American Primeval
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The perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre have spent much ofAmerican Primevaltalking about tying up loose ends.
Will Isaac be able to rescue Sara?
Will the Nauvoo Legion successfully cover up its crimes?
Can wolves break through the flimsy walls of a hunting cabin?
The answers await in the season finale.
Tied to the back of a horse, she wakes up and begins attempting to bargain with her captor.
Her best hope is that Isaac can catch up with them.
But catching up and rescuing are two different things.
Thats one showdown toward which the series has seemingly been headed since the start.
And then, suddenly, it doesnt.
Young finds that price in the form of a big (as in really big) bag of cash.
Theres a logic to this.
Fort Bridger is more useful to the Mormons as a ruin than a standing structure.
Virgils confidence in his own plan seems better placed.
(Did we know they were brothers?
Ill confess to not catching any previous reference if we did.)
Things fall apart quickly as the hooded Nauvoo Legion rides into the Shoshone village only to find it empty.
Its a trap, and the ensuing melee quickly claims Wolsey as a victim.
(Whats the opposite of R.I.P.?)
But not before Wolsey delivers a seemingly fatal blow to Red Feather.
Hickman and Young, however, got what they wanted.
With the misdeeds covered up, they can (briefly) claim Fort Bridger as their own.
But first, its party time!
He takes a moment to mark the occasion by saying, Its closing time.
But, hey, free booze!
The somber moment doesnt last long.
It begins peacefully enough.
Isaac shares his sad history in full, including the names of his wife and child.
As he looks at Devin and Two Moons playing, he cant stop himself from calling it beautiful.
Then Sara makes one last attempt to persuade him to stay with her.
Is he really too broken by the past not to try starting over?
She has feelings for him.
Does he not have feelings for her?
But he cant go with them.
They kiss, then go their separate ways.
While Isaacs is a bit more chilling: the doll from the French-Canadian camp.
Theyre rescued, but Isaac is fatally wounded in the attack.
After six episodes, the ending of the Abish/Red Feather/Winter Bird subplot and the Fort Bridger storyline feel abrupt.
Ditto, the relationship between Sara and Isaac has been building slowly but ends quickly.
In a previous recap, I suggestedAmerican Primevalwouldnt end entirely unhappily, and it doesnt.
Theres more than a little hopefulness to Sara and the kids heading into the sunset.
Overall, however,American Primevalfelt worthwhile if you had the stomach to get through the almost unrelenting grimness.
The LDS church is another.
This is a place in which everyone is doing what they feel they have to do to survive.
In the end, the title proves apt.
