Crusoe Episode 1.10 The Hunting Party

Crusoe gathers eggs in the jungle and encounters a native warrior standing on a fallen tree. With cat-like agility, the man grabs a piece of Crusoe's hair then sprints away. Crusoe gives chase, but the man is too fast. His necklace snags on a tree and Crusoe picks it up. They reach the cliffs, and the warrior swan drives into the ocean, reappearing in the surf way below. He approaches more warriors and a king, whom he kneels before. The king holds a figurine carved in the likeness of a white man in colonial attire. The warrior nods. The king yells Crusoe's name in triumph. They've found their man.

At the treehouse, Crusoe tells Friday about the man in the forest. He shows him the man's necklace. Friday looks at it and says it's from a tribe called the Caciques, who were fierce warriors, skilled craftsmen and legendary hunters. And, thought to be long dead. Friday, who is clearly enamored with them, says years ago the tribe, who detested human flesh, protected their villages from cannibals. Then, one day their king disappeared and the tribe disbanded. After that, they became little more than a legend.

On the beach, two male warriors and one female warrior entertain the king by showcasing their superior fighting and weapons skills. Crusoe and Friday go looking for them and come across a foreboding totem hanging from a tree. Friday sees it and backs off. Crusoe follows. Friday says it's a mark of the hunt. Crusoe asks what they're hunting. Friday says they took Crusoe's hair, which isn't a good sign. Crusoe suddenly realizes that he is the hunted. Even more unsettling, according to Friday, it's purely sport to the warriors who see Crusoe as an exotic prize.

Back in England, Susannah meets Santana who refuses her money and says he promised Crusoe to tell her his story -- a story of pirates, treasure, mutineers, cannibals and heroes. He adds that Crusoe saved his life. It sounds fantastical, but Santana did know that Crusoe was a planter in Brazil. At dinner, relays Santana's tale to Blackthorn who discourages her, saying word is out that she'll pay for story. Blackthorn's dismissal of Santana has weight, as Susannah never received letters from Crusoe. She doesn't know that Blackthorn intercepted Crusoe's letters before he was marooned. However, she still wonders if Santana's tale is true.

The king turns over a primitive hourglass. He motions to a warrior who takes off running. The king then blows his hunting horn, signaling the hunt is on. In the forest, Crusoe and Friday hear it and are worried. The nimble warrior navigates the forest with ease and closes in on them. Friday hears him and Crusoe levels his musket. Friday wants to reason with them, but the warrior has his eyes trained on Crusoe. Crusoe fires, misses. The warrior runs past Friday and tussles with Crusoe. Friday charges him and they knock him off the cliff. He hits the ground, unconscious, but not dead.

Friday is confused, since hunting Crusoe goes against everything the Caciques stand for. Meanwhile on the beach, the hourglass runs out and the king isn't pleased. He blows his horn again. The female warrior, armed with machetes, begins her hunt. Crusoe and Friday hear it and decide to split up so Friday can throw her off course. The warrior spots Friday and they fight machete-to-machete, then hand-to-hand. Friday pins her down; she feigns relenting, but there is more in her eyes. Bewitched, Friday softens his grip and she makes her move, knocking him unconscious. After which she strokes his face.

The female warrior finds Crusoe drinking at a stream. He sees her and bolts toward the treehouse as she hurls a machete at him, barely missing his head. Crusoe runs her through his trap and she trips the wire. Bamboo spikes hurl toward her but she outsmarts the trap and still chases Crusoe. At the river, Crusoe hides underwater by snorkeling through bamboo. She looks for him, but doesn't see him. When the coast is clear, Crusoe surfaces. Meanwhile, on the beach, the hourglass runs out and the king sends the last warrior on the hunt. Friday wakes and hears it. He must find Crusoe.

The third warrior, huge and armed with bolas, pursues an exhausted Crusoe onto the beach. He hurls his weapon and snags Crusoe's legs. Crusoe falls, but the warrior is on him and punches him unconscious. Crusoe wakes at the warrior's camp. The king addresses him by name and asks if he's impressed that he knows it. Crusoe's more impressed with his English. The king says it's slave English, nothing to be proud of. The king then says that it's custom to allow the winning hunter to finish the kill, but since he's a unique prize, he's going to kill Crusoe himself.

