S04.E04: Nightmare

[OtterMommy]

Quote

As an unsettling rebellion begins to take hold in camp, the Culper Ring assesses that it must develop a new path; Benedict Arnold makes the discovery of an unlikely new ally; Rivington decides to teach Townsend a memorable lesson.

[SharonH58]

Another good episode.  Shocking and sad.  We got to see all our favorite people.

[LittleIggy]

Loved what Mary told Abe: "Don't miss." He better not.

[Dowel Jones]

And so the birth of "fake news".  Heh. 

I had to look up the history of the American Legion to see if it had sprung from this group organized by Arnold but no, they were two completely unrelated elements. 

Did the execution of the militia leadership really take place?  I can see Washington ordering it to maintain discipline in the ranks, but that was brutal.

[tabloidlover]

I was curious about the execution situation as well.   There is a video on the AMC site that talks about it.  The discussion about the mutiny starts around the 1:25 mark. 

http://www.amc.com/shows/turn/video-extras/season-04/episode-04/inside-turn-washingtons-spies-season-4-episode-4

Edited July 2, 2017 by tabloidlover
fixed link

[Dowel Jones]

I wonder about the long term effectiveness of the shooting, too.  Washington now has an army that is motivated partly by a mortal fear of its own officers.  Granted, fear of one's superior officers is a trait that is borne in any army through time, but this one didn't have the reserves to make up for the loss of a militia, and it might even cause soldiers to defect to the British side in hopes of lenient treatment.  I saw an interesting tv program a long while back, called "Whispers in the Wind", concerning the problem of desertion in the US Army Air Corps during the catastrophic early days of the daylight bombing campaign of WWII.  The thrust of the program was that there were rumors everywhere that the fighter pilots had verbal orders to shoot down bombers that broke formation and looked like they were headed for Sweden to desert.  That's one helluva way to run a railroad.

[SharonH58]

Poor Caleb.  I wonder why he left the tent?  Wounds, nightmares of Simcoe and then trying way too soon to throw an axe!  I don't see how Abe can go to NY without being spotted.  I was worried about another head popping hanging but the firing squad was worse.

[Hanahope]

I almost thought the execution would be a hoax, intended to scare everyone, but wow, that was brutal.

i can't wait to see Abe  finally take out Simcoe, you just know that has to be coming.  That's quite the dangerous cover he'll be undertaking, right in the snake pit like never before. 

[BusyOctober]

How the Hell is Abe going to fly under the radar if he is enlisted in Simcoe's line of sight?  They already have bad history between them, what with all the attempted murdering, but now Abe is going to convince Simcoe that he's a true Loyalist?  Maybe he can pull the wool over Arnold's eyes, but not Simcoe.  This is a dumb plot device in my opinion.

[AV8n]

I want to know what they've done with Hercules Mulligan. Last we saw, Arnold had him detained as a result of the great spy roundup.

[Kabota]

5 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

How the Hell is Abe going to fly under the radar if he is enlisted in Simcoe's line of sight?  They already have bad history between them, what with all the attempted murdering, but now Abe is going to convince Simcoe that he's a true Loyalist?  Maybe he can pull the wool over Arnold's eyes, but not Simcoe.  This is a dumb plot device in my opinion.

Yeah, this confuses me too. All I can figure is that they went ahead with such a plan because they didn't have the knowledge (with "no eyes in New York") of the close association that has just been formed between Arnold and Simcoe. And they're all getting desperate and acting in their own best interests (per usual): Washington wants Arnold; Ben needs to give Washington an answer; and Abe wants Simcoe. I wish Mary was already in camp to knock their heads together! This plot line is obviously based on the rl mission of John Champe, but I just don't know how they can possibly manage to keep Abe under Simcoe's radar, for any length of time, without resorting to ridiculous devices.

Had never read about the Pennsylvania Line or Pompton mutinies, before, so I did learn something from this episode. Am actually really excited to see 

Spoiler

Mary, Thomas, and Selah

in Washington's camp.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Kabota

[EyewatchTV211]

22 hours ago, Kabota said:

Yeah, this confuses me too. All I can figure is that they went ahead with such a plan because they didn't have the knowledge (with "no eyes in New York") of the close association that has just been formed between Arnold and Simcoe.

I'm thinking this is the case. I think as far as they know, it is only Arnold leading this loyalist troop.  They just know the Rangers are presently in New York - not that Simcoe and the other English dude (forget his name) has been asked to lead along with Arnold since no one likes/trusts Arnold. So Ben was giving Abe his chance just by virtue of getting Abe closer to Simcoe, without knowing how close he will actually be. 

[Moxie Cat]

On July 2, 2017 at 3:06 PM, SharonH58 said:

Poor Caleb.  I wonder why he left the tent?

I thought he was just completely out of it and hallucinating that he had to "get back to work," or escape, or who knows what. He just wasn't yet in his right mind.

Yeah, Abe and Co. didn't know that Simcoe had been assigned to Arnold. Otherwise, they certainly wouldn't have sent Abe into a situation with a British officer who knows he is Culper! It's just a plot twist.

Looking forward to Selah. As I recall, the actor was quite purty. :)

[ganesh]

On 7/2/2017 at 1:06 PM, SharonH58 said:

Poor Caleb.  I wonder why he left the tent? 

He feels really guilty about giving up Abe (even though he didn't really). I figured he either left to try to clear his head or just wanted to die alone in the woods. 

Taking out that no one knew Simcoe is in this new legion, this is a ridiculous plan. They're better off sending Anna. She the only one with an ounce of sense right now. I can't wait to see this hilariously fail. 

I cannot get enough of Arnold. Literally everyone wants him dead. I can't stop cracking up everytime he bitches about money, which is every time he talks. "Preferred talent" killed me. 

A little heavy, but I liked Simcoe's cold analysis on why Arnold is so invested in this war.