S01.E05: Epiphany

[Tara Ariano]

Caleb and Ben follow mysterious orders as Gen. Washington's Army crosses into enemy territory.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

My take on the episode.

[Charlotte Vale]

I have already given myself up to the fact that I will never be able to figure out what the hell is going on or who the hell anyone is or what the hell side they're on, so I just watch and think, "OK, that's moderately intertesting, and Mad Men's on in another 20 minutes."

 

I love how Alewife Spy and her slave are Bestest Friends and do each other's nails while gossping about that totally cute guy in homeroom.

[Dagny]

Welcome to the club of Person's name = physical description and relationship. It was nice that belly short ranger guy knew the traitor general from the Seven Year War.  It definitely flavor's the relationship between all of the parties that they were on the same side only a few years previously.  I didn't know that the traitor general was in league with the British from the start of the series.  

[Thalia]

I like the look of the actor who will probably turn out to be General Washington, who had red hair.   Washington must have had something going for him to have all these men follow him so slavishly over the years.   

 

Speaking of slaves, I couldn't figure out if we were supposed to sympathize with, oh whatever the hell her name is, Alewife is as good as anything.   If we were supposed to sympathize with her argument that it was cruel to free the slaves because they wouldn't be able to care for themselves.  Because, they were like, you know her slaves, and she had a vested interest in keeping them in bondage.  But then it looked like we were supposed to think she was right as the dastardly Brits sent off the young woman to supposed concubinage.  

 

Abraham was slightly more interesting tonight.  Maybe moving him into his dad's house will give him greater opportunity to be pro-active and less opportunity to mope.

[HalcyonDays]

I like the look of the actor who will probably turn out to be General Washington, who had red hair.   Washington must have had something going for him to have all these men follow him so slavishly over the years.   

 

Speaking of slaves, I couldn't figure out if we were supposed to sympathize with, oh whatever the hell her name is, Alewife is as good as anything.   If we were supposed to sympathize with her argument that it was cruel to free the slaves because they wouldn't be able to care for themselves.  Because, they were like, you know her slaves, and she had a vested interest in keeping them in bondage.  But then it looked like we were supposed to think she was right as the dastardly Brits sent off the young woman to supposed concubinage.  

 

Abraham was slightly more interesting tonight.  Maybe moving him into his dad's house will give him greater opportunity to be pro-active and less opportunity to mope.

 

I was thinking the same think too, Thalia. Like, we are supposed to root for Alewife (Anna) and yet here she is "pleading" with Hewett to not free the slaves, because they cannot take care of themselves and need to be taken care of. Okay....then camera cuts to the slaves, and they are all cheering about finding out about their freedom. So no, Anna, I think they can - and will - take care of themselves and are quite happy to be freed. They don't need your "help."

 

Next they show Anna saying she cannot help Abigail, and she has to go off to serve John Andre - okay, by that point I thought she didn't want to help, even though she's crying like she can't help. Didn't quite get that. So no, not happy about that. Are we supposed to root for her. I no longer am. It seemed pretty callous, I guess. I understand losing your tavern and house and posessions will make you upset, but the whole scenario didn't sit right. Not sure what to make of it.

 

I laughed - morbidly - that the slaves were given freedom, but them Abigail is still forced to go to John Andre and the men have to serve the British before getting their freedom. Very similar to what happened in real life. Promises made but never fulfilled.

 

At the very end, I thought that Abigail genuinely offered to help spy for Anna and the others, but now Sarah Bunting in her review says that Abigail was threatened to reveal about the spies, unless her kid was taken care of. I missed the blackmail part - again, very confused.

 

Ah, Anna and Abe getting it on and blocked by the Redcoat - someone called it earlier - Missus Abe (Mary) just might be getting some from tall blond and handsome British Redcoat living at their house.

 

The episode did entertain me and the previews for next week look really good. Still want to watch, but still confused.

Edited May 6, 2014 by HalcyonDays

[attica]

Washington must have had something going for him to have all these men follow him so slavishly over the years.

 

He was tall, athletic, honorable, devoted to his men and his cause, brave to a fault. It's really hard to find anybody that had anything less than glowing to say about G-Dubs, either contemporaneously or in hindsight. Except the slaveholding thing. Which is no small thing.

[HalcyonDays]

He was tall, athletic, honorable, devoted to his men and his cause, brave to a fault. It's really hard to find anybody that had anything less than glowing to say about G-Dubs, either contemporaneously or in hindsight. Except the slaveholding thing. Which is no small thing.

