinson, born Kreuznauer. Beware false friends, your children are in danger." Blackthorn says the false friend is the one who placed the "mischief." In England at Olivia's, Crusoe's sister Mary shows Susannah the same ad that Gallerne delivered to their father when he was alive. They tried to tell Susannah, but Samuel Tuffley said she'd turned her back on them. Susannah sees Olivia with the letter Crusoe asked her to deliver and asks what it is. Olivia lies that it's Susannah's address which she doesn't need anymore. She tosses it in the fire.

In the treehouse, Blackthorn tells Crusoe that he advised Susannah to give up the loft. He asks Crusoe what's next for them but doesn't like Crusoe's answer, that he learn patience and they'll fend for themselves until a rescue ship comes. Blackthorn, taking a walk, comes across Friday, who introduces himself and offers his hand to Blackthorn, who doesn't take it. Friday is confused, thinking that's how they introduce themselves in his country. Blackthorn, not ready to treat Friday as an equal, apologizes for taking things slowly. Friday says he's forgiving, up to a point.

A rocket fires, then a cannon which reveals the ship's direction. Crusoe is excited and tells Blackthorn that his crew didn't abandon him, but circled around the island to find a safe harbor. On board the ship, Samuel Tuffley and Nathan look toward the shore. Tuffley tells Nathan they'll give Crusoe three days to make his way to them. That is, if he's alive. Nathan wants to go ashore and hunt him down if Crusoe doesn't turn up.

Preparing for the two-day hike to where the ship is docked, Crusoe packs his Bible as Friday says someone should run ahead and signal it. Crusoe says they'll take one look at Friday and fire on him. Friday tells him to go, and he'll catch up with Blackthorn. Crusoe evasively tells him no, then says Blackthorn swore he wouldn't slow them down. He adds that Blackthorn is afraid of Friday. Friday says Blackthorn isn't afraid of anything and is lying. Crusoe says the only black men Blackthorn has known have been slaves or servants. Friday says that's Blackthorn's problem, and not to make it his.

Blackthorn tells Crusoe that "his man" doesn't trust him. Crusoe plays it down. Blackthorn insists on carrying his share. Crusoe tells him to take his knapsack with his Bible. Instead, Blackthorn takes the one with the sea charts that Crusoe said they wouldn't need and leaves Crusoe's belongings behind. They come to the piranha-infested river and must cross via a rope over the canyon. Friday makes it across. Blackthorn starts across but halfway, loses his balance and slips, dangling perilously with one hand. Friday makes it back across to Blackthorn. This time, Blackthorn takes Friday's offered hand and is pulled to safety.

Dundee comes out of the forest and Crusoe says goodbye to his dear canine friend. He tells Dundee it wouldn't be fair to take him to London after the dog has grown accustomed to his freedom-filled life on the island. As Blackthorn pats Friday on the shoulder for saving his life, Crusoe, sad at leaving his friend, makes it across the rope. All three are sad to see Dundee, who seems to know this is goodbye, looking at them from across the river.

Blackthorn tells Crusoe and Friday the path to his fortune. As the second born, he inherited nothing from his father. He hoped to marry a woman he was in love with, so he traveled the world, trying various schemes to secure his future. When he found one that worked, he learned his brother, who had no heirs, had died. Blackthorn returned to manage his inheritance, and learned the woman had married a penniless man for love. Unbeknownst to Crusoe and Friday, Blackthorn is talking about Crusoe's parents. He jokes about making sure they were never happy. Realizing what he just said, he says he was joking. Crusoe and Friday laugh.

Friday reaches into the knapsack and notices that it's filled with the charts, not Crusoe's Bible. Crusoe is devastated because they've come too far to go back for it. Later, they arrive at a sulfuric lake. A bridge runs across it but is broken in the middle. With Blackthorn, Crusoe thinks it's too far to chance. However, Blackthorn surprises them by taking a running leap and making it across. Crusoe and Friday go next. When Friday lands, his leg smashes through a rotten board, putting him in danger of slipping into the acidic water. This time Blackthorn comes to the rescue, pulling Friday to safety.

Crusoe tells Blackthorn that his Bible contains birth and death certificates, which greatly interests Blackthorn. In England, Susannah and Olivia secretly meet Gallerne. Susannah asks Olivia how she knows Crusoe, but Gallerne arrives before Olivia can answer. Susannah asks Gallerne why he listed Crusoe in his baptism record as "son of a stranger." Gallerne reveals that Alice Crusoe agreed to bear an heir for a rich man who died before the child was born. So, James and Alice raised him as theirs. Gallerne says Alice kept a certificate with the real father's name. Susannah, knowing it's Blackthorn's brother, understands that if they can find it, the Crusoes will inherit Blackthorn's fortune.

Crusoe shows Blackthorn a magnificent waterfall that he named after him. Blackthorn is moved, but there is something lurking under the surface that Friday sees and doesn't like. Guilt. On board the ship, Nathan is chomping at the bit to hunt down Crusoe while Tuffley grows irritable. They hear a gun shot from the island and realize someone's alive out there. They hear another one, and Tuffley orders them to set up a "welcoming party" on the beach. They signal back, alerting Crusoe that they've heard.

Near the beach, Friday tells Crusoe that Blackthorn is hiding something, and asks why every good thing that Crusoe has done for Blackthorn makes him feel worse. Blackthorn overhears and says Friday is right. He doesn't deserve the opinion Crusoe has of him. He tells Crusoe he's not the man he imagines and that he's sorry. Crusoe, certain it's of no great magnitude, tells Blackthorn he can explain on the voyage back. Blackthorn tells them to stand back if there's a shore party on the beach, citing fears they might fire on the unfamiliar Crusoe, especially if they mistake Friday as a savage.

Blackthorn instructs Crusoe and Friday to wait for his signal, and then approaches Tuffley, Nathan and the shore party. Friday, not as trusting as Crusoe, discreetly places his hand on his weapon as they wait. Tuffley is surprised to see Blackthorn alive, glibly saying he figured that he drowned. Nathan sees Crusoe and Friday at a distance and asks if that's Crusoe. Blackthorn nods, and then signals for Crusoe and Friday to approach the camp. As they run toward the camp, Blackthorn instructs Nathan to "kill the savage first."