The Abandons Recap ‘Piety and Rage’: Jack Cree

The Abandons Season 1 Episode 6

Spoiler Warning: This is a detailed recap of the sixth episode of the first season of The Abandons. If you have not yet seen the show, please head over to Netflix before reading on.

Tough times breed tough people, but at some point you have to ask -- is the loss of innocent blood worth the survival of a town? For five episodes, Constance's quiet control and community-based arguments made a good case for the necessity of her temporarily tempered evil. Now that her darkness has confirmed to have been passed on to her son -- now that this very son ordered the murder of an innocent maid, just to prevent her from gossiping uncomfortable questions, and Constance's reaction was pride and a promise that he would now be included fully in the family business -- is the hundreds of jobs potentially saved should the Van Ness mining enterprises survive worth even a drop of young Jenny's life? The answer from a safe, comfortable home is no. Let the mountains swallow the town back and let the bears roam free. But the Abandons’s story, its point of view, is more complicated than that. Questions of right and wrong, what is moral, what is just, these are all struggled with and parsed amidst the backdrop of very difficult times, of a very young nation still being built, of people determined to protect what was theirs. With just one episode after this left, the question becomes – has The Abandons proven itself worthy of its own narrative ambitions? We won’t be able to answer this until the final episode (which I haven’t seen, I am watching the show and doing these recaps one episode after another), but let’s see where the show is at for now.

On her own accord and without consulting the families in the Hollow, who had all agreed to the sticks and stones voting system, Fiona turned down Constance’s financially generous proposal. She claimed that she did because Constance knew that the body found ravaged by wolves was not Willem’s. Fiona’s decision was borne out of fear. If Constance suspected them, then what was she planning on doing once they had given her access to their lands, to the very river they depended on to survive? Fiona did not trust that Constance would honour the agreement.

Miles calmly told Fiona that it was not her place to decide for everyone. Elias, who was just accused by his lover Trisha of lying to her to get into her pants, was not so calm. He ranted against her ‘divine madness’ and declared he did not want ‘to live a life twisted up in piety and rage’. Fiona bubbled up in anger too, and when Elias struck her, she launched her body at him. Remember that Fiona was a victim of horrific abuse by her husband; Elias hitting her, apart from being very wrong, must have triggered traumatic memories. The other kids separated them quickly.

But Elias was not done, even as Fiona once more invoked family. Elias had wanted to tell the rest of the Hollow what they did to Corporal Mitchell’s body, and now he did. Miles confirmed that he saw this. Why Quentin suspected Fiona of killing Father Duffy, it was not clear, but he asked if that was her doing as well. Fiona confirmed it. Fiona declared that she would do it again, that she would kill for this family. 

Was Fiona infected with the same kind of madness that Jack accused Constance of having? Fiona’s crimes, the ones that we know of, seemed motivated by protection and vengeance, meted out by her own sense of justice. She killed her abusive husband. She killed the rapist Willem, whom she knew would get away with his crime if reported and if he died, Dahlia, the victim, would be the one who would be thrown in jail or even hanged. She killed Father Duffy, because he gave in to Constance’s bribe and was on his way to tell her of the secrets that Fiona and Dahlia had kept. The reasons did not make the acts any less dark, and it was no surprise that Elias struggled against the weight of Fiona’s moral certainty. Once they had both calmed down, mother and son apologised to each other, Elias not quite saying the words but Fiona finishing them for him. 

Jack had long been Constance’s quiet protector. When the Joaquins attacked, he did not hesitate to pull his weapon before Arkasha could name Constance the culprit in the disappearance of the guns. Jack, a good friend to Constance’s late husband Emmet, was a Van Ness loyalist with limits. He finally hit those limits when he realised the full extent of Constance’s plans at the Hollow.

Constance made her overtures to Red Bird long before she even made that final, generous offer to Fiona. Did she always intend to rid the Hollow of its residents? Would she have kept her word and left them in peace had they agreed to her terms? We don’t know. What we do know was that when Jack told her that Red Bird agreed to peace talks with the cavalry, that they may be no need of the guns Constance had secured for them, Constance was furious. 

Jack figured out Constance’s plan to use Red Bird to attack the Hollows and rid it of its residents, freeing the land to be taken over by Van Ness Mining. If Cayuse rebels were blamed for the attack, no one would ask questions. If mattered not to Constance that this would effectively end any talk of peace and that the Cayuse people would get nothing; she would get what she wanted, which was what mattered. 