But apparently George Lee hated him. Both in the episode and in real life. And technically the British would hated him also...But yes, he inspired very loyal and devoted men. How many leaders todays do we have that similarily inspire us?

[attica]

And technically the British would hated him also

 

In the movie Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis tells this joke: It was right after the revolution, right after peace had been concluded. And Ethan Allen went to London to help our new country conduct its business with the king. The English sneered at how rough we are and rude and simple-minded and on like that, everywhere he went. Til one day he was invited to the townhouse of a great English lord. Dinner was served, beverages imbibed, time passed as happens and Mr. Allen found he needed the privy. He was grateful to be directed to this. Relieved, you might say. Mr. Allen discovered on entering the water closet that the only decoration therein was a portrait of George Washington. Ethan Allen done what he came to do and returned to the drawing room. His host and the others were disappointed when he didn't mention Washington's portrait. And finally his lordship couldn't resist and asked Mr. Allen had he noticed it. The picture of Washington. He had. Well what did he think of its placement? Did it seem appropriately located to Mr. Allen? And Mr. Allen said it did. The host was astounded. "Appropriate? George Washington's likeness in a water closet?" "Yes," said Mr. Allen, "where it will do good service. The world knows nothing will make an Englishman shit quicker than the sight of George Washington."

[Thalia]

 

Missus Abe (Mary) just might be getting some from tall blond and handsome British Redcoat living at their house.

 

I'm also guessing that the Late Lamented Thomas (he of headstone fame) is the father and not the uncle of his namesake.   Abraham doesn't seem to have much interest in bedding Mary.  

 

[green]

Welcome to the club of Person's name = physical description and relationship. It was nice that belly short ranger guy knew the traitor general from the Seven Year War.  It definitely flavor's the relationship between all of the parties that they were on the same side only a few years previously.  I didn't know that the traitor general was in league with the British from the start of the series.  

 

The ranger guy is probably one of the most famous historically speaking.  Robert Rogers of the famed Rogers' Rangers from the French and Indian War (the Brits called it The Seven Years War).  He is an American colonial who headed up the colonies' first special ops unit with his Rangers corps.  He became an explorer between the wars seeking the elusive "northwest passage" to the far east.  Check out the old classical historical novel by Kenneth Roberts, "Northwest Passage" where he is the hero of the story.  (Played by Spencer Tracey in the pretty bad film adaptation).  Had he sided with his fellow colonists he might have well superseded Washington as America's most famous soldier of the Revolution era.

 

Of course the same goes for Benedict Arnold who was a far better leader and tactician then Washington early in the Revolution and joined the British when his personal ambition and colonial politics made him the outsider at the colonial table.  I mean this guy almost single handily won the battle of Saratoga which prevented the British from dividing the colonies in half.  He was wildly loved by the men who fought under him.  Had he not been wounded at Saratoga and ended up in New York recovering from his wounds and licking his bruised ego when Gage was it took credit for Saratoga instead -- though Gage almost destroyed the American army that day and Arnold saved it --  in said NY, he would never have been recruited by his pro-British lover he met there.  How much of history turns on a few personal events here and there. 

 

Another one or two of Kenneth Robert's books, "Arundel" and "Rabble in Arms" deals with Arnold in a highly sympathetic way.  I don't know how some of Robert's facts check out after more then a half a century of research since his books but that are classics and worth it just for the feel of the times.  I salute the guy for just not making the Americans (and the books are written by an American with a pro American agenda throughout) all the good guys and people like Rogers and Arnold the totally evil guys.  He was ahead of his time that way.

 

In other news if Turn wasn't on right after The Amazing Race so I could lazily prolong my leisure another hour I don't know if I could keep watching this though history nut I be.  Since it is I keep watching but there aren't too many legs of The Amazing Race left to have the TV on for.   They really need to tweak this series asap.  Because if they can't hold the interest of a history nut like me who are they going to pull in to watch?

 

And annoying gripe I keep forgetting to post.  Can they have the actors playing Abe and his father share the same damn accent?  It is just plain stupid to lack even that basic continuity.  Decide on the modern day American accent of senior of the whatever the hell it is suppose to be accent of junior.  But get on the same page. 

 

I mean could you imagine the actor who played Apollo in Battlestar Galactica using his natural English accent next to Edward James Olmos' (Adama) American one.  Or Freddy Highmore using his natural English accent on Bates Motel next to Vera? 

