Turn: Washington’s Spies season 4 episode 5 review: Abe goes undercover
Over the course of “Private Woodhull,” one of the central focal points of the story was seeing the Abe character do what he can in order to infiltrate the British army, get closer to Arnold, and eventually find a way to take him as his own collateral. All of this was a larger plot against Simcoe, one in which he could use to get revenge over what happened to his father.
We won’t like that undercover Abe is one of our favorite sides of Abe, just because he’s so good at being shifty and doing what he can in order to further get what he wants. He was able to use many different resources close to Arnold against him, especially at the fancy dinner-party scene near the end of the episode — consider this further evidence that when you are terrible to people, they aren’t all that inclined to help you out. Arnold’s own wife Peggy had an opportunity to clue Arnold in that he was a target, and instead, she went home proclaiming herself to be sick. Abe’s progression over the course of the hour was both quick and striking, a testament to his growth and intelligence as a character.
Based on the meeting at the hour’s end, though, it seems fair to say that this is not going to be an easy task for him to be able to achieve.
Anna gets an offer
Tonight, Anna’s husband paid her a visit at the New Windsor camp, where she has done her part over this season to establish a stronger community, and one that has a deeper, more personal value for the people there. Maybe this was an opportunity for the two of them to connect, but it also helped him to realize that in spite of what he thought previously, maybe this was where she was meant to be. Maybe she didn’t want to go back East with him and that was perfectly okay.
While Anna’s story is not getting the most play out of anyone this season, we will say that we rather enjoy it and some of the subtle messages of power that it brings to you. While Anna is not equipped with the most dangerous weapons, she’s doing what she can in order to enact change on a smaller scale, allowing women to have more of a purpose and protection in the camp. It may not be the flashiest job, and if she doesn’t head back with her husband, she is showing that she’s willing to make sacrifices for her cause.
Overall verdict
Consider this another solid episode for Turn: Washington’s Spies; even though there was not much in the way of big action pieces, we rather liked seeing the journey of Abe infiltrating the army to eventually getting close to the person he wants to take on. All of the scenes were entertaining, and we found some surprisingly juice to boot. Grade: B+.
What’s next?
If you head over here, you can secure some further news and updates right now when it comes to Turn: Washington’s Spies and the future of the series. (Photo: AMC.)