The Essex Serpent Review: Falling (Season 1 Episode 3)

The hunt for a monster continues on The Essex Serpent Season 1 Episode 3, “Falling,” though whether we’re looking for a deadly creature from ages past or just the garden variety misogyny of terrible human beings remains up in the air.

We’re three episodes in and I’m still not sure how I feel about the fact that this show very much wants to have it both ways: It spends an awful lot of time implying that the idea of the “serpent” is some streak of religious or cultural superstition, dreamt up by a group of poor and struggling people who are simply looking for reasons why bad things keep happening in their lives. 

And the thing is, that’s not a bad story by any stretch! This very episode references the very real, science-based evidence that the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials is owed, in part, to young girls ingesting poisonous plants! There are plenty of good stories to be mined from the groupthink of frightened people who just want an explanation for things that are usually inexplicable. 

Yet, The Essex Serpent also seems to really want us to believe that the titular creature is very real, and has in fact now featured multiple scenes involving people being attached by something mysterious—and distinctly snake-shaped—in the water.

Perhaps this is the show itself trying to mess with our heads by making us, as viewers, question what we’re seeing onscreen. And that’s…not a bad thing necessarily? But it also leaves us feeling as though we can’t really trust anything the show itself is telling us.

The Essex Serpent is perhaps at its most interesting when it’s poking at the various flavors of misogyny in Aldwinter, and the myriad ways that the town’s deep-set feelings about women and their roles in society play out. 

“I can’t be expected to apologize every time I do something without the express permission of a man,” Cora says exasperatedly at one point, and yet that seems to be precisely what’s expected of her, each time she attempts to introduce a new idea or a new way of looking at the world. 

Cora’s blamed for introducing the students to the concept of fossils, as well as the idea some version of the serpent might be a real creature but not some sort of divine punishment for sins, that the natural world can and does hold secrets that might make some of the more religious types uncomfortable. 

But she’s a newcomer, a widow, a woman unencumbered by duty or marriage, and without an obvious man in her life to answer to, and that’s clearly threatening to people. But what is surprising to me is how free these people feel to tell her that, often directly to her face—that she’s some sort of bad omen or dark force, simply by being herself.

Even seemingly progressive Will Ransome isn’t entirely immune to this attitude. His daughter Jo has stopped speaking in the wake of what the children’s group seizure last week, and though it’s his wife Stella who asks for Cora’s help, Will reacts very badly to Luke Garrett’s attempt to hypnotize his daughter.

Which, granted, is not exactly a widespread practice at this point in time, and Luke is deeply obnoxious most of the time, but Will’s behavior seems more than a bit over the top, particularly considering how aggressively he’s been pushing the necessity of believing in science and embracing rationality to the locals.

I mean, yes, Luke’s annoying as heck, but he is a doctor. (And Jo’s talking again–though I do have to side eye how no one seems terribly interested in asking her about the spells she supposedly cast with some other girls?!)

Though some aspects of Will’s behavior likely have more to do with his obvious attraction to/fascination with Cora, which he’s not doing the great at hiding.

But whew, the moment at the very end when he pulls her to him with the scarf he lent her? I am not made of stone people, and Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes have great (if very repressed, but c’mon it’s a Gothic story)

But I felt some kind of way about the fact that WIll’s wife looked out the window at that exact moment. especially since Will had just been talking about what a great and essential partner to him and the work he’s been trying to do. 

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

• Have I mentioned how gorgeous this show’s opening credits are? They look like a living tapestry and their bright colors are such a contrast with the constant gloom of life in Aldwinter.
• I wish this show were a bit more clear about how the sort of religious hierarchy of the town works. Will is clearly the local vicar who preaches in the primary church, but where does the old-school conservative believer who runs the school come in? Does he also work for Will? I feel like the show probably told me this in some kind of throwaway line in the first episode and I just missed it, but this dynamic is interesting and I wish I knew more about how it came about.
• Now that Stella has seen the chemistry between her husband and Cora, I hope that means we’ll actually get to see more of her as a character in her own right next week. Clemence Poesy is too good to be stuck as background decoration.

What did you think of this episode of The Essex Serpent? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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New episodes of The Essex Serpent stream Fridays on Apple TV+.

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