 

I mean there is no way Abe and father should have such divergent accents especially since it is senior that has the more modern American one.  Are we to believe Abe was kidnapped in early childhood and raised by a band of wandering cabbages that indoctrinated him with that weird whatever it is he is going for accent?  Every time senior and junior have a scene together I never hear what they are saying cause I'm so distracted by how they are saying it.

Edited May 7, 2014 by green

[OakGoblinFly]

Welcome to the club of Person's name = physical description and relationship. It was nice that belly short ranger guy knew the traitor general from the Seven Year War.  It definitely flavor's the relationship between all of the parties that they were on the same side only a few years previously.  I didn't know that the traitor general was in league with the British from the start of the series.  

 

 

I don't know if it's because I'm familiar with the Culper Spy Ring and have read quite a bit about it, I have no problem remember the characters names. 

 

I am rather impressed with the historical accuracy of the people and some of the events portrayed (though the timing is a little wonky) - I wonder now that Washington has been introduced (and how adorable was Tallmadge when he realized that Washington approved of his use of a spy) will the pace pick up a bit.  I also wonder if we'll get to meet Townsend soon.

I'm also guessing that the Late Lamented Thomas (he of headstone fame) is the father and not the uncle of his namesake.   Abraham doesn't seem to have much interest in bedding Mary.  

 

I don't think so ..... didn't the headstone indicate that Thomas died in 1773 and Sprout is just about a year old .... the timing doesn't quite work.

[Dagny]

Can they have the actors playing Abe and his father share the same damn accent?  It is just plain stupid to lack even that basic continuity.

 

Heh. On Devious Maids, the mom has more American accent than the daughter.  And there was much snark.

 

I'm slowly making my way through The Men Who Lost America. It's interesting, but because it focuses on the individual, it tends to hop around alot on the time line. The really neat thing is that the Seven Years War was almost a world war in that it takes place in the Americas (North & Central), Europe, West Africa, India and Philippines.

[Thalia]

Thanks OakGoblinFly.  I should have paid more attention to the date on the headstone. 

 

I have a graduate degree in American History, but my interests were 20th century, then 19th century, with very little time leftover for the 18th.  This series has inspired me to buy the recent Chernow biography on Washington.  

[attica]

Your mileage may vary, but I find Chernow's prose to be Dead.Ly.  He's a good and thorough researcher, but he can make even riveting material into an express ticket to Nap Town. (It took me four months to get through his Rockefeller bio, which I only finally managed because I was captive in an airplane circling Allentown for hours waiting for NYC weather to clear. Falling asleep in a plane in daylight is not an option for me.)

I read B-Arn's diaries a bit ago. They are unintentionally hilarious. He was such a whiny-ass thing.

[OakGoblinFly]

And annoying gripe I keep forgetting to post.  Can they have the actors playing Abe and his father share the same damn accent?  It is just plain stupid to lack even that basic continuity.  Decide on the modern day American accent of senior of the whatever the hell it is suppose to be accent of junior.  But get on the same page. 

 

I mean could you imagine the actor who played Apollo in Battlestar Galactica using his natural English accent next to Edward James Olmos' (Adama) American one.  Or Freddy Highmore using his natural English accent on Bates Motel next to Vera? 

 

I mean there is no way Abe and father should have such divergent accents especially since it is senior that has the more modern American one.  Are we to believe Abe was kidnapped in early childhood and raised by a band of wandering cabbages that indoctrinated him with that weird whatever it is he is going for accent?  Every time senior and junior have a scene together I never hear what they are saying cause I'm so distracted by how they are saying it.

 

 

I am not especially bothered by the different accents - I'd rather that the actor use his/her natural accent and give a stronger performance than having to worry about accents.  I notice that no matter how good an actor is at mimicking accents, when engaged in a pretty emotional scene the accent almost always slips - and I find that the slipping in and out of accents take me more out of the moment than having parents/siblings with differing accents.  Conversely, if the accent doesn't slip, the scene tends to fall flat as the actor is spending to much brain power to use the accent and not enough is left over to deal with the scene.

 

Besides, I can hand-wave the accents by saying the individual is trying to sound more "British" so the Loyalists won't know he's really a spy.  ;-)

[attica]

My fanwank has been that Abe's accent is from his Ma. Who conveniently is dead, so I can't be proven wrong!

[OakGoblinFly]

Regarding accents; I thought I read somewhere that around this time some of the upper class British purposely changed their accents (making them more "posh") as a way to separate themselves from the "lower" classes ......... I could add that to my hand-waive explanation.

