'Barkskins' Episode 6: The women of Wobik hide secrets that threaten to alter the town forever
Spoilers for 'Barkskins' Season 1 Episode 6 'The Wobble'
The small settlement of Wobik in New France is a dark place hiding a lot in its underbelly. The men all plan and scheme to take down one another and lay their claim to land and legacy. But it is the women who are hiding secrets that will make or break these men. Coming from mysterious pasts from faraway lands to this unknown new country, each knows more than she is letting on. In Episode 6, titled 'The Wobble', some of these secrets are unveiled and they are threatening to change things forever.
After a very nervous Melissande (Tallulah Haddon) leaves Claude Trepagny's (David Thewlis) estate and goes to the inn to seek shelter, she finds Delphine (Lily Sullivan) working there. Shocked to discover the fate of Delphine's very quick marriage, Melissande lets her in on a secret of hers she had never told anyone. Back home in France, she had given birth to a stillborn. She recalled that while her father buried the child soon afterward, everyone knew what she had gone through. In a bid to escape that, she left home and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to this new land to build a new family. That is why she is so adamant on holding land, money and power to leave behind a legacy that won't be shaken.
It is possible, however, that her plans might be under threat. When Mari (Kaniehtiio Horn) hides Trepagny's holy miscellaneous in the woods, she also happens to hide the vial of blood that Mother Sabrine (Leni Parker) had given to Melissande. This blood was supposed to be sprinkled on the sheets on her wedding night to prove to Trepagny that she is intact. When Melissande finds out that her vial is now empty, she gets flustered and, following a spat with Mari, leaves the house shortly afterward.
But Delphine's bit isn't over yet. She confesses that after the attack on her by the wood-cutter, she hit him on the head with an ax while he slept and watched him bleed out. At first, she had Melissande completely taken aback who thought it was a joke. But upon realizing that it wasn't, she extended her support to Delphine. But if there is anyone on 'Barkskins' who is hiding a lot more than she is letting on, it is Renardette (Lola Reid). Rescued after the massacre, she hasn't let anyone in on her account of what actually happened that night and how she managed to flee. Later on in the episode, it would be revealed that she is the key witness to a Hudson's Bay Company man's involvement in the massacre.
Mathilde (Marcia Gay Harden) thinks she is a "poor, damaged soul" -- which might be true -- and the two share a mother-daughter bond. Mathilde finds herself attached to her because of the loss of her daughter Rose. Early in the previous episode, she runs helter-skelter looking for her. What she doesn't know is Renardette had just attacked the man who forced himself on Mathilde last week. She also acts out in front of Randall Cross (Andreas Apergis) and Hamish Goames (Aneurin Barnard) and Yvon (Zahn McClarnon) in the episode. When she comes face to face with him, Cross goes pale indicating that he has seen her before.
Now as war threatens to befall Wobik, how much of a role will the women play in making or breaking it?
'Barkskins' airs on National Geographic on Mondays at 9/ 8c.