Looking for Adam
Kreizler and Moore are brought to the Adam Dury farm. All we see is an old barn and a few animals. Is there no house? It seems strange to me that they are dropped at a barn and not a house. Does Adam not have a house? They enter the barn calling out for the man. This is a good way to get yourself killed. I’m still trying to understand why they would not go to the farmhouse…there must be one. Moore asks the cow where her master might be. I’m sure she will be very helpful.
A pitchfork is suddenly thrown at the men, narrowly missing them. Adam Dury (David Meunier) is aiming a double barreled shotgun at them from the hay loft. Moore introduces himself and tells Adam he works for the New York Times. Kreizler tells him they just want to talk. He says he knows Adam had already left home when the massacre happened, and Adam responds “home, that’s a poor description of it.”
The Dury Family
As Sara walks through the ruins of the Dury home Sheriff Early tells her he doesnt think the Reverend could have saved anyone’s soul with his “hellfire and damnation.” He tells her that Reverend Dury was not a missionary very long before being driven off the plains. When he returned to New Paltz he brought pictures of mutilated dead white people killed in the Minnesota massacre of ‘62. He would show the photographs to children in town and tell them that would happen to them if they were not God fearing. The Sheriff tells Sara no one liked the Reverend or his wife, and they did not blame the Indians for seeking their revenge and kidnapping Japheth. Sara asks him if he really believes it was Indians he tells her that is what the records say happened and that is what he says happened. In other words Sara, don’t question him, he obviously has no intention of having these findings questioned. After Early leaves Eliza tells Sara not to believe a word he says. What does she mean? Is she referring to who slaughtered the family or his description of the family? I hope she elaborates.
Back at the Dury Farm Kreizler and Moore are now outside the barn talking to Adam. He tells Kreizler he won’t speak ill of the dead even if they deserve it. Moore tells him they are not there to talk badly about his parents, that they believe the police investigation was flawed. When Kreizler asks Adam to tell him about Japheth he is shocked.
Japheth Dury
Eliza tells Sara that Japheth didn’t have any friends because of his condition, he was always “twitching.” So Japheth has a facial twitch? I thought it was John Beecham that had the twitch. Are Japheth and Beecham the same person? I’m truly a bit confused at this point. Eliza tells Sara that Adam did not want his parent’s house and she doesn’t blame him, it’s full of ghosts. As Sara is leaving she finds a box in the ruins. When she opens the box it is full of small bones, animal I’m assuming.
Adam tells the men he taught Japheth how to hunt and skin animals. He tells Kreizler it didn’t help him, he still could not get out from under her shadow. Adam tells him his mother had no heart. She was always telling Japheth he wasn’t her’s. She told him that “man-eating savages” left him on her door stop. Adam says his mother told Japheth he was the bastard child of a Red Injun. The only time his brother’s soul found peace was when he was climbing in the mountains. Facial tics, overbearing mother, a climber. More and more characteristics of the killer are fitting Japheth. Is he the killer? Was he really kidnapped by Indians? Did he grow up and change his name to John Beecham? So many questions to be answered.
Eliza tells Sara that Japheth stuck to the rocks like a lizard. She never saw a climber like him. Sara asks if he climbed alone. Eliza tells her there was a time he climbed with another man, a farm hand. We flash back to Adam who tells Kreizler the man was older and he trusted him to look after his brother. The man ended up raping his brother. Adam says he would have ripped the man’s throat out himself if he had the chance. Back to Sara asking if the man is still around. Eliza tells her he died, that he fell off a 1000 foot cliff in “The Gunks” around the same time the Durys were killed. Eliza tells Sara it was not an accident as his throat had been cut from ear to ear and his eyes were missing. When then see Kreizler ask Adam what the man’s name was and he says Beecham, George Beecham.
You Can’t Stop the Future
Back in New York City J.P. Morgan (Michael Ironside) is meeting with Roosevelt. He tells the Commissioner he met with Chief Byrnes, and Roosevelt reminds him Byrnes is the FORMER Chief. Morgan tells him people are not ready for this “new high falutin form of investigation.” He tells Roosevelt it would scare people if an Alienist could solve the murder before the police could. When Roosevelt asks Morgan why he is telling him this he says taking faith away from a man is like taking away his future. Roosevelt responds you can’t stop the future.
