'Barkskins' Season 1 Ending Explained: How Mari saved Trepagny from Melissande's greedy clutches
Spoilers for 'Barkskins' Season 1 Episode 8 'The Black Sun'
National Geographic's limited series period drama 'Barkskins' just finished its run and has left us unsettled. It looks like the audience wasn't supposed to watch the attack by the Iroquois at all.
Melissande (Tallulah Haddon) had been adamant that Claude Trepagny (David Thewlis) "get rid" of Mari (Kaniehtiio Horn) before their wedding. The domestic tensions in the household increased overnight by the arrival of Trepagny's French wife, so much so that Mari even returned to the Wendat settlement after leaving the Doma. Desperate to have her off Trepagny's hands, Melissande suggests that they get Mari and his indentured servant René Sel (Christian Cooke) married and in return, he will give René land. And while René admits his attraction towards Mari, his conversation with her doesn't go as he had hoped. In the night, Trepagny is banished from the bedroom in the manor house by Melissande. Trepagny is evidently taken aback by this very demanding, entitled wife of his. At the same time, it shows that he is hurting. But why? Didn't he want a French wife to himself?
When he turns up at the cottage, he and Mari share what could be their most tender moments together, reminiscing about the time when the land was barren and there was only the vast nothingness around them. They reminisced a time when their Doma was just a vast land owned by Trepagny. In these vulnerable moments, it is evident how much Trepagny cares for Mari and had it not been for the social construct, the "prestige" of a French wife, things would have been different. In fact, it is more than evident that both wish things were different.
As they sat by the fire, Mari's cool composure was suspicious, especially since she had been dealing with the Melissande matter with some zest. But now, her subdued demeanour makes one wonder if she took up the René plan. Just as she is pushing Trepagny to indulge in a soup she made, you could see that she mixes a little something in it. And sure enough, just as he reaches the manor house, Trepagny collapses towards the entrance and succumbs to the poison administered to him by Mari.
And is this not enough reason to be furious at the woman? When she walked away from the cottage the next morning — the morning of Melissande and Trepagny's wedding feast — she looks back in a final farewell. So it looks like she returned only to put an end to the celebrations. We must add that this was a death that left us sore. Had we lost Trepagny at the hands of the Iroquois, that would still have felt worthy than dying by poison. When Melissande discovers his body laying on the floor the next day, she takes the rings off of his fingers for herself, proving yet again that she wanted nothing to do with him at all and just wanted the money.
René, on the other hand, is the only one mourning his death. As a way of his final rites, René perches him atop the 'skytable' that he was building for him to look at the vastness of his Doma forever. And that was it. Until it wasn't. Just as the Iroquois attacked Wobik, we were given a final glimpse of Trepagny. As the camera pans in on his face, his lungs begun functioning and there he is — alive. An ending that would otherwise had left viewers sore was redeemed by that final breath.
So what exactly did Mari administer him with if not poison? It is highly likely that she drugged him with a potion that would make the impression of death. Once Melissande had gone her way, as Mari predicted she would, Trepagny came back to his senses. The final scene blew our minds as we couldn't believe that Mari had been so ahead of everyone else, particularly Melissande whose greed would have been the end of the Frenchman.