[not Bridget]

Concerning accents: David Hackett Fischer has written about language (accents, grammar & vocabulary) in several books on Colonial/Revolutionary days. (His Washington's Crossing covers dramatic events in 1776, conveying an immense amount of knowledge in Pulitzer winning, beautifully readable language.)  Yes, the British upper-class accent was changing. The redcoats included men from different areas of those islands & several social classes. (Some Highlanders learned English after they enlisted.) Different colonies had been populated from different parts of Britain; just as today, Virginians & Bostonians sounded, er, different.  Even the Hessians spoke their own dialect; some used a rough soldier's slang.  

 

My pedant's heart would love painstakingly correct language; realistically, the show should just set some rules & follow them.  In some interview, the guy who plays Abraham said he spoke differently from his father because he was raised by his mother. Which doesn't really make much sense.  But the actor is English; perhaps he just doesn't trust his American accent.  The contrast with his father's very American sound is jarring.

 

 

 

 

[attica]

In some interview, the guy who plays Abraham said he spoke differently from his father because he was raised by his mother.

 

Sweet! I love it that my fanwank was Bell's actorwank!

[HalcyonDays]

Regarding accents; I thought I read somewhere that around this time some of the upper class British purposely changed their accents (making them more "posh") as a way to separate themselves from the "lower" classes ......... I could add that to my hand-waive explanation.

 

I've read this too actually. But I read it as this - that originally, the British spoke more with what we now know as an American accent - more specifically what a West coaster would sound like (or actually even a Canadian). Not like a Brooklyn or Jersey or East Coast accent, though. And that the modern "English" accent developed as a way to differentiate themselves from the lower classes. Which is why the US (and Canadian) accents are one way, and the British are another.

 

My pedant's heart would love painstakingly correct language; realistically, the show should just set some rules & follow them.  In some interview, the guy who plays Abraham said he spoke differently from his father because he was raised by his mother. Which doesn't really make much sense.  But the actor is English; perhaps he just doesn't trust his American accent.  The contrast with his father's very American sound is jarring.

 

I know Jamie Bell is English, but when he speaks, I hear a bit of an Irish lilt to his words, to be honest. But I know he's English so that's strange. Must be regional then. Yeah, the accents are all over the place but I'm fine with that. I just want the pronunciations to be clear so that I know what they are saying!

[Johnny Dollar]

God is this show slow moving or what? They must have a tiny budget if they build up to what will be Washington crossing the Delaware and marching on Trenton yet don't show any of it because unbearded guy falls into the river so bearded guy had to nurse him back to health. It's like the show's premise is to promise a look into some of the great moments in early American history and then focus on the people who came thisclose to being a part of it because they overslept or got lost. And how can you fall out of a boat on the shore of a river and find yourself floundering up to your neck in water? I kept yelling at the guy to stand up already.

[LittleIggy]

David Hackett Fischer's books on the era are wonderful. I highly recommend them. Also David McCullum's "1776."

[green]

God is this show slow moving or what? They must have a tiny budget if they build up to what will be Washington crossing the Delaware and marching on Trenton yet don't show any of it because unbearded guy falls into the river so bearded guy had to nurse him back to health. It's like the show's premise is to promise a look into some of the great moments in early American history and then focus on the people who came thisclose to being a part of it because they overslept or got lost. And how can you fall out of a boat on the shore of a river and find yourself floundering up to your neck in water? I kept yelling at the guy to stand up already.

 

That's what I thought too.  Finally a payoff moment with Hessians going down and their sauerkraut scattering all over.  But no.  Stupid bluecoat falls into a foot of water and Caleb stays behinds to warm him up for a couple of day whilst probably roasting marshmallows since he has nothing else to do while history is being made just up the road.

 

Though  I must say a history comedy series where the time traveling main characters keep missing all the important events of world history each episode because of stupid stuff like this might be pretty funny.

[Thalia]

a few years ago I saw an episode of SGT BILKO where Bilko found his great great great uncle Bilko's revolutionary war diary.  The earlier Bilko was an aide to General Washington and it was hilarious.  I looked to see if I could find a you tube video of the Delaware crossing, but alas, I could not.  It turns out that the reason Washington stood was that Bilko had sold tickets for the crossing and he was out of seats when the General arrived.  

[blackwing]

I was confused as to why the one guy (I think it was Ben Tallmadge) fell out of the boat.  Obviously it was an accident, but why him and not anyone else?  And what was the point of it from a plot perspective?  Was it really so production wouldn't have to show an actual battle?  So they could just talk about Washington being successful?