‘An act of a godless soul and a mind gone mad’ was how Jack described it. Constance, who already had a replacement muscle, fired Jack. She then sent for Roache and gave him her instructions. 

Once he learned that Jack was leaving, Garret tried to stop him. Jack was determined to leave, but when they both saw a cavalry soldier head to the Van Ness homestead and speak to Roache, he decided on what he claimed was a final service to Emmet Van Ness.

Roache sent two men to sabotage the talk between Red Bird and the cavalry; Jack and Garret followed them. They were able to capture one, Dupar, whilst the other set up on a sniper’s position. Jack was too late to stop the shot – Red Bird’s men rode off when one of them was hit – but Jack overpowered the man and managed to throw him off the rock. One of the cavalrymen recognised the body as one of two men they saw riding out earlier that day.

Despite the horrors he had seen unleashed and could be unleashed still in the name of the Van Ness, Jack still wanted to pull the family from the abyss. He spoke to Garret of ‘careless hands playing with the fate of peace’ and explained that the death that day was not just one death, thousands would die. Jack was trying to make young Garret understand that the universe rippled. Only one man died on the order of Constance, but with the peace efforts now stalled, more would follow. He told Garret he needed to help his mother see clearly.

To her credit, or perhaps because she knew Jack would kill anyone sent after him, Constance did not order Roache to go after her once most loyal man. She did agree that Dupar needed to be found, and said she would take care of Garret. Inside Jack’s one time cottage, where Jack left his Cree remedies that had proved so helpful to Emmet, mother and son had a frank talk. Despite all he had learned of his mother’s ruthlessness, Garret told her he was not running away. He was bringing her home. He wanted the murders to stop and found a way to use the law to get what they wanted.

Garret’s interest in Miles Alderton after his actions saved the town paid off. Adam Winston was a Special Marshal who reported directly to Andrew Jackson. He helped free Texas from Mexican land barons, then for reasons unknown, he turned and killed right rangers in one night. The cavalry unit that was sent to pursue him was slaughtered. This happened 20 years ago, but his wanted status was still active. 

This was how Garret proposed to take the Hollow – They would force Miles to sell to them, or they would see him hanged. Miles’s land included the all-important access to the river. Once they had taken his land, the others would sell as well. 

Garret’s plan was ruthless, too, it only varied from his mother’s plan because it did not include slaughtering everyone at the Hollow and committing treason. Constance agreed to it, at least, she said she did. Their conversation was interrupted with the arrival of the maid Jenny, whom Constance had tasked to clean the cottage. But, she was not alone. She was held at gunpoint by Dupar.

Dupar knew the cavalry was after him, and wanted money, horses, and provisions so he could get away. If he were caught, he had every intention of talking. Outlaws, guns in the cellar, treason, murder, all of these he spoke off with young Jenny listening, confused. Garret tried to fight him but was overpowered. Constance agreed to his demands.

When Constance opened the door, Roache was outside; he heard the voices as he rode past with his men. He shot Dupar twice, killing him. Jenny’s scream brought Trisha to the window of the main house, so that everything that happened afterwards, she witnessed.

Garret remained inside the cottage with Jenny whilst she cleaned the blood off the floor. She asked Garret about what Dupar had said, and Garret told her Dupar was mad. Jenny agreed to that, but went on wondering why he was brought in to protect them. Garret picked Dupar’s gun off the floor and joined Roache and Constance outside.

Jenny was also a victim of Dupar, Garret quietly declared. He laid out the story they would tell, and gave his reason – Jenny would gossip about the murder and treason she heard. More than when Garret told her of what he had uncovered about Miles Alderton, Constance now knew for certain that her son, her heir, was as hard as he needed to be to protect the family.

Roache went in and shot Jenny, with a horrified Trisha watching from the window. 

In the same night, Constance saw to the destruction of both her children’s innocence.

Perhaps Constance had shelved her horrific plans for the Hollow and had committed to doing it Garret’s way. Perhaps not. Whatever her decision was, the Hollow was now forewarned. Jack’s final act before leaving was telling Fiona hell was coming.

Rating: B

Strays

👒Constance’s fury following Fiona’s refusal of her offer led to her bedding Roache.

👒The story that Miles told his daughter Samara does not quite line up with what Garret found.

Episode Title: Piety and Rage

Episode Writers: Denise Harkavy and Leon Hendrix III

Episode Director: Stephen Surjik

Streamed on Netflix: December 4, 2025

You can access Recap Lab’s coverage of The Abandons via this link.

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