The Essex Serpent Episode 1 Recap and Ending Explained ‘The Blackwater: What Happened to Gracie?

The Essex Serpent Episode 1 Recap and Ending Explained ‘The Blackwater: What Happened to Gracie? 

The Essex Serpent is a new drama released on Apple TV based on the same navel named ‘The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry. 

The series just premiered its first two episodes on Apple TV on 13th May 2022. 

This article will give you a recap and ending explanation of The Essex Serpent Episode 1. So without further ado, let us get started. 

The Essex Serpent Episode 1 Recap: ‘The Blackwater’

The Essex Serpent Episode 1 begins with Mrs Cora Seaborne learning about her husband’s illness, Mr Micheal Seaborne. 

Cora calls up a doctor, Dr Garrett (Luke), a friend of Micheal, to check what happened to Micheal and why he is sick?

Luke tells Cora to let him operate on Micheal or else he will die, but Cora disagrees and doesn’t let Garrett operate on her husband, and as a result, the next day, Micheal dies. 

As per The Essex Serpent Episode 1, Cora and her husband Micheal didn’t have a good marriage association. 

Micheal used Cora for his physical satisfaction and even tortured her to some extent, but as Cora had a son to take care of, she decided to carry on with the marriage. 

After the death of her husband, Cora bonded with Micheal’s doctor friend Dr Garrett (Luke). 

It seems Luke is quite interested in Cora, and Cora is also interested in Luke but is unsure whether she should go forward with the new relationship cause after the death of Micheal, she is not sure what lies ahead of her and seems confused. 

One day Luke invites Cora to see him operate on a patient in the hospital; Cora goes there to witness Luke’s skills as a doctor, and later both bonded over time. 

After this, Cora comes across a story in a newspaper about a mythical Sea Creature Serpent. As per the myth, the Serpent has been spotted in Essex. 

Cora has always been interested in Natural History, which has been her passion, so she decides to go to Essex to learn more about the mythical creature. 

When Cora informs the same, Garrett doesn’t want her to go. Cora replies she wants to follow her passion as now Micheal cannot control her.

After arriving in Essex, Cora understands that there have been no photos of the mystical creature, but there has been a sighting recently, Aldwinter, a village out of black water. 

Cora decides she will go there and will have a look at the creature; during the journey, Cora comes across Father Will (Tom Hiddleston). 

Father Will tries to help a goat stuck in the mud to escape but is unsuccessful when Cora decides to lend a helping hand to Will and helps one of the goats stuck in the mud. 

Father Will has a cut on his face, and Cora lends her handkerchief to Luke and tells him to clean the cut. 

Will asks who is she and where is she going? Cora answers the second question by saying that she will Aldwinter to spot the Serpent.

Will replies it is all just stories. There is nothing to see, and he tells her to go home. Cora leaves without giving any answers to Will. 

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The Essex Serpent Episode 1 Ending Explained: “The Serpent has come, the Devil has come”- What happened to Gracie?

After Cora and Will’s altercations, we see Father Luke’s life in Aldwinter. 

Will is a priest there, and the people of Aldwinter are scared after the recent spotting of the Serpent, especially after Gracie, Naomi’s sister, goes missing and people think the Serpent is back and there is no trace of Gracie. 

Will, however, assures people that Serpent is just a myth. There is no such mythical creature, and Gracie will be back. They will find her soon. 

Naomi Gracie’s sister is very disturbed after her sister’s disappearance, and she skinned a few rats and showcased them outside her home to keep the evil Serpent away from her home. 

It seems she is very much scared and disturbed at the same time. Will assures her again that there is no such creature and they will find her sister soon. 

Naomie asked Will, Why did the Serpent tempt Eve? Will replies well, it’s an allegory. 

The Serpent is the devil, but Will assures Naomi there is no Serpent in Essex. 

Elsewhere Cora meets Charles, one of the old friends of her late husband, Micheal. 

Charles seems aware of why Cora is in Essex and informs her that he has a friend in Aldwinter and will tell him to have a dinner hosted for her so that they can meet, as he can help her with her search on the Serpent.  

Back in London, Dr Garrett (Luke) got a chance to operate on a patient with a heart condition. 

The patient was ideal for him to operate on, but the surgery was unsuccessful, and the patient ended up dying. 

The Hospital Authority isn’t fond of Garrett’s operations and creative procedures as another dead body added to the count of deceased in the hospital mean it will ruin their reputation. 

Garrett seems angry at the authorities as he is trying to figure out a way to operate cardiac surgeries, which hasn’t been achieved before, but the hospital authorities keep on interfering. 

Dr Spenser advises Garett (Luke) to take a break and go to Essex and meet Cora to clear their minds. 

Back in Essex, Cora goes to Will’s house in Aldwinter, where they meet Will’s wife and his three kids, and they discuss the mythical Serpent Cora, along with the kids, believes it is true, but Will again here says that it is not true this is just a mystical creature. 

Cora tells about a book written by Charles Lyell where he had written about animals that escaped evolution; perhaps the Serpent was one of them. 

But Will replies that Serpent is an invention, a symptom of a time we live in, a great change that brings real fears. 

Will’s wife Stella tells Cora to stay to see the pew at church in the morning.

Cora replies she would love to see the Serpent, so she decides to stay. 

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Elsewhere Henry, Naomi’s father, receives some bad news about Gracie and decides to go to check on that matter, and tells Naomi to stay inside so that she can be safe. 

At Church, Cora sits in the snake pew and watches Will preach to all his followers, don’t be scared as when we are most lost, that is when the source of the light source is closest. 

The prayer gets interrupted when Jonas, one of the search party members with Henry last night to find Gracie, comes and tells Will that Henry needs help. 

The members now develop a search party and go to find where Gracie is? Cora also goes along with them but gets separated from the rest. Then she notices a girl crying.

After going closer to the girl, she notices a girl’s decomposed body, and Naomi is crying, “Gracie!….”. 

The body is revealed to be of Gracie and looks like she has been killed by the creature, Henry and Naomi are in tears. 

So Who killed Gracie? and Is the Serpent real well, stay tuned to find out the details as we will be back with more information on the recap of The Essex Serpent Episode 2.