 

I am also still confused about Charles Lee and Philomena.  And the visit by Rogers, who I formerly called Funny Hat Guy.  Philomena is working with Andre.  Is Charles Lee on the side of the Americans or the British?  Rogers is British.  Are they trying to get American secrets out of Lee?

 

Not all of those slaves belonged to Sela and Anna Strong, did they?  They were all cheering and dancing, but did she really own all of them?  Seemed like a lot.  So her slaves got freed by the Attainder (thank you, helpful AMC explanations during the commercials!).  Then some British guy says the men have to fight in a regiment to get their freedom.  And Abigail gets sent to be a slave for Andre.  What happened to all the rest of the women?  And what was supposed to happen to that boy, who I think is Abigail's son?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to send him to Andre with Abigail to help out?  They were leaving him behind with Anna, and I thought the whole point was to punish Anna by taking away all of her slaves.

 

I agree that the varying accents is odd.  I've always wondered when and how the American accent developed.  People who had recently come over from England would sound like English.  But colonists had been in America for 100 years so maybe the accent had already changed?  It is distracting that some Americans (Abe, Anna) have English accents while others don't.  And the soldier Baker who lives in Abe's house is supposed to be British but he has a very strange sounding accent too, it didn't exactly sound English but didn't sound American either.

[green]

Yeah that episode was a bit of a mess.

 

As for the American accent.  Years ago they has a PBS series called "The Story of English" and I believe the "generic" (accent most all newscasters use) American accent is derived most from the Cornwall region of England.  A lot of the early settler ships sailed from there full of Cornwall sailors many of whom decided to stay in the New World as well usually coming back there with their families in tow.  To this day the people in the Cornwall region sound the most "American" of all the regional accents in England someone from the UK told me once.  She also added that their accent was "totally beyond hope," haha.

 

The actor that played Abe I think said he decided on that accent and rationalized it was Abe's mother's accent since Abe's father speaks modern day American.  Think that was just to cover the poor choice the actor made and is now stuck with.  He is English so maybe he just knew he couldn't do an American accent very well.

 

Robert Rogers' accent is pretty neat though.  An American of Scottish heritage who goes back to England between wars (French & Indian and Revolutionary).  Think the actor made a good choice with his accent.

 

PS:  The English accent used on this show we associate with as being an English accent most (Simcoe, Andre etc) didn't exist back then.  There was a famous "great vowel shift" later on that gave us our current English accents with the long o sound especially.  The English spoken back then sounds more like the accent you find in some small areas of North Carolina especially.  The poster child of that is Billy Graham who linguists think probably sounds more like King George the III would have sounded then any modern day English accent would.  (Just a factoid left over from a linguistic class I took in college back in the day.  Second factoid - class also taught that colonies of a language tend to keep the older accents more than the homeland of the language itself).

Edited September 3, 2014 by green

[Kabota]

No doubt budget concerns are a driving force in the show's ability, or lack thereof, to depict large battles. I believe the producers have said in interviews that the battles are really not to be their focus, though. They're more interested in depicting the uncertainty of the spies and their isolation -- the loneliness and disconnect from the ultimate results of the info they pass on. Whether true philosophy or rationalization, real life Tallmadge and Brewster were not involved in the battle of Trenton.

Charles Lee, while a Contintental general, was a resentful second in command to Washington. He had expected to be named commander in chief of the army, himself. He was, indeed, captured by the British at the tavern in Basking Ridge. It is believed that he provided the British with key intelligence, per papers in General William Howe's collection.

After being exchanged for a British general, he was court marshaled for defying Washington's orders at the Battle of Monmouth and eventually removed from the army in 1780.

Robert Rogers, in the show, is working for profit, most notably for the British; however, after falling out with Andre, he appears to have a bit too much time on his hands! Rogers was deeply in debt and an alcoholic, but still an experienced veteran guerrilla warrior and bounty hunter/spy catcher, believed by some to be the captor of Nathan Hale. I assume this is the background for his hunt for Tallmadge.

Anna Strong was a wealthy woman -- the slaves might all have been owned by her family. It's also possible that their gathering was a holiday celebration which brought them together from various places, and they were all rejoicing at the good fortune of Anna's group. Other attainders may have been issued, too, with other owners of patriotic sentiment, as long as Hewlett was sending a group to the city. Obviously, slaves were frequently parted from their children, but why Abigail's son was allowed to remain with Anna, I don't know. He may have been deemed to young for the military work? (Obviously, ultimately, all these things are done in service of the plot, whether realistic or no.)