With Crusoe tied to a rack, the king tells him a man like him killed his family, enslaved him and taught him his customs. Even had him praise his god. Lastly, to break his spirit, he forced him to speak English. Crusoe denies being like that man. The king accuses him of keeping a slave on the island, which Crusoe vehemently denies. Friday sneaks up and trains his arrow on the king, but the warrior he threw off the cliff jumps on him and knocks him out.

In England, Blackthorn meets with Santana and tells him that he believes his tale about Crusoe. Santana asks him for a ship to sail to the island to rescue Caruso. Blackthorn asks if he knows the way. Santana shows Blackthorn a leather map -- from Fenwick's back -- to the island. Susannah learns that Blackthorn plans to sail to look for Crusoe and wants to go with him. He agrees to take her if she signs over her children to him in case of her death. She agrees, but it's a ruse. Before the ink is even dry, Susannah is dragged away in front of her screaming children as Blackthorn turns away.

The warrior flings a now conscious and tied down Friday to the sand near Crusoe. The king tells Friday he's a disgrace to his tribe and family by serving Crusoe. Friday tells him they're equals. The king asks if he trusts everything Crusoe says. Friday asks if he's trying to trap him in his answers. He cuts Friday's binds and gives him a weapon, then tells him to kill his "master" Crusoe to regain his dignity. Friday refuses. The king laughs. He has a plan B. Crusoe and Friday must fight each other until one dies. The other goes free and earns the respect of the Cacique tribe.

As the Caciques prepare the battleground, Crusoe and Friday wait, tied back to back. Crusoe asks what happens if they refuse to fight. Friday says they'll kill them both. When they get in the ring, at first Crusoe refuses to fight. They shove, then Friday clocks Crusoe. They put on a good show with moves that are more for show than harm, but do hurt. When they grapple, the king breaks them up. That gives them an idea. After a few more moves, they grapple again. The king approaches to break it up and they grab him and drag him into the forest.

The king begs for his life, and they make him believe that they've stabbed him in the neck. As he screams holding his phantom wound, Crusoe and Friday escape. The kings warriors come upon him and after offering a look of disgust, give chase after Crusoe and Friday. They evade them with some clever hiding in the forest and then return to the treehouse. They lock the defenses into place and wait.

In London, Olivia from the mutineer's ship walks the streets as Oliver. She sneaks into a grand residence and enters a bedroom where she sheds the Oliver guise. Half-dressed, but clearly Olivia, a maid enters. Olivia clamps a hand over her mouth and threatens to kill her if she tells her father she was here. Olivia, dressed in fine clothing, enters Crusoe's old loft and tells Nathan she has business with Susannah Crusoe. He sneers and tells her to try the madhouse. Shocked, Olivia turns and hurries off.

In the treehouse, as Crusoe and Friday keep watch, they hear a noise. A machete whizzes past Crusoe's face and sticks into the tree. The three warriors approach and it's on. It's a battle of three against two, with machetes, bolas, fists, feet and bodies flying everywhere. The tides shift several times. Enter the king wielding a sword. Crusoe grabs his arm, Friday punches him. Both kick him into the garbage disposal gondola. They pull the lever and send him on a journey away from the treehouse. The gondola smacks against the tree, knocks out the king and dumps him in the compost pile.

In the treehouse, the fighting has ceased. The female warrior looks at Crusoe and Friday with an air of respect. The two male warriors turn to her and bow. They now look to her as their queen. She bows to Crusoe and Friday, as do the warriors. As they leave the tree house, Friday calls to her to wait. She looks at him one more time, then joins her fellow Cacique. Friday is left to wonder "what if."

In England, Blackthorn is rowed to a ship that stands at anchor. Blackthorn climbs the ship's external ladder, and as he reaches the top, a hand is offered over the rail. Blackthorn looks up and sees it's being offered by Samuel Tuffley. Uncertainty on his face, Blackthorn takes his hand and is helped aboard.