Under Attack
Back in the carriage Moore is thinking the same way I am, that the killer has to be Japheth. Suddenly a shot rings out and the carriage driver is hit. I was not expecting this and literally jumped in my seat. The horses instinctively stop and we see the same man that had been following them in Washington shoot again at the carriage. The shots spook the horses and they take off running as the man continues shooting into the carriage. As the horses round a bend onto a bridge the carriage goes crashing over the side into the water below.
After the crash Kreizler has hurt his leg and he asks Moore to tie it off. As he uses his bow tie on Kreizler’s leg the doctor asks him to deliver a message if he doesn’t make it. Moore tells him to deliver the message himself as he doesn’t intend for either of them to die. The message must have been for Mary. I bet he was going to tell her he loved her. They climb out of the wreck and take off into the woods to avoid the shooter.
Love and Jealousy
As Moore helps Kreizler walk through the woods he asks him what the message was he wanted him to deliver. When the doctor tells him it’s nothing Moore says he’s not a fool and can see that Kreizler is in love. He asks if the woman knows how he feels, he says not the extent of it. When Moore asks if she feels the same and he says yes it occurs to me that he thinks it’s Sara. Moore is clearly jealous as he tells Kreizler she is wonderful and to look after her. He says he can brag he introduced the two of them and Kreizler finally realizes Moore thinks its Sara. Moore is happily shocked when Kreizler tells him it’s Mary, actually relieved would be a better word. Kreizler calls him out, telling him he was jealous. He doesn’t respond but we all know it’s true.
We see Kreizler back on the train heading home. I’m left wondering how did they get to the train station so easily? Why didn’t the man come after them? Surely if he wanted to kill them he could have easily caught up to them. Or did he assume they had died already?
Connor and Doyle Come Calling
Back at Kreizler’s home Stevie is tending the horses as Mary helps Cyrus get ready for bed. They hear someone enter the house, Kreizler must have returned. Mary heads to the foyer to see him, but it’s not the doctor. She finds Connor and Doyle (Martin McCreadie) have let themselves in. Connor asks if the doctor is home yet, and Mary does not respond so they decide to look around themselves.
Cyrus hears Connor calling out for Kreizler. The vile Connor keeps asking Mary where the doctor is. I don’t know if he knows she is mute or not. The man who had shot at Kreizler and Moore grabs Stevie with a rag, I assume knocking him out with chloroform. When Connor asks if he is upstairs and Mary does not respond he says “cat got your tongue.” So he does not know she is mute. As Connor heads upstairs Mary runs off. Run Mary, leave the house!
Mary Fights Back
As Mary runs into the kitchen she finds Doyle there. He asks her what she thinks she is doing as he stands by the back door. That bastard! Suddenly Doyle is grabbed from behind by Cyrus. He tells Mary to run. Yes Mary, listen to Cyrus. Run! Escape! She grabs a kitchen knife and runs out of the room. Instead of running out the front door though she heads upstairs. No, Mary don’t go up there. I understand she feels the need to protect Kreizler’s home but she is making a huge mistake.
Mary slashes at Connor with the knife. He grabs her and slams her head against the wall. They crash through a set of doors as he calls her a “filthy slag.” She still has the knife in her hand. Mary is kicking at him fiercely and manages to slice his hand with the knife. At this rate she is going to end up killing him and will be arrested for murder. As Connor struggles to get the knife from her they keep slamming against the upstairs railing causing it to break. Mary manages to stab Connor in the shoulder just as we see the man with the cloth grab Cyrus who still has a hold of Doyle.
There are no words
Doyle escapes from Cyrus and runs upstairs just as Connor grabs Mary and throws her against the broken railing. She falls to the floor below, striking the chandelier as she goes. Connor and Doyle stare in disbelief at what just happened. All you hear is the sound of the swinging chandelier and Connor’s heavy breathing. Connor then looks down on Mary’s crumpled body lying by the stairs below, clearly dead.
Once you see Mary’s crumpled lifeless body there is nothing more to say…it’s all far too heartbreaking to comprehend.
Mary is dead.
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