I'm apparently less bothered by the accents than a lot of people. I agree that several of them are difficult to understand, though. The use of the more modern, upperclass British accent is obviously out of chronology, and some of the familial justifications for the accents seem a bit of a stretch, but education and ancestry would play a part, so I just go with it. I believe another rationalization stated by the showrunners is that they were happy to have a variety of accents to further blur the lines of allegiance.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Kabota

[green]

I'm apparently less bothered by the accents than a lot of people. I agree that several of them are difficult to understand, though. The use of the more modern, upperclass British accent is obviously out of chronology, and some of the familial justifications for the accents seem a bit of a stretch, but education and ancestry would play a part, so I just go with it. I believe another rationalization stated by the showrunners is that they were happy to have a variety of accents to further blur the lines of allegiance.

 

Yeah my aside above doesn't mean I wanted the British officer corps running around colonial America sounding like a herd of Billy Grahams.  The accent they use is the best possible to convey their class to viewers. 

 

But I am however still pissed at Abe's accent because it just seemed like some actor's egocentric choice to "stand out" is all.  And yeah I imagine the showrunners do need rationalizations to help explain it away.  Wouldn't be a big deal to me if I could in any way, shape or form "like" Abe at all.  Which I don't.

[blackwing]

I missed most of the first episode, so I've been wondering about this for the past few episodes.  What is the significance of Abe's hat?  That grey wool looking winter hat thing that an elementary school kid would wear today.  I just saw in the previouslies for episode 2 what I thought was him taking the hat from a dead guy, or giving it to someone else, to make it look like somebody was something?  That was really the start of my confusion on this show.  Now I'm doing better, largely thanks to all of you posting!

[green]

The hat is just a typical hat worn back then.  Nothing significant.  And typical of hats pretty much all of us, not just school kids, wear today in the winter in northern climes.  Well maybe not in the big cities where they tend to be extremely impractical about 90% of their clothing but pretty much everywhere else where it gets below zero.

[Kabota]

Straight from Donna Zakowska, TURN costume designer, in an interview for Vanity Fair's Hollywood blog, April 25:

“Jamie always wears a beanie in real life, so using this hat was a hipper choice for Abe. Mixing the leather jacket with the palette of indigos and browns was sophisticated in a contemporary way—it made him accessible."

I just saw in the previouslies for episode 2 what I thought was him taking the hat from a dead guy, or giving it to someone else, to make it look like somebody was something? That was really the start of my confusion on this show.

Also, if you missed a lot of the first episode, you might want to review the episode summaries on the AMC site, because I think you're mixing up your "bonnets." Abe has his beanie, but I think the one you're referring to here-- that was taken off a dead guy, then placed on another -- is a whole other thing. When escaping the the Rangers' ambush of the dragoons, Ben donned the coat and bonnet of a Ranger he kills, just as the guy is about to bayonet him. At the end of the episode, Ben's troops ambush Hewlett's men, and he puts the Ranger bonnet on one of the dead regulars as a message for Rogers.

[ulkis]

I agree that the varying accents is odd.  I've always wondered when and how the American accent developed.  People who had recently come over from England would sound like English.  But colonists had been in America for 100 years so maybe the accent had already changed?  It is distracting that some Americans (Abe, Anna) have English accents while others don't.  And the soldier Baker who lives in Abe's house is supposed to be British but he has a very strange sounding accent too, it didn't exactly sound English but didn't sound American either.

 

I just came over here to wonder what the hell was going on with Abe's accent, glad to know I wasn't just hearing things. He sounds like he's trying for some sort of pseudo Irish accent to me.

[LeafontheWind]

At the very end, I thought that Abigail genuinely offered to help spy for Anna and the others, but now Sarah Bunting in her review says that Abigail was threatened to reveal about the spies, unless her kid was taken care of. I missed the blackmail part - again, very confused.

So, I am way behind to get in on this conversation (binge watching during the summer break), but this was my impression as well. I didn't feel that Anna was being threatened at all. I thought Abigail was genuinely offering to spy in New York, with the stipulation that Anna would keep an eye on her son. I also don't think the son was remaining in Anna's care. If I heard correctly, Abigail said at the beginning of heir conversation that she wished Anna would be the one to keep him, for lack of a better term, which implies that he would be going with someone else. This may all be cleared up next episode, so I apologize if this is a waste of a post!

Edited July 14, 2015 by LeafontheWind