The title of this episode, Jemais Je Ne T’oublierai, is from the song À la Claire Fontaine and means “I will never forget you.” Our characters, this week, are all engaged in the act of memory. Cullen, as always, remembers his wife, and Lily remembers her husband. Elam remembers slavery. The Irish brothers discover, though, that even nostalgia gets old after a while.
There was some very good character development this episode, but the structure and plot struck me as odd. For plot, well, very little happened. Cullen couldn’t catch Harper, of course, because then he wouldn’t have a big quest, but the way that chase played out was sloppy. Why did Harper leave so late, if he knew Cullen was after him? Why the shootout from such a distance with weapons poorly designed for it? At least the euthanizing of the horse was done well. Sure, it’s a Western cliché, but as I’ve said before, they don’t have to cover new ground if they cover old ground well. The shoot-out wasn’t well-done but this moment of compassion certainly was.
I like Cullen as a character in a lot of ways, but his sloppy drunkenness is no fun to watch. I hope it leads somewhere. This is a character whom we have met well into his decline. It seems clear that we open the series with him believing there’s nothing left in life for him but his quest for vengeance. He doesn’t care what kind of a murderer or a drunk or a foolish ass he is, because he doesn’t deserve forgiveness and he has no real life. It’s interesting that by the end of the episode he seems to have realized that being foreman requires some kind of job integrity. He sought the job to access Johnson’s personal effects and to save his own skin, but he’s neglected it since. Now his negligence seems to be responsible for a big-ass explosion and some consequent deaths and injuries. From what we could see of the final moments, it appears that he has learned to take the job seriously. Does that impact his drinking? His quest? His sullen fucking attitude? We shall see.
But step away from the character, and look at the structure. The episode ended in a big, terrifying explosion. It should have been built towards, and it should have been climatic. In fact, the black powder was mentioned only past the halfway point, it was given little focus, and then all of a sudden it was exploding, almost in the background. The rhythm was just off.
The best character stuff this week, though, was between Elam and Eva, the “cut-rate whore.” There was a sweetness to their conversation that wasn’t sticky or trite, and I am genuinely looking forward to seeing what develops from it.
With Elam and Eva, as with Lily and Durant, there’s a cultural and intellectual match, but the entire dinner between Lily and Durant was a waste. It advanced the plot far too little, and it tried to be the kind of witty war of words that an audience loves, without the wit or the words to meet the task. It was weird how all of a sudden she had a wardrobe, but what was weirder was her encounter with Joseph, and then the preacher. I am grateful to this Indian I hate Indians all in one breath. What?
Throughout that night—Elam and Eva, Lily and Durant, Cullen and his bottle—there was a lyrical quality to several moments that seemed to me to indicate that This Was the Last Line…and then I looked at the clock. So again, this is what I mean by strange pacing.
Anachronism Watch: People didn’t say “You’re not seeing the big picture,” in the 1860s, and the medical profession did not yet know to apply pressure directly to a wound. In those days, you tourniqueted below the wound, and as a result, more limbs were lost.
Jemais Je Ne T’oublierai seemed mostly to be laying down groundwork for the next episode. I expect Something To Happen with the McGinnes brothers, with Elam and Eva, and with the maps.
Hm, I thought the Elam/Eva conversation was forced and overlong. It could have ended with “we were both slaves” but it went on for several minutes saying the same things. But I agree with everything else.
I am giving this show a long fuse because I like Westerns, and many shows take a while to get their footing, but so far, it’s just a meh for me. We’ll see if the characters develop some depth.
You’re right, Donny, that it could have cut off at that point, but I enjoyed it a lot.
Still barely hanging in there. I guess we should assume Cullen is stepping up to the plate because he rescued that Yankee SOB from under the wagon. I’d fire his drunken ass for wasting precious resources (powder, equipment, manpower) anyway.
But how about that brief glimpse of The Swede scrubbing the floor naked?
It’s “Jamais Je Ne T’oublierai” instead of “Jemais…”
Didn’t Chekhov say that if black powder is mentioned in the second act, that an explosion must occur before the end?
Four episodes in, and I’m really enjoying this show. I feel that it’s subtly catching all the nuances of a very complex time in American history. That’s why I need to disagree with you, Deb, regarding the dinner scene between Durant and Lily; I’m really looking forward to finding out why she’s holding back on the maps. For me, there was some nicely understated exposition about each character. Durant had a LOT of connections. If he can bring out his chef from Delmonico, then he can certainly manage to procure “appropriate” clothing for someone of Lily’s station. Same thing with the black powder explosion–the disjointed, background feeling of the explosion was spot on, capturing the danger and uncertainty inherent in building the transcontinental railroad. So much more is happening here than typical Western cliches. The Swede scrubbing the floor naked? Perhaps deep psychological wounds from his time in Andersonville? I’m seeing the railroad as symbolic of a grand (artificial) union of the continent, at a time when the nation still has tremendous festering wounds from the Civil War.
I forgot about the Swede scrubbing the floor–that was really intriguing. I agree about where it may be from.
Oh–I think that Don is not in a place where he’d mind about Pete and Peggy exactly, unless he developes stronger feelings for Peggy or angrier feelings for Pete. I do think it would give Don some ‘leverage’ over Pete. Pete knows about Don’s secret past, but Don could bust up Pete’s marriage if he knew. Perhaps Pete alreday wonders if Don knows, because Don and Peggy are tight.
I think Pete might have a difficult time watching Peggy get romantically entwined with someone he knows from the ad office.
I think Peggy might be upset about Don’s past, but not for the same reasons other people would. I think Peggy and Don have a “work understanding.” Since work is so important to each of them, this is kind of a big deal, but I think it leads Peggy to think she “knows Don.” Peggy believes she understands Don and that he trusts her. Peggy knows more about Don than many other people. She helped him with the Bobbie car crash. She covered for Don when Betty and kids showed up for the portraits. He visited her in the hospital. He knows about Duck. She saw him cry about Anna. They both watched their dads die. Peggy knows more than the average person, and I think she feels she’s earned Don’s trust.
If Peggy ever finds out, I think that HOW Peggy finds out will be a big factor. If Don tells her all on his own, that would probably be okay (like Faye). But if Peggy finds out in the wrong way (through Megan, Faye or Pete), I think it would make her feel foolish for believing that “Don actually trusted her,” when she was actually in the dark about something very serious that other people knew.
Someone Knows the song at minutes 21 please when the hero